The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences announced its new members this morning. I'm quite honored to be included in this group -- along with Jose Escarce, who is on CBO's Panel of Health Advisers. I view my inclusion as testimony to what the outstanding CBO health staff has taught me about health care and health policy, and look forward to continuing to learn from them and other innovators in the field.
CBO Blog
Yesterday's testimony on the effects of recent financial market turmoil on pension assets has generated a significant amount of interest, so I wanted to follow up on one topic: overinvestment in an employer's stock.
CBO released its Monthly Budget Review today. Based on data from the Daily Treasury Statements, CBO estimates that the federal budget deficit was about $438 billion in fiscal year 2008, $276 billion more than the shortfall recorded in 2007. (The Treasury Department will report the actual deficit for fiscal year 2008 later this month.)
I am testifying before the House Committee on Education on Labor this afternoon on the effects of recent financial market developments on pensions; click here for the testimony.
The key points of the testimony include:
CBO released a brief today on climate-change policy and CO2 emissions from passenger vehicles (for the PDF, click here).
Discussions about addressing climate change (e.g., through a cap-and-trade program or a carbon tax) often focus on the transportation sector. The brief argues, however, that most of the reduction in CO2 emissions would occur in other sectors (e.g., the electricity sector) and that the effects on vehicle emissions would be modest, especially in the shorter run.
CBO has just issued its analysis of the financial rescue legislation released by the Senate today. This legislation includes the rescue package considered by the house earlier this week, a temporary increase in deposit insurance, and certain tax provisions including an extension of Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) relief. The pdf of our analysis is posted here. The text of our analysis is pasted below.
October 1, 2008
CBO has just issued its analysis of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, as released tonight by the House Committee on Financial Services. Among other provisions, the legislation would create a Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The pdf of our analysis is posted here. The text is pasted below.
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September 28, 2008
Honorable Barney Frank
Chairman
Committee on Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515Dear Mr. Chairman:
CBO has released a cost estimatefor HR 7174, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2008.
The legislation would provide:
Health care benefits for eligible emergency personnel who responded to the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001, and for recovery and clean-up workers following the attacks;
Health care benefits to eligible residents and others present in the part of New York City that was affected by those attacks; and
A Wall Street Journal blog posting mischaracterizes CBO's testimony earlier this week on the net budget impact of the Treasury proposal to buy troubled assets. The Wall Street Journal blog states that the plan "likely won't have any effect on the 2009 budget deficit." That is incorrect.
Here's what I said in the testimony:
An article in today's Washington Post suggests that in testimony yesterday, I argued that the proposed Troubled Asset Relief Act of 2008 "could actually worsen the financial crisis" by forcing institutions to recognize new losses on their balance sheets through the sale of assets to the government and by revealing some of those same institutions to be insolvent. This is not fully accurate, and some clarification is in order.