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CBO warns Congress of recession

Report: If tax cuts end, federal spending slashed, 2 million jobs could be lost in '13

The Columbian
Published: August 22, 2012, 5:00pm

WASHINGTON — A stalemate between Democrats and Republicans that ends up boosting taxes and slashing federal spending in January would likely thrust the nation into a 2013 recession and cost 2 million jobs by the end of that year, Congress’ top nonpartisan budget analyst warned Wednesday.

The cautionary report by the Congressional Budget Office, drearier than a similar alarm it issued in May, immediately raised the political stakes in one of this election year’s signature conflicts between the two parties.

Without an agreement between President Barack Obama and Congress by January, tax reductions on virtually all taxpayers are scheduled to expire and spending cuts will be imposed on hundreds of popular domestic and defense programs. That would plunge the nation off a so-called “fiscal cliff,” which each side is eager to blame on the other.

Together, the scheduled tax increases and spending cuts would total nearly $500 billion next year, the report said — a huge amount of activity to suck out of a $16 trillion economy that is already struggling. That would be the largest annual reduction in the federal deficit compared to the size of the economy in more than four decades, said Douglas Elmendorf, the budget office’s director.

Doing that “would probably lead to a recession early next year,” Elmendorf told reporters.

That scenario would cause the economy to shrink by 0.5 percent in 2013 and push unemployment up to around 9 percent in the second half of next year, according to the report. Elmendorf said that would mean 2 million fewer jobs than if the tax cuts are renewed and the spending cuts averted.

The prospect of triggering a recession added a new level of risk and complexity to this year’s high-profile political fights over sparking job creation and curbing mammoth federal deficits.

Obama wants to renew expiring tax cuts but let rates rise on amounts exceeding $200,000 annually for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Republicans insist that all tax reductions be continued. The two sides are also stuck over how to head off budget-wide spending cuts triggered by last year’s failure to broker a bipartisan deal on reducing the federal debt.

The White House said the budget report showed it is time for the Republican-led House to approve tax cuts for all but the nation’s highest earners. The Democratic-led Senate approved such a bill last month, while the House passed one extending tax reductions for all.

“They’re willing to hold the middle class hostage unless we also give massive new tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires — tax cuts we can’t afford that would do nothing to strengthen the economy,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Republicans in a written statement.

GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney’s campaign pointed its finger at the White House.

“Today’s CBO report is another indictment of President Obama’s economic policies that have resulted in overspending, increasing debt, and a growing financial burden on the next generation,” said Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.

While ending the tax cuts and letting the spending cuts occur would cause quick economic damage, it would also produce more deficit reduction. If the tax cuts expire and spending reductions take place in January, next year’s budget shortfall would be $641 billion — down from just over $1 trillion if the opposite occurs, the report said.

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