CBO Blog

  • Since the recession ended in June 2009, employment has risen sluggishly and the unemployment rate has fallen only partway back to its prerecession level. This CBO report discusses the reasons for the slow recovery of the labor market.

  • Director Doug Elmendorf spoke last week with the Healthcare Leadership Council, a group of leaders from hospitals, health plans, pharmaceutical companies, academic health centers, biotech firms, and other parts of the health care system.

  • CBO must issue a report that provides estimates of the caps on discretionary budget authority in effect for each fiscal year through 2021. CBO must also report whether, based on its estimates, enacted legislation has exceeded those caps.

  • CBO learns from many outside experts. Part of that learning comes from its Panel of Health Advisers, which consists of widely recognized experts in health policy and the health care sector. Today CBO announces its panel members for 2014.

  • CBO will release its annual Budget and Economic Outlook on Tuesday, February 4.

  • Between 2000 and 2012, the cost of providing health care to service members, retirees, and their families increased by 130 percent (after adjusting for inflation). What approaches might curtail the growth in those costs?

  • The federal government ran a budget deficit of $182 billion for the first three months of fiscal year 2014, CBO estimates, $111 billion less than the shortfall recorded in first three months of last year.

  • Federal debt is projected to rise significantly over the long term. What policy changes could reduce future deficits and thus lower the trajectory of federal debt? What criteria might be used to evaluate those policy changes?

  • The Administration requested $23 billion for nuclear forces in 2014, CBO estimates. With current plans, costs will total about $350 billion over the next 10 years if costs grow at historical rates, CBO projects.

  • A carbon tax or cap-and-trade program could make emission-intensive U.S. products less competitive and increase emissions overseas. Import tariffs related to emissions could reduce those effects but would be hard to implement.