Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office revised their deficit estimate for FY 2005, stating that the deficit will be $317 billion. As Sen. Conrad (D-ND) said in a statement on the deficit figure, when the Social Security and other trust fund surpluses also being spent are added in, the debt in 2005 will actually increase by $575 billion. Also, while the cost of the hurricanes will not add a lot to the deficit in 2005, we can expect the 2006 deficit to increase significantly because of disaster-related spending. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, while this figure is down from last year, it is largely due to an increase in tax collections from last year. And without the 2003 tax cuts revenues would be higher, and deficits smaller. To read more on the CBO's calculations, see their Monthly Budget Review.