The Congressional Budget Office requests appropriations of $75.8 million for fiscal year 2026. Most of that amount—86.6 percent—would be for pay and benefits; 9.8 percent would be for information technology (IT); and 3.6 percent would be for training, expert consultant services, office supplies, and other items. The requested amount is an increase of $5.8 million, or 8.2 percent, above the funding provided this year.

Of the increase, 52 percent would primarily cover increases in current employees’ salaries and benefits and would enable CBO to expand its staff in key areas of Congressional interest. The remaining 48 percent would address increased costs to enhance the agency’s cybersecurity and IT infrastructure; such improvements are critical to protecting sensitive data and improving the agency’s computing power for analyzing complex data sets. CBO is prioritizing advancements in a security strategy called zero trust architecture, which requires verification before allowing access to any user or device.

The requested budget is based on continued strong interest in CBO’s work from the Congressional leadership, committees, and Members. In 2024, CBO published about 1,100 cost estimates for legislation and devoted significant resources to analyzing the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (Public Law 118-159); the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42); the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47); and H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024. For those bills and many others, the agency also fulfilled thousands of requests for technical assistance. In addition, CBO prepared dozens of reports, many at the request of Chairs or Ranking Members of Congressional committees.

CBO will provide many estimates and a large amount of technical assistance to the 119th Congress as lawmakers consider significant legislative initiatives. With additional resources, the agency could provide even more. In 2025, CBO will maintain its staffing at about 270 employees and focus on the highest priority current needs, including preparing cost estimates, providing technical assistance as the Congress crafts legislation, and analyzing the economic and dynamic budgetary effects of proposed policies. CBO will reduce expenditures elsewhere, by deferring hiring for some positions and deferring some activities, including not undertaking some longer-term improvements in its IT infrastructure.

The fiscal year 2026 request would allow CBO to grow to 285 employees. That number would allow the agency to better meet its responsibilities under the Congressional Budget Act. The request also would allow for IT enhancements, including some currently on hold.

Of the 15 additional staff members CBO would hire in 2026:

• 9 would improve CBO’s capabilities to provide timely analysis of changes to health care programs, border security, credit programs (like student loans), and the U.S. population (particularly because of changes in immigration) and of dynamic policy effects (that is, determining how changes in fiscal policies would affect the economy and how those economic changes would, in turn, affect the federal budget);
• 2 would enhance CBO’s responsiveness in producing cost estimates and providing technical assistance in the legislative process;
• 1 would be an addition to the agency’s editing staff to enhance the readability and accessibility of CBO’s materials;
• 1 would provide increased legal assistance;
• 1 would enhance CBO’s IT security; and
• 1 would boost outreach to Congressional staff and the press.

CBO plans to use expert consultants more than it has in the past—enabling the agency to shift to the Congress’s key areas of focus more easily and to be more nimble in conducting facility management, work in IT, and financial management.

CBO’s Budget Request and Its Consequences for Staffing and Output

In fiscal year 2026, CBO will continue its mission of providing objective, insightful, clearly presented, and timely budgetary and economic information to the Congress. The $75.8 million requested would be used mostly for salaries and benefits. (See Appendix A for detailed tables, and see Appendix B for details by object class.)

Funding Request for Personnel Costs and Consequences for Staffing

CBO requests $65.6 million for salaries and benefits to support 285 employees by the end of fiscal year 2026, which equates to 278 full-time-equivalent positions for the year. That amount represents an increase in personnel costs of $3.0 million, or 4.7 percent, from the $62.6 million devoted to such costs this year.

Of the total requested amount:

• $47.4 million would cover salaries—an increase of $2.3 million, or 5.2 percent, from the amount provided under the continuing resolution. That increase would primarily fund inflation adjustments and performance-based salary increases for current staff in 2026. Employees earning less than $100,000 would receive an across-the-board increase of 3.8 percent, whereas employees earning $100,000 or more (for whom more of their compensation is based on performance) would receive a 1.8 percent increase. The requested increase would also fund the hiring of 15 new staff members in 2026.
• $18.2 million would fund benefits—an increase of $0.6 million, or 3.6 percent, from the amount provided under the continuing resolution. The requested increase would cover growth in the cost of federal benefits and would fund benefits for the 15 new staff members in 2026.

All told, salaries and benefits for current employees would rise by $2.2 million, and the costs of salaries and benefits for the 15 additional employees would total $0.8 million.

Funding Request for Nonpersonnel Costs

CBO requests $10.1 million for nonpersonnel costs. That request is an increase of $2.8 million, or 37.8 percent, from the fiscal year 2025 funding. The requested non­personnel funds would cover IT operations—such as cybersecurity, software and hardware maintenance, software development, communications, and purchases of commercial data and equipment—and would pay for training, expert consultant services, office supplies, travel, interagency agreements, facilities support, editorial support, financial management operations (including auditing of the agency’s financial statements), subscriptions to library services, and other items.

The requested increase would, among other things, allow CBO to improve its ability to detect, assess, and recover from cyberattacks and to expand its cloud infrastructure. Much of the agency’s spending on cybersecurity is the cost of maintaining access to data that are essential to CBO’s analyses.

Consequences for Output

The requested funding would allow CBO to produce more analysis for the Congress, including analysis in areas in which the agency anticipates additional legislative activity and oversight. It would also allow CBO to provide more technical assistance to committees and Members when they are crafting legislation and faster turnarounds when demand surges. In addition to providing major analytic products and assistance, CBO would continue to produce other important material, such as presentations about the agency’s work, letters in response to Members’ questions, and blog posts.

CBO regularly consults with committees and the Congressional leadership to ensure that the agency’s resources are focused on the work that is of highest priority to the Congress. The demands on the agency remain intense and strain its resources in many areas. Even with high productivity by a dedicated staff, CBO will not be able to produce as many estimates and other analyses as committees, the leadership, and individual Members request.

CBO’s Role in Support of the Congress

CBO was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (the Budget Act) to provide objective, impartial information to support the Congressional budget process and help the Congress make effective budget and economic policy. CBO’s work follows processes specified in that law and subsequent laws or developed over time by the agency in concert with the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congressional leadership. The agency’s chief responsibility under the Budget Act is to help the Budget Committees with the matters under their jurisdiction. Priority under the law is also given to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. The agency also works closely with the leadership of both chambers.

The agency is committed to providing information that is:

• Objective and insightful—incorporating the best new evidence as well as the lessons of experience, representing the consensus of experts from around the country (when such a consensus exists) and the diversity of their views;
• Timely—responding as quickly as possible to the needs of the Congress; and
• Clearly presented and explained—so that policymakers and analysts understand the basis for the agency’s findings and have the opportunity to question the analysis and the methods used.

CBO strives to present the likely budgetary and economic consequences of proposals being considered by the Congress so that lawmakers can make informed policy choices. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide analysis that is objective and impartial, the agency makes no policy recommendations.

CBO employs analysts with many types of expertise, who support the Congress in collaboration with managers and support staff. As of December 14, 270 positions at CBO were filled. Health care continues to be the area of analysis requiring the most staff. (For key staffing changes over the past year, as well as CBO’s organization charts, see Appendix C.)

Requested Information and Authorities

In this section, CBO provides information about its challenges in accessing federal data, requests the authority to provide a childcare benefit, and addresses requirements to report on recommendations by others.

CBO’s Access to Data

The House Committee on Appropriations directed CBO to report to the committees of jurisdiction any challenges in accessing federal data and to identify whether the Congress can take any actions to ensure continuous and real-time access.

CBO obtains from federal agencies a wide array of information, which it uses to produce baseline budget projections, economic projections, cost estimates, and reports. The agency works collaboratively with agencies to obtain the needed data through formal and informal means. The Congressional Budget Act provides CBO general authority to access data from a variety of sources. CBO also accesses data by using legal authorities applicable to specific types of data, such as federal tax information. CBO currently has more than 20 active data-use agreements with other federal agencies.

During the fall of 2024, two laws were enacted to improve CBO’s access to data:

• The Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (P.L. 118-89) clarifies and strengthens CBO’s general authority for accessing executive branch data under the Congressional Budget Act.
• The Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act (P.L. 118-104) authorizes agencies to disclose to CBO information that is protected by the Privacy Act’s confidentiality requirements, providing CBO the same access to that information as the Government Accountability Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation have.

