Additional war spending this year will push the federal deficit to a record $427billion for fiscal 2005, effectively thwarting President Bush’s pledge to begin stanching the flow of government red ink, according to new administration budget forecasts.

Administration officials rolled out an $80billion emergency spending request, mainly for Iraq and Afghanistan, conceding that the extra money would probably send the federal deficit above the record $412billion recorded in fiscal 2004, which ended Sept.30.

Of the $80 billion request, at least $75 billion would fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. An additional $5 billion would go toward building an embassy in Baghdad, continuing reconstruction in Afghanistan, offering assistance to the Palestinians and sending relief to the Darfur region of Sudan. That $80 billion would come on top of $25 billion already appropriated for the war this year, pushing the total cost of fighting to $105 billion – up from $88 billion in 2004 and $78.6 billion in 2003.

Bush has pledged to cut the budget deficit in half by 2009, a promise the administration says it can keep. But at least for now, the government’s fiscal health is worsening.

In a separate briefing Tuesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected a cumulative deficit of $1.36 trillion between 2005 and 2014, well above the $861 billion CBO projected in September. CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said tax cuts and spending enacted by Congress last year will contribute $504 billion to that deficit.

The administration and CBO briefings painted a sobering picture of the government’s financial strength, even in the face of a growing economy and rising tax receipts. The figures suggest the Bush administration will continue to have difficulty reining in federal deficits as long as war is draining the government’s coffers.

JONATHAN WEISMAN, Washington Post