Papers
View our recurring reports, which summarize and analyze the most important regular federal budget releases and reports.
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Comparing Fiscal Multipliers
The United States is currently facing one of its worst economic and public health crises as a result of COVID-19. Though substantial COVID relief has...
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Analysis of CBO's 2020 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2020 Long-Term Budget Outlook, which shows the federal budget is on an unsustainable long...
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Better Budget Process Initiative: Automatic CRs Can Improve the Appropriations Process
A government shutdown could occur at the end of this month. This year’s appropriations process is at a standstill, and disagreement over further...
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Comparing President Trump’s Record to His 2016 Agenda
During the 2016 campaign, US Budget Watch estimated that then-candidate Donald Trump’s proposed agenda would add $4.6 trillion to budget deficits...
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Analysis of CBO’s September 2020 Budget Outlook
Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its updated budget outlook – the first to incorporate the effects of the COVID-19 public health...
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Understanding Joe Biden's 2020 Health Care Plan
Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden has proposed a significant agenda to address health care coverage and costs. He...
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Webinar & Chartbook: Where Does the Next Phase of COVID Relief Stand?
The novel coronavirus (COVID) pandemic and resulting economic crisis has been met with an unprecedented policy response. In March 2020, Congress...
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Understanding Joe Biden's 2020 Tax Plan
Former Vice President Joe Biden – the presumptive Democratic nominee for President in the 2020 election – has put forward a variety of tax proposals...
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Maya MacGuineas's Senate Testimony on Oversight of COVID-19 Fiscal Relief
On July 28, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget president Maya MacGuineas testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs...
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Appropriations 101
Note: This paper has been updated here. What are appropriations? How does Congress determine the total level of appropriations? How does Congress...
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Webinar & Chartbook: Projecting COVID's Fiscal Impact
The United States is currently experiencing one of its sharpest economic crises in modern history as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic and...
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Updated Budget Projections Show Fiscal Toll of COVID-19 Pandemic
We have updated our ten-year budget projections to incorproate CBO's latest economic forecast, and now project that debt will reach 121 percent of GDP...