The Budget Outlook and Options for Reducing the Deficit
Presentation
Presentation by Julie Topoleski, Director of CBO’s Labor, Income Security, and Long-Term Analysis Division, and Molly Saunders-Scott, analyst in CBO’s Tax Analysis Division, at the National Tax Association’s 53rd Annual Spring Symposium.
CBO’s baseline projections suggest that, over the long term, changes in fiscal policy would need to be made to address the rising costs of interest and mitigate other adverse consequences of high and rising debt.
In coming decades, the aging of the population and rising health care costs will put increasing pressure on the federal budget.
Revenues under current law will not keep pace with spending.
Major trust funds will be exhausted within 10 years, reducing benefits for vulnerable people.
Changes to both spending and revenues could be made in many ways.
Undertaking new initiatives that were paid for would not improve the fiscal trajectory.
The longer action is delayed, the larger the policy changes would need to be.
