Feb 15, 2019 | Other Spending
Appropriations Watch: FY 2019
Last Updated 2/15/2019
Congress passed full appropriations for the remaining seven appropriations bills for the rest of fiscal year 2019, and...
Blog
Welcome to our blog – The Bottom Line, where you’ll find up-to-date commentary and analysis on the most important news in the fiscal world. Below is a list of our blog posts.
Feb 14, 2019 | Budget Process
Upcoming Congressional Fiscal Policy Deadlines
Updated 2/14/2019: Congress is expected to vote this week on full appropriations for the remaining seven appropriations bills for the rest of fiscal...
Feb 13, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
As Debt Rises, Interest Costs Could Top $1 Trillion
The fastest growing item in the budget over the next decade will be interest on the debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
In...
Feb 7, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
These 3 Parts of the Budget Explain 87% of Spending Growth
The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) latest baseline shows that deficits and debt are rising unsustainably, driven by the failure of revenue...
Feb 5, 2019
Play Debt-O During State of the Union 2019!
President Donald Trump will give his second State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. ET. CRFB will be live tweeting the speech, providing...
Feb 1, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
Maya MacGuineas: How to Keep the Government Running When Lawmakers Fail To Do Their Job
Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. She recently wrote an ...
Feb 1, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
The Two Factors That Explain the Improvement in the Budget Outlook
This year's Congressional Budget Office (CBO) budget outlook was a slight improvement over last April's, although it still shows a...
Jan 30, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
CBO: Debt-to-GDP Will Double in Three Decades
CBO’s latest baseline projected that current law debt will rise rapidly from today’s post-war record-high levels over the next decade. Buried...
Jan 29, 2019 | Economics
Erskine Bowles: Americans are being left behind. Here's how we fix it.
Erskine Bowles served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1998 and is a member of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget...
Jan 28, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
CBO Budget Projections Show Bleak Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its 2019 budget and economic projections, and the budget outlook is very bleak. CBO's baseline...
Jan 25, 2019 | Economics
The Longest Shutdown Has Hit Consumer Sentiment the Hardest
It's not just the economy that's taken a hit from the partial shutdown of the government. Consumer confidence has taken a dip as well, falling more...
Jan 24, 2019 | Budget Process
A (Very Small) PAYGO Sequester is Scheduled To Happen
Small automatic cuts may be coming soon because Congress added to deficits last year. An $800 million (0.1 percent cut) was supposed to go into...
Jan 24, 2019 | Economics
The Government Shutdown Could Wipe Out Recent Stimulus Effects on This Quarter
The current government shutdown has lasted long enough to temporarily erase all the positive stimulus effects of recent major legislation. ...
Jan 22, 2019 | Economics
The Shutdown's Economic Toll Equals the Average Hurricane
The current government shutdown is the economic equivalent of a self-imposed natural disaster. As the 32nd day of the longest government shutdown in...
Jan 17, 2019 | Budget Process
Ernst, Lankford, and Perdue Introduce The "No Budget, No Recess" Act
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), along with Senators Lankford (R-OK) and Perdue (R-GA), today introduced the "No Budget, No Recess" Act." The legislation...
CBO: Fixing the Debt Could Increase Average Income by $6,000 Per Person
While some recent commentators have suggested Americans stop worrying about our debt, evidence shows there is a significant upside to addressing...
Jan 2, 2019 | Budget Process
Budget Changes in Proposed House Rules
House Democrats are proposing a package of rules to govern the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress. The package contains many...
Dec 31, 2018 | Budgets & Projections
Our Top Fiscal Charts of 2018
The year 2018 was a busy time for budget policy, which gave us plenty of opportunities for analysis via tables and graphs. We published over 250...
Dec 29, 2018 | Other Spending
Leon Panetta: Five Lessons that Never Seem to Be Learned from Shutting Down the Government
Leon Panetta is co-chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, former budget director and White House chief of staff under...
House to Vote on $100 Billion Lame Duck Tax Package
The House will likely consider a package of lame duck tax cuts costing almost $100 billion over ten years. About half of the cost comes from...
