WSJ
WASHINGTON—Existing budget restraints and stronger economic growth will chip away at the federal deficit into 2017 before the gap begins to widen again, the Congressional Budget Office said, providing ammunition for both parties ahead of the White House’s first budget proposal to the Republican-controlled Congress.
Some Democrats are already pointing to the improved economic recovery to justify loosening the spending caps imposed three years ago.
Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, highlight rising deficits beginning in 2018 in resisting larger increases in nondefense spending, despite support among some for easing the caps on the military budget.