Budget Concepts and Process
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Business Tax Credits for Wind and Solar Power
CBO provides an overview of federal tax credits that support investment in wind and solar electric power. The agency also explains how it assesses the credits’ budgetary and economic effects and how its baseline reflects JCT’s revenue estimates.
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How Changes in Economic Conditions Might Affect the Federal Budget: 2025 to 2035
To show how variations in economic conditions might affect its budget projections, CBO analyzed how revenues, outlays, and deficits might change if the values of key economic variables differed from those in the agency’s forecast.
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Workbook for How Changes in Economic Conditions Might Affect the Federal Budget: 2025 to 2035
This workbook allows users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios by specifying differences in the values of four economic variables relative to the values underlying CBO’s January 2025 projections.
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CBO Explains Common Sources of Uncertainty in Cost Estimates for Legislation
CBO’s cost estimates, which represent the agency’s best assessment of a bill’s budgetary effects, can be subject to uncertainty arising from various sources. CBO describes how it addresses six common sources of uncertainty.
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CBO’s Waterfall Model for Projecting Discretionary Spending, January 2025
CBO's interactive tool allows users to simulate the agency's process for projecting discretionary budget authority and outlays for different types of spending over the course of 10 years.
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Unemployment Insurance: Budgetary History and Projections
CBO examines trends in revenues and outlays associated with unemployment insurance and provides information about how CBO treats that program in its baseline projections and cost estimates.
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Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations: 2025 Preliminary Report
CBO reports annually on programs whose authorizations of appropriations have already expired or will expire. This data file covers legislation enacted through September 30, 2024. A full report will be issued later this year.
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An Introduction to the Congressional Budget Office
Learn more about CBO’s work and its processes in a publication that is typically updated at the start of each Congress.
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CBO Explains How It Incorporates Administrative and Judicial Actions When Updating Its Baseline Projections and Preparing Cost Estimates
This primer summarizes the practices that CBO follows when incorporating the effects of recent administrative and judicial actions in its baseline projections and cost estimates.
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Information Sources for Policymakers: Congressional Budget Office 101
Presentation by Lara Robillard, an analyst in CBO’s Budget Analysis Division, at AcademyHealth’s Health Policy Orientation.