The Congressional Budget Office underestimated the deficit by $93 billion in their January study, the non-partisan organization said on Tuesday. Now that new policies have been factored in, the CBO estimated that the deficit will reach $1.2 trillion this year.
The Hill reports:
In January, CBO assumed the 2 percentage point payroll tax break expired Feb. 29. After a bruising battle between the House GOP and the White House, the payroll tax break was extended to the end of this year without being offset by spending cuts.
In a small ray of good news, the projected deficits by 2022 are now $186 billion smaller than CBO had thought in January. The improvement is mostly due to technical changes to the way interest on Treasury bonds is accounted for.
CBO says the improvement is minor.