Mid-Session Review 2014

OMB today released the Mid-Session Review (MSR), which updates the Administration’s estimates for outlays, receipts, and the deficit in light of economic, legislative, and other developments since release of the President’s 2014 Budget. 

The MSR shows that the projected deficit in 2013 has decreased by more than $200 billion as compared to the projection included in the Budget.  The 2013 deficit is now projected to be 4.7 percent of GDP.  That is down from a deficit of 10.1 percent four years ago – representing the fastest period of deficit reduction since the years immediately following World War II. 

Going forward, the MSR shows that, under the President’s Budget, deficits will be reduced to below 3 percent of GDP by 2017 and continue to fall to about 2 percent in 2023.  Importantly, the MSR also shows that the Budget achieves a core goal of fiscal sustainability by putting Federal debt on a declining path as a share of the economy.

The President believes our top priority must be strengthening the true engine of economic growth – a rising and thriving middle class.  He will continue to pursue policies to accelerate the recovery, speed job creation, and expand the middle class.  The 2014 Budget demonstrates that we do not need to choose between making critical investments necessary to help grow our economy and support middle class families and continuing to cut the deficit in a balanced way. 

To once again make America a magnet for jobs, the Budget invests in high-tech manufacturing and innovation, clean energy, and infrastructure, while cutting red tape to help businesses grow.  To give workers the skills they need to compete in the global economy, it invests in education and job training, and sets forth a visionary proposal to ensure every four-year-old has access to high quality pre-school.  To ensure hard work is rewarded, it builds ladders of opportunity to help every American and every community. By identifying offsets for each of these initiatives, the Budget invests in the potential of the middle class and our economy while keeping us on a fiscally disciplined long-term path.

The Budget includes more than enough deficit reduction to replace the economically damaging sequester while exceeding the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction and putting our debt on a downward path as a share of the economy. And unlike sequestration, which includes zero long-term deficit reduction, the President’s plan includes structural reforms that will generate growing savings in the second decade and beyond.

Washington’s top priority must be spurring job creation and strengthening the middle class. The President’s Budget embodies these goals and charts a path to a stronger economy and a more secure fiscal future for the years to come.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.