Congressional analysts expect the U.S. budget deficit will reach a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal year 2009, the Congressional Budget Office said in an outlook report released on Wednesday. The deficit will likely fall to $703 billion in the 2010 fiscal year, the report says. The figures do not account for an economic stimulus plan that Congress plans to consider over the next month, which could total $775 billion more over two years. Congress also is also expected to be called on in the coming months to approve tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Economists have said that the burgeoning deficits are a result of a steep falloff in tax revenue as the global recession saps the economy as well as huge government outlays to prop up the financial industry and U.S. automakers. The report also estimates deficits over the next five years will total $1.972 trillion.
