Budget Concepts and Process
- Report
Budgeting for Federal Investment
This report examines approaches to budgeting that would distinguish expenditures for investment in physical capital, education, and research and development from other expenditures.
- Interactive
CBO's Waterfall Model For Projecting Discretionary Spending, March 2021
CBO’s interactive tool allows users to simulate the agency’s process for projecting discretionary budget authority and outlays for different types of spending over the course of 10 years.
- Report
CBO Explains Budgetary Scorekeeping Guidelines
CBO explains some of the guidelines it follows when providing information to the Congress about the budgetary effects of proposed legislation.
- Presentation
Baseline Budget Projections
Presentation by Theresa Gullo, Director of Budget Analysis, and John McClelland, Director of Tax Analysis, at a joint seminar by the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Research Service.
- Report
Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021—Information for Legislation Enacted Through December 23, 2020
CBO reports annually on programs whose authorizations of appropriations have already expired or will expire. CBO released information about legislation enacted through December 23, 2020. The full report will be issued in coming months.
- Report
Federal Net Interest Costs: A Primer
CBO describes federal net interest outlays and their projected growth over the coming decade.
- Report
Estimating the Cost of One-Sided Bets: How CBO Analyzes the Effects of Spending Triggers
When analyzing proposals and programs whose costs depend on whether or not some uncertain variable reaches a specified trigger level, CBO considers a range of possible outcomes and their associated probabilities.
- Report
The Statutory Pay-As-You Go Act and the Role of the Congress
CBO describes how estimates of the budgetary effects of enacted legislation are recorded and used to meet requirements for budget enforcement under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
- Report
Estimates of the Cost of Federal Credit Programs in 2021
Using FCRA procedures, CBO estimates that new loans and loan guarantees issued in 2021 would result in savings of $41.8 billion. But using fair-value estimates, CBO projects that they would have a lifetime cost of $46.8 billion.
- Report
Federal Debt: A Primer
From the end of 2008 to 2019, the amount of federal debt held by the public nearly tripled. This report describes federal debt, various ways to measure it, CBO’s projections for the coming decade, and the consequences of its growth.