Papers
View our recurring reports, which summarize and analyze the most important regular federal budget releases and reports.
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The PREP Plan: Paying for Reform and Extension Policies
In the coming months, Congress and the President will face a number of important decisions with significant fiscal implications. Specifically, they...
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Report: Deficit Falls to $483 Billion, but Debt Continues to Rise
This paper has been updated for FY 2015 and is now located here. Original October 8th: the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected the FY 2014...
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Report: Analysis of CBO's Updated Budget and Economic Forecast
Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updated budget and economic projections for the coming decade, showing today’s record-high debt...
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Report: Analysis of the 2014 Social Security Trustees' Report
See our followup blog series for additional information on the Trustees Report not included in the analysis below. The Social Security and Medicare...
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Report: The 2014 CBO Long-Term Budget Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released its 2014 Long-Term Budget Outlook, detailing the budget picture for the next 75 years. The report...
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The Budget Act at 40: Time for a Tune Up?
For additional budget process resources including specific options for reform, visit our Better Budget Process Initiative home page. Forty years ago...
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Appropriations 101
Note: This paper has been updated here. What are appropriations? Appropriations are annual decisions made by Congress about how the federal government...
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Chartbook: The Tax Extenders
An annotated version of this chartbook is available at Want to Understand the Tax Extenders? Here's a Few Charts. Much more detail about the history...
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Tax Day 2014: 10 Charts About Taxes
An annotated version of this chartbook is available at Tax Day 2014: Ten Charts to Explain Our Federal Tax System