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.
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2015’s Fiscal Follies and Reasons for Hope
It’s the end of the year and like so many organizations, CRFB wanted to share with you our top 10 list: a look back at Congress’s 10 top fiscal...
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Does the U.S. Spend $80 Billion a Year on Incarceration?
At the third Democratic debate, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said "We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans," using the...
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JCT Estimates Over $1.2 Trillion in Tax Breaks in 2015
The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) recently released its latest estimate of tax expenditures covering the years 2015-2019. Based on the summed cost...
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Policymakers Dig Hole $1.2 Trillion Deeper in 2015
With debt already around its highest level as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) other than around World War II and estimated to grow with no end...
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CBO Releases Detailed Social Security Projections
As it often does in December, CBO has released its detailed long-term projections for Social Security that build off the ones released with their long...
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Expectations Vs Reality For the FY 2016 Budget
With the first session of the the 114th Congress rapidly drawing to a close and the big budget issues being settled, we will take a look at how the...
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Flake Releases “Wastebook: The Farce Awakens”
Carrying on the tradition of retired Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) this week released the 2015 edition of the Wastebook: The...
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The Fiscal Irresponsibility of the Tax Deal in 6 Charts
It's no surprise that a deficit-financed tax cut deal costing $830 billion after interest would be bad for the budget. We've been describing the...
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Omnibus Bill Falls Back on the Usual Budget Gimmicks
The negotiations that concluded this week produced two major pieces of legislation. The most consequential for the budget is the $680 billion package...
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How a Fed Rate Increase Could Affect the Budget
Today, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's interest rate setting and deliberative body that meets eight times a year, could announce that...
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Negotiated Tax Deal Would Cost $680 Billion
Lawmakers have announced a negotiated package of business and individual tax breaks costing about $680 billion over ten years. After interest, we...
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Hoyer Slams Tax Extenders Deal
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) took to the House floor on Tuesday to assert his opposition to a potential tax extenders deal, citing a recent...