Members of Congress have asked what might cause deficits and debt over the next 10 years to be lower than CBO has projected. CBO's Director recaps his answers to their questions about economic growth, revenues, and spending.
February 2026
In lieu of publishing a report providing CBO's latest long-term budget outlook, the agency is publishing the data that it would have presented in that report.
In response to Congressional interest and to enhance transparency, CBO plans to publish additional computer code on our GitHub page throughout the year showing details of the modeling underlying the agency's analyses.
CBO estimates that the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund's balance is exhausted in 2040. The balance generally increases through 2031, but spending begins to outstrip income in the following year.
CBO's Director, Phillip Swagel, discusses the current budget and economic outlook and highlights the effects of the 2025 reconciliation act, higher tariffs, and lower immigration on CBO's baseline budget and economic projections.
In CBO's projections, the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2026 is $1.9 trillion, and federal debt rises to 120 percent of GDP in 2036. Economic growth strengthens in 2026 and moderates in later years.
The federal budget deficit totaled $696 billion in the first four months of fiscal year 2026, CBO estimates. That amount is $143 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.