The U.S. Treasury announced last Thursday that the federal deficit was $128.7 billion in August. That’s 13 percent lower than it was during the same month last year.
Washington typically records a budget surplus in September and $80 billion or so in black ink is in fact projected for next month. If that occurs as expected, the deficit for all of 2014 will be about $500 billion. That will be more than 26 percent below 2013 and the smallest federal deficit by far since 2008.
The deficit has been such a corrosive and destabilizing issue over the past six years that the Treasury’s report should have provided an excuse for all of the participants in the budget debate to say something about the numbers.
Whether you like them and want to take a victory lap for the lowest deficit in six years, or hate them and want to criticize a deficit that still seems high in nominal terms, last Thursday presented the kind of rhetorical opportunity that in the past would have been too good for most people to pass up.
Instead there was nothing. The federal deficit that was such a big issue the past few years that it led to a government shutdown caused no response whatsoever.
On the day the Treasury reported, there was no statement (other than the Monthly Treasury Report that announced the August deficit) from at the two places where it might have been expected -- by the White House or Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. The cabinet official who has direct responsibility for the budget – budget director Shaun Donovan – didn’t issue a statement on the OMB website either
The administration wasn’t the only one to go silent. None of those most likely to be critical of the deficit such as House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued a statement.
The tea party leaders in the House and Senate were similarly silent.
The deficit scold organizations that have been so active in the past like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also didn’t issue a statement last Thursday.
And other than a few small articles, the media treated the August number as if it wasn’t newsworthy at all.
In other words, the federal deficit has almost completely disappeared as an issue.
Some of the reason for this incredible disappearing act is that a rapidly declining deficit just isn’t as valuable inside the beltway as one that is quickly rising.
That’s one reason why the recent political focus has been shifting from the deficit, which has been dramatically declining, to the national debt, which even with a smaller deficit is still increasing.
But the bigger reason is that most everyone involved in the federal budget debate likely has concluded that it’s not in his or her interest to talk about the deficit before the election.
The White House doesn’t want to raise the issue and in the process give the GOP the chance to respond. The administration also doesn’t want to be seen as celebrating when the general impression is that the economy isn’t doing well for the average person.
The GOP doesn’t want to remind people about the budget, which was the reason for its lowest approval rating of the past few years. The tea party doesn’t want to be asked about why it isn’t shutting down the government again.
And the deficit groups, which exist largely to reduce the deficit, have a much tougher time justifying their existence when it’s falling.
Put this all together and you get a federal deficit that has all but disappeared from view, at least until the election is over.
In the meantime, the deficit will continue to be in the political equivalent of a witness protection program.
