Bernanke, Elmendorf to testify before House Budget panel next week

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf will testify next week before the House Budget Committee on the effects of the federal budget on the economy and jobs. 

Bernanke is set to appear at 10 a.m. on Feb. 9, while Elmendorf will testify Feb. 10, the panel announced Monday. 

The Federal Reserve is planning to purchase $600 billion in government debt through the first six months of the year to spur the economic expansion. 

The nonpartisan CBO released a report last week that shows a record $1.5 trillion deficit projection for this year.

The CBO blamed the growing deficit on the $858 billion tax package passed in December, which extended all of the 2001 and 2003 Bush-era tax rates for two years and will add $390 billion to the deficit.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) intends to release spending ceilings for 2011 next week when the House returns from a weeklong recess, a congressional aide said Monday. 

Ryan, under the rules package adopted at the beginning of January, was given the rare power to unilaterally set the 2011 spending ceilings.

The ceilings, called for in section 302(a) of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, set the maximum amount the House Appropriations Committee can spend in a fiscal year. Normally the ceilings are in the concurrent budget resolution passed by both houses of Congress. 

Erik Wasson contributed to this story.