Budget

US Budget Watch has updated a number of charts comparing the latest versions of the health care reform bills. Included is the new Republican version of the House bill, the score of which Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released last night. The new Republican bill would reduce the deficit by $80 billion over ten years, and likely reduce it even more in the out years. It would only cover roughly 3 million more uninsured, however...

Recently, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released estimates on the revenue effects of the “Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009,” a bill to extend and modify the homebuyer tax credit and to increase the carry-back period for losses to five years...

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office put out An Overview of Federal Support for Housing. In the report, CBO outlined the nearly $300 billion in housing-related spending and tax breaks offered this year...

In today's Washington Post, Ceci Connelly has an article titled, "Health Bills are too Timid on Cutting Costs, Experts Say." In it she discusses how the health care reform bills in Congress are "shying away" from incorporating some of the most "aggressive techniques" for slowing the rise of health care costs, even in spite of the Administration's stated dedication to reining in costs. She mentions concerns that constraining costs could result in some "half-tepid" measures being discussed on Capitol Hill, citing, for example, the fact that the Senate plan to tax high-price insurance plans will save far less money than eliminating the tax exemption for employer-sponsored coverage would. She additionally mentions the following concerns...

In a speech given today at New York University, OMB Director Peter Orszag said the Administration intends to cut the deficit in half by the end of President Obama’s first term. Here is what he had to say (emphasis added)...

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), roughly $5.1 trillion in publicly traded U.S. Treasury bonds – or around 78 percent of our debt – will mature by 2015. Much of this debt was first purchased over an 18 week period last fall in order to address the financial and economic crisis. Because of the weak global economy, interest rates on these bonds tended to be low. However, according to a recent GAO report, refinancing them may require offering significantly higher rates...

Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intoduced the latest House health care reform bill, fresh with estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Below, we have broken down the major costs and savings in this version of the bill, compared to the original House Tri-Committee bill...

Yesterday, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer spoke at the Center for American Progress on Health Care Reform and the Budget Deficit.

Romer aimed to make the case the health reform was the key to deficit reduction, explaining...

The health care reform bill recently passed by the Senate Finance Committee relies on a $200 billion health insurance tax to help fund the costs of expanding health insurance coverage. Although there are some exceptions, the policy generally imposes a 40% excise tax on each dollar of health insurance premium beyond $8,000 for an individual or $21,000 for a family...

Forbes had a piece Monday by Alex Brill and Amy Roden of the American Enterprise Institute about the potential for stimulus programs to expand the debt.

Brill and Roden argue that the savings from health care reform will not do much to reduce the debt because many of the stimulus funds will be extended. The health care bill’s projected $18 billion savings over ten years is dwarfed by the $140 billion a year they estimate Congress will spend making parts of the stimulus bill permanent. The article points out:...