Enactment of the Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act, which amends the Congressional Budget Act, highlights CBO’s need for resources to maintain strong IT security measures. Because of the sensitive nature of the data that the amendment provides access to, CBO needs to provide the same level of confidentiality as the law requires of the agency that provides the data. In addition, the legislation requires CBO to provide to the Congress within one year of enactment a report listing any formal requests for information made to executive branch agencies and any challenges faced.

CBO has identified other actions (previously mentioned in the fiscal year 2025 budget request) that the Congress can take to improve the agency’s access to information:

• Restoring access to student aid data. CBO has lost access to information that is an important component of the agency’s models of the Federal Pell Grant Program and student loan programs. A change to section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code would restore that access.

For many years, CBO received from the Department of Education data on the income of Pell grant and student loan recipients. In the summer of 2024, the department began receiving certain information about the income of student loan borrowers directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), newly making the data federal tax information (FTI) that CBO lacks statutory authority to access. CBO is seeking an amendment to section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code to allow the agency to again receive those data. CBO receives FTI under section 6103 for other purposes and is compliant with the IRS’s security requirements.

The Department of Education’s change in practice has not yet affected CBO’s analyses because there is a lag between the department’s collection of the information during an award year and transmittal to CBO. At some point, however, the change in practice will significantly diminish CBO’s capability to analyze those student aid programs.

CBO has been working with the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Education and Treasury Departments, as well as with several Congressional committees (the House Committee on Ways and Means; the House Committee on Education and Workforce; the Senate Committee on Finance; the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and the House and Senate Budget Committees) regarding an amendment.

• Allowing CBO to receive gifts. CBO is seeking authority for fiscal year 2026 (and would renew its request for subsequent years) to accept gifts of property, including money and intangible property, or services to support the operation of the agency. Under current law, CBO often can obtain new data sets, services, and tools from private entities by procuring them using appropriated funds or negotiating no-cost contracts compliant with federal requirements. Gift authority would enable CBO to sometimes obtain such data and tools more quickly or without expense. CBO would include in its annual budget justification a description of any gifts accepted, the source of the gifts, and a description of the benefits to the taxpayers.

As the interests of the Congress change, CBO must develop the capacity to analyze new issues and policies. Consequently, the agency will need to obtain new sources of information and might require new specific authorities to do so. CBO will work with the committees of jurisdiction as new challenges arise.

Requested Authority for a Childcare Benefit

CBO renews its request for the following authority to provide a childcare benefit:

Sec. ____ The Director of the Congressional Budget Office may expend funds appropriated in fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter to reimburse employees of the Office for costs to improve the affordability of childcare if the Director determines that reimbursing such expenses is of sufficient benefit or value to the Office.  

The Congressional Budget Act states that CBO employees shall have the same employment benefits and privileges as employees of the House of Representatives. Childcare is one of those benefits. Gaining access to the House of Representatives Childcare Center (HRCCC) is challenging for CBO staff members because they are given lower priority than employees of the House. That ranking stems from the statute that provides the House’s childcare authority [2 U.S.C. § 2062(a)(1)]. As a result, it is generally not possible for CBO employees to enroll their children in the HRCCC at the youngest ages, for which childcare is most needed. CBO staff are also given lower priority than Senate employees to access the Senate Employees Childcare Center. Those difficulties mean CBO employees cannot take advantage of the House and Senate centers, which offer high-quality childcare near their workplace and which can charge lower rates partly because they occupy government-provided space.

Included in CBO’s fiscal year 2026 budget request is $250,000 for the cost of those payments (embedded in various object classes for benefits). This benefit would enhance CBO’s ability to recruit and retain a talented and competitive workforce.

Requirements to Report on Recommendations by Others

The Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act requires agencies’ budget requests to report applicable public recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office or by an office of inspector general. There are currently no such recommendations for CBO to report.

In addition, the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, directed each legislative branch agency to provide in its annual budget justification a summary of all open oversight recommendations, to include the reasons that a recommendation remains open and a cost proposal for fully implementing each unresolved recommendation. CBO has no open oversight recommendations to report.

Highlights of CBO’s Work in 2024

In calendar year 2024, CBO continued to provide a significant amount of important analysis to the Congress. (For a more comprehensive review of CBO’s work in 2024 than appears here, see Appendix D.)

All told, the agency produced about 1,100 cost estimates, responded to thousands of requests for technical assistance, and prepared dozens of reports.

Analyzing Major Legislation

CBO provided technical assistance and estimates of budgetary effects at each stage of the legislative process for several major pieces of legislation, including the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (P.L. 118-366); the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42); and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47)—always with the goal of providing information when it was most useful to the Congress. CBO’s contributions related to those bills included the following:

• Technical assistance (including responses to hundreds of requests for preliminary estimates) to staff members of various House and Senate committees and in leadership offices as they developed legislative proposals,
• Cost estimates providing dozens of pages of detailed information,
• Feedback on thousands of amendments before they were considered on the House or Senate floor, and
• Tables summarizing the bills’ budgetary effects.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 is an example of how extensive such analysis of major legislation can be. CBO prepared four cost estimates for that legislation and reviewed 3,563 amendments. Of those, 752 amendments were reviewed when the bill was being considered by the House Armed Services Committee, 1,778 (submitted by 353 Members of the House) were reviewed before the bill was considered on the House floor, and 1,033 (submitted by 94 Senators) were reviewed before consideration on the Senate floor.

Meeting Other Legislative Needs of the Congress

In 2024, CBO carried out much other work as well, often under tight time constraints. For example, the agency fulfilled numerous requests for technical assistance related to reauthorization of the farm bill and published a cost estimate for H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024. It responded to many other requests for technical assistance, reviewed close to 550 bills considered under suspension of the rules in the House, and compiled about 100 scorekeeping tabulations.

Finally, CBO continued to find ways to innovate in order to better serve the Congress. To provide Members with as much information as possible before the 118th Congress concluded, CBO expedited the release of its cost estimates. Over a five-week period, the agency published tables providing summary budgetary information for more than 128 bills that had been ordered reported by 12 different House and Senate committees.

Performing Budget and Economic Analysis

CBO released a set of budget and economic projections in February 2024. The agency updated its annual long-term budget projections in March and its budget and economic projections in June. CBO’s baseline budget and economic projections serve as a benchmark for many of the agency’s analytic reports, working papers, and other published documents.

Last year, other publications examined a variety of topics, including the Navy’s and the Coast Guard’s shipbuilding plans, the long-term general and fiscal effects of a changing climate, the distribution of household wealth, the effects of immigration on the budget and economy, prescription drug pricing, and housing issues. CBO aimed to promote a thorough understanding of those topics by clearly presenting its analyses and explaining the basis for them.

All told, CBO prepared 103 reports, working papers, testimonies, slide decks, interactive tools, and infographics, as well as other material, such as presentations, letters to Members, answers to Members’ questions following hearings, and blog posts.

CBO’s First Goal for 2025 and 2026: Providing Budgetary and Economic Information That Is Objective and Insightful

In 2025 and 2026, CBO will ensure, as it has throughout its history, that its work is objective and insightful. The agency will continue its practice of making no policy recommendations and will continue to strive to present the likely consequences of alternative policy proposals.

Many of the products that CBO will produce this year and next are specified by statute—for example, an annual report on the outlook for the budget and the economy and cost estimates for bills reported by committees. CBO’s other analyses address issues being considered by the Congress, provide background information on budgetary and economic conditions that are relevant for the consideration of legislation, or explain the tools that the agency uses to develop projections and estimates. Many of the specific projects that CBO undertakes this year and next will depend on the agency’s budget, on the legislative agenda, and on requests from Congressional committees and leadership. CBO regularly consults with Members and staff about what topics and types of analyses would be most valuable to the Congress, and the agency responds as rapidly as possible to Congressional interest.

The analyses requested by the Congress at times involve new and complex issues; even for recurring issues, a constantly changing context creates new challenges. CBO expends substantial resources to understand the substance underlying policy issues and estimate the budgetary and economic effects of legislative proposals. Many of CBO’s analyses involve assembling evidence from numerous sources, determining and synthesizing the implications of that evidence, and building models to quantify effects of specific proposals and variations of them.

