Outlook for the Budget and the Economy
- Report
The 2018 Long-Term Budget Outlook
If current laws remain generally unchanged, CBO projects, federal budget deficits and debt would increase over the next 30 years—reaching the highest level of debt relative to GDP in the nation’s history by far.
- Report
The Accuracy of CBO’s Outlay Projections for Fiscal Year 2017
CBO’s March 2016 projections of federal outlays for fiscal year 2017 were $65 billion—or 1.6 percent—more than the actual amount reported by OMB. By comparison, the mean absolute error for projections made for 1993 to 2016 is 2.3 percent.
- Report
Federal Mandatory Spending for Means-Tested Programs, 2008 to 2028
Outlays for mandatory means-tested programs would grow over the next decade at an average annual rate of 4 percent, whereas spending for mandatory non–means-tested programs would grow at an average rate of 6 percent, CBO projects.
- Report
Answers to Questions for the Record Following a Hearing on The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028 Conducted by the Senate Budget Committee
The Senate Budget Committee convened a hearing at which Director Keith Hall testified about The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028. This document provides CBO’s answers to questions submitted for the record.
- Report
Testimony on CBO’s Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028
CBO Director Keith Hall testifies about The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028 before the House Budget Committee.
- Report
Testimony on CBO’s Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028
CBO Director Keith Hall testifies about The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028 before the Senate Budget Committee.
- Report
The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028
In CBO’s projections, the economy grows relatively quickly this year and next and then more slowly in the following several years. The federal budget deficit rises substantially, boosting federal debt to nearly 100 percent of GDP by 2028.
- Report
Factors Affecting the Labor Force Participation of People Ages 25 to 54
This report examines how various demographic factors relate to labor force participation, how economic conditions are likely to affect that rate over the next decade, and what keeps people from participating in the labor force.
- Report
Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, January 2018
CBO projects that if the debt limit is not raised, the Treasury will not be able borrow additional funds using extraordinary measures, and could run out of cash, in the first half of March 2018.
- Report
Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, November 2017
Under current law, on December 9, federal debt will be at the statutory limit and the Treasury will need to use “extraordinary measures” to continue to raise cash. Those measures would probably be exhausted in late March or early April.