The White House is defending President Barack Obama's assertion that his 10-year spending plan does not add anything to the national debt over the next decade, even as critics and non-partisan fact checkers point out that the plan would increase debt and at no point runs a budget surplus in the next year.

The administration released its fiscal year 2012 budget proposal this week with spending projections going to 2021. During a news conference Tuesday, Obama told reporters, "What my budget does is to put forward some tough choices, some significant spending cuts so that by the middle of this decade our annual spending will match our annual revenues. We will not be adding more to the national debt."

The assertion was repeated by other administration officials. Obama and administration officials have stated they were not counting interest on the debt. But at no point between the current fiscal year and 2021 do the White House's own numbers show revenue equal to expenditures. Further, the national debt is projected to nearly double to $26.3 trillion in 2021.