To be ready to provide timely responses to requests, the agency makes ongoing enhancements in that development process. For example, CBO is currently improving its capability for analyzing the effects that proposed legislation related to energy, prescription drugs, and immigration could have on the federal budget and the economy.

Fulfilling Requests for Technical Assistance

CBO will fulfill thousands of requests for technical assistance as committees are crafting legislation, as amendments to bills are being debated, and at other stages in the legislative process. By law, CBO’s primary responsibility is to Congressional committees, but to the extent practicable, the agency will also provide information to Members’ offices.

Providing Cost Estimates for Authorizing Bills

CBO is required by law to produce a cost estimate for nearly every bill that is approved by a full committee of either the House or the Senate. The agency will also publish cost estimates at other stages of the legislative process if requested to do so by a relevant committee or by the Congressional leadership. Most cost estimates will include analyses of any mandates and associated costs that bills would impose on state, local, and tribal governments or on the private sector. In addition, for bills considered under suspension of the rules in the House of Representatives, CBO will provide estimates of the effects on mandatory spending and revenues.

Producing Estimates for Appropriation Bills

CBO will estimate the budgetary effects of appropriation bills and provide regular status reports on discretionary appropriations and on the effects of appropriation legislation on mandatory spending and revenues.

Publishing Reports, Working Papers, Testimonies, Slide Decks, Interactive Tools, and Infographics

CBO will regularly publish projections of budgetary and economic outcomes that reflect the assumption that current laws about federal spending and revenues will generally remain in place. CBO will use its economic forecast as a basis for projecting revenues from each major revenue source, spending for every federal budget account, the resulting deficits or surpluses, and federal debt. Those budget projections—often referred to as CBO’s budget baseline—will provide a benchmark that is used to evaluate the anticipated effects of proposed legislation and to determine whether the legislation is subject to various budget enforcement procedures. Working papers will provide additional details on the budgetary and economic trends underlying the projections.

In addition, CBO will estimate the budgetary effects of the proposals in the President’s budget using the agency’s own economic forecast and estimating methods—the same ones it will use to develop its baseline projections of spending and revenues and to estimate the effects of other spending and revenue proposals. That approach will allow the Congress to compare, with a common measure, the various proposals and projections.

CBO will also report on the long-term budget outlook, examining how Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other parts of the federal budget are likely to be affected beyond the standard 10-year period by the aging of the population and growing health care costs per person. CBO will also examine specific issues, such as the long-term costs of the Defense Department’s plans and the costs of the military’s shipbuilding plans.

Furthermore, the agency will provide in-depth analyses of various issues, responding to the interests and concerns of Congressional committees and leadership. Those analyses will address broad budgetary issues and an array of other topics, including health care, income security, education, macroeconomic conditions and problems, trade, financial markets, credit programs, taxes, national security, energy, climate change, and infrastructure.

CBO’s Second Goal for 2025 and 2026: Strengthening Responsiveness

CBO seeks to provide information when it is most useful to the Congress. Depending on its purpose, that information takes a variety of forms, such as cost estimates, background information, and technical assistance. In almost all cases, CBO completes a cost estimate before legislation comes to a floor vote. In addition, the agency works to provide technical assistance, reports, and other information to lawmakers and their staff during earlier stages of the legislative process.

Beginning in fiscal year 2019, CBO initiated a multiyear effort to strengthen its responsiveness to the Congress. To carry out that plan, CBO received additional resources to expand staffing in high-demand areas, such as health care and immigration. It has increased its use of assistant analysts, who can move from one topic to another to support more senior analysts when demand surges for analysis of a particular topic or when additional assistance is needed for a complicated estimate. In addition, CBO continues to engage expert consultants in complex areas, such as health policy, agricultural and nutrition programs, economic forecasting, and climate-related research. Finally, the agency is continuing to expand its use of team approaches for large and complicated projects. That approach has been particularly effective in enabling CBO to produce timely analyses of legislation involving health care.

CBO’s goal is to increase the number of staff with overlapping skills within and across teams. In some cases, those skills will consist of expertise related to particular topics, such as defense or energy. In other cases, they will be technical, such as the ability to design and improve simulation models. In a similar vein, CBO plans to invest additional resources in bolstering analysts’ ability to coordinate work that requires expertise from across the agency. Another objective is to give additional senior analysts responsibility for projects that span multiple subject areas.

The budgetary increase that CBO is requesting would allow it to increase its efforts to be responsive. In 2026, CBO plans to hire additional staff to conduct more analysis of changes to health care programs, border security, credit programs (like student loans), and the U.S. population (particularly because of changes in immigration) and of dynamic policy effects (that is, determining how changes in fiscal policies would affect the economy and how those economic changes would, in turn, affect the budget)—areas in which CBO expects the Congress to have increased interest. It also plans to hire additional staff to produce more timely cost estimates and fulfill more Congressional requests for technical assistance, particularly in the areas that involve complicated modeling.

CBO’s Third Goal for 2025 and 2026: Enhancing Transparency

CBO works hard to make its analysis transparent and plans to strengthen those efforts, building on the increased emphasis that it has placed on the endeavor over the past several years. In 2025 and 2026, many of CBO’s employees will spend part of their time on making the agency’s analyses more transparent.

Testifying and Publishing Answers to Questions

In 2025 and 2026, CBO expects to testify about its baseline projections and other topics in response to requests by the Congress. That work will involve presenting oral remarks, answering questions at hearings, and presenting written statements, as well as publishing answers to Members’ questions for the record. CBO will continue to address issues raised as part of the oversight provided by the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congress generally.

Explaining Analytical Methods

CBO plans to publish material providing general information to help Members of Congress, their staff, and others better understand its work, including its general approach and particular applications of its methods. For example, a report will explain the agency’s approach to modeling the effects of import tariffs and carbon border adjustments on trade in energy-intensive goods. Working papers, too, will provide such explanations for various topics, and in some cases, CBO will be able to publish the computer code used in models. In addition, most cost estimates will include a section describing the basis of the estimate.

Releasing Data

In 2025 and 2026, CBO will maintain its practice of publishing extensive sets of data to accompany its major recurring reports, including detailed information about 10-year budget projections, historical budget outcomes, 10-year projections for federal trust funds, revenue projections by category, spending projections by budget account, tax parameters, effective marginal tax rates on labor and capital, and 10-year projections of economic variables, including the economy’s potential (or sustainable) output.

The agency will also provide details about its baseline projections, for example, for the Federal Pell Grant Program, student loan programs, Medicare, military retirement, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, Social Security Disability Insurance, Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, the Social Security trust funds, child nutrition programs, the Child Support Enforcement and Child Support Collections programs, foster care and adoption assistance, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, unemployment compensation, the Department of Agriculture’s mandatory farm programs, federal programs that guarantee mortgages, programs funded by the Highway Trust Fund, benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and veterans’ disability compensation and pensions.

Other data will provide details about long-term budget projections, projections underlying Social Security estimates, more than a thousand expired or expiring authorizations of appropriations, and dozens of federal credit programs. When CBO analyzes the President’s budget request, it will post a set of files providing estimates of the budgetary effects of specific proposals. The agency will also continue to post the data underlying various reports’ charts and tables.

Analyzing the Accuracy of CBO’s Estimates

In 2025 and 2026, CBO will continue to release reports analyzing the accuracy of its projections in comparison with actual outcomes, including a review of the accuracy of its outlay and revenue projections for the previous year, as well as some periodic reviews of the accuracy of its projections of revenues, outlays, deficits, and debt over time. CBO will also look back at the accuracy of its cost estimates when the necessary data are available.

Comparing Current Estimates With Previous Ones

In several of its recurring publications—reports about the budget and economic outlook, federal subsidies for health insurance, and the long-term budget outlook—CBO will continue to explain the differences between the current year’s projections and those produced in the previous year. In its cost estimates, CBO will continue to identify related legislative provisions for which it has provided recent estimates and explain the extent to which the provisions and estimates at hand are similar or different.

