Search
- Report
This brief describes the economic conditions and budgeting practices that can lead to significant budgetary challenges--often termed fiscal stress--at the local level.
- Report
This document presents data through 2009 on permanent and temporary admissions of foreign nationals to the United States, the number and types of visas issued, the naturalization of residents, and enforcement of immigration laws.
- Blog Post
Today CBO released an update to its February 2006 paper Immigration Policy in the United States. The publication is a collection of tables and figures with descriptive text (shown below). The update presents data through 2009 and makes comparisons with 2004, the most recent year for which most data were reported in the earlier paper.
- Report
In fiscal year 2007 total public spending for transportation and water infrastructure was $356 billion, or 2.4 percent of the nation’s economic output as measured by its gross domestic product.
- Blog Post
The nations transportation and water infrastructureits highways, airports, water supply systems, wastewater treatment plants, and other facilitiesplays a vital role in the economy. Private commercial activities and the daily lives of individuals depend on that physical infrastructure, which is provided by all levels of government in the United States.
- Report
CBO estimated the budgetary impact of the activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac using the methodology specified in the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990.
- Blog Post
In September 2008, the federal government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that provide credit guarantees on more than half of the outstanding residential mortgages in the United States. Although they are not legally federal agencies, the government operates them to fulfill the public purpose of supporting the housing and mortgage markets. Therefore, CBO believes that it is appropriate to include the GSEs’ financial transactions in the federal budget.
- Report
The Budgetary Impact and Subsidy Costs of the Federal Reserve's Actions During the Financial Crisis
- Blog Post
Over the past several years, the nation has experienced its most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. To stabilize financial markets and institutions, the Federal Reserve System used its traditional policy tools to reduce short-term interest rates and increase the availability of funds to banks, and created a variety of nontraditional credit programs to help restore liquidity and confidence to the financial sector. In doing so, it more than doubled the size of its asset portfolio to over $2 trillion and assumed more risk of losses than it normally takes on.
- Blog Post
The federal governmentthrough laws and regulationssometimes requires state, local, and tribal governments and various entities in the private sector to expend resources to achieve national goals. In 1995, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) became law, aimed at ensuring that, during the legislative process, the Congress receives information about such proposed requirements, known as federal mandates, before enacting a piece of legislation. UMRA defines a legislative provision as a mandate if that provision, when enacted, would