The Latest: White House rejects report showing slowed growth
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Congressional Budget Office predicting that economic growth will slow (all times local):
4:05 p.m.
The director of the National Economic Council is rejecting a Congressional Budget Office assessment showing slowed growth following a five-week government shutdown.
President Donald Trump’s top economist, Larry Kudlow, says the White House “frequently” disagrees with the CBO. The nonpartisan agency estimated Monday that the shutdown resulted in the permanent loss of $3 billion in lost gross domestic product.
The sum is a modest figure in a $20 trillion-plus economy.
Kudlow tells reporters at the White House that there was “certainly no permanent damage to the economy” from the shutdown.
A partial government shutdown is possible again next month when funding for many agencies runs out Feb. 15 under the short-term spending deal reached Friday.
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10 a.m.
A new government report says that the U.S. budget deficit is set to hit $897 billion this year and predicts that economic growth will slow as the effects of President Donald Trump’s tax cut on business investment begin to drop off.
The Congressional Budget Office Report predicts a $118 billion increase over last year’s $779 billion deficit.
The CBO predicts in a report released Monday that the economy will grow by 2.3 percent this year, a slowdown from 3.1 percent last year.
The report comes as the government is reopening after a 35-day partial shutdown. The CBO says the shutdown will have a modest negative impact on the economy.
The report lands in a divided Washington, where neither Trump nor Democrats controlling the House are expected to make curbing the deficit a priority.
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