The government's budget deficit will drop to $583 billion this year, the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure, the White House said Friday. Last year's deficit was $680 billion. The latest update from the White House budget office is also $66 billion less than the administration predicted earlier this year when releasing the president's budget. Obama presided over trillion-dollar-plus deficits during his first term as the economy struggled to recover from a deep recession and financial crisis. Attempts to strike deals on spending cuts and revenue increases with GOP leaders such as House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio have failed, though Obama was successful in muscling through a tax increase on wealthier earners in early 2013. Tight spending on annual agency budgets is also responsible for lower deficits. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects an even lower deficit of $492 billion for the budget year ending Sept. 30. The White House has also lowered its economic growth forecast for the current year to 2.6 percent.
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-The Associated Press