Comparing CBO’s Estimates With Those of Other Organizations

CBO will compare its budget projections with the Administration’s and its economic projections with those of private forecasters and other government agencies when possible. In addition, in various reports, the agency will include comparisons of its estimates with estimates made by other organizations. When time does not allow for publication but interest is great, analysts will discuss such comparisons with Congressional staff.

Estimating the Effects of Policy Alternatives

In 2025 and 2026, to assist policymakers and analysts who may hold differing views about the most useful benchmark for considering possible changes to laws (and to make the consequences of alternative policies more transparent), CBO will estimate the effects that some alternative assumptions about future policies would have on budgetary outcomes.

Characterizing the Uncertainty of Estimates

CBO’s budget and economic estimates will continue to aim to be in the middle of a range of likely outcomes under a given set of policies. The agency’s reports about the 10-year outlook for the budget and the economy, the long-term outlook for the budget, and federal subsidies for health insurance will contain substantial discussions of the uncertainty of CBO’s projections (and the limitations of its analyses) to help policymakers understand the factors that might cause estimates or outcomes to differ in the future. In addition, in most cost estimates in which uncertainty is significant, CBO will include a discussion of the topic.

Creating Data Visualizations

In 2025 and 2026, CBO will provide information about its budget and economic projections in slide decks and create infographics about actual outlays and revenues. The agency will also produce more reports that rely principally on visual presentations.

Conducting Outreach

CBO will continue to communicate regularly with Congressional staff and others outside the agency to explain its findings and methods, respond to questions, and obtain feedback. The agency’s Director will meet frequently with Members of Congress to do the same. After each set of baseline projections is published, CBO’s staff will meet with Congressional staff to discuss the projections and answer questions.

CBO will continue its practice of routinely consulting with many outside experts who represent a variety of perspectives as it develops cost estimates and other analyses. In addition, CBO’s staff will, as usual, give presentations on various topics to Congressional staff and outside experts to gain feedback on the agency’s work. Many reports will benefit from outside experts’ written comments on preliminary versions. For some recurring reports produced on compressed timetables, such as the one about CBO’s long-term budget projections, the agency will solicit comments on previous editions and selected technical issues to incorporate improvements in future editions.

As it does each year, CBO will convene experts on its Panel of Economic Advisers (PEA) and Panel of Health Advisers (PHA), who provide feedback on many topics, including the agency’s forecasting methods and models. The agency hosts meetings of the advisers—once a year with its PHA and twice with its PEA—and solicits their views between meetings as well. Congressional staff also attend the meetings. (Lists of the members of those panels and agendas for the meetings can be found on CBO’s website.)

The topics discussed at the meetings usually reflect areas of sustained interest by the Congress and help improve CBO’s relevant analysis. For example, CBO’s September 2021 PHA meeting included a session on telehealth, an area for which CBO was working to improve its modeling capabilities so it could better estimate the effects of applicable legislation. To take another example, CBO’s September 2024 PHA meeting included sessions on new medical technology and the long-term effects of preventive health care, with the goal of improving and enhancing the agency’s analysis of genetic testing for early detection of cancer, hepatitis-C, sickle-cell disease, and obesity—all topics on which CBO has recently published analyses in response to Congressional requests.

Similarly, meetings of the PEA cover areas of intense Congressional focus as well as CBO’s pending economic forecast. For example, central to the discussion at CBO’s November 2024 meeting were the budgetary and economic effects of the expiring provisions of the 2017 tax act—an area in which CBO continues to improve and refine its analysis.

In 2026, CBO will spend about $33,000 on its PHA, similar to the amount it spent in 2024 and plans to spend in 2025. That amount provides for a small honorarium for members and costs associated with hosting a meeting at CBO. CBO plans to spend about $59,000 on its PEA in 2026 to cover the costs of honoraria and two meetings.

CBO’s staff will give presentations on Capitol Hill on CBO’s budget and economic projections and on other topics. In those presentations, CBO will explain its work and answer questions. The agency will also give presentations about its findings and about work in progress in a variety of venues to offer explanations and gather feedback. It will also use blog posts to summarize and highlight various issues. In addition, it will work to answer questions from the press in a timely fashion and connect members of the media with CBO’s products as they are published.

Finally, to keep the Congress informed of its work, CBO will continue its practice of sending emails to interested staff notifying them about recently released reports and cost estimates. The agency will also continue publishing a quarterly newsletter, CBO’s Quarter in Review, which is a roundup of the agency’s most recent publications and cost estimates. The newsletter is a companion to quarterly reports listing recent publications and work in progress, which may include reports, working papers, testimonies, interactive tools, infographics, and cost estimates.

CBO’s Fourth Goal for 2025 and 2026: Improving Internal Operations

In addition to directly serving the Congress, CBO develops employees’ skills and provides the technological infrastructure to help them be as productive as possible.

Developing Employees’ Skills

CBO remains committed to the professional growth and development of its workforce, ensuring that staff are well-equipped to address evolving challenges and fulfill the organization’s mission effectively. This year and next, the agency will aim to meet that commitment through targeted training programs, collaborative initiatives, and investments in skill enhancement across all divisions and units.

CBO continues to support the development and enhancement of the analytical workforce by sponsoring participation in national conferences, enabling staff to engage with external experts and share insights.

Through CBO’s strong partnership with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR), staff receive training on their rights under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act. Additionally, OCWR provides training on recognizing and preventing discrimination and harassment, as well as bystanders’ responsibilities to intervene. Those training programs are critical to the success of the agency’s diverse workforce and to maintaining a healthy and respectful work environment for all CBO staff and will remain a continued focus in the future.

Lastly, CBO’s continued focus on enhancing the leadership and management skills and acumen of managers and employees will remain a priority for training. The agency will continue to implement a leadership development series for midlevel managers to build strategic planning and team management capabilities, as well as continue training workshops for staff on project management, workforce resilience (how to handle stress and avoid burnout, for example), and other topics.

Maintaining and Improving Technological Infrastructure

For 2025 and 2026, CBO is prioritizing advancements in a security strategy called zero trust architecture (ZTA), which assumes that no device or user is trustworthy by default and therefore requires verification before allowing access. By implementing ZTA, CBO aims to improve in these areas:

• Virtual private network technologies,
• Data loss prevention technologies,
• Cloud-based data analytics technologies,
• Artificial intelligence technologies and strategies,
• Antivirus and antimalware technologies, and
• Cloud infrastructure technologies and strategies.

CBO will also be focused on expanding and improving its cloud network using Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure platform.

Finally, another priority will be implementing improved monitoring and technologies for the agency’s internal networks.

Appendix A: Detailed Tables

This appendix provides a detailed breakdown of the Congressional Budget Office’s past budgets and appropriations for fiscal year 2025, as well as some additional information.

• See Table A-1 for a summary of salaries and expenses;
• See Table A-2 for those items broken down by object class;
• See Table A-3 for the change in those items between fiscal year 2025 funding and the current request;
• See Table A-4 for a staffing summary;
• See Table A-5 for supplemental data on mandatory pay increases in CBO’s request;
• See Table A-6 for price-level increases in the request;
• See Table A-7 for 10-year data on salaries and expenses;
• See Table A-8 for spending for advertising services; and
• See Table A-9 for projected recruitment expenses.

Appendix B: Detailed Object Class Analysis

The details of the Congressional Budget Office’s requested appropriation for fiscal year 2026 are explained below.

Basis for CBO’s Budget Estimates—Personnel Costs

CBO derived these projections of personnel costs with its internally developed software for tracking current payroll costs and projecting future payroll costs. The projections are based on employee-level payroll data at the object class level.

