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- Blog Post
I was pleased to speak early yesterday with a group of reporters who gather regularly at the invitation of the Christian Science Monitor. (Audio of the event is below.)
- Blog Post
I testified this morning to the House Budget Committee about the Long-Term Budget Outlook that CBO released yesterday. I explained that we had assessed that outlook under two very different assumptions about future policies for federal revenues and spending, and that the budgetary and economic outcomes under those two scenarios would be starkly different. I highlighted two specific implications of the long-term projections:
- Blog Post
This morning CBO released the latest in its series of reports on the long-term budget outlook. CBO also published an infographic that highlights the key points of the report. Tomorrow, I will testify on the key findings of the report before the House Budget Committee.
- Blog Post
In fiscal year 2011, federal expenditures for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps)—$78 billion—and participation in the program were the highest they have ever been. In an average month that year, about one in seven U.S. residents received SNAP benefits.
- Blog Post
The explosive path of federal debt that CBO projects under what many observers would view as current policies underscores the need for policy changes to put the nation on a sustainable course. In response to a request from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, CBO examined a few alternative approaches for preventing deficits from growing in an unsustainable way.
- Blog Post
At the request of the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Paul Ryan, CBO has calculated the long-term budgetary impact of paths for federal revenues and spending specified by the Chairman and his staff.
- Blog Post
Raising the ages at which people can begin to collect Medicare and Social Security benefits would be one way to lower federal outlays, raise revenues, and reduce long-term fiscal imbalances. A CBO issue brief released today reviews how ages of eligibility affect beneficiaries under current law and how delaying eligibility would affect beneficiaries, the federal budget, and the economy.
- Blog Post
As policymakers consider the composition of policy changes to be used to reduce future budget deficits, it is useful to consider both historical experience and projections for the future for significant components of the budget. Today, I’ll discuss Social Security and the government’s major health care programs.
- Blog Post
CBO projects that in fiscal year 2011, outlays for Social Security will total $733 billion, one-fifth of the federal budget. About 56 million people will receive Social Security benefits this year. Most are retired workers, their spouses, their children, or their survivors, who receive payments through Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI). The remainder consist of disabled workers or their spouses and children, who receive Disability Insurance (DI) benefits.
- Blog Post
In 2009, about 39 million foreign-born people lived in the United States, making up more than 12 percent of the U.S. populationthe largest share since 1920. Naturalized citizens (foreign-born people who have fulfilled the requirements of U.S. citizenship) accounted for about 17 million of the total. Noncitizens (foreign-born people authorized to live and work in the United States either temporarily or permanently and people who are not authorized to live or work in the United States) accounted for about 22 million of the total.