[Innoloinarp]

LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics...,5410820.story

With stronger than expected tax receipts and reduced spending levels, the federal budget deficit will run 20% lower than expected this year, the White House announced Thursday.

The so-called Mid-Session Review published by the Office of Management and Budget forecasts a total shortfall of $1.316 trillion in 2011, down from the initial projection of $1.645 trillion in a February estimate. That revised total mirrors the findings of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Even the improved tally represents a historic high.

The report "underscores that we need to get back on a sustainable fiscal path, and that we also need to invest in long term economic growth and job creation," OMB director Jack Lew told reporters on a conference call.