Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2017 to 2026

"The Congress faces an array of policy choices as it confronts the challenges posed by the amount of federal debt held by the public—which has more than doubled relative to the size of the economy since 2007—and the prospect of continued growth in that debt over the coming decades if the large annual budget deficits projected under current law come to pass (see Figure 1-1). To help inform lawmakers, the Congressional Budget Office periodically issues a compendium of policy options that would help to reduce the deficit.1 This edition reports the estimated budgetary effects of various options and highlights some of the advantages and disadvantages of those options.

This volume presents 115 options that would decrease federal spending or increase federal revenues over the next decade (see Table 1-1 on page 6)..."
Federal deficit

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 - 2024

"The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2014 will amount to $506 billion, CBO estimates, roughly

$170 billion lower than the shortfall recorded in 2013. At 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), this year’s deficit will be much smaller than those of recent years (which reached almost 10 percent of GDP in 2009) and slightly below the average of federal  deficits over the past 40 years. However, by CBO’s estimates, federal debt held by the public will reach 74 percent of GDP at the end of this fiscal year—more than twice what it was at the end of 2007 and higher than in any year since 1950..."

Federal budget

Reducing the Budget Deficit: Overview of Policy Issues

"The federal budget deficit was the largest it has be en since World War II as a percentage of GDP

from 2009 to 2012, peaking at 10.1% of GDP. This occurred because spending reached its highest share of GDP since 1945 and revenues reached their lowest share of GDP since 1950. Since then, the deficit has declined to a projected 2.8% of GDP in 2014, which is still above the 1946 to 2008 average. Over the next 25 years, deficits are projected to become very large again under current

law.

The recent decline in the deficit is partly due to improvements in the economy, the expiration of temporary measures taken in response to the recession, and spending cuts (mainly to discretionary spending).."

Budget deficits

Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023

"This volume presents 103 options that would decrease federal spending or increase federal revenues over the next decade (see Table 1-1 on page 5). Those options cover many areas—ranging from defense to energy, Social Security, and provisions of the tax code. The budgetary effects identified for most of the options span the 10 years from 2014 to 2023 (the period covered by CBO’s May 2013

baseline budget projections), although many of the options would have longer-term effects as well.."

Reducing Deficit

Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects

"When federal agencies and programs lack appropriated funding, they experience a funding gap.

Under the Antideficiency Act, they must cease operations, except in certain emergency situations

or when law authorizes continued activity. Failure of the President and Congress to reach

agreement on interim or full-year funding measures occasionally has caused government

shutdowns, the longest of which lasted 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996..."

Shutdown of the Federal Government

Federal Budget Deficit: 2012

"The federal budget deficit was about $1.1 trillion in fiscal year 2012, CBO estimates, approximately $200 billion less than the shortfall recorded in 2011. At 7.0 percent of gross domestic product, the 2012 deficit was down from 8.7 percent in 2011 and 9.0 percent in 2010 but greater than in any year between 1947 and 2008. The estimated 2012 total reflects the shift of some payments from fiscal year 2012 into fiscal year 2011 (that is, from October 2011 to September 2011, because October 1 fell on a weekend); without that timing shift, the deficit in 2012 would have been about $30 billion higher..."
Federal Budget Deficit: 2012

Discretionary Spending

Testimony of Douglas W. Elmendorf,Director, Congressional Budget Office before the
Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction U.S. Congress, October 26, 2011.

"Discretionary outlays—the part of federal spending that lawmakers generally control
through annual appropriation acts—totaled about $1.35 trillion in 2011, or close to
40 percent of federal outlays.1 Slightly more than half of that spending was for
defense. The remainder went for a wide variety of government programs and activities,with the largest amounts spent for education, training, employment, and social services; transportation; income security (mostly housing and nutrition assistance); veterans’ benefits (primarily for health care); health-related research and public health;international affairs; and the administration of justice.

Discretionary outlays declined from about 10 percent of gross domestic product
(GDP) during much of the 1970s and 1980s to 6.2 percent in 1999, mostly because
defense spending, as a share of GDP, declined over that period. Since then, discretionary outlays have risen relative to the size of the economy, totaling about 9 percent of GDP in 2010 and 2011, in part because of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and in part because of the discretionary funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, Public Law 111-5). The 2010 and 2011 figures were the highest in about 20 years..."

Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction

Follow activities of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also know as the "supercommittee."

Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future The President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction

Full text of President Barack Obama Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction, submitted to Congress September 19, 2011.

Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Option
"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regularly issues a compendium of budget
options to help inform federal lawmakers about the implications of possible policy choices. This volume—one of several reports that CBO produces regularly for the House and Senate Committees on the Budget—presents more than 100 options for altering federal spending and revenues. Nearly all of the options would reduce federal budget deficits. From 1983 to 1997, the reports in this series were titled Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options.In 2000, at a time of budget surpluses, the title was changed to Budget Options. This volume returns to the earlier title because the budgetary context has shifted dramatically since 2000.

The report begins with an introductory chapter that describes the current budgetary picture and the uses and limitations of this volume. Chapters 2 and 3 present options that would reduce mandatory and discretionary spending, respectively. Chapter 4 contains options that would increase revenues from various kinds of taxes and fees.."