Ten years ago, the federal budget had a deficit that amounted to about 2-1/2 percent of GDP, roughly similar to the current percentage, and forecasts at that time pointed to some widening in this budget gap in future years.
Budget agreements in earlier years--1990 and 1993--had both raised taxes and reduced spending, and the combination of these actions had helped lower the federal budget deficits from the levels of previous years. These budget agreements demonstrated the desire of policymakers to undertake some hard steps necessary to reduce the deficit.