President Barack Obama has set up a taskforce to tackle the growing US budget deficit.
The body will report back by the end of the year on what steps need to be taken to get the deficit down to 3% of GDP.
This year’s deficit is expected to climb to 10.6% of GDP. Last year it reached 9.9%, the highest rate since World War II.
Erskine Bowles, ex-chief of staff to President Clinton, and ex-republican senator Alan Simpson will co-chair.
The US budget deficit for the year ending 30 September 2009 was $1.415 trillion (£907bn). It is expected to hit a record $1.56 trillion in 2010.
