By Stephen Dinan | The Washington Times
The rapidly rising federal debt will do substantially more damage to the U.S. economy in coming years than climate change, the Congressional Budget Office said, putting stark figures on the size of the danger.
The CBO said Friday that if Uncle Sam’s debt grows as it projects, it would reduce the size of the economy by 3.2% in 30 years. Climate change would sap it of 1%, as measured by gross domestic product.
The CBO released the data in response to a question from Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. Mr. Grassley had labeled climate change a “serious issue” but said it was odd that the Democratic-led panel was spending so much time worrying about it.