WASHINGTON -- The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office yesterday projected the government would build up almost $2.4 trillion in red-ink spending over the next 10 years throwing a lit match into the explosive election-year issue of budget deficits.

The projected deficit is almost $1 trillion worse than estimated in August.

The CBO report, which forecasts continued strong economic growth for this year, says the deficit will hit a record $477 billion. Next year's deficit is expected to decline to $362 billion.

On a positive note, the report said this year's expected deficit would be, at 4.2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, "a smaller share of the economy than the deficits of the mid-1980s and early 1990s.''

But the report landed on White House political expectations with a potentially damaging thud. An increasing number of Americans -- although not a majority -- say they are worried about the growing deficit.

Just three years ago, the Clinton administration projected $5.6 trillion in surpluses over 10 years and surpluses beyond that for "as far as the eye can see.''

Monday, President Bush will unveil his budget for fiscal year 2005, which begins Oct. 1. This year's budget, passed by Congress, calls for spending $2.3 trillion, up from $1.7 trillion when he took office. Last year's deficit was $375 billion.

In his budget proposal Bush will detail a number of new spending initiatives. For example, even though Medicare prescription drug coverage doesn't take full effect until 2006, some costs begin this year. The costs will grow next year, reaching $400 billion in 10 years and $8 trillion over 75 years.

Bush also wants to spend more money on space projects in preparation for a manned mission to Mars. Moreover, he has called for a 10 percent increase in spending on homeland security. And he wants more spending for the military, beyond the $87 billion Congress authorized for the war in Iraq just a few weeks ago. Defense spending has risen from $253 billion in 1985 to $451 billion this year.

Bush's most expensive proposal is to make his recent tax cuts permanent. He has maintained that the tax cuts are responsible for the current economic rebound.

Growth is now about 4.8 percent, according to the CBO, and is expected to continue. "Stronger business investment will lead the way, as firms spend more than they have spent in the past few years on their fixed assets [such as buildings and equipment] and switch from drawing down inventories to restocking their shelves," the report said. "The rapid growth of productivity over the past three years has contributed to the economy's capacity to expand quickly without boosting inflation significantly.''

But the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that supports a balanced budget, said that if all expiring tax cuts are made permanent and spending continues to rise at the same rate, the CBO estimate of total deficits could be increased by $5.4 trillion over 10 years. The coalition said the CBO report should make deficit reduction "a top priority item on this year's agenda.''

To help fund his initiatives, Bush will call for dramatic cuts in current domestic spending programs. Those are certain to cause enormous dissension on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers ready to do battle to defend their particular projects.

Democrats continue to oppose making tax cuts permanent, arguing they mainly benefit the wealthy. The CBO estimates assume that there will be no more tax cuts in the next 10 years and that spending will not increase as rapidly as it has. Spending rose 8.9 percent in 2003, and is expected to grow 6.7 percent this year.

According to the Treasury Department, as of last Friday, the national debt was $7.01 trillion. So in 10 years, if CBO is correct, the national debt would be about $9.4 trillion.

Bush did not get the typical "bounce" in the polls after his State of the Union speech last week largely because conservative Republicans as well as the Democrats, including the presidential candidates, criticized him for the deficit. They all but united in saying the president had not specified where he would get the money to pay for everything he wants to do.

Bush has said little about deficits lately but has tried to assure voters that the economy is improving and that jobs are starting to return (about 2.3 million jobs have been lost in the past three years).

Bush blames the deficits on the recession, which he contends started before he took office, along with the costs of the war on terrorism as well as the huge blow to the economy from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Bush declared that he has a plan to cut the deficit in half within five years. But it's not clear whether what he means to cut in half is the $1.4 trillion in deficits that the CBO says will accumulate in the next five years.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan yesterday could not answer a question about Bush's precise intentions. "Well, one, the budget is coming out [next week], but I said any way you want to look at it, he has a plan to reduce the deficit in half,'' McClellan insisted.

In New Hampshire, which votes today in the first-in-the-nation primary election, there was an avalanche of criticism of the ballooning deficit from the Democratic presidential contenders. The general theme was that Bush's tax cuts are responsible for the rapid growth of the deficit.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said: "The president has told the nation he plans to cut the deficit in half, while leaving out one very important detail: how. With a $477 billion-dollar hole already dug, Democrats know that the first step to a stronger economy is limiting George Bush's damage to just four years."