Congressional Budget Office

As Republicans began the process of trying to repeal the healthcare reform law, the Congressional Budget Office warned Thursday morning that doing so would add to the federal deficit and expand the ranks of uninsured Americans. On the second day of the 112th Congress, Republicans moved to fulfill a campaign promise as the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), held a hearing on HR 2, the proposed "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. " "This law is a job killer," said Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.

WASHINGTON -- A new analysis concludes that President Obama's 2013 budget would bolster the economy in the short term and hinder growth in later years, igniting a fresh round of debate as Democrats and Republicans offer competing economic visions heading into the fall election. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that Obama's proposal would boost the nation's gross domestic product by 1.4% beyond what is expected under current law, primarily because the White House plan would extend certain tax breaks that are set to expire this year.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday he plans to leave his post in the next few months to return to the private sector. Rudolf G. Penner, 50, has been director for four years of the CBO, which produces spending and revenue estimates for all of Congress' budget-related legislation.

The federal government ran up a budget deficit of nearly $780 billion in the first half of the fiscal year amid more spending on TARP, Social Security, Medicare and more, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But the shortfall is actually $53 billion less than it was in the same period last year. From Oct. 1, 2011, through March 30, 2012, the government pulled in $29 billion more in corporate income taxes -- a 53% increase -- due to businesses making higher payments and getting smaller refunds.

Congressional Republicans named New York economist June O'Neill on Friday to be director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. O'Neill, 60, is director of the Center for the Study of Business and Government at Bernard Baruch College in New York, where she is also an economics professor. A registered Republican, she is also adjunct scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

The federal government ran up a budget deficit of nearly $780 billion in the first half of the fiscal year amid more spending on TARP, Social Security, Medicare and more, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But the shortfall is actually $53 billion less than it was in the same period last year. From Oct. 1, 2011, through March 30, 2012, the government pulled in $29 billion more in corporate income taxes -- a 53% increase -- due to businesses making higher payments and getting smaller refunds.

The Congressional Budget Office revised its estimates of the federal deficit Thursday, predicting that it would shrink to $260 billion in the current fiscal year -- lower than previously projected -- but rise to $286 billion in the 2007 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. The new figures are stoking a partisan debate over fiscal responsibility as the midterm elections approach.

Robert Reischauer has a toy skunk in his office. Lift its tail, and what do you see? The letters C-B-O. CBO--the Congressional Budget Office--is used to being the skunk at Capitol Hill's picnic. Its job is to translate the lofty dreams of lawmakers into the hard currency of taxing and spending. And, in these days of perennial federal deficits, the numbers usually don't add up.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office bluntly warned Tuesday that the bank insurance fund will run out of money late this year and will need to borrow cash from the Treasury if it is to continue rescuing depositors in financially crippled banks. But CBO director Robert D. Reischauer said the banking industry, which supports the fund with annual premiums, should be able to repay such borrowing over the next five years, making a direct taxpayer bailout unnecessary.

The nation's chronic, growing budget deficit threatens to lower American living standards in the next decade and "there is no relief in sight," the director of the Congressional Budget Office warned Tuesday. Robert D. Reischauer, the CBO chief, and two of his predecessors painted a grim picture of the prospects for U.S. economic growth at the start of the new century during testimony before the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs subcommittee on economic stabilization.

Federal deficits are declining but are expected to continue at near record highs in 2012 as the "sluggish" economy continues to generate lower tax revenues and projected spending cuts lead to a bump in the unemployment rate, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. "How much and how quickly the deficit declines will depend in part on how well the economy does over the next few years," CBO said in its annual Budget and Economic Outlook report. "Probably more critical, though, will be the fiscal and policy choices made by lawmakers as they face the substantial changes to tax and spending policies that are slated to take effect within the next year under current law. " The report shows the annual federal deficit is expected to hit $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2012, down from its record highs of recent years, but still more than anytime between World War II and 2008.

Here's one way Congress can trim the nation's record deficits: Do nothing. Keeping Congress gridlocked on budget issues would cut the projected annual federal deficit in half by the next fiscal year and set the trend on a downward path for years to come. Legislation already on the books, if left alone, would do several things: Tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush's administration would expire Dec. 31, generating more revenue. And deep budget cuts passed as part of last summer's debt ceiling deal would be automatically triggered, slashing spending in 2013.

The House of Representatives rejected a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution on Friday, failing to revive a long-held and elusive goal for the GOP. The vote came 16 years after an amendment failed to pass Congress by 1 vote in the Senate, but the intervening years have put the amendment further out of reach. In a largely partisan 261-165 vote, the measure fell well short of 284 votes needed to pass. President Obama has said he opposes the amendment. The Senate, which also is required to vote on the amendment as part of the August deal to raise the debt ceiling, is not expected to pass it. That's in part because the bipartisan cooperation needed to amass a two-thirds vote on any fiscal measure seems something of a pipe dream in today's political climate.

Political heavyweights from past budget debates descended on the congressional "super committee" to deliver a tough message as the panel struggles to agree on a $1.5-trillion deficit reduction plan by its Thanksgiving deadline. The four veterans offered their expertise — along with some criticism — as they implored the committee to worry less about the partisan political climate and more about the economic harm that could come to the financial markets and nation's credit rating if a big deal could not be reached.

The rich got richer over the last three decades — and the very rich got very much richer — according to a new government study. The top 1% of households saw their after-tax incomes grow by 275% from 1979 to 2007, said the study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That was more than quadruple the growth of the rest of the top 20% of the population during that period. Meanwhile, income for the 60% of households that make up the middle of the income scale increased by slightly less than 40%, the study found.

The director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office laid out in stark terms the choices for the super-committee on deficit reduction: Only a wholesale reordering of government priorities will do. Federal budget problems are so severe, said CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf, that the nation can no longer afford to continue the status quo of providing government services and a federal safety net for seniors as well as keeping taxes low. At...

The head of the Congressional Budget Office warned Tuesday that tax cuts probably would not strengthen the recovery, while the nation's purchasing managers and a key Federal Reserve official indicated that a "double-dip" recession is unlikely next year. In testimony before the House Budget Committee, CBO Director Robert Reischauer said cutting taxes to fight the economic downturn could reduce long-term prospects for growth because it would significantly increase the national deficit.

As Congress returns to work this week, Republicans and President Obama are bracing for a new round in the budget battles that have rattled Washington all year and, at their heart, pose a simple question: What kind of government do Americans want? The nation's finances are on an unsustainable course, with the federal government spending more than it takes in — like a family budget out of whack. Revenues simply do not cover the costs of running Medicare, defense and all the other programs Americans have come to expect from Washington.

With stronger than expected tax receipts and reduced spending levels, the federal budget deficit will run 20% lower than expected this year, the White House announced Thursday. The so-called Mid-Session Review published by the Office of Management and Budget forecasts a total shortfall of $1.316 trillion in 2011, down from the initial projection of $1.645 trillion in a February estimate.  That revised total mirrors the findings of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.