August 2011

  • Last week CBO released its annual summer update of its budget and economic outlook. The blog posting for that release focused on CBO’s overall economic and budget projections, so we didn’t have a chance to highlight specific aspects of those projections that may be interesting to some people.

  • As required by law, CBO prepares regular reports on its estimate of the number of jobs created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which is often referred to as the economic stimulus package.

  • The United States continues to face profound budgetary and economic challenges. CBO discusses those challenges in the Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update—an annual report, released today, which presents the agency’s updated budget and economic projections for the current year and the next decade.

  • Last week the President signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011, which establishes caps on discretionary spending through 2021. This blog post provides some background information about discretionary spending and a brief description of the new caps and how they will be enforced.

    What is discretionary spending used for?

  • The federal budget deficit was about $1.1 trillion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2011, CBO estimates in its latest Monthly Budget Review$66 billion less than the roughly $1.2 trillion deficit incurred through July 2010. Revenues were about 8 percent higher than they were at the same point last year, whereas outlays rose by less than 3 percent.

  • CBO projects that in fiscal year 2011, outlays for Social Security will total $733 billion, one-fifth of the federal budget. About 56 million people will receive Social Security benefits this year. Most are retired workers, their spouses, their children, or their survivors, who receive payments through Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI). The remainder consist of disabled workers or their spouses and children, who receive Disability Insurance (DI) benefits.

  • The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established incentives to encourage private investment in innovative technologies, including advanced nuclear energy facilities. Much of the government’s support for the construction of nuclear power plants is offered in the form of federal loan guarantees. Those guarantees, which are administered by the Department of Energy (DOE), promote investment in nuclear energy by lowering the cost of borrowing and possibly increasing the availability of credit for project sponsors.

  • Last night President Obama and Congressional leaders reached an agreement on a measure that would reduce future budget deficits and raise the limit on the public debt in a series of steps. CBO has estimated the impact on deficits of the bill the Budget Control Act of 2011 as posted on the Web site of the House Committee on Rules on August 1, 2011.

    (CBOs estimates of earlier versions of the legislation that were proposed in the House and Senate can be found here.)