Papers
View our recurring reports, which summarize and analyze the most important regular federal budget releases and reports.
Appropriations 101
What are appropriations? How does Congress determine the total level of appropriations? How does Congress allocate appropriations? How are...
Government Shutdowns Q&A: Everything You Should Know
Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 will end on September 30, and Congress has so far enacted zero of the 12 full-year appropriations bills to fund the government...
SDPs Run Amuck - The Case of Medical Debt Forgiveness as a Pretext for High Payments
Medicaid provides health insurance to nearly 71 million people, and will cost the federal government over $650 billion this year – nearly double what...
Q&A: Gross Debt Versus Debt Held by the Public
On August 11, 2025 the gross national debt exceeded $37.0 trillion for the first time. This mark serves as an important reminder of the nation's...
Comments on Proposed Rule to Close a Medicaid Financing Loophole
On July 11, 2025 the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's Senior Vice President and Senior Policy Director Marc Goldwein and Director of...
Analysis of the 2025 Social Security Trustees' Report
The Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports today on the financial status of the programs. The Trustees find that both...
Analysis of the 2025 Medicare Trustees' Report
The Medicare and Social Security Trustees released their annual reports on the financial status of the trust funds. Our report on the Social Security...
Explaining Federal Spending and Revenue
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, federal outlays totaled $6.8 trillion (23.4 percent of GDP) while federal revenues totaled $4.9 trillion (17.1 percent of...
Memo: CEA’s Flawed Analysis Does Not Show TCJA Extension Would Produce 3% Growth
Summary Points The estimates from the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) 1 imply TCJA extension would boost average annual GDP growth to 2.1 percent...
Analysis of CBO’s March 2025 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its March 2025 Long-Term Budget Outlook, which builds off its January 2025 ten-year projections...
Government Shutdowns Q&A: Everything You Should Know
Discretionary funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 will expire on March 14, and Congress has so far enacted zero of the 12 full-year appropriations bills...
Chartbook: Reconciliation 101
On February 25, Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, gave a presentation...