Budget Concepts and Process
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CBO Explains Its Principles for Identifying Mandates in Legislation
As defined by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, mandates generally require a nonfederal entity to take an action or comply with a prohibition. This primer describes the principles that CBO follows to identify mandates in legislation.
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CBO Explains the Statutory Foundations of Its Budget Baseline
CBO is required to regularly prepare a baseline consisting of projections of federal revenues, spending, deficits or surpluses, and debt under current law. This document describes the laws that govern how CBO prepares those projections.
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How Changes in Economic Conditions Might Affect the Federal Budget: 2023 to 2033
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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Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2023
CBO reports annually on programs whose authorizations of appropriations have already expired or will expire.
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The Medicare and Medicaid Improvement Funds: Budgetary History and Projections
CBO describes features of the Medicare and Medicaid improvement funds and how the funds are accounted for in CBO’s baseline and cost estimates.
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CBO Describes Its Cost-Estimating Process
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires CBO to prepare estimates of the cost of legislation at certain points in the legislative process. This document provides answers to questions about how CBO prepares those cost estimates.
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CBO Explains How It Develops the Budget Baseline
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires CBO to produce an annual report on federal spending, revenues, and deficits or surpluses. This document provides answers to questions about how CBO prepares those baseline budget projections.
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CBO Releases Updated Budget Primers and Interactive Tools
CBO is engaged in many efforts aimed at fostering transparency, such as providing additional information to help people understand the federal budget process and the agency’s role in that process.
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Workbook for How Changes in Economic Conditions Might Affect the Federal Budget: 2023 to 2033
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 February 2023 projections.
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CBO’s Waterfall Model for Projecting Discretionary Spending, March 2023
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.