Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, September 2013

Since May, the Treasury has been at its current limit on borrowing, although it has employed its well-established toolbox of extraordinary measures to allow continued borrowing for a limited time.

CBO currently projects that the Treasury will exhaust all of the borrowing authority created by those measures, as well as its cash balance, between October 22 and the end of the month.

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A Premium Support System for Medicare: Analysis of Illustrative Options

Under a premium support system for Medicare, beneficiaries would purchase health insurance from one of a number of competing plans, and the federal government would pay part of the cost of the coverage.

CBO presents a preliminary analysis of the ways two illustrative options for such a system would affect federal spending and beneficiaries’ choices and payments.

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The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook

Although federal deficits are projected to decline over the next several years under current law, increasing interest costs and growing spending for Social Security and major health care programs would soon cause them to rise steadily.

The larger deficits would cause federal debt to grow faster than the economy. By 2038, debt would reach 100 percent of GDP and would be on an upward path, CBO projects—a trend that could not be sustained indefinitely.

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The Pell Grant Program: Recent Growth and Policy Options

Between the 2006–2007 and 2010–2011 academic years, the number of Pell grant recipients increased by 80 percent and the average grant rose by 43 percent. Changes in the economy and in postsecondary education and policymakers’ choices to expand the program were the causes.

CBO has assessed the budgetary effects of several options for reducing the number of recipients, reducing or increasing grant amounts, and simplifying the program’s rules.

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Analyses of the Senate's Immigration Legislation

Working with the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, CBO has prepared the following analyses related to the immigration bill that was considered by the Senate:

• Cost estimates providing projections of the effects of S. 744 (as approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and then as passed by the Senate) on federal spending, revenues, and the deficit.
• A report on the economic impact of S. 744 (as approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee), analyzing the bill's overall effects on economic output, employment, wages, productivity, and interest rates.