President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Michigan's Al Glick Field House, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
(CNSNews.com) – The Congressional Budget Office projects that the national debt under President Obama’s policies will rise to $21.665 trillion by 2022, according to its updated budget outlook.
The updated outlook, released Tuesday, found that current Obama administration policies will result in a 50 percent increase in debt held by the public and a 40 percent increase in intra-governmental debt held in the trust funds of entitlement programs.
“In CBO’s projections, debt held by the public is expected to increase by more than 50 percent between the end of 2011 and the end of 2022, and debt held by government accounts is expected to rise by nearly 40 percent,” the CBO report found.
As a result of this rise in federal debt, CBO projects federal debt will reach $21.7 trillion by 2022.
“As a result, gross federal debt is projected to climb every year from 2012 to 2022, reaching $21.7 trillion in 2022—47 percent more than its total of $14.8 trillion at the end of 2011.”
These projections come under CBO’s so-called baseline scenario, which assumes that all provisions of current law go into effect – including the massive tax increases currently scheduled to take effect in 2013 when the Bush tax rates are set to expire.
CBO’s baseline projection represents the estimated debt incurred by current policy over 10 years, reflecting the fact that government spending commitments continue over several years.
Should Obama win a second term in January, he will leave office with a projected $18.4 trillion national debt – an increase of $7.8 trillion in the eight years Obama will have been in office. The national debt stood at $10.6 trillion in January 2009 when Obama took office.