CBO’s budget projections under current law—known as baseline projections—give the Congress a benchmark against which to measure the effects of proposed changes spending and taxes. The projections show what would happen to the federal budget if current laws remained in place, that is if no new laws affecting spending and taxes were enacted during the projection period. In addition, the agency regularly shows the effects of adopting alternative policies that have been discussed by the Congress, so that the impact of those alternative policies is clear. CBO also makes long-term budget projections.
Additional information on how CBO allocated the automatic spending reductions under the Budget Control Act of 2011 in its most recent baseline projections