This document explains the updated format of CBO’s formal cost estimates, which highlights a bill’s effects on major components of the federal budget for the current year and subsequent years in the budget window.
The Congress uses CBO's cost estimates to help it implement rules and procedures related to budget enforcement. CBO's cost estimates provide information about how a bill would affect major components of the federal budget and details about CBO's analysis—the reasoning, analytical methods, and sources of data used to develop the estimate, as well as any sources of uncertainty.
Cost estimates are published on CBO's website where they are searchable by several variables. Estimates vary in length and may not include all the sections shown in this example, but they contain the same basic information.
