Paul Ryan: Budget Could Be Balanced Within 10 Years with Higher Economic Growth

Paul Ryan: Budget Could Be Balanced Within 10 Years with Higher Economic Growth

The House Budget Committee has released a new paper showing that the budget written by Chairman Paul Ryan could reach balance sooner than projected by the Congressional Budget Office:

The rate of economic growth is one of the most important factors affecting the federal budget – and The Path to Prosperity contains a number of policy changes, such as fundamental tax reform and structural Medicare reforms, with the potential to significantly change the economy’s growth path.

Assuming higher growth within a realistic range, the budget could achieve balance in the mid-to-early 2020s, with the upper-bound growth assumption producing budget balance within the ten-year budget window – much sooner than CBO’s estimated balance date of 2039.
Last year, CBO similarly estimated Ryan's budget would reach balance in 2039. House Republicans knew that then and almost unanimously voted for the budget. But this time around, the Club for Growth--which backed Ryan in 2011--says Ryan's inability to produce a budget that balances in 10 years, according to CBO, is reason to oppose the budget.