Federal deficits may have been falling since the end of the recent recession, but thanks to spending increases in major health care programs, including Obamacare, deficits are set to explode in 2017, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
Thanks to the recent recession and President Obama's trillion dollar stimulus, the federal budget deficit reached an all time $1.4 trillion high in 2009. Then, as the economy slowly improved and Obama's stimulus trickled to end, the deficit began to fall. According to the CBO, the deficit will continue to fall to $467 billion in 2016.
Immediately after Obama leaves office, however, deficits are expected to rise steadily thanks mostly to growth in mandatory health care spending programs like Obamacare. By 2025 the CBO estimates that our nation's federal deficits will again top $1 trillion a year. For comparison's sake the highest deficit ever under President Bush was $458 billion.
According to the CBO, in 2017 the federal government will be spending $384 billion a year on Medicaid, almost double what it spent before Obama became president. Spending on Obamacare's insurance exchanges is also set to rise from $15 billion in 2014 to $93 billion in 2017.
Despite this deficit time bomb, Obama only wants to spend more. Asked whether Obama's 2015 budget would hike spending over current levels, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters earlier this month: "The President has been pretty clear about the fact over the last two weeks that now is exactly the right time for us start making some policy decisions that will invest in middle class families."
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