Many analysts consider the chained CPI to be a more accurate measure of the cost of living for the average person than the traditional CPI—but increases in the chained CPI may understate growth in the elderly’s cost of living.
CBO Blog
Jeffrey Kling, CBO’s Associate Director for Economic Analysis, discusses his testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
CBO estimates that using the chained CPI governmentwide starting in 2014 would reduce the deficit by $340 billion over ten years by lowering benefits for Social Security and other federal programs and by increasing revenues.
Over the past two decades, the number of children in federally subsidized foster care has steadily declined, while the number of children whose adoptive parents receive federal adoption assistance has increased.
Spending for military retirement pay and survivors’ annuities will rise by more than 30 percent over the next decade, CBO projects.
The number of people receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has risen sharply in recent years—from about 26 million in 2007 to nearly 47 million in 2012.
The federal government ran a budget deficit of $601 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2013, CBO estimates, $178 billion less than the shortfall recorded for the same period last year.
What role should the government play in the secondary market for residential mortgages, and what should become of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? CBO has analyzed some of the key choices to be made regarding the future structure of that market.
CBO compares the Army’s plan for the GCV with four options and finds that, although no option would meet all of the Army’s goals, all are likely to be less costly and pose a smaller risk of delay than CBO expects for the Army’s plan.
Annual outlays on UI increased from an average of $33 billion from 2004 through 2007 to $119 billion in 2009 and $155 billion in 2010; they dropped to $93 billion in 2012 and we expect them to decline further over the next few years.