3 Grim Lines From CBO's New Deficit Report

The deficit will swell by $809 billion more than anticipated over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office announced in new projections Wednesday, per the AP. The Washington Post reports the US was already expected to hit a deficit over the $1 trillion mark in 2020. The change here, which is an update to the CBO's May report, is due to recently enacted legislation on two fronts: the budget deal signed into law this month and supplemental spending at the border. A grim line from the new CBO report: "To put [debt] on a sustainable course lawmakers will have to make significant changes to tax and spending policies."

CNBC quotes CBO Director Phillip Swagel as saying in the report that "federal debt ... is on an unsustainable course," and that while it will average $1.2 trillion annually between 2020 and 2029 it'll jump even higher after that as the population ages and health-care spending rises. A third grim line from the report, per Fox News: "As a result of those deficits, federal debt held by the public is projected to grow steadily, from 79% of GDP in 2019 to 95% in 2029—its highest level since just after World War II."

(More budget deficit stories.)