Papers
View our recurring reports, which summarize and analyze the most important regular federal budget releases and reports.
Chartbook: Build Back Better for Less
Policymakers are apparently now targeting $1.5 trillion to $2.3 trillion of gross spending increases and tax cuts for their Build Back Better...
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Build Back Better for Less: Two Illustrative Packages
Note: We have published a chartbook to accompany this paper. Policymakers are apparently now targeting $1.5 trillion to $2.3 trillion of gross...
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Q&A: Everything You Should Know About Government Shutdowns
This paper has been updated here. The new fiscal year (FY) will begin on October 1, 2021, and Congress has so far enacted none of the 12...
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Analysis of the 2021 Social Security Trustees' Report
Today, the Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports on the long-term financial state of the Social Security and Medicare...
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Analysis of the 2021 Medicare Trustees' Report
The Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports on the long-term financial state of those programs. The reports are the first...
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Q&A: Everything You Should Know About the Debt Ceiling
This paper has been updated here. The federal debt ceiling will be reinstated on August 1, 2021, at around $28.5 trillion. At that point, the Treasury...
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Injecting Price Competition into Medicare Part B Drugs
Medicare Part B, which covers outpatient physician services, pays for physician-administered drugs by reimbursing physicians the average cost for each...
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Limiting Evergreening for Name-Brand Prescription Drugs
To encourage medical innovation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants temporary market exclusivities to new brand name drugs. These...
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Five Reasons to Pay for New Investments
Congress and the Administration are currently negotiating and developing legislation to invest in physical infrastructure, education, and other areas...
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Chartbook: Reducing the Tax Gap
One of the most fair and efficient ways for policymakers to raise revenue would be to close some portion of the “ tax gap.” The tax gap is the...
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Analysis of CBO's July 2021 Budget and Economic Outlook
Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released initial details of its updated Budget and Economic Outlook, accounting for enactment of the...
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ARCHIVE: Appropriations 101
Note: This paper has been updated here. What are appropriations? How does Congress determine the total level of appropriations? How will this year's...