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.
Looming Debt Limit Debate Offers Opportunity for Meaningful Reform
The debt limit was quietly reinstated on March 16. The budget deal in November 2015 suspended the debt limit through March 15, 2017, and reinstated...
Johnson and Larson Show Two Ways to Fix Social Security
Yesterday, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John Larson (D-CT) introduced a Social Security reform bill. About four...
How High Will Debt Rise If Current Policy Continues?
The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) 2017 Long-Term Budget Outlook shows today's high debt will nearly double as a share of Gross Domestic Product...
Rudolph Penner: Washington’s New Definition Of Budget Success
Dr. Rudolph Penner was the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1983 to 1987, and he is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute and a...
TRUSTGO: To Fix the Debt, Start By Making Trust Funds Solvent
Last week, we showed that today's post-war era record-high debt is slated to double as a share of the economy over the next three decades, while four...
CBO Releases 2017 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Today the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their latest Long-Term Budget Outlook, extending the agency's budget projections for the next 30...
Does AHCA Make Tax Reform Easier?
Much of the news coverage on the interplay between health care and tax reform claims the failure to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) makes tax...
JCT Estimates Record $1.6 Trillion in Tax Breaks in 2017
The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released a new estimate earlier this year for the cost of tax expenditures over the years 2016-2020. In total...
Dan Crippen: Why the CBO’s health bill numbers matter — even if they’re imperfect
Dan Crippen served as the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1999 to 2003 and is currently a member of the board of the Committee for a...
Trump Budget Spending Increases Aren’t All Paid For
Although President’s Trump “ skinny budget” pays for most of its defense spending increases with cuts elsewhere, one-fifth of the spending increases...
How Much Will the Essential Health Benefit Changes to AHCA Cost?
Yesterday, we showed the manager's amendment to the American Health Care Act (Obamacare replacement) would reduce its total deficit reduction from...
What CBO Says About the Updated AHCA
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released their updated score of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) with the inclusion of manager's...