Obama budget chief: Economy almost bottomed out
White House budget chief says US economy has almost bottomed
out, predicts lower deficits
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The worst seems to be over, President Barack Obama's
budget director said Sunday. But he also warned against taking signs of
economic recovery as a reason to celebrate or delay changes in health
care policy.
Peter Orszag said the nation's economy appears to have bottomed out,
even as the White House prepared to revise its budget projections to
reflect higher-than-expected unemployment. He said an improving economy
and changes to how the United States provides health care would help
narrow federal deficits."I think what happened is the free-fall
in the economy seems to have stopped and we're -- I guess the analogy
(is) there are some glimmers of sun shining through the trees, but
we're not out of the woods yet," said Orszag, the director of the
Office of Management and Budget. "We do have more work ahead."Work,
Orszag said on CNN's "State of the Union," that would include passing
this year Obama's health care plans despite the economic crisis."Let's
be very clear. We've always said health care reform has to be deficit
neutral over a five- or 10-year window and much better than that over
the long term," said Orszag, whose knowledge of health policy has
strengthened his Cabinet-level position. "So we are committed to making
sure health care reform is self-financing and also brings down costs
over time, both for families and for the federal government."The
administration, however, faces serious challenges. Some 1.3 million
jobs have been lost since February and the auto and financial
industries are in precarious positions.Obama's Democratic allies
have been reluctant to endorse the White House's health proposals while
Republicans have vowed to stop them; Republican National Committee
chairman Michael Steele told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he doesn't
think health care will pass this year.Meanwhile, Orszag said the administration
would update its budget numbers in the coming months."You
have to remember the deficit is very sensitive to the state of the
economy," said Orszag, noting that officials always planned to revise
those figures. "As the economy starts to recover the deficit comes down
quickly."
