Most Americans know that the defense budget constitutes a substantial portion of federal spending, but there remains plenty of confusion as to just how much. While a quick search can answer that for you (spoiler alert: $714 billion in…
Introduction As debate in Washington continues over how (or whether) to pay for the latest infrastructure plan, someone will inevitably claim it will pay for itself. (1) Such optimism reflects the belief that government spending creates jobs and grows…
Key Takeaways Several times each year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes a baseline – a policy-neutral snapshot of the federal budget meant to inform lawmakers about future trends, such as the sustained imbalance between revenues and spending. Often, the…
Introduction Recent reports from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have reiterated long-standing warnings that the federal budget suffers from a growing structural gap between projected spending and revenues. If left unaddressed, this structural…
Although Congress has yet to complete its long overdue work on spending plans for the current fiscal year, lawmakers must soon turn their attention to the budget for Fiscal 2019, which begins Oct. 1. Unfortunately, President Trump’s proposed budget fails…
Two deadlines converge by coincidence this year. They are not related to one another and the precise consequences of failing to deal with them in a timely manner are different. Missing either of the deadlines, however, has the potential to…
On Jan. 24, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its budget and economic projections for the next 10 years showing a $9.4 trillion cumulative increase in budget deficits. The projections assume that current law remains in place. The Concord…
