The Congressional Budget Office will release The 2021 Long-Term Budget Outlook on Thursday, March 4, at 2:00 p.m. The report will provide projections of federal spending, revenues, deficits, and debt for the next 30 years. Those projections, which incorporate the assumption that current laws generally will not change, are called the extended baseline. They will be consistent with CBO’s latest 10-year baseline budget and economic projections.
CBO typically examines budgetary outcomes under both the extended baseline and an extended alternative fiscal scenario. Under the alternative fiscal scenario, current law would be changed to maintain certain policies that are now in place. In order to release the report when it would be most useful to the Congress, CBO will examine budgetary outcomes for the extended baseline only. CBO plans to produce an alternative fiscal scenario at a later date.
CBO also will soon release reports with additional detail about its 10-year projections—one about its 10-year economic projections on Tuesday, February 23, at 2:00 p.m., and another about its 10-year budget projections on Friday, March 5, at 11:00 a.m.
Deborah Kilroe is CBO’s Director of Communications.