WASHINGTON, May 11 – US President Barack Obama\’s administration has finalized a nearly 3.6 trillion dollar budget for 2010 that raises the budget gap by 90 billion dollars, according to an updated plan released Monday.
This came even after Obama last week slashed 121 programs from the 2010 budget plan costing 17 billion dollars, half of which were defense-related.
Based on the "updates summary tables" of the federal government budget for fiscal year 2010 beginning October, spending will increase to 3.591 trillion dollars with revenue estimated at 2.333 trillion dollars, resulting in a deficit of 1.258 trillion dollars.
The updated data also showed a 3.998 trillion dollar budget for 2009 with a deficit of 1.841 trillion dollars, also about 90 billion dollars than previously estimated.
White House budget chief Peter Orszag said the Office of Management and Budget "projects that the deficit will be about 90 billion dollars higher in FY 2009 and also in 2010 than it did in February.
"The deficits in these years, now projected to be 12.9 percent and 8.5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product), respectively, are driven in large part by the economic crisis inherited by this administration," he said.
