President George W Bush's proposed $48 billion defense spending increase is the largest share of the expected $80 billion deficit next year. Democrats insist that the income tax cut is the cause of the lost surpluses, but the White House has shown that of the lost government revenue only 12 percent is due to the tax cuts and 88 percent to the recession and the terrorist attacks. The White House insists that the economy will rebound in a year or two and the surplus will return.--Stephen V Cole