Federal Budgets and Spending: The Implications of Increased Deficits on Federal and State Budgets November 18, 2009

Host: Mercatus Institute. The nation’s budgetary challenges have received much attention in recent months. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the federal budget deficit for 2009 will total $1.4 trillion. At 11.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), this projected deficit will be the highest since World War II. Adding to these fiscal challenges, Congress is in the process of debating a health care bill that could cost $1 trillion, or more, over the next 10 years. Policymakers are recognizing that this level of federal spending is unsustainable. They are also realizing that state governments are forming an unsustainable dependency on federal transfers. This has, and is, expected to cause more distortion of state budgets. This seminar will tackle the important questions surrounding the federal spending. Speakers include Dr. Roy Meyers, a former analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and currently Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, and Eileen Norcross, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the State and Local Policy Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.