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Congress' budget gurus may slow down Biden’s Build Back Better plan

Nov 11, 2021
Zach Moller talks about what a Congressional Budget Office score is and how it affects legislation.
Roosevelt Forward CEO Felicia Wong says President Biden and congressional Democrats may be able to implement their economic priorities through laws they already passed, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
Win McNamee via Getty Images

$15 minimum wage would reduce poverty but cut jobs, CBO says

The CBO report says a $15 minimum wage would pull 900,000 people out of poverty but cost almost 1.5 million jobs.
Service industry workers listen to remarks and hold up signs during a rally at the National Mall on Jan. 26, 2021 in support of the introduction of the Raise the Wage Act, which includes a $15 minimum wage for tipped workers and is also included in President Biden's American Rescue Plan.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for One Fair Wage

What it means to return to a "pre-pandemic" economy

Feb 2, 2021
Even if the numbers return to where they once were, the economy is probably going to look very different.
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has been worse for women and people of color, particularly in the service sector.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Image

CBO says COVID-19 recovery for the U.S. economy will take about 10 years

Jun 2, 2020
The agency projects the COVID-19 pandemic will cost the U.S. almost $8 trillion in lost economic output this decade.
Until there’s a coronavirus vaccine, some amount of social distancing will likely be with us for the foreseeable future, and that will slow the recovery.
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Grad students will receive billions in debt forgiveness

Feb 13, 2020
The CBO released a report this week estimating that over the next decade, the federal government will forgive $207 billion in student loans.
A student walking on the University of California, Los Angeles, campus.
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How the CBO became "God" in Washington's budget battles

May 15, 2019
Credit the agency's founding director, Alice Rivlin, who died this week.
Keith Hall, Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), arrives to testify about CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook for Fiscal Year 2019-2029, during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 29, 2019.
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The shutdown cost the U.S. economy $3 billion, Congressional Budget Office says

Jan 28, 2019
"We think we'll be down about $3 billion of GDP," CBO Director Keith Hall says.
Congressional Budget Office Director Keith Hall testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on Jan. 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
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We're heading toward trillion-dollar deficits. Here are 5 things you need to know.

Apr 10, 2018
The Congressional Budget Office says deficits will nearly equal GDP by 2028. That can't be good, right?
The early morning sun strikes the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. 
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CBO: Tax cuts, spending to raise deficit to $1 trillion by 2019

Apr 9, 2018
The Congressional Budget Office says the tax and spending bills will increase the budget deficit by billions.
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The GOP tax plan just got more expensive

Nov 8, 2017
A new estimate by the Congressional Budget Office says the plan could add $1.7 trillion to the deficit
Committee chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and ranking member Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) confer with aides before the start of a House Ways and Means Committee hearing concerning the Trump administration's fiscal year 2018 budget proposals, on Capitol Hill, May 24, 2017 in Washington, DC.
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