Object Class 11—Full-Time and Part-Time Employees: $47,416,800

• $45,661,800 for Base Pay—funds an average of 278 full-time-equivalent positions (FTEs) for the fiscal year, which would allow the agency to increase the number of staff members to 285 by the end of the fiscal year. That amount constitutes an overall net increase of $2,341,000 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025. Of the increase:
  • $637,000 supports an increase of 6 FTEs in 2026; that increase reflects the hiring of 15 additional staff members in 2026. Another $106,000 is for full funding of 3 new staff members hired in 2025, who account for 1 additional FTE in 2026.
  • $486,000 is for an across-the-board pay increase (if such an increase is authorized for executive branch agencies for 2026) in January 2026 of 3.8 percent for staff whose salary is less than $100,000 and 1.8 percent for staff making $100,000 or more.
  • $474,000 is for performance-based pay increases in 2026. CBO uses a performance-based system to reward its employees. Pay increases are based on employees’ accomplishments in the previous year, as reflected in annual performance reviews. Employees’ performance is assessed according to five criteria: quality of work, timeliness and productivity, initiative, written and oral communication skills, and effectiveness of working relationships. Managers’ performance is also assessed according to a sixth criterion, leadership. CBO’s Director makes the final decisions on all pay changes. Maintaining the ability to reward performance is essential in view of the competitive job markets for economists, budget analysts, and other professionals.
  • $437,000 is for prior-year personnel actions (performance-based increases and promotions).
  • $201,000 is for performance-based pay increases in 2026 for employees other than full-time permanent employees.
• $1,125,000 for Performance Bonuses for Top Performers—funds bonuses that enable CBO to control long-term compensation costs while helping the agency retain its outstanding performers in competitive job markets. The amount is the same as what CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $600,000 for Leave Buyout Costs—funds mandatory leave buyout costs for employees who depart. The amount, which is based on current data and projected departures, is the same as what CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025. If leave buyout costs turned out to be higher than that amount, CBO would delay filling vacated positions to cover the costs.
• $30,000 for Overtime Pay—funds overtime pay for nonexempt employees. The amount is the same as that in fiscal year 2025. Currently, CBO has 11 employees serving in nonexempt positions, most of whom provide technical support. CBO must pay employees in nonexempt positions overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week, which happens in the rare cases when timely support of the Congress would be impaired if the work was not performed.

Object Class 12—Personnel Benefits: $18,193,000

• $9,627,200 for the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS)—funds mandatory retirement benefits in FERS and CSRS. That amount, which constitutes an increase of $450,200 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, is based on several factors: the projected base pay of current employees and ones the agency anticipates hiring, along with anticipated attrition. Benefit rates for 2026 are 25.7 percent for FERS employees who joined the government before December 31, 2012; 16.5 percent for FERS employees who arrived after that date; and 7.5 percent for CSRS and CSRS Offset employees. (Benefit rates are the percentage of employees’ salaries that CBO is required to pay to the two retirement systems.)
• $2,805,300 for Social Security Payroll Taxes—funds mandatory benefit costs for CBO employees subject to the Social Security payroll tax. That amount, which constitutes an increase of $176,000 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, is projected on the basis of an estimated maximum taxable amount of $177,440 for each employee, along with a reduction for anticipated attrition.
• $2,454,600 for Health Insurance—funds mandatory health benefit costs. That amount constitutes an increase of $50,800 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025—resulting from increases in premiums for health insurance and in the anticipated size of CBO’s staff.
• $1,670,600 for FERS Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Government Matching Contributions—funds mandatory government matching contributions. That amount, which constitutes a decrease of $12,100 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, is projected on the basis of matching benefits for current employees and their current annualized salaries, with a reduction for anticipated attrition. The historical matching benefit for CBO has been roughly 3.7 percent of base pay.
• $690,000 for Medicare Payroll Taxes—funds mandatory benefit costs for CBO employees. That amount, which constitutes a decrease of $60,100 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, equals 1.45 percent of projected pay, accounting for anticipated hires and departures.
• $454,900 for the FERS TSP Government Basic Contribution—funds the mandatory FERS TSP matching benefit of 1 percent. That amount, which constitutes an increase of $23,000 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, is projected on the basis of the benefits paid to current employees and their current annualized salaries, with a reduction for anticipated attrition.
• $168,000 for Recruitment Bonuses—funds a valuable recruiting tool for the agency. The amount is the same as what CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $150,000 for the Transit Benefit Program—funds mandatory employee benefits that are associated with CBO’s Transit Benefit Program. The amount is the same as what CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $100,000 for Death Benefit—funds a payment to a person’s family if the person dies while employed by the agency. The same amount was allocated in fiscal year 2025.
• $66,400 for Life Insurance—funds mandatory life insurance benefits for employees. That amount, which constitutes an increase of $3,500 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, is projected on the basis of historical data and equals 0.15 percent of base pay.
• $6,000 for the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program (FSAFEDS)—funds mandatory costs for FSAFEDS. That amount, which is the same amount as that provided in fiscal year 2025, is projected on the basis of employees’ historical use of the program.

Basis for CBO’s Budget Estimates—Nonpersonnel Costs

CBO projected nonpersonnel costs on the basis of its past experience and plans for the upcoming year.

Object Class 21—Travel: $200,000

• $200,000 for Travel—funds travel for the outside experts who participate in two meetings of the agency’s Panel of Economic Advisers and one meeting of the agency’s Panel of Health Advisers to support the development and review of the agency’s analyses; also funds travel for employees to attend various conferences and training courses, including management and leadership training. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is the same as the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.

Object Class 23—Communications, Utilities, and Miscellaneous Charges: $811,800

• $808,000 for Telecommunications and Telephone Services—funds local and long-distance telephone services, smartphone service for some CBO personnel, and secure telecommunication links to support Internet and intranet services. Those links and services between CBO’s offices at the Ford House Office Building and its secondary data center enable the agency’s information technology (IT) staff to conduct daily administrative tasks and to replicate data and systems at both locations so that if a disaster occurred at the Ford Building, the agency could continue operating using systems at the other location. The amount, an increase of $377,350 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, would allow the agency to enhance its use of artificial intelligence, expand its cloud infrastructure services, and adopt advanced cloud technologies to make data analytics more efficient.
• $3,800 for Mail Service—funds postage, couriers, and mail services. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is an increase of $1,400 from the fiscal year 2025 funding level.

Object Class 24—Printing and Reproduction: $5,000

• $5,000 for Publications—funds the printing of small quantities of publications through the Government Publishing Office (specifically, GPOExpress), as well as other miscellaneous printing requirements involving CBO’s products for the Congress. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is the same as the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.

Object Class 25—Other Services: $7,833,500

• $3,762,500 for IT Commercial Data and Time Sharing—funds purchases of data about health care, domestic and international banking and financial markets, and other topics in support of the agency’s analyses, as well as software and cloud services for additional capabilities and disaster recovery. The amount is an increase of $1,484,300, of which nearly $1,100,000 would help the agency strengthen its IT posture: $400,000 for increased cloud services, $351,000 for network architecture, and nearly $300,000 for IT security.
• $1,008,200 for Other Contractors for Professional Services—funds support for various CBO divisions and units for security and administrative services, work in IT, and financial management. The amount is $252,700 more than what the agency expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, mostly to support IT developers with the planning, design, and deployment of Microsoft Azure cloud technologies.
• $902,300 for Expert Consultants—funds access to outside experts—particularly those in the areas of health care, agricultural programs and nutrition, economic forecasting, and climate-related research—to assist in the preparation of cost estimates and analyses; outside reviews of drafts of analyses; and legal support. The amount, an increase of $95,050 over the amount in fiscal year 2025, would help CBO have the flexibility to shift to address the Congress’s key areas of focus.
• $803,000 for Equipment Maintenance and Repair—funds a broad array of IT items needed for operations. Whenever possible, CBO takes a cost-effective approach to maintenance and repair by negotiating agreements to cover one or more years instead of paying for service and support as they become necessary. The amount, an increase of $163,400, would help maintain platforms for data and would help pay for additional licenses for some subscriptions to data.
• $545,400 for IT System Development and Support—funds major software installations, upgrades, and support. The amount, based on anticipated requirements, is a decrease of $467,300 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, when the agency is pursuing various onetime projects (involving access control, failover support, and wireless access) for its network.
• $250,000 for Training—funds CBO analysts’ participation in conferences and technical training in data analysis (including in statistical analysis software), economic modeling, business and report writing, and IT systems and software, along with management training for supervisors. To constrain expenses in this area, CBO conducts internal training and takes advantage of training provided by sister agencies to the extent possible. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is the same as the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $152,000 for Editing and Publications Contractor Support—principally funds services by contractors to help produce CBO’s publications. The contractors are used to augment the agency’s editing capacity, particularly during peak workload periods. The amount, based on anticipated requirements, is a decrease of $65,000 from the amount the agency expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $140,000 for the Financial Management System (Momentum)—funds annual costs of CBO’s maintenance support for Momentum. The amount is based on anticipated requirements. It is a decrease of $7,900 from the amount the agency expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $121,700 for Financial Management Support—funds an interagency agreement with the Library of Congress, the agency’s independent annual financial statement audit, and contractor services to support internal financial operations. The amount is an increase of $22,250 from what CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $100,800 for Human Resources Contract Support—funds a variety of costs related to CBO’s personnel, including costs for posting job announcements to the USAJobs website, advertising open positions, and retaining personnel records, as well as minor costs associated with employment services, such as retirement counseling. The amount also funds the initial costs of an electronic personnel filing system to support the agency’s continuity of operations plans. The amount is an increase of $16,100 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $41,600 for Payroll Processing Support—funds comprehensive payroll (and related benefits) processing for CBO by the National Finance Center. The center provides human resources and payroll services to more than 140 government agencies (including all agencies in the legislative branch), offering more efficient and cost-effective services than those agencies could otherwise obtain. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is an increase of $1,600 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $6,000 for Official Representation—funds some expenses arising from events such as meetings of the Panel of Economic Advisers and the Panel of Health Advisers, meetings involving other outside analysts, and minority recruitment events. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is the same as the amount provided in fiscal year 2025.

