Department of "Duh"

Analysis Sees Deficits Growing Under Bush

Even before the cost of Hurricane Katrina is added to the federal ledger, a Congressional Budget Office study commissioned by Democrats predicts President Bush will fail to keep his promise to cut the deficit in half by the time he leaves office.

The study by the nonpartisan CBO assumes that Congress will heed Bush's call for new tax cuts and for making those passed in 2001 and 2003 permanent. It also assumes a big slowdown in spending on the Iraq war, tight caps on domestic agency budgets and new individual Social Security accounts...

The study predicts that the $331 billion budget deficit projected for the current budget year would rise to $370 billion by 2009, the year Bush has promised to cut the deficit to at least $260 billion. Bush promised to cut the deficit in half from a projection in February 2004 of a $521 billion deficit for 2009.

By 2015, the deficit would hit $640 billion under CBO's study.

I wonder how much this study cost taxpayers? Well, I guess it helps to have some sort of documentation to counter the White House school children:

"Instead of complaining about the deficit, how about doing something about it?" said Bush spokesman Trent Duffy...

"My president can beat up your representatives. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah."