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.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/pension.png.webp?itok=nSJMN7q1)
Pension Smoothing Does Not Reduce the Deficit
In the coming days, the Senate will vote on the House-passed measure to replenish the Highway Trust Fund. The bill is a last-ditch effort to prevent...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/exclamation_7.jpg.webp?itok=K67veOJc)
Trust Fund Insolvency Dates Are Approaching Fast
Although most of our analysis of CBO's Long-Term Budget Outlook has focused on debt projections, CBO also makes projections about the solvency of...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/question_mark_7_1.jpg.webp?itok=AmIy5lA8)
How to Deal With Budget Projection Uncertainty
In our series on the long-term budget outlook, we covered how debt projections would change if some of CBO's economic and technical assumptions turned...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/different_assumptions_3_0.jpg.webp?itok=vg8R8sBd)
What If...
Any budget projection is inherently uncertain, and that uncertainty is magnified when the projection period is extended to 25 or 75 years, as the...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/moneyBW.jpg.webp?itok=3iN852pW)
Budget Act at 40: BPC Hosts Panel Discussion
The Bipartisan Policy Center held an event Tuesday commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Congressional Budget Act, which became law on July 12...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/gregg.png.webp?itok=A_tu3M4v)
Judd Gregg: Easier to add debt than choose
Judd Gregg, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee from 2005 to 2007 and ranking member...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/greggconrad.jpg.webp?itok=3s_Qcfon)
Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg: The Two Budgeteers: All for One in Effort to Update Budget Act
Kent Conrad, a former Democratic senator from North Dakota, and Judd Gregg, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, are both former chairmen...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/growtharrow_0.png.webp?itok=RMzyF3EB)
CBO: Consequences of a Growing National Debt
In addition to showing the path of future debt, CBO's Long-Term Budget Outlook described the consequences of a large and growing federal debt. The...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/maya_thumb.png.webp?itok=A7BB86R-)
CRFB's Maya MacGuineas on the Long-Term Budget Outlook
This week, CRFB President Maya MacGuineas appeared on Bloomberg Television to discuss the CBO's Long-Term Budget Outlook and how imperative it is for...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/shutterstock_124697734.jpg.webp?itok=6Stb-O_W)
Quantifying the Cost of Waiting to Address Debt
The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) Long-Term Budget Outlook shows a clearly unsustainable debt path over the long term, one that policymakers...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/costofhealthprograms_thumb.png.webp?itok=LlEwhhSe)
Dissecting the Good Health Care Spending News in CBO's Long-Term Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) new Long-Term Budget Outlook presents plenty of good news on Medicare costs yet still highlights the role that...
![](/sites/default/files/styles/article_listing/public/managed/media-images2022-02/debtfeedback_thumb.png.webp?itok=K6g_fvbL)
High Debt Drags Down The Economy
New calculations in the Congressional Budget Office's Long-Term Budget Outlook show that the high debt projected under current law could diminish...