Congressional Budget Office

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a federal agency within

the legislative branch of the United States government that provides Congressional Budget
budget and economic information to Congress. [1] Inspired by Office
California's Legislative Analyst's Office that manages the state
budget in a strictly nonpartisan fashion, the CBO was created as a
nonpartisan agency by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control Act of 1974.

Whereas politicians on both sides of the aisle have criticized the

CBO when its estimates have been politically inconvenient,[2][3]
economists and other academics overwhelmingly reject that the
CBO is partisan or that it fails to produce credible forecasts. There is
a consensus among economists that "the CBO has historically issued
credible forecasts of the effects of both Democratic and Republican Logo of the CBO
legislative proposals."[4] Agency overview
Formed July 12, 1974
Headquarters Ford House Office
Contents Building, 4th Floor
Second and D
History
Streets, SW
Mission Washington, D.C.
Operations 20515
Divisions Employees 250
Director Annual $55.0 million
Reception budget (FY 2020)

See also Agency Phillip Swagel,

References executives Director

Further reading Mark Hadley,

Deputy Director
External links
Website www.cbo.gov (http
s://www.cbo.gov/)
History
The Congressional Budget Office was created by Title II of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-344), which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 12,
1974.[5] Official operations began on February 24, 1975, with Alice Rivlin as director.[6]

The CBO's creation stems from a fight between President Richard Nixon and a Democratic-controlled
Congress. Congress wanted to protect its power of the purse from the executive.[3][7] The CBO was created
"within the legislative branch to bolster Congress’s budgetary understanding and ability to act. Lawmakers'
aim was both technical and political: Generate a source of budgetary expertise to aid in writing annual
budgets and lessen the legislature’s reliance on the president's Office of Management and Budget."[3] Since
its creation, the CBO has since supplanted the OMB "as the authoritative source of information on the
economy and the budget in the eyes of Congress, the press, and the public."[6]

Mission
The Congressional Budget Office is nonpartisan, and produces "independent analyses of budgetary and
economic issues to support the Congressional budget process."[8] Each year, the agency releases reports and
cost estimates for proposed legislation, without issuing any policy recommendations.

With respect to estimating spending for Congress, the Congressional Budget Office serves a purpose parallel
to that of the Joint Committee on Taxation for estimating revenue for Congress, the Department of the
Treasury for estimating revenues for the Executive branch. This includes projections on the effect on
national debt and cost estimates for legislation.[9]

Operations
Section 202(e) of the Budget Act requires the CBO to submit periodic reports about fiscal policy to the
House and Senate budget committees to provide baseline projections of the federal budget. This is currently
done by preparation of an annual Economic and Budget Outlook plus a mid-year update. The agency also
each year issues An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for the upcoming fiscal year per a
standing request of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. These three series are designated essential
titles distributed to Federal Depository Libraries and are available for purchase from the Government
Publishing Office. The CBO often provides testimony in response to requests from various Congressional
committees and issues letters responding to queries made by members of Congress.

Divisions
The Congressional Budget Office is divided into eight divisions.[10]

Budget Analysis
Financial Analysis
Health, Retirement, and Long-Term Analysis
Macroeconomic Analysis
Management, Business, and Information Services
Microeconomic Studies
National Security
Tax Analysis

Director
The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate jointly appoint the
CBO Director after considering recommendations from the two budget committees. The term of office is
four years, with no limit on the number of terms a director may serve. Either house of Congress, however,
may remove the director by resolution. At the expiration of a term of office, the person serving as Director
may continue in the position until his or her successor is appointed. The list of directors of the CBO are:[11]
 Director
Alice Rivlin
Rudolph G. Penner
Edward Gramlich (Acting)
James L. Blum (Acting)
Robert Reischauer
June E. O'Neill
Term
February 24, 1975 – August 31, 1983
September 1, 1983 – April 28, 1987
April 28, 1987 – December 1987
December 1987 – March 6, 1989
Ford House Office
March 6, 1989 – February 28, 1995 Building, headquarters
March 1, 1995 – January 29, 1999 for the CBO

James L. Blum (Acting) January 29, 1999 – February 3, 1999

Dan Crippen
Barry B. Anderson (Acting)
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Donald B. Marron Jr. (Acting)
Peter R. Orszag
Robert A. Sunshine (Acting)
Douglas Elmendorf
February 3, 1999 – January 3, 2003
January 3, 2003 – February 5, 2003
February 5, 2003 – December 29, 2005
December 29, 2005 – January 18, 2007
January 18, 2007 – November 25, 2008
November 25, 2008 – January 22, 2009
January 22, 2009 – March 31, 2015

Keith Hall April 1, 2015 – May 31, 2019[12]

Phillip Swagel June 3, 2019 – present

Reception
Whereas politicians on both sides of the aisle have criticized the CBO when its estimates have been
politically inconvenient,[2][3] economists and other academics overwhelmingly reject that the CBO is
partisan or that it fails to produce credible forecasts.

