Budget Projections

CBO's budget projections give the Congress a baseline against which to measure the effects of proposed changes in tax and spending laws. The projections start with the Congress's most recent budgetary decisions and show what would happen to the federal budget if no policy changes were made over the projection period. For revenues and entitlement programs, such as Social Security or Medicare, the baseline projections generally assume that current laws will continue without change. For discretionary spending, CBO (as directed by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985) assumes that budget authority for discretionary programs will grow at the rate of inflation each year after. For more information about CBO and its budget projections, please see About CBO.

CBO's most recent budget projections appear in The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020, released on January 26, 2010.

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• Projected Deficits and Surpluses in CBO's Baseline
• CBO's Baseline Budget Projections
• CBO's Baseline Projections of Mandatory Spending
• CBO's Baseline Projections of Federal Debt
• The Budgetary Effects of Selected Policy Alternatives Not Included in CBO's Baseline