CBO Blog

  • Uncertainty of CBO’s Long-Term Projections

    In June, CBO released The 2018 Long-Term Budget Outlook, describing the agency’s projections of federal spending, revenues, deficits, and debt over the next 30 years. This post discusses the uncertainty surrounding those projections.

  • The 2018 Long-Term Budget Outlook at a Glance

    In June, CBO released The 2018 Long-Term Budget Outlook, describing the agency’s projections of federal spending, revenues, deficits, and debt over the next 30 years. This post presents some of the key takeaways from that report.

  • Accounting for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Federal Budget

    CBO examines how federal control affects the GSEs’ budgetary treatment and describes how different accounting approaches affect estimates of the costs of the GSEs and of potential policy changes.

  • Testimony on Transparency at CBO: An Update

    On September 13, 2018, Director Keith Hall testified before the Senate Budget Committee about transparency at CBO.

  • About CBO's Cost Estimates

    Formal cost estimates are among the many products CBO provides to policymakers and analysts to help them assess the effects of differing policies on budgetary outcomes.

  • Monthly Budget Review for August 2018

    The federal budget deficit was $895 billion for the first 11 months of fiscal year 2018, CBO estimates, $222 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year.

  • CBO’s Technical Review Panel for Its Health Insurance Simulation Model

    CBO Director Keith Hall announces the members of a new technical review panel that will provide feedback on the next generation of CBO’s health insurance simulation model, which is being developed and tested.

  • Operating Costs of Aging Air Force Aircraft

    As aircraft age, they generally become more expensive to operate. The rate of cost growth for the Air Force’s aging aircraft has increased in recent years to a considerable degree because of growth in the total Air Force budget.

  • Transitioning to Alternative Structures for Housing Finance: An Update

    CBO analyzes four alternative structures for the secondary mortgage market, in which the government would play varying roles in guaranteeing mortgage-backed securities, and provides estimates of federal costs under each approach.

  • The Deficit Reductions Necessary to Meet Various Targets for Federal Debt

    What changes in federal budget deficits would be necessary to reduce debt held by the public over the long term? CBO analyzed the primary deficit reductions necessary to meet three different debt targets in four different time frames.