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Frequently Asked Questions

What was the deficit for the past fiscal year, and what is the projected deficit for the current fiscal year?
The deficit for fiscal year 2010 was $1.294 trillion. For details regarding the projected deficit for the current fiscal year, refer to CBO's budget projections page.

Where can I learn how much the government is spending?
CBO provides estimates of budget authority and outlays for discretionary spending for the current fiscal year and the year covered by the Administration's budget request. (See the House and Senate current-status tables.) For more general spending information, see CBO's current budget projections.

Where can I find information on past deficits and surpluses?
CBO has compiled historical data for revenues, outlays, and the deficit or surplus for fiscal years 1970 to 2009. The Historical Tables volume of the federal budget contains additional information.

Does CBO make long-term projections of the government's spending and revenues?
CBO's Long-Term Budget Outlook presents illustrative scenarios for federal spending and revenues through 2050 and describes the implications of those scenarios for the economy. CBO also produces long-term budget projections for specific programs, as needed. For example, in 2004, the agency began to produce a 100-year outlook for the Social Security program.

What are cost estimates and why does CBO prepare them?
By law, CBO is required to produce a cost estimate and mandate statement for every bill reported by a Congressional committee. Each cost estimate of pending legislation assesses (1) the potential impact on spending subject to appropriation (also known as discretionary spending), (2) any impact on mandatory spending (also known as direct spending), and (3) any impact on federal revenues (incorporating estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation for legislation that would change the federal tax code). Used to determine whether the proposals are consistent with the budget resolution, CBO's cost estimates have become an integral part of the legislative process. See "CBO's Role in the Budget Process" and "What CBO Publishes." To find particular cost estimates, use the cost estimates search function, or browse through a listing of cost estimates for the current Congress.

How accurate are CBO's economic forecasts?
CBO regularly evaluates the accuracy of its economic forecasts and publishes the track record. Those evaluations help guide the agency's efforts to improve its forecasts and help Members of Congress and others in their use of CBO's estimates. Historically, the accuracy of CBO's two-year forecasts and five-year projections has been very similar to the accuracy of those by the Blue Chip consensus (an average of private-sector forecasters) and the Administration. For a related discussion, see What Is a Current-Law Economic Baseline and CBO's Economic Forecasting Record: 2010 Update.

How accurate are CBO's budget projections?
By statute, CBO's baseline projections must estimate the future paths of federal spending and revenues under current law and policies. The baseline is therefore not intended to be a prediction of future budgetary outcomes; instead, it is meant to serve as a neutral benchmark that lawmakers can use to measure the effects of proposed changes to spending and taxes. So for that reason and others, actual budgetary outcomes are almost certain to differ from CBO's baseline projections. For a related discussion, see Chapter 1 of CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook; see also The Uncertainty of Budget Projections: A Discussion of Data and Methods for supplemental information.

A recent newspaper story cited CBO. How do I find the document that the article referred to?
The article could be citing either a CBO publication or a CBO cost estimate. (Sometimes such articles refer to a recent cost estimate as a CBO report.) You may want to try the following:

• Check "Recent Publications" on the home page.
• Search for the document on the site-wide search function located in the upper right corner.
• Search for the document on the publications advanced search page, or browse through a listing of publications by subject area.
• Search for the document on the cost estimates advanced search page, or browse through a listing of cost estimates for the current Congress.

Can I reprint material that I find on CBO's Web site?
The information and documents that are available through CBO's Web site usually were created by the agency's employees in the course of their employment at CBO. As such, they are works of the government and are not protected by copyright law. You may copy them in their entirety and distribute them without CBO's permission, but the agency requests that you acknowledge CBO as the source of the information. However, CBO's publications and this Web site may contain copyrighted images or other material, and permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce that material separately.

Whom should I contact if I am encountering difficulty in locating the CBO document or agency-related information that I am looking for?
Contact CBO's Associate Director for Communications at (202)-226-2602.