The federal program that provides insurance against the risk of terrorism expired at the end of 2014. Without such a program, taxpayers will face less financial risk, but some businesses will lose or drop their terrorism coverage. Last year the Congress considered legislation to reauthorize the...

Observers often cite fraud as an important contributor to high health care spending, particularly in federal programs. This report describes how CBO estimates the budgetary effects of legislative proposals to reduce fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program...

In recent years, policymakers have considered proposals to modify the nation’s immigration system. This report describes the factors CBO considers when it assesses the budgetary effects of proposed changes to immigration policy. The report details noncitizens’ eligibility for federal...

CBO projects that, under current law, the federal budget deficit will fall to $468 billion in 2015 – 2.6 percent of GDP – and remain roughly stable, as a percentage of GDP, through 2018. After that, the gap between spending and revenues is projected to grow, raising the already high level of...

CBO analyzed possible transitions to four alternative market structures that involve choices about whether and how the government would continue to guarantee payment on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. This report examines various mechanisms that policymakers could use to attract more...

This report presents additional information about CBO’s long-term projections of revenues and outlays for Social Security and provides information on Social Security benefits and payroll taxes for people born in different years and at different earnings levels. CBO has made a number of changes...

In certain reports and for some major pieces of legislation, CBO analyzes the short-term and longer-term effects on the overall economy of changes in federal fiscal (tax and spending) policies. This report, which is part of the agency’s ongoing effort to make its analyses transparent, explains...

Legislation enacted in 2014 calls for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to expand the availability of health care to eligible veterans. The structure of VHA and published studies suggest that VHA care has been less expensive than care provided by the private sector. However, limited...

The total costs of carrying out the Navy’s 2015 shipbuilding plan—an average of about $21 billion per year (adjusted for inflation to 2014 dollars) over the next 30 years—would be one-third higher than the funding that the Navy has received in recent decades, CBO estimates. The Navy would...

An effective marginal tax rate (ETR) measures an investor’s tax burden on returns from an investment. CBO estimates that the ETR, on average, for all capital income is 18 percent. ETRs on returns from investment vary by sector, ranging from 29 percent for businesses to virtually zero for...