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.

Fiscal Goals Become Very Difficult with Reconciliation Plans
It would take more than $7 trillion of ten-year savings to stabilize debt at the size of the economy by Fiscal Year (FY) 2034. But rather than making...

Debt Ceiling Needs to be Raised in Advance of X Date
Recent reports from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Bipartisan Policy Center estimate that the debt ceiling, which was reinstated on...

The House’s $2 Trillion in Spending Cuts Should Be an Absolute Minimum
The reconciliation instructions in the House’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget resolution – which allow up to $2.8 trillion of net borrowing through 2034...

Upcoming Congressional Fiscal Policy Deadlines
Updated 3/28/2025: The President signed a continuing resolution (H.R. 1968) on March 15, 2025, that runs through September 30, 2025. Our analysis of...

CBO Releases March 2025 Long-Term Budget and Economic Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released its March 2025 Long-Term Budget and Economic Outlook, its first full thirty-year baseline and...

Medicare Advantage Will Be Overpaid by $1.2 Trillion
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released their latest status report on the Medicare Advantage (MA) program last week. Based on this...

CBO's Options to Improve Social Security Solvency
Social Security is the largest federal government program and provides income to nearly 70 million retirees, dependents, survivors, and disabled...

Tax Cut Extensions Would Add $37 Trillion to Debt by 2054
In a recent letter, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that extending and reviving various provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act...

Ending Taxes Below $150,000 Would Lose $10 to $15 Trillion
Members of the Trump Administration and Congress have recently discussed the idea of waiving all taxes for those making less than $150,000 per year...

Senators Push Back Against Current Policy Gimmick
Update: JCT issued a response to the letter confirming the default approach to scoring tax legislation is using a current law baseline as established...

Primer: Understanding the Tax Gap
Note: This is an update of our Tax Gap Primer using the latest available data from the IRS. One of the most fair and efficient ways for policymakers...

Appropriations Watch: FY 2025
Updated 3/19/25: On March 14, the Senate passed a final continuing resolution to extend government funding through the end of the fiscal year, thereby...