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.
Senate ACA Plan Could Add $350-$635 Billion to Debt
Update 12/10/2025: In place of the proposal described below, the Senate is now expected to vote on a clean three-year extension of the enhanced...
Pell Grant Program Still Faces Large Shortfall, Despite One-Time Fix
The Pell Grant program faces a large funding gap, despite the one-time infusion of funding enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)...
CRFB Releases Updated Social Security Reformer
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has updated its interactive online Social Security solvency tool, the Social Security Reformer...
CBO’s New Projections Show $1 Trillion Less in Tariff Savings
Updated projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that tariffs enacted this year will reduce debt (including interest) by $3.0...
Maya MacGuineas: Our elected officials can’t keep ignoring the looming Social Security problem
Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She recently wrote an opinion piece for Deseret News, an excerpt of...
What You Need for the End of the Fiscal Year
Updated 11/17/25: After 43 days, the latest government shutdown ended on November 12 with a funding measure that provides full-year Agriculture...
Social Security General Revenue Funding Would be a Costly Mistake
The Social Security retirement program is only seven years from insolvency, at which point the law calls for a 24% across-the-board benefit cut – an...
Congress to Wipe $3.4 Trillion from PAYGO Scorecard
The legislation to end the current government shutdown and temporarily fund the government would also wipe the current statutory PAYGO scorecard...
12-Month Deficit Totals $1.7 Trillion, Debt Approaches 100% of GDP
The federal budget deficit totaled $1.74 trillion between November 2024 and October 2025 according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office...
Tariff Dividends Could Cost $600 Billion Per Year
President Trump proposed paying a dividend of “at least $2,000 a person” with new tariff revenue in a post on Truth Social this weekend. The post...
Event Recap: Budget Bash 2025
On Tuesday, November 4, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget hosted its annual reception at the Hall of State’s View at 400. The evening...
Getting to 3%: An Open Letter to Lawmakers
Today, the Board of Directors for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released an open letter calling on lawmakers to adopt a fiscal goal...