A March 2017 survey of leading economists shows a consensus behind the notion that "adjusting for legal
restrictions on what the CBO can assume about future legislation and events, the CBO has historically
issued credible forecasts of the effects of both Democratic and Republican legislative proposals."[4]
According to MIT economist David Autor, the "CBO has a good track record with a very difficult
assignment. It errs, but not systematically or with partisan intent."[4] According to Yale economist
Christopher Udry, "There is no credible evidence of partisan bias."[4] Economist Walter E. Williams wrote
in 1998 that the CBO was well-regarded for its "honest numbers" on fiscal and economic matters.[6]
According to the Los Angeles Times, "the CBO’s analyses and forecasting are regarded as good or better
than others doing similar work... economists say that the CBO’s economic projections generally compare
favorably against other outfits, and its long-term budget estimates have been fairly accurate."[2]

According to George Washington University political scientist Sarah Binder, the CBO "has emerged over its
history as a neutral analyst of congressional budgets and cost estimates for proposed legislation."[3] The
agency has "a nonpartisan staff culture".[3]

Historically, the House Budget Committee and Senate Budget Committee have insulated the CBO from
external pressures and attempts to politicize or weaken the office.[6] Professor Philip Joyce of the University
of Maryland School of Public Policy writes:
 This is quite surprising, in a sense, given the partisan nature of the Congress. It is not
necessarily that these partisans have embraced nonpartisanship as a positive end in itself,
however. Rather, the Budget Committees (and especially their leadership and staff) have
recognized that a weak CBO (one that does not have a reputation for objective analysis, and
whose conclusions are viewed as partisan) is not in their interest. A weak CBO weakens the
Budget Committees, and indeed weakens Congress as a whole in its inevitable battles with the
executive over budget and economic policy.[6]

See also
United States Congress
United States federal budget
Office of Management and Budget
Compare:
Legislative Analyst's Office (California)
Parliamentary Budget Office (Australia)
Parliamentary Budget Officer (Canada)
National Assembly Budget Office (The Republic of Korea)
Office for Budget Responsibility (United Kingdom)

References
1. O'Sullivan, Arthur; Sheffrin, Steven M. (2003). Economics: Principles in Action. Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 388. ISBN 0-13-063085-3.
2. Lee, Don (2017-03-14). "What is the CBO, and can you trust its numbers on the Republican
healthcare plan?" (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-pol-cbo-report-qa-20170314-story.ht
ml). Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0458-3035).
Retrieved 2017-03-23.
3. Sarah Binder (March 15, 2017). "This is why the Congressional Budget Office will likely survive
Republican attacks" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/15/this-
is-why-the-congressional-budget-office-will-likely-survive-republican-attacks/). Washington
Post.
4. "The CBO" (http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/the-cbo). Initiative on Global Markets (IGM),
University of Chicago Booth School of Business. March 21, 2017.
5. Adam Kelsey (March 13, 2017). "What the CBO does and how it gets its numbers" (https://abc
news.go.com/Politics/spicers-rebuke-puts-spotlight-congressional-budget-office-amid/story?id=
46017070). ABC News.
6. Philip Joyce, The Congressional Budget Office at Middle Age (https://www.brookings.edu/wp-c
ontent/uploads/2016/06/PJ_WorkingPaper9_Feb11_Final.pdf), Working Paper #9, Hutchins
Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution (February 17, 2015).
7. "The Congressional Budget Office, explained" (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/
13/14860856/congressional-budget-office-cbo-explained). Vox. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
8. "Introduction to CBO" (https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/2016-IntroTo
CBO.pdf) (PDF). Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
9. "Introduction to CBO" (http://www.cbo.gov/about/overview). 21 February 2011.
10. "Staffing and Organization" (http://www.cbo.gov/about/our-organization-and-people/).
Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
11. Bley, Mary Frances; Keith, Robert (October 18, 2005). "Congressional Budget Office:
Appointment and Tenure of the Director and Deputy Director" (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ar
k:/67531/metacrs8028/). Digital Library.
12. Keith Hall (May 31, 2019). "Goodbye From CBO's Director" (https://www.cbo.gov/publication/5
5323). Congressional Budget Office.

Further reading
Allen Schick, Felix LoStracco The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process. Washington, D.C.:
Brookings Institution, 2000.
Phillip Joyce, "The Congressional Budget Office: Honest Numbers, Power, and Policymaking".
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2011.
Robert P. Saldin. 2017. When Bad Policy Makes Good Politics: Running the Numbers on
Health Reform. Oxford University Press. (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/when-bad-p
olicy-makes-good-politics-9780190255442?prevSortField=1&sortField=8&start=0&resultsPerP
age=20&prevNumResPerPage=20&lang=en&cc=us#)

External links
Official website (https://www.cbo.gov/)
CBO Blog (http://www.cbo.gov/blog)
CBO publications 1975-1999 (https://web.archive.org/web/20110601184500/http://www.cbo.go
v/publications/CBOPubs1975-1999.pdf) at the Wayback Machine (archived June 1, 2011) and
2000- (https://web.archive.org/web/20090527232915/http://www.cbo.gov/publications/CBOPub
s2000-present.pdf)
Congress.org: Meet the scorekeepers of spending (https://web.archive.org/web/200910050204
26/http://www.congress.org/news/2009/09/29/meet_the_scorekeepers_of_spending)

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