Papers
View our recurring reports, which summarize and analyze the most important regular federal budget releases and reports.
CBO's 2019 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its Long-Term Budget Outlook, again confirming the budget’s unsustainable long-term trajectory...
A Plan to Raise the Caps Without Breaking the Bank
Due to the large temporary increase in discretionary spending levels for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019 in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, spending is...
Appropriations 101
This paper has been updated here. What are appropriations? Appropriations are annual decisions made by Congress about how the federal government...
Kent Conrad's Testimony on the Broken Budget Process
On May 14, 2019, former Senate Budget Committee Chairman and Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget board member Kent Conrad (D-ND) testified...
Analysis of the 2019 Medicare Trustees' Report
The Medicare Trustees have released their 2019 report, which makes projections for Medicare spending and revenue for the next 75 years. The Trustees...
CBO's Analysis of the President's FY 2020 Budget
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimate of the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget using its own assumptions to evaluate the...
Joint Letter: Don't Revive the Expired Tax Extenders
Below is a joint letter sent today to Congressional leadership and the heads of the taxwriting committees urging them against reviving the temporary...
Letter to Congress to Abide By PAYGO
Below is a letter from Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget president Maya MacGuineas to all Members of Congress asking them to offset the costs...
Analysis of the 2019 Social Security Trustees’ Report
The Social Security Trustees released their annual report today, continuing to show that the Social Security program must address its funding...
Why Should We Worry About the National Debt?
Though the national debt is at a post-war high, the willingness of policymakers to address it seems as if it is at an all-time low. The last two years...
Why Should We Worry About the National Debt: Questions and Answers
“Why Should We Worry About the National Debt?” describes six important ways that the growing national debt will affect the budget and the economy...
Letter for the Record on Comprehensive Legislative Proposals on Social Security
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget submitted a letter for the record from CRFB president Maya MacGuineas pertaining to the House Ways and...