If appropriated funds lapse and normal operations of the federal government are suspended, then CBO will largely shut down as well.
September 2013
Director Doug Elmendorf explores possible changes in federal policy that might bolster innovation.
During testimony on The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook, estimates were provided for the economic effects of eliminating automatic spending reductions in 2014. This letter corrects and clarifies those estimates.
CBO projects that the Treasury will exhaust its well-established set of extraordinary measures—which allow for additional borrowing without breaching the debt limit—as well as its cash balance, between October 22 and the end of the month.
Previously, CBO based its long-term budget estimates on the mortality rates projected by the Social Security trustees. This year, CBO projected faster declines in mortality rates (and thus longer life expectancy) than the trustees do.
Recently, the Congress has expressed renewed interest in the cost of the federal response to major disasters.
As part of The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook released last week, CBO compared lifetime payroll taxes and benefits for the Medicare program and the Social Security program for people born in different decades.
Director Doug Elmendorf discusses the slowdown in health care spending, including significant downward revisions to CBO’s projections of such spending, at a conference hosted by the Brookings Institution.
Director Doug Elmendorf spoke with a group of reporters who gather regularly at the invitation of the Christian Science Monitor.
In 2013, half of the federal government’s spending went toward programs and activities other than major health care programs, Social Security, and net interest.