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Economic growth and recent legislation have cut the federal budget deficit in half in the past four years, but federal debt will still hit historic levels if more isn't done, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday in the annual update of its budget and economic forecast.

Coal may be dying in the United States, but it’s still the world’s preferred fuel for generating electricity — especially in China and India. And that’s why many energy experts think it’s so crucial to figure out how to capture carbon from all those coal plants and stash it deep underground.

The amount of federal debt held by the public is projected later this year to surpass 70 percent of the nation's annual economic output, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday in a report that spotlighted the stark choices policymakers face on taxation and government spending.

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office on the top 1 percent of earners is likely to figure prominently in the escalating political fight over the economy.

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion budget deficit in fiscal 2011, the same as the previous fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The federal deficit will hit $1.3 trillion for fiscal 2011, the third consecutive year of record shortfalls and an emerging campaign theme for GOP attacks on President Obama and congressional Democrats. The deficits of the last three years are at levels unseen since World War II and stem from the "long shadow" cast on the economy by the financial crisis and recession, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

In its mid-year long-term budget forecast, the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday renewed its previous warnings that the government faces an increasing risk of a fiscal crisis due its ever-greater borrowing.

A new estimate predicts the U.S. budget deficit will hit almost $1.5 trillion this year, a stunning new record.

An effort by Republicans in the House of Representatives to repeal the healthcare law enacted last year would add to already huge federal budget deficits, the Congressional Budget Office warned on Thursday.

The U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program, which risked $700 billion of government funds to bail out troubled banks and automakers, will cost taxpayers a mere $25 billion, according to an estimate released on Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.