Blog
Welcome to our blog – The Bottom Line, where you’ll find up-to-date commentary and analysis on the most important news in the fiscal world. Below is a list of our blog posts.
CBO Projects High Federal Health Program Costs
Federal health programs will cost over $26 trillion through 2036, under the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline, making health care the largest...
Net Interest Costs Will Double, Again, Over the Next Decade
Net interest on the national debt, the fastest growing part of the budget, is projected to more than double from $970 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025...
Maya MacGuineas: Here's How to Fix Social Security
Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She recently wrote an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News, an...
Upcoming Congressional Fiscal Policy Deadlines
Updated 2/17/26: On February 14, Homeland Security funding expired, causing a partial government shutdown affecting only that department. The spending...
Broad, Bipartisan Support for a 3% Deficit Target
Updated February 25, 2026, to reflect additional support. Representatives Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Scott Peters (D-CA), co-chairs of the Bipartisan...
Bipartisan Momentum Builds for the Fiscal Contingency Preparedness Act
The Fiscal Contingency Preparedness Act (FCPA), introduced last year by Representatives Ben Cline (R-VA) and Jared Golden (D-ME) in the House as well...
$10 Trillion to Get to 3% and Other Fiscal Goals
Deficits would need to be reduced by $9.5 trillion over the next decade to stabilize debt at 100% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Roughly $10...
SCOTUS Tariff Ruling Could Add $2.4 Trillion to the Debt
Today the Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. We...
Pell Grant Program Faces Serious and Immediate Shortfall
The Pell Grant program will end 2026 in the red and faces a cumulative 10-year shortfall exceeding $100 billion, according to the Congressional Budget...
Debt Could Reach 131% of GDP Under an Alternative Scenario
Under the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) new February 2026 baseline, deficits will total $26 trillion – about 6.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP...
Appropriations Watch: FY 2026
Updated 2/17/26: On February 14, Homeland Security funding expired, causing a partial government shutdown affecting only that department. The spending...
Maya MacGuineas: Myths and Fearmongering are Driving Social Security to Insolvency
Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She recently wrote an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News, an...