But independent analysts estimate it would cost at least $1 trillion over 10 years to replace the payroll taxes that would be diverted to private accounts under the kind of plan the president appears to favor.
Although faster-than-expected economic expansion might trim the long-term deficit, CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said it would be next to impossible for the nation to grow its way out of deficit spending.
Even if Bush's tax cuts were allowed to expire and nothing was done about the alternative minimum tax, the looming retirement of the baby boom generation would cause deficits to swell as Social Security and Medicare trust funds were gradually depleted, he said.
The deficit debate on the campaign trail was echoed on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers returned from their August recess to grapple with unfinished appropriations bills for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
"This is the worst budget deficit in the history of the United States," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee. "And the president is proposing to make it even worse.... We're on a course that is utterly unsustainable, and the consequences to our nation are enormous."
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles (R-Okla.) said the CBO report proved just the opposite. "The president's economic policies are working," he said. "Economic growth is significantly strong, tax revenues are rising, and deficits this year and next are much lower than previously projected."
Yet political analysts said concerns about the federal deficit appeared to have taken a back seat to other campaign issues, such as the conflict in Iraq, the war against terrorism, job creation and healthcare.
"There's just no indication the deficit has any intensity in this campaign," said Karlyn Bowman, a polling expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "It's just not on the radar screen for voters."
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Red ink rising
With the federal budget deficit headed to a record $422 billion, it becomes a possible campaign liability for President Bush. How his stewardship of the deficit compares to other recent presidents:
Totals in billions:
*--* Total deficits Average annual Years* or surpluses deficit/surplus George W. Bush 2002-04 ($1,054) ($351) Bill Clinton 1994-01 $62 $8 George H.W. Bush 1990-93 $-1,036 $-259 Ronald Reagan 1982-89 $-1,412 $-176 Jimmy Carter 1978-81 $-253 $-63 Gerald Ford 1975-77 $-181 $-60 Richard Nixon 1970-74 $-70 $-14 Lyndon Johnson 1965-69 $-36 $-7
*--*
*Fiscal years for which each president submitted a budget
Sources: Congressional Budget Office, White House Office of Management and Budget
*
Staff writers James Gerstenzang in Des Moines and Matea Gold in Greensboro, N.C., contributed to this report.
