Last month, we compared the House and Senate budget resolutions against baseline projections. Now that President Barack Obama has released his own budget, we've updated our deficit chart to include the effects of his proposals and added an interactive component.
The Senate Democrats' plan would reduce the current $845 billion deficit to just over $400 billion in 2016, before letting it grow to $556 billion by 2023. The president's budget follows a similar path, with a slightly larger deficit than the Senate plan would allow over the next five years but a smaller deficit from 2019 on.
Of the three plans, only the House budget would bring the deficit under $100 billion by 2016 and achieve a surplus within 10 years, which it would accomplish primarily by cutting trillions of dollars from entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid and repealing the expanded coverage provisions of the health care law. Unlike the Senate or administration plans, the House would raise no new revenue over current baseline projections.
About the Data
The figures shown in the graphic can be found in the House budget summary tables, the Senate budget summary tables, and the President’s budget historical tables.