(Washington, DC) – Congressman Ander Crenshaw, a former senior member of the House Budget Committee, today applauded the recent Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) announcement that this year’s budget deficit will be nearly $40 billion lower than originally projected.  Earlier this year OMB’s forecast was a year end budget deficit of $244 billion, but according to today’s Mid-Session Report, the year end deficit is estimated at $205 billion.

 

“These numbers demonstrate that pro-growth, not pro-tax, policies are the quickest route to reducing the national debt,” said Congressman Crenshaw.  “By allowing Americans to keep more of their own money, jobs have been created, the economy has boomed, and federal revenues are up.  This is good news for the American taxpayer and means the President’s plan to balance the budget by 2012 is ahead of schedule.  Only by holding off Democrat efforts to increase spending and raise taxes will we realize this important goal.”

 

The currently predicted $205 billion deficit represents 1.5 percent of GDP growth and a $43 billion decrease from last year.  The federal deficit is declining for a third year in a row and the President proposed a budget earlier this year to balance the budget by 2012.

 

The economy has grown for 22 consecutive quarters with real GDP averaging 2.9 percent a year since the end of 2001.  Last month 123,000 jobs were created and the economy has added jobs for 46 straight months.