Articles Posted in Legislative Information

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)* analyzed the effects of alternative budget scenarios in which provisions of the 2017 tax act were extended and the average interest rate on federal debt increased.

Summary:

This letter responds to a request for an analysis of projected deficits and debt under alternative scenarios for the budget and interest rates. Specifically, Congressman Schweikert asked how CBO’s baseline projections of deficits and debt—which reflect the scheduled expiration of certain provisions of the 2017 tax act (Public Law 115-97) under current law—would change if all provisions of that act were extended permanently. Congressman Schweikert also asked how the projections would change further if interest rates were higher than expected.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)* has created a workbook to allow users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios by specifying differences in the values of four economic variables relative to the values underlying CBO’s January 2025 projections.

SUMMARY:

This workbook allows users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios by specifying differences in the values of four economic variables—productivity growth, labor force growth, interest rates, and inflation—relative to the values underlying the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent projections. Those projections were published in The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2025 to 2035.

From: Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Posted by Phil Swagel, CBO Director on February 24, 2025.

Fifty years ago today, Alice Rivlin was appointed to lead the Congressional Budget Office as the agency’s first director. Gathering in a single room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building (CBO’s original home), Rivlin and a few assistants began the process of standing up a new nonpartisan agency dedicated to supporting the Congressional budget process.

Report: February 13, 2025.

Congressional Budget (CBO) cost estimates, which represent the agency’s best assessment of a bill’s budgetary effects, can be subject to uncertainty arising from various sources. CBO describes how it addresses six common sources of uncertainty.

SUMMARY:

February 3, 2025.

Congressional Budget office (CBO) requests appropriations of $75.8 million for fiscal year 2026. The requested amount is an increase of $5.8 million, or 8.2 percent, above the annualized funding (at the 2024 level) under the continuing resolution currently in effect.

Request Summary:

In  a January 13, 2025 Report, The Demographic Outlook: 2025-2055, Congressional Budget Office projects, the U.S. population will increase from 350 million people in 2025 to 372 million in 2055, and the average age will also rise. Beginning in 2033, annual deaths will exceed annual births, and net immigration accounts for the growth.

REPORT SUMMARY:

“The size of the U.S. population and its composition by age and sex have significant implications for the economy and the federal budget. For example, the number of people ages 25 to 54 affects the number of people who are employed, and the number of people age 65 or older affects the number of Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)*: The federal budget deficit was $1.5 trillion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, CBO estimates—$103 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.

SUMMARY:

“The federal budget deficit was $1.5 trillion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$103 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year. Revenues were $397 billion (or 11 percent) higher and outlays were $293 billion (or 6 percent) higher from October through July than they were during the same period in fiscal year 2023.

As reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on May 16, 2024.

Summary:

S. 1979 would prohibit predispute arbitration agreements or joint-action waivers from being valid or enforceable if they require arbitration of an age discrimination dispute. Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against people who are 40 years of age or older based on their age in any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, job assignments, and training.

A May 13, 2024 presentation at the American Enterprise Institute by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

In its work for the Congress, CBO regularly projects budgetary and economic outcomes over the 10-year budget window (the period used in the Congressional budget process) and for an additional 20 years. This presentation highlights key findings from two recent reports on those projections.

Click here to see presentation document.

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