The Nation - News from Jan. 28, 1987

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said that adhering too strictly to the Gramm-Rudman budget-balancing law could risk shocking the economy. CBO Director Rudolph G. Penner, appearing before the House Budget Committee, said deficit reduction in a single year could total roughly up to 1% of the nation’s economic output before causing any harm. In the current economy, that would be a deficit cut of about $47 billion. Gramm-Rudman requires Congress to bring the deficit down to $108 billion in fiscal 1988, which begins Oct. 1. To meet that goal, the deficit would have to be cut more than $60 billion, according to CBO estimates.