The congressional budget office says the fy 2010 deficit will be 1.3 trillion. Why do posters say 3 trillion?

Maybe people are adding the interest on the national debt to the budget expenditures. The average interest rate on government securities is 2.595. The national debt for 2/13/10 is $12.355 trillion and climbing. If you add the interest on the national debt to the CBO projected budget deficit of $1.3 trillion it comes to well over $3 trillion.