Congressional Budget Office
Agency overview | |
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Formed | July 12, 1974 |
Headquarters | Ford House Office Building, 4th Floor Second and D Streets, SW Washington, D.C. 20515 |
Employees | 250 |
Annual budget | $55.0 million (FY 2020) |
Agency executives |
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Website | www |
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a
Whereas politicians on both sides of the aisle have criticized the CBO when its estimates have been politically inconvenient,[3][4] economists and other academics overwhelmingly reject that the CBO is partisan or that it fails to produce credible forecasts.[4][5] There is a consensus among economists 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."[5]
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.[6] Official operations began on February 24, 1975, with Alice Rivlin as director.[7]
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.[4][8] 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."[4] In 2015, the Brookings Institution reported that 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."[7]
Mission
The Congressional Budget Office is
With respect to estimating spending for Congress, the Congressional Budget Office serves a purpose parallel to that of the
Operations
Section 202(e) of the Budget Act requires the CBO to submit periodic reports about fiscal policy to the
Divisions
The Congressional Budget Office is divided into nine divisions.[11]
- Budget Analysis
- Financial Analysis
- Health Analysis
- Labor, Income Security, 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:[12]
Director | Term |
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Alice Rivlin | February 24, 1975 – August 31, 1983 |
Rudolph G. Penner | September 1, 1983 – April 28, 1987 |
Edward Gramlich (Acting) | April 28, 1987 – December 1987 |
James L. Blum (Acting) | December 1987 – March 6, 1989 |
Robert Reischauer | March 6, 1989 – February 28, 1995 |
June E. O'Neill | March 1, 1995 – January 29, 1999 |
James L. Blum (Acting) | January 29, 1999 – February 3, 1999 |
Dan Crippen | February 3, 1999 – January 3, 2003 |
Barry B. Anderson (Acting) | January 3, 2003 – February 5, 2003 |
Douglas Holtz-Eakin | February 5, 2003 – December 29, 2005 |
Donald B. Marron Jr. (Acting) | December 29, 2005 – January 18, 2007 |
Peter R. Orszag | January 18, 2007 – November 25, 2008 |
Robert A. Sunshine (Acting) | November 25, 2008 – January 22, 2009 |
Douglas Elmendorf | January 22, 2009 – March 31, 2015 |
Keith Hall | April 1, 2015 – May 31, 2019[13] |
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,[3][4] 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."
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."[4] The agency has "a nonpartisan staff culture".[4]
Historically, the
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.[7]
See also
- Minimum wage in the United States
- 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
- ISBN 0-13-063085-3.
- S2CID 237537709.
- ^ ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sarah Binder (March 15, 2017). "This is why the Congressional Budget Office will likely survive Republican attacks". Washington Post.
- ^ Booth School of Business. March 21, 2017.
- ^ Adam Kelsey (March 13, 2017). "What the CBO does and how it gets its numbers". ABC News.
- ^ a b c d e Philip Joyce, The Congressional Budget Office at Middle Age, Working Paper #9, Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution (February 17, 2015).
- ^ "The Congressional Budget Office, explained". Vox. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
- ^ "Introduction to CBO" (PDF). Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
- ^ "Introduction to CBO". February 21, 2011.
- ^ "Staffing and Organization". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
- ^ Bley, Mary Frances; Keith, Robert (October 18, 2005). "Congressional Budget Office: Appointment and Tenure of the Director and Deputy Director". Digital Library.
- ^ Keith Hall (May 31, 2019). "Goodbye From CBO's Director". 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.
External links
- Official website
- CBO Blog
- CBO publications 1975-1999 at the Wayback Machine (archived June 1, 2011) and 2000-
- Congress.org: Meet the scorekeepers of spending