The federal budget deficit was $693 billion for the first half of fiscal year 2019, CBO estimates, $94 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last year.
CBO Blog
Since 1975, CBO has produced nonpartisan analyses of budgetary and economic issues in support of the Congress. In 2018, CBO completed 947 formal cost estimates, 70 analytic reports and working papers, and many other products.
In 2015, brand-name specialty drugs accounted for about 30 percent of net spending on prescription drugs under Medicare Part D and Medicaid, but they accounted for only about 1 percent of all prescriptions dispensed in each program.
CBO reports annually to the Congress on programs funded for the current fiscal year whose authorizations of appropriations have expired and on programs whose authorizations will expire during the current fiscal year.
The federal budget deficit was $537 billion for the first five months of fiscal year 2019, CBO estimates, $146 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last year.
The effects on direct spending and revenues of laws enacted in 2017 are estimated to add $1.5 trillion to federal deficits over the 2017–2027 period; laws enacted in 2018 are projected to have little net effect over the 2018–2028 period.
CBO Director Keith Hall discusses changes to CBO’s economic forecast since January 2017 and provides an estimate of the portion of those changes that can be attributed to the enactment of the 2017 tax act.
Theresa Gullo, CBO’s Assistant Director for Budget Analysis, testifies before the Committee on the Budget, United States Senate, about discretionary funding following enactment of the Budget Control Act of 2011.
CBO projects that if the debt limit is not raised or suspended again after it is automatically reset on March 2, the Treasury will probably run out of cash near the end of fiscal year 2019 or early in fiscal year 2020.
As required, CBO reports on whether appropriations enacted for the current fiscal year have exceeded the statutory caps on discretionary funding. In CBO’s estimation, they have not, and a sequestration will not be required for 2019.