CBO Reports on Bush's Budget

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites)'s budget would produce a larger deficit next year and a smaller total surplus over the coming decade than the White House has projected, the Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites) said Wednesday.

The figures immediately touched off a political battle over how gloomy the budget picture really is. Sen. Kent Conrad (news), D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the figures show a need to "restrain spending and tax cuts." Republicans said the numbers illustrate that federal finances will improve as the decade progresses.

In testimony to the committee, CBO Director Dan Crippen said his nonpartisan agency projects a 2003 deficit of $121 billion if the tax and spending changes the president has proposed are enacted. Bush's budget, released in February, said next year's red ink would be $80 billion.