Congress must pare spending on Social Security and healthcare in order to avoid huge tax hikes or devastating cuts in other federal programs, a congressional budget analysis said on Wednesday. The federal debt will represent 62 percent of the nation’s economy by the end of this year – the highest percentage since just after World War II.

CNSNews.com

The federal debt will represent 62 percent of the nation’s economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released today.

Lawmakers will need to pare spending on Social Security and healthcare in order to avoid tax hikes or big cuts in other federal programs, according to the analysis.

Republicans, who have been talking a lot about the debt in recent months, pounced on the report.

“The driver of this debt is spending,” New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, told USA Today. “Our existing debt will be worsened by the president’s new health care entitlement programs . . . as well as an explosion in existing health care and retirement entitlement spending as the baby boomers retire.”

Federal healthcare spending and the Social Security retirement program will gobble up a greater portion of the budget and push the national debt up sharply unless lawmakers act, the CBO said.

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