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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit will fall to $468 billion this year, the lowest level since 2007. The agency forecasts that it will stay essentially flat until 2017, after which it begins to widen due to an aging workforce that will lower tax rolls and increase spending on Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs. (Timiraos, 2/11)

The budget deficit has gradually narrowed since 2012, which was the fourth straight year in which it topped the $1 trillion mark. The improvement reflects the country’s economic recovery from recession. ... The CBO is forecasting that without any changes in government policies, the deficit will decline slightly to $467 billion in 2016 but then will start rising and top $1 trillion again in 2025 as spending balloons for Social Security and Medicare. (Crutsinger, 2/11)

The first fight between the White House and the new GOP-controlled Congress over spending on federal safety-net programs is heating up over a Social Security program used to help support disabled people. If Congress doesn’t take action, the Social Security Disability Insurance program will run out of sufficient funds by late 2016, according to the Social Security chief actuary, triggering a 19% cut in disability benefits. (Peterson, 2/11)

The battle over Social Security’s future came back to the forefront Wednesday as top Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee challenged the White House plan to shift $330 billion between the program’s trust funds to avert deep cuts in disability payments, beginning at the end of 2016. President Barack Obama’s new budget plan released last week would accomplish this transfer by temporarily adjusting the formula that distributes receipts from the 6.2 percent federal payroll tax, which workers and their employers pay to finance both the retirement and disability programs. (Rogers, 2/11)