On the latest Facing the Future, Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby returned to the program to discuss the Congressional Budget Office’s recently released Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2019 to 2029 and to provide some insight on the fiscal calendar in the Fall.
“The CBO produces, every year, a baseline, which is just looking at spending and taxes and where it’ll all come out over ten years under current law,” Bixby said. “What they put out last week was an update to their baseline; it was pretty significant because it incorporated the effect of the budget deal that Congress and the President reached.”
“Basically, it increased deficit projections over the next ten years by close to a trillion dollars,” he added.
In his Washington recap, Bixby said that it is important to remember that although the recent budget deal set top-level numbers for spending, it did not advance or finalize appropriations, which still need to be completed before the beginning of the next fiscal year, October 1.
“Now, in a limited time, they have to pass 12 appropriations bills to fund the government,” he said. “There’s probably going to be another continuing resolution.”
There has also been a lot of talk about new tax cuts by the President, but Bixby predicts there will not be movement on anything like that in the near term, unless there is an economic downturn.
Hear more on “Facing the Future.” I host the program each week on WKXL, NHTalkRadio.com (N.H.), and it is also available via podcast. Join me and my guests as we discuss issues relating to national fiscal policy with budget experts, industry leaders, elected officials and candidates for public office. Past broadcasts are available here. You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play or through RSS.
