Papers
View our recurring reports, which summarize and analyze the most important regular federal budget releases and reports.
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Report: Analysis of CBO’s January 2016 Budget and Economic Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its January Budget and Economic Outlook, today, adding more detail to a brief summary released on...
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The PREP Plan: Paying for the Tax Extenders to Set Up Tax Reform
Before the end of the year, Congress will again consider renewal of the “tax extenders,” a collection of more than 50 expired tax breaks for...
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Q&A: Everything You Should Know About the Debt Ceiling - Oct 2015
March 2017 Note: We have updated this Q&A. A new version is available here.
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FY 2015 Deficit Falls to $439 Billion, but Debt Continues to Rise
This paper was updated on October 15, 2015 to reflect the final end of year deficit as announced by the Treasury Department. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2015...
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Happy Fiscal New Year! 15 Numbers from FY 2015
Today marks the end of Fiscal Year 2015. As we look forward to the important work lawmakers face this coming year, let us also take a brief look back...
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Sequester Offset Solutions (SOS) Plan
Download a 1-page summary of the plan. Update 9/16/2015: The appendix was corrected to accurately describe the proposed change to federal employee...
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Report: Analysis of CBO’s Updated Budget and Economic Outlook August 2015
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released its updated budget and economic projections for the coming decade, showing that while short-term...
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The Gathering Storm: Fiscal Clouds Amass This Fall
In early 2015, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) warned of the upcoming Fiscal Speed Bumps, explaining “lawmakers will face a...
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Debunking 8 Social Security Myths on Its 80th Birthday
August 14 marks the 80th birthday of the Social Security program, which was established in the Social Security Act of 1935. Over the past 80 years...
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Fiscal FactCheck: 16 Budget Myths to Watch Out For in the 2016 Campaign
Update: The original version of this paper had a mathematical typo, saying that Medicare beneficiaries get, on average, 350% more out of the program...