The Congressional Budget Office...What is it For?

[Jackson]

Wanting to know just what important data they are providing to Congress, candidates and citizens, I looked it up.

Of all the questions we have about economics a d proposed p[rograms, nothing seems to be questioned by the CBO. This is an example of what they are working on...

The Congressional Budget Office



he Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides the Congress with objective, nonpartisan, and timely information, analyses, and estimates related to federal economic and budgetary decisions.


S. 2071, Repealing Existing Substandard Provisions Encouraging Conciliation with Tribes Act

S. 1419, Early Participation in Regulations Act of 2019

H.R. 150, GREAT Act

S. 1211, Addressing Underdeveloped and Tribally Operated Streets Act

S. 1877, Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2019

S. 1309, a bill to identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish a tiered system of countries with respect to levels of corruption by their governments and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to assess United States assistance to...

S. 174, Securing Energy Infrastructure Act

H.R. 3409, Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2019

Preliminary Estimate of the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019

S. 1052, Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act

Hmmm... That didn't seem all that important when we have pressing question that are needing addressed right now:

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974, often called the Budget Act, established the House and Senate Committees on the Budget to set federal spending policy and identify priorities for allocating budgetary resources. To support those committees in carrying out their responsibilities, it also established CBO and required the agency to prepare cost estimates for legislation at certain points in the legislative process.

So, I have these questions:

1. Does the Congressional Budget Office really determine the cost of proposed legislation and its effect on the country?



2. Do representatives from the House CBO Committee seek approximation of cost of “Medicare for All”, “Pay all Student Debt”, “Health Care for All”, and Preventing Deportation of Illegal immigrants yet keeping Sanctuary Cities going in major cities all over the nation.

So...
3. How can the CBO determine the cost pf the proposed programs if we do not know how many citizens we have in the country?


4. Are the efforts to prevent questions on the Census Form about citizenship preventing the CBO from determining the cost of federal program s already in existence and proposed programs by left leaning candidates?


5. Asking if the person filling out the form is not a citizen but has a visa for legally staying in the country a problem?


6. Assuming voting is a right or privilege, it is for those who are citizens. Is there a good reason we do not have Voter Id’s? What reason would be considered acceptable?

Any thoughts on the operation of the CBO?

 

[Andylusion]

Wanting to know just what important data they are providing to Congress, candidates and citizens, I looked it up.

Of all the questions we have about economics a d proposed p[rograms, nothing seems to be questioned by the CBO. This is an example of what they are working on...

The Congressional Budget Office



he Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides the Congress with objective, nonpartisan, and timely information, analyses, and estimates related to federal economic and budgetary decisions.


S. 2071, Repealing Existing Substandard Provisions Encouraging Conciliation with Tribes Act

S. 1419, Early Participation in Regulations Act of 2019

H.R. 150, GREAT Act

S. 1211, Addressing Underdeveloped and Tribally Operated Streets Act

S. 1877, Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2019

S. 1309, a bill to identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish a tiered system of countries with respect to levels of corruption by their governments and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to assess United States assistance to...

S. 174, Securing Energy Infrastructure Act

H.R. 3409, Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2019

Preliminary Estimate of the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019

S. 1052, Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act

Hmmm... That didn't seem all that important when we have pressing question that are needing addressed right now:

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974, often called the Budget Act, established the House and Senate Committees on the Budget to set federal spending policy and identify priorities for allocating budgetary resources. To support those committees in carrying out their responsibilities, it also established CBO and required the agency to prepare cost estimates for legislation at certain points in the legislative process.

So, I have these questions:

1. Does the Congressional Budget Office really determine the cost of proposed legislation and its effect on the country?



2. Do representatives from the House CBO Committee seek approximation of cost of “Medicare for All”, “Pay all Student Debt”, “Health Care for All”, and Preventing Deportation of Illegal immigrants yet keeping Sanctuary Cities going in major cities all over the nation.

So...
3. How can the CBO determine the cost pf the proposed programs if we do not know how many citizens we have in the country?


4. Are the efforts to prevent questions on the Census Form about citizