| Facing a politically excruciating vote, House Democratic leaders are counting on new budget deficit curbs to help smooth the way for a bill allowing the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper into debt over the next year - or about $6,000 more for every U.S. resident.
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| Already, the accumulated debt amounts to $40,000 per person. And the debt is increasingly held by foreign nations such as China.
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| To ease its passage, Democrats attached tougher budget rules designed to curb a spiraling upward annual deficit - projected by Mr. Obama to hit a record $1.56 trillion for the budget year ending Sept. 30. |
| If the rules are broken, the White House budget office would force automatic cuts to programs like Medicare, farm subsidies and veterans’ pensions. |
| Mr. Obama’s budget projects the government’s debt doubling to $26 trillion over the next decade. It offers few solutions for seriously closing the gap other than promising to appoint a bipartisan commission to come up with a plan to address the problem. Read more at www.cbsnews.com |
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