The Bush administration's highest economic priority for its remaining three years is to control the growth of federal spending and bring down the US budget deficit, John Snow, US Treasury secretary, said.

“The clear priority of the administration right now is the deficit, making sure that we achieve the president's objective of cutting the deficit in half by the time he leaves office,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. This would put the deficit below 2 per cent of gross domestic product, low by historical standards.