A presentation by Lara Robillard, an analyst in CBO’s Budget Analysis Division, at Academy Health’s 2026 Health Policy Orientation.
Summary
CBO was established to give the Congress a stronger role in budget matters. The agency provides analysis of budgetary and economic issues that is objective and impartial. It is strictly nonpartisan and does not make policy recommendations.
October 16, 2026 – Cost Estimate.
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on September 16, 2026
“Over the past three months, the Congressional Budget Office has produced a variety of budget and economic analyses, cost estimates, and analytical products, thus fulfilling its core mission of supporting Congress during each stage of the legislative process. This newsletter is a companion to CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of September 30, 2026, which offers a summary of recent publications and those scheduled to be released in the coming months.
CBO also regularly publishes presentations and budget and economic data, which can be found on the agency’s website, as well as models and code, which are posted on the agency’s Github page.To learn more about CBO, see An Introduction to the Congressional Budget Office.”
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Two different pieces of pending federal legislation share the acronym GUARD Act, but they address technological risks at opposite ends of the age spectrum. The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2026 (S. 3062) would seek to protect minors from potentially harmful interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots and companions through age verification, access restrictions, disclosures, and other safeguards. The separate Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act (H.R. 2978/S. 2544) would strengthen law enforcement capabilities to investigate increasingly sophisticated financial fraud affecting older Americans, including schemes involving artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Neither proposal has yet been enacted into federal law. Examining the two measures together highlights both their potential benefits and their possible unintended consequences, including questions involving privacy, cybersecurity, parental authority, access to beneficial AI technologies, digital inclusion, and civil liberties. Their contrasting approaches also raise a broader question likely to become increasingly important as artificial intelligence permeates everyday life: How can society protect people who may be particularly vulnerable to emerging technologies without unnecessarily limiting their ability to benefit from those same technologies?
This proposed legislation is more consequential for libraries and government-information professionals than its title might initially suggest. It is not simply an internal GPO housekeeping bill; it would substantially rewrite the statutory framework governing the Federal Depository Library Program, digital preservation, permanent public access, cataloging, and the National Collection. In this post the strongest emphasis is on permanent public access, preservation of born digital government information, the modernization of the FDLP, and the implications for law librarians and researchers. Those features distinguish this bill from what might otherwise appear to readers to be a largely administrative modernization of GPO.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) final report, August 28,2026.*
CBO reports annually on programs whose authorizations of appropriations have already expired or will expire. This report updates CBO’s preliminary report that was released on January 15, 2026.
SUMMARY:
Cost Estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), August 6, 2026.
Overview of Document:
Ohio has enacted a new law governing the use of drones by law enforcement, reflecting the growing effort by legislatures to adapt Fourth Amendment principles to rapidly evolving surveillance technologies. Signed by Governor Mike DeWine, House Bill 251 establishes that, in most situations, police officers must obtain a search warrant before using a drone to conduct a search when a warrant would also have been required had officers entered the location in person.
The legislation recognizes that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly valuable investigative tools while also raising significant privacy concerns. Until now, Ohio law addressed some warrant requirements for surveillance conducted from manned aircraft but did not specifically regulate drones. House Bill 251 fills that gap by extending traditional constitutional search principles to unmanned aerial surveillance.
Budget reconciliation is a special congressional procedure created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that allows Congress to consider legislation affecting federal spending, revenues (taxes), and the debt limit under expedited procedures. Most notably, reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes normally needed to overcome a filibuster. As a result, reconciliation has become one of the most important tools for enacting major fiscal policy changes. The following is an overview of the congressional budget reconciliation process and a discussion of its importance to librarians, researchers, and the general public.
Reconciliation is designed to align existing laws with the fiscal goals established in a congressional budget resolution. It can be used to:
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Report, May 12, 2026.*
CBO estimates that a national missile defense system possessing capabilities broadly consistent with those in the “The Iron Dome for America” executive order would cost about $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy, and operate for 20 years.
SUMMARY:
Criminal Law Library Blog