$1,186,000,000,000 Deficit

January 7 - The Congressional Budget Office today released its new baseline projections today, showing a record deficit of $1.2 trillion in 2009.  This figure is calculated before taking into account the cost of the expected for coming stimulus bill (which could cost between $600 billion and $1.3 trillion over two years), the full cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the anticipated "patch" legislation for the Alternative Minimum Tax, or other expected initiatives. 

In response to the deficit figure, Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said:

"The incoming president is saying all the right things.  Any fiscally responsible plan to help the economy recover must focus not just on stimulus spending, but on implementing a longer-term budgetary reform plan as well. Policymakers cannot just come up with a plan to spend a trillion dollars and pat themselves on the back for a job well done-the real work comes in how to deal with all this debt."