FY 2002 Appropriations Update Congress completed its work on the last 3 FY 2002 appropriations bills (Defense, Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education) on December 21 and the President is expected to sign all three of them and bring the appropriations season to an official completion. According to usbudget.com, the bills are being readied for the President's signature and he is expected to sign them on January 10, when the Continuing Resolution - passed on December 20 - expires. Though estimates by Democrats and Republicans of the size of the deficits differ, and will continue to grow substantially depending on the amount of additional homeland security and defense spending approved this year, both sides agree that the deficit will likely be at least $15 billion -- the Democrats are predicting it could be as large as $70 billion.

FY 2002 Appropriations Update Congress completed its work on the last 3 FY 2002 appropriations bills (Defense, Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education) on December 21 and the President is expected to sign all three of them and bring the appropriations season to an official completion. According to usbudget.com, the bills are being readied for the President's signature and he is expected to sign them on January 10, when the Continuing Resolution - passed on December 20 - expires. Though estimates by Democrats and Republicans of the size of the deficits differ, and will continue to grow substantially depending on the amount of additional homeland security and defense spending approved this year, both sides agree that the deficit will likely be at least $15 billion -- the Democrats are predicting it could be as large as $70 billion.

FY 2002 Appropriations Update Congress completed its work on the last 3 FY 2002 appropriations bills (Defense, Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education) on December 21 and the President is expected to sign all three of them and bring the appropriations season to an official completion. According to usbudget.com, the bills are being readied for the President's signature and he is expected to sign them on January 10, when the Continuing Resolution - passed on December 20 - expires. Though estimates by Democrats and Republicans of the size of the deficits differ, and will continue to grow substantially depending on the amount of additional homeland security and defense spending approved this year, both sides agree that the deficit will likely be at least $15 billion -- the Democrats are predicting it could be as large as $70 billion.

FY 2002 Appropriations Update Congress completed its work on the last 3 FY 2002 appropriations bills (Defense, Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education) on December 21 and the President is expected to sign all three of them and bring the appropriations season to an official completion. According to usbudget.com, the bills are being readied for the President's signature and he is expected to sign them on January 10, when the Continuing Resolution - passed on December 20 - expires. Though estimates by Democrats and Republicans of the size of the deficits differ, and will continue to grow substantially depending on the amount of additional homeland security and defense spending approved this year, both sides agree that the deficit will likely be at least $15 billion -- the Democrats are predicting it could be as large as $70 billion.

Sunday's New York Times reported that the Democratic staff of the House Budget Committee and the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee are both predicting budget deficits for the next few years. Though the size of the deficits differ, and will grow substantially depending on the amount of additional homeland security and defense spending approved this year, both sides agree that the deficit will likely be at least $15 billion -- the Democrats are predicting it could be as large as $70 billion. These deficits will continue for the next few years, but there will still be an overall surplus for the 10-year period ending in 2011 -- though the government will have to use some of the Social Security surplus to meet its general needs, instead of to pay down the national debt. The 10-year surplus estimates vary slightly, with the House Democratic staff predicting $1.79 trillion and Senate Republican staff predicting $1.86 trillion.

Both predictions are a far cry from the massive surpluses estimated last January, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was predicting a 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion and a FY 2002 surplus of $231 billion. A mid-year revised estimate of the 10-year federal budget picture issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in August 2001 indicated that 2/3 of the then-$2.2 trillion drop in the 10-year budget surplus was due to the effects of the tax cut signed in June. CBO is expected to release its latest 10-year estimate of the budget in late January, and the President will issue his budget for 2003 on February 4, which will also contain estimates of the budget picture for the next few years.