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Today CBO released the latest in a series of statutory reports on transactions undertaken as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)—the program established in October 2008, during the financial crisis, to enable the Department of the Treasury to promote stability in financial markets through the purchase and guarantee of “troubled assets.”
- Blog Post
The federal government's finances are pretty complicated and not always easy to understand,and most of CBO's reports about the budget outlook are fairly lengthy and detailed. In fact, one of the questions we're most frequently asked is how much the government spends and takes in each year. For those who are not very familiar with the budget, finding the answer is sometimes harder than it should be.
- Blog Post
The federal budget deficit was close to $240 billion for the first two months of fiscal year
- Blog Post
The centerpiece of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Medicare Modernization Act) was the creation of Medicare Part D, a subsidized pharmaceutical benefit that went into effect in 2006. That additional coverage constituted the most substantial expansion of the Medicare program since its inception in 1965. In 2010, the federal government spent $62 billion on Part D, representing 12 percent of total federal spending for Medicare that year.
- Blog Post
As required by law, CBO prepares regular reports on its estimate of the number of jobs created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which was enacted in response to significant weakness in the economy at that time.
- Blog Post
The U.S. Navy’s fleet numbers 284 ships, including 29 amphibious warfare ships that are designed primarily to carry marines and their equipment into combat but also to perform peacetime missions. Today CBO released a report—requested in the report of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011—reviewing the size, missions, and use of the Navy’s amphibious warfare ships and related expeditionary forces under the Navy’s 2012 shipbuilding plan.
- Blog Post
This morning I testified before the Senate Budget Committee on policies to promote economic growth and employment in 2012 and 2013.
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Last month, the Treasury Department reported that the federal government incurred a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion for fiscal year 2011, almost identical to the deficit it incurred in 2010. As a share of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), the deficit declined slightly—from 9.0 percent in 2010 to 8.7 percent in 2011—but nonetheless it was the third-highest deficit as a share of GDP since 1945.
- Blog Post
CBO has a panel of economic advisers consisting of widely recognized experts on a range of issues. Members of the panel have a variety of backgrounds, areas of knowledge, and experience. We host periodic meetings of the advisers at our office and solicit their views between meetings via e-mail exchanges and telephone calls. Through these interactions, we benefit from the advisers’ understanding of cutting-edge research, macroeconomic developments, and economic policy. As a result, the quality of CBO’s analysis of many topics is greatly enhanced.
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This morning Jeffrey Kling, CBO’s Associate Director for Economic Analysis, spoke at the Annual Fall Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management. His presentation—which can be viewed below—focused on CBO’s use of evidence in the analysis of budget and economic policies. The presentation addressed numerous questions, including: