Obviously, the federal budget did not continue to unfold in the manner projected at that time. The rapid pace of ascent from deficit to surplus in the late 1990s was exceeded by the pace of descent back to deficits beginning in 2002. This development was the result of a number of factors.
In 2001, tax cuts approximately the size of projected on-budget surpluses were passed. Defense and homeland security spending increased in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, and other nondefense domestic spending also increased at a substantially faster rate.