WASHINGTON, July 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi
issued the following statement today after news reports indicated that the
federal budget deficit will reach a record high of nearly $490 billion. The
Bush Administration is expected to announce the exact figure later this
afternoon.

    "President Bush has mortgaged our future with record deficit spending
on the wrong priorities. An unnecessary and extraordinarily costly war in
Iraq has turned record surpluses into record deficits. Meanwhile, our
economy is in a severe economic slump as a result of this President's
mismanagement.

    "The New Direction Congress has begun to reverse the President's failed
policies by working with the Administration to provide more than 130
million Americans with Recovery Rebates to strengthen our economy with a
timely, targeted, and temporary stimulus check for Americans. And we
reached bipartisan compromise to enact historic reforms to reverse our home
mortgage lending crisis, and launch a new GI Bill to make the veterans of
Iraq and Afghanistan part of an economic recovery.

    "This week, the President will sign the most significant housing reform
bill in a generation, passed by the Democratic-led Congress. With this
legislation, which responsibly expands homeownership opportunities and
protects families against foreclosure, we are helping keep the American
dream alive and helping turn this economy around.

    "Despite some progress to address the economic challenges facing
American families, a costly and unnecessary war and tax cuts for the
wealthiest Americans leave our national budgets awash in red ink.

    "The economic policies of this Administration have largely been a
failure, and we must take our nation in a New Direction."

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