Economy, Congressional Budget Office | featured news

Economic growth and recent legislation have cut the federal budget deficit in half in the past four years, but federal debt will still hit historic levels if more isn't done, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday in the annual update of its budget and economic forecast.

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office on the top 1 percent of earners is likely to figure prominently in the escalating political fight over the economy.

The federal deficit will hit $1.3 trillion for fiscal 2011, the third consecutive year of record shortfalls and an emerging campaign theme for GOP attacks on President Obama and congressional Democrats. The deficits of the last three years are at levels unseen since World War II and stem from the "long shadow" cast on the economy by the financial crisis and recession, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.