http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/08/politics/08deficit.html?pagewanted=print&position=Deficit Analysis and Bush Differ
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 - Even if the United States saved billions of dollars by withdrawing all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush would still be unlikely to fulfill his promise to reduce the federal budget deficit by half within five years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.
In the final independent assessment of Mr. Bush's fiscal policies before the November election, the Congressional agency predicted that, if no existing laws changed, the federal deficit would see a much smaller decline, to $312 billion in 2009 from a record of $422 billion in 2004.
<snip>
"That's a direct result of economic growth that came about as a result of the tax changes that the president put through, and the Congress supported," Mr. Cheney said.
Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, said in a statement, "Only George W. Bush could celebrate over a record budget deficit."
..more..