#National Debt

In an analysis of its recent Budget and Economic Outlook, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) underscores a key point: That growth in health care and retirement programs, together with rising interest payments, will drive projected federal deficits and debt higher…

Although Congress recently completed its budget process for this fiscal year and took action to avoid another federal debt crisis, Washington has again postponed action on the larger challenge of long-term fiscal sustainability.“Our nation’s future remains at risk,” warns Paul…

As the Treasury resorts to “extraordinary measures” to avoid defaulting on some financial obligations, Congress has continued to struggle with the necessary but embarrassing task of raising the federal debt limit.Today the House finally took action, narrowly passing a year-long…

The economic recovery has produced larger-than-expected surpluses for many states, and their elected officials are considering what to do with the windfalls.Unfortunately, many state lawmakers have put forward plans that address short-term issues while ignoring more important long-term fiscal concerns…

WASHINGTON -- With the Senate this week considering repeal of the recent reduction in cost-of-living (COLA) increases for working-age military retirees, The Concord Coalition warned lawmakers that deviating from a pay-as-you-go standard for new spending and tax cuts would make…

State lawmakers across the country are debating how to spend large surpluses after the economic recovery helped produce higher-than-expected tax collections for the second year in a row. (more…)

“Like Frankenstein’s monster, the statutory debt limit will soon come back to life,” says Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby. But while swift congressional action to raise the limit is necessary, he writes in a recent blog post, it…

The Congressional Budget Office released a new report Tuesday that includes some good short-term news on federal deficits but warns that they could add $7.9 trillion to the debt over the next decade.The CBO’s Budget and Economic Outlook is “an…