Object Class 26—Supplies and Materials: $400,400

• $316,300 for Library Subscriptions—funds library (primarily online) subscriptions to a variety of publications and services, including Congressional Quarterly, Lexis-Nexis, EconLit, EBSCO, the Wall Street Journal, Inside Washington Publishers, and Energy & Environment. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is an increase of $25,650 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.
• $84,100 for Office Supplies—funds expenses for office supplies, reasonable accommodations for employees’ requirements under the Americans With Disabilities Act, paper, envelopes, emergency response kits required for evacuation drills, award supplies, and other items. The amount is an increase of $42,400 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, partly devoted to implementing an automated system for purchasing supplies.

Object Class 31—Equipment: $896,600

• $608,600 for Software—funds the purchase of various software and data security measures. The amount is an increase of $602,700 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, almost exclusively for document management software to improve work processes and enhance internal and external transparency and compliance.
• $207,000 for Hardware—funds the purchase of security systems, switches, and computers so that the agency can replace hardware that is aging or at the end of its life cycle and can continue to move workstations to the cloud. The amount, an increase of $180,400 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, would be devoted principally to replacing several major pieces of hardware that will reach the end of their life next year.
• $80,500 for Office Furniture—funds office furniture for new personnel and the replacement of worn-out furniture. The amount, an increase of $60,100 from the amount CBO expects to spend in fiscal year 2025, is based on anticipated requirements and would return funding for this purpose to its historical level.
• $500 for Books—funds the purchase of books used by CBO’s staff to meet analytical requirements. The amount is based on anticipated requirements and is a decrease of $500 from the amount the agency expects to spend in fiscal year 2025.

Appendix C: Key Staffing Changes and Organization Charts

This appendix describes key staffing changes at the Congressional Budget Office over the past year. It then presents the agency’s organization charts.

Key Staffing Changes

CBO had several key staffing changes among managers in 2024 and early 2025.

Devrim Demirel was promoted in August 2024 to become the Director of CBO’s Macroeconomic Analysis Division. As Director of Macroeconomic Analysis, he guides the analysis of the U.S. economy and its prospects. The division produces CBO’s economic projections, which underlie the agency’s budget projections. The division also studies various macroeconomic factors and relationships, such as changes in labor force participation, trends in productivity growth, and the roles of inflation and interest rates in the outlook for the economy and federal debt. In addition, the division performs modeling and dynamic analysis of the short-term and long-term effects that some proposed changes in federal tax and spending policies would have on the economy.

Dr. Demirel came to CBO in 2013 from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he taught macroeconomics and conducted research in the fields of macroeconomic theory, international finance, and applied time series econometrics. In 2017, he became the chief of the Fiscal Studies Unit, within CBO’s Macroeconomic Analysis Division. In that role, he led a team of economists analyzing the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy changes and how those effects alter budgetary outcomes. He received a doctorate and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bilkent University, in Ankara, Türkiye.

Caitlin Emma joined CBO as Chief of Media Relations in December 2024 to serve as the primary communications adviser to the Director and other CBO executives and to develop the agency’s overall communications strategies and initiatives. She came to CBO after 12 years at Politico, where she covered the federal budget and appropriations for nearly half that time. Before focusing on budget issues, she covered K-12 education policy across two administrations. She received a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and political science from the University of Connecticut.

Damon Whitley joined CBO in September 2024 as the agency’s Chief Information Officer. In that role, he directs all information technology functions, programs, and initiatives—from strategic, capital, and operational plans to day-to-day operations. Before coming to CBO, Mr. Whitley was the Acting Branch Chief for the Threat Hunt Detection Team in the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. There, he helped develop systems that were essential for protecting more than 200 federal departments and agencies. Mr. Whitley recently retired from the Army after 26 years of active and reserve service. At his last duty station, he was assigned to the Joint Staff - J6, within the Spectrum Branch, where he helped develop policy for 5G and 6G technology. He holds an M.B.A. in information technology from Grantham University and is pursuing his Ph.D. in enterprise corporate strategies and innovation in cybersecurity from Capella University.

Lindsay Donofrio joined CBO in February 2025 as its Director of the Publications and Digital Media Division. She leads a newly created division that combines the functions of editing and graphics editing with managing and developing CBO’s website and other venues for communicating. Previously, she was the Director of Editorial Production at the Cato Institute, where she led a team of editors and oversaw the production of policy papers across research disciplines. Before joining the Cato Institute, she was a health policy editor at Health Affairs, and earlier in her career, she worked as an account executive at the public relations firm Edelman. She earned her master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and her B.A. from Ohio State University.

Mark Hadley became CBO’s Deputy Director—for the second time—in February 2025. His first time in that role was from 2016 through 2019. In between those two stints, he had the dual roles of Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. Earlier, from 2008 to 2016, he was CBO’s General Counsel. As Chief Operating Officer, he managed the agency’s day-to-day operations. As General Counsel, he oversaw the agency’s legal work, ethics program, and acquisitions. From 2006 to 2008, he was CBO’s Deputy General Counsel. Before that, he was a transactional lawyer with Jones Day, a large international law firm, where he specialized in structured finance and derivatives. Prior to his legal career, he was an associate analyst at CBO for five years—during which time his areas of responsibility were aviation, deposit insurance, and commerce—and a financial specialist with the Small Business Administration.

He also serves as the chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Working Party of Parliamentary Budget Officials and Independent Fiscal Institutions.

He has a master’s degree in public affairs from the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin and a J.D. (with high honors) from the George Washington University Law School.

Kevin Laden was promoted to become CBO’s General Counsel in February 2025, having advanced from the role of Deputy General Counsel. As CBO’s General Counsel, he oversees all legal advice involving the agency’s work and operations. He has practiced before federal circuit, district, and administrative courts and has worked on a broad range of federal programs and issues, including the Congressional budget process, agency operations, program integrity, resource management and leasing, tribal programs, tax administration, and immigration. He entered government through the Attorney General’s Honors Program after graduating with honors from the William and Mary School of Law and James Madison University.

Organization Charts

This section shows CBO’s organizational structure and lists the names of all of CBO’s managers.

• See Figure C-1, for the organization chart of the entire agency;
• See Figure C-2, for the Budget Analysis Division;
• See Figure C-3, for the Financial Analysis Division;
• See Figure C-4, for the Health Analysis Division;
• See Figure C-5, for the Labor, Income Security, and Long-Term Analysis Division;
• See Figure C-6, for the Macroeconomic Analysis Division;
• See Figure C-7, for the Management, Business, and Information Services Division;
• See Figure C-8, for the Microeconomic Studies Division;
• See Figure C-9, for the National Security Division;
• See Figure C-10, for the Publications and Digital Media Division; and
• See Figure C-11, for the Tax Analysis Division.

  Figure C-1.

  Organization Chart—Entire Agency

  

  Figure C-2.

  Organization Chart—Budget Analysis Division

  

  Figure C-3.

  Organization Chart—Financial Analysis Division

  

  Figure C-4.

  Organization Chart—Health Analysis Division

  

  Figure C-5.

  Organization Chart—Labor, Income Security, and Long-Term Analysis Division

  

  Figure C-6.

  Organization Chart—Macroeconomic Analysis Division

  

  Figure C-7.

  Organization Chart—Management, Business, and Information Services Division

  

  Figure C-8.

  Organization Chart—Microeconomic Studies Division

  

  Figure C-9.

  Organization Chart—National Security Division

  

  Figure C-10.

  Organization Chart—Publications and Digital Media Division

  

  Figure C-11.

  Organization Chart—Tax Analysis Division

  

Appendix D: CBO’s Products and Internal Operations in 2024

During calendar year 2024, the Congressional Budget Office continued to provide the Congress with high-quality budget and economic analysis and strived to be as responsive as possible to Congressional needs. That effort took a number of forms, including technical assistance, cost estimates for authorizing and appropriation bills, and analytic reports and other products. The agency also made improvements to its internal operations.

Technical Assistance

In 2024, CBO fulfilled thousands of requests for technical assistance as committees were crafting legislation, as amendments to bills were being debated, and at other stages in the legislative process. The agency’s analysts often provide preliminary estimates to committee staff and the leadership of the House or the Senate, helping them weigh different options for achieving legislative goals. To the extent practicable, CBO also provides information to Members’ offices. The assistance typically happens through a combination of email, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, and virtual meetings.

Key areas of focus for CBO’s technical assistance (including preliminary estimates and information on amendments) in 2024 were annual appropriation bills, the reauthorization of the farm bill, and the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (Public Law 118-42).

Cost Estimates for Authorizing Bills

In 2024, CBO completed nearly 1,100 cost estimates—mostly to fulfill the statutory requirement to provide estimates of the cost of bills ordered reported by committees. CBO devoted significant resources to analyzing the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 and H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024.

Cost estimates generally include explanations of their components and of the estimating methods used. Most also include mandate statements, which assess whether legislation contains intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and, if so, assess the magnitude of the mandates’ effects on the private sector and on state, local, and tribal governments.

CBO published estimates for nearly all of the bills ordered reported by an authorizing committee before they were considered on the floor of either the House or the Senate. CBO also reviewed 549 bills in 2024 that were scheduled to be considered under suspension of the rules in the House.

Cost Estimates for Appropriation Bills

In 2024, CBO devoted significant resources to analyzing the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42), and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47), and provided about 100 cost estimates for appropriation bills, including reports with account-level detail for individual bills at all stages of the legislative process, summary tables showing the status of discretionary appropriations (by appropriations subcommittee), and running totals of the budgetary effects of enacted legislation on a year-to-date basis. The number of such estimates required for an appropriation cycle can vary depending on its duration and complexity; in recent years, that number has ranged from about 100 to 150.

Analytic Reports and Other Publications

CBO provides analytic reports and other publications to policymakers throughout the legislative process. In 2024, CBO described its baseline projections in a major report about the budget and economic outlook in February. The agency updated its budget projections in June and its annual long-term budget projections in March. In a number of reports, responding to interest expressed by Members of Congress, CBO provided distributional analyses of policy proposals on the basis of the age or birth cohort, educational attainment, income or wealth, race or ethnicity, or sex of the people who might be affected. For a catalog of that work, see “Distributional Analysis” on CBO’s website, www.cbo.gov/about/distributional-analysis.

All told, the agency produced 103 reports, working papers, testimonies, slide decks, interactive tools, and infographics last year; they are arrayed by topic below. Other publications included presentations, letters to Members of Congress, responses to Members’ questions following hearings, and blog posts.

Projections and Budgetary Issues in Recurring Reports

Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2025 to 2034 (December)

Effects of Automatic Stabilizers on the Federal Budget: 2024 to 2034 (November)

An Analysis of the President’s 2025 Budget (October)

CBO’s 2024 Long-Term Projections for Social Security (August)

Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024 (July)

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034 (June)

The Long-Term Budget Outlook Under Alternative Scenarios for the Economy and the Budget (May)

Budgetary Outcomes Under Alternative Assumptions About Spending and Revenues (May)

How Changes in Economic Conditions Might Affect the Federal Budget: 2024 to 2034 (April)

The Long-Term Budget Outlook: 2024 to 2054 (March)

The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034 (February)

The Demographic Outlook: 2024 to 2054 (January)

Monthly Budget Review (12 issues)

General Budgetary Issues

Revisiting the Relationship Between Debt and Long-Term Interest Rates (Working paper, December)

CBO Explains How It Incorporates Administrative and Judicial Actions When Updating Its Baseline Projections and Producing Cost Estimates (December)

Extending Medicaid and CHIP Coverage for Children: Long-Run Budgetary Effects of the President’s 2025 Budget Proposal (December)

CBO’s Projections of Federal Receipts and Expenditures in the National Income and Product Accounts: 2025 to 2034 (December)

An Evaluation of CBO’s Projections of Deficits and Debt From 1984 to 2023 (December)

How Changes in Revenues and Outlays Would Affect Debt Service, Deficits, and Debt (Interactive tool, October)

How CBO Uses Discount Rates to Estimate the Present Value of Future Costs or Savings (October)

How CBO Projects Tariff Revenues (Slide deck, October)

Estimates of the Cost of Federal Credit Programs in 2025 (August)

Sequestration Update Report: August 2024 (August)

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034 (Testimony, July)

An Analysis of the Discretionary Spending Proposals in the President’s Budget (June)

Adding Debt-Service Effects to CBO’s Cost Estimates (June)

Comparing the Compensation of Federal and Private-Sector Employees in 2022 (April)

Final Report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (April)

Final Sequestration Report for Fiscal Year 2024 (April)

Legislation Enacted in the First Session of the 118th Congress That Affects Mandatory Spending or Revenues (March)

The Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2023 (Set of four infographics, March)

How Changes in Funding for the IRS Affect Revenues (February)

CBO’s Waterfall Model for Projecting Discretionary Spending, February 2024 (Interactive tool, February)

How Changes in Revenues and Outlays Would Affect Debt-Service Costs, Deficits, and Debt (Interactive tool, February)

The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034 (Testimony, February)

The Accuracy of CBO’s Recent Baseline Projections (Testimony, January)

Climate and Environment

The Risks of Climate Change to the United States in the 21st Century (December)

CBO’s Benchmark Projection of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (November)

Federal Spending for Flood Adaptations (September)

Climate Change, Disaster Risk, and Homeowner’s Insurance (August)

Flood Insurance in Communities at Risk of Flooding (July)

The Effects of Flood Damage on the Subsidy Cost of Federally Backed Mortgages (Working paper, July)

Flood Damage Avoided by Potential Spending on Property-Level Adaptations (Working paper, May)

How CBO Uses the ReEDS Model to Analyze Policies in the Electric Power Sector (Working paper, May)

Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the Manufacturing Sector (February)

Defense and National Security

How CBO Projects the Long-Term Costs of the Department of Defense’s Future Years Defense Program (November)

Long-Term Implications of the 2025 Future Years Defense Program (November)

Availability and Use of Rotary-Wing Aircraft in the Department of Defense (November)

Availability and Use of Aircraft in the Army (September)

The Deferred Maintenance Backlog for the Military Services’ Buildings (August)

The Cost of the Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter (August)

The Cost of the Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter (Testimony, April)

The Shipbuilding Composite Index and Its Rates of Change Compared With Economywide Inflation Rates (April)

Acquisition Costs of the Navy’s Medium Landing Ship (April)

How the Military’s Basic Allowance for Housing Compares With Civilian Housing Costs (March)

Economy

CBO’s Current View of the Economy From 2025 to 2027 (December)

CBO’s Model for Estimating the Effects on New Investment of Deductions to Recover the Cost of Capital (Slide deck, December)

How the Expiring Individual Income Tax Provisions in the 2017 Tax Act Affect CBO’s Economic Forecast (Slide deck, December)

A Visual Guide to Inflation From 2020 Through 2023 (Slide deck, September)

