Critics of health care reform legislation in the Congress will get more ammunition for their arguments today, as new budget deficit figures are released, showing even more red ink under budget plans from the Obama Administration.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the budget numbers right now at the federal level.  The recession has caused a huge budget hit, combined with the Wall Street bailout from last year and the Obama Stimulus law.

"The budget deficit through July 2009 reached $1.3 trillion," estimated the Congressional Budget Office last month, which then reeled off figures looking back a year earlier showing that was "close to $880 billion greater than the deficit recorded in the 10 months through July 2008."

Ching-ching.  Ching-ching.  And the red ink isn't going to stop flowing anytime soon, even if the economy gets back on track.

The CBO says as of June, "receipts from individual income and payroll taxes are down by almost $200 billion (or 12 percent)" compared with the same point last year, while corporate tax receipts are down by 57 percent.

In other words, money isn't flowing into the Treasury at high rates right now, which means even more deficit trouble ahead.

Things are so bad right now that you could cut all federal spending that's not related to the military and homeland security and you wouldn't balance the budget.

And how does all of this relate to health care?  Well, you can make two arguments here.

For critics of the current health care reform plans, the fact that the latest budget estimate will show $9 trillion in red ink over ten years only confirms their belief that it is absolutely insane to spend over a trillion more on health reform.

For backers of the current health care reform plans, the fact that the latest budget estimate will show $9 trillion in red ink over ten years only confirms their belief that it is absolutely insane not to reign in health care spending by approving health reforms.

I've done it before and I will do it again, I would urge you to read about the budget troubles in California, which has resulted in massive spending cuts.

Sooner or later, the Congress will have to act, and maybe in a manner like the cuts that have taken place in the Golden State.  But not before an awful lot of finger pointing over who's to blame.