Appendix
AChanges in CBO’s Baseline Since August 2007
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that—absent further changes to legislation affecting spending and revenues—the deficit for fiscal year 2008 will reach $219 billion, $64 billion more than the shortfall of $155 billion that the agency projected last August (see Table A-1).1 Relative to its previous estimates, CBO has reduced projected revenues for 2008 by $116 billion; however, that reduction is partially offset by a drop of $52 billion in projected outlays. (Because CBO’s budget projections generally do not include the effects of prospective legislation, the current baseline omits some spending that is likely to occur in 2008 to finance ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, the decrease in outlays that is currently projected will probably be offset by additional spending later this year. Other potential legislative changes, such as the passage of an economic stimulus package, also could increase the 2008 deficit.)
Changes in CBO’s Baseline Projections of the Deficit or Surplus Since August 2007