WASHINGTON—The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Wednesday that it expects the U.S. economy to stagnate this year with the unemployment rate jumping to 5.1 percent—a bleak outlook that was paired with a 10-year projection that publicly held U.S. debt would nearly double to $46.4 trillion in 2033.
The office’s updated 10-year Budget and Economic Outlook outlined stark expectations for the decade ahead, where Social Security would be unable to pay full benefits to recipients in 2032—with a roughly 20 percent reduction in benefits across the board—and the net interest costs on U.S. debt would eclipse what the nation spends on defense.