An Update to the Economic Outlook for 2024 to 2034 in 20 Slides (Slide deck, June)

The Economic Outlook for 2024 to 2034 in 19 Slides (Slide deck, February)

Finance

Public-Private Risk Sharing in Federal Credit Programs (September)

Student Loan Repayment, 2009 to 2019 (September)

The Role of Federal Home Loan Banks in the Financial System (March)

Health Care

How Increased Use of Gene Therapy Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease Could Affect the Federal Budget (December)

How Would Authorizing Medicare to Cover Anti-Obesity Medications Affect the Federal Budget? (October)

Alternative Approaches to Reducing Prescription Drug Prices (October)

Budgetary Effects of Policies That Would Increase Hepatitis C Treatment (June)

Hospital and Physician Consolidation and Its Impact on the Federal Budget (Testimony, May)

Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: Past Performance and Future Directions (April)

Federal Subsidies for Health Insurance and Policies to Reduce the Prices Paid by Commercial Insurers (Testimony, January)

Housing

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Housing Goals (November)

The Outlook for Housing Starts (September)

Income Distribution

Trends in the Distribution of Family Wealth, 1989 to 2022 (October)

The Distribution of Household Income in 2021 (September)

Trends in the Distribution of Household Income From 1979 to 2021 (Slide deck, September)

An Update About How Inflation Has Affected Households at Different Income Levels Since 2019 (May)

Income of Black Working-Age Veterans (May)

How Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage Could Affect Employment and Family Income (Interactive tool, January)

Population

Effects of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy (July)

Social Security

Social Security’s Finances (Testimony, September)

Social Security’s Finances (Testimony, June)

Technology

Artificial Intelligence and Its Potential Effects on the Economy and the Federal Budget (December)

Publications About CBO’s Operations

In addition to its analytic reports, CBO published some reports on its own operations, principally to keep the Congress informed about the agency’s work:

CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of September 30, 2024 (October)

How CBO Supports the Congress (Testimony, September)

CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of June 30, 2024 (July)

The Congressional Budget Office’s Request for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 (Testimony, May)

Transparency at CBO: Plans for 2024 and a Review of 2023 (April)

CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of March 31, 2024 (April)

The Congressional Budget Office’s Request for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 (Testimony, April)

The Congressional Budget Office’s Request for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 (March)

CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of December 31, 2023 (January)

Enhancing Transparency

Transparency is an essential part of CBO’s long-standing commitment to providing clear, objective, insightful, and timely information to the Congress and the public. In 2024, CBO focused on bolstering the transparency of its methods and data in a variety of ways:

• Testifying and Publishing Answers to Questions. CBO presented testimony at 11 Congressional hearings and published more than 80 answers to subsequent questions from Members of Congress. CBO also responded to occasional requests from Members for public answers to various other questions.
• Explaining Its Analytic Methods. CBO published numerous reports explaining its analyses and made some supporting documents and computer code available. For instance, CBO explained how it incorporates administrative and judicial actions when updating its baseline and preparing cost estimates, as well as how it projects the long-term costs of the Department of Defense’s Future Years Defense Program. In addition, most cost estimates included explanations of how they were developed.
• Releasing Data. Comprehensive sets of data files of CBO’s projections were published with The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034 and The 2024 Long-Term Budget Outlook, for example. Most reports were accompanied by files providing the data underlying the charts and tables. And some reports, such as one on the distribution of household income, included files of supplemental data.
• Analyzing the Accuracy of Its Estimates. CBO publishes a report each year that assesses the quality of its baseline budget projections for the previous fiscal year and identifies factors that might have led to underestimates or overestimates.
• Comparing Its Current Estimates With Its Previous Ones. In several of its recurring publications, CBO explained the differences between projections made in 2024 and those made in the previous year. In addition, when applicable, cost estimates explained the extent to which they differed from estimates for similar bills earlier in the Congressional session.
• Comparing Its Estimates With Those of Others. CBO regularly compared its estimates with the budget projections of the Administration, with the economic projections of private forecasters and other government agencies, and with the policy analyses of various organizations. For instance, CBO presented outside forecasts along with its February and July 2024 economic projections. When time did not allow for a formal publication, CBO often discussed such comparisons with Congressional staff.
• Estimating the Effects of Policy Alternatives. CBO prepared reports to estimate the effects that various assumptions about future policies would have on budgetary outcomes.
• Describing the Uncertainty of Its Estimates. CBO routinely included a discussion of uncertainty in its cost estimates and in its budget and economic projections. When possible, those discussions included information about how much the estimate could vary if key factors differed from CBO’s estimates. For other publications, the agency also developed likely ranges for some key projections—including projections of federal debt and economic growth. In addition, CBO published an interactive workbook to allow users to see how changes in economic conditions might affect the federal budget.
• Creating Data Visualizations. To promote understanding of its analyses, CBO published information in alternative formats, such as slide decks, infographics, and a type of report that emphasizes charts. A series of four infographics illustrated spending and revenues in the federal budget.
• Conducting Outreach. The most important form of outreach was direct communication between CBO and the Congress in person, by phone, by video conference, and by email. In 2024, CBO’s Director met with dozens of Members of Congress, either individually or in groups. CBO also solicited input from a range of policy experts through its Panels of Economic and Health Advisers and obtained many external reviews of its work. In addition, CBO’s staff made presentations about the agency’s processes, work in progress, and recently completed work. And the agency published blog posts highlighting key issues.

For a list of transparency efforts, see www.cbo.gov/about/transparency.

Staff Development

Following a year in which a continuing resolution for half of the year significantly constrained CBO employees’ opportunities for training, in 2024 the agency was able to do much more to meet its commitment to the professional growth and development of its workforce to ensure that staff were well-equipped to address evolving challenges and fulfill the organization’s mission effectively. That commitment was realized through targeted training programs, collaborative initiatives, and efforts to enhance skills across all divisions and units. CBO also supported the development of its analysts by sponsoring participation in national conferences, allowing staff to engage with external experts and to share insights.

Through CBO’s strong partnership with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR), staff were provided with training on their rights as described in the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act. Additionally, OCWR provided training on recognizing and preventing discrimination and harassment and bystanders’ responsibilities to intervene. Such training is important to the success of the agency’s workforce and for maintaining a healthy and respectful work environment for all CBO staff.

In addition, CBO focused on enhancing the leadership and management skills of managers and employees. The agency implemented a leadership development series for midlevel managers to build strategic planning and team management capabilities and introduced workshops on project management and resilience.

Finally, CBO continued to emphasize the need to clearly communicate the results of analyses by conducting in-house courses on writing reports and creating graphics.

Contracts

As it sought bids from contractors, CBO continued to encourage small businesses to participate by including them in its requests for price quotes and in its market research and, before making an award, by having each prospective contractor identify its type of business and its size. As a result of those efforts, CBO awarded 179 contracts and purchase orders to small businesses in fiscal year 2024. Of those contracts and purchase orders, 20 went to minority-owned businesses and 69 to women-owned businesses.

Information Technology

CBO developed and deployed several strategies and technologies to its information technology infrastructure in 2024. The agency made these advances:

• Began implementing zero trust architecture strategies and technologies (which assume that no device or user is trustworthy by default and therefore requires verification before allowing access), to include
  • Deploying an enhanced cybersecurity portal and
  • Improving endpoint detection and response technologies (to detect, investigate, and respond to potential threats);
• Enhanced virtual private network strategies and technologies and near real-time threat monitoring;
• Deployed enhanced network monitoring strategies and tools; and
• Deployed an enhanced data analysis cloud environment.

About This Document

This document presents the Congressional Budget Office’s request for appropriations for fiscal year 2026.

Leigh Angres, Tracy L. Henry, Joyce Shin, and Kamna Virmani (formerly of CBO) prepared the document with assistance from Dana Ealey, Kevin Laden, and Damon Whitley and with guidance from Mark Smith.

Mark Doms and Mark Hadley reviewed the document. John Skeen edited it, and Jorge Salazar created the graphics and prepared the text for publication. The document is available at www.cbo.gov/publication/61161.

CBO seeks feedback to make its work as useful as possible. Please send comments to communications@cbo.gov.

Phillip L. Swagel

Director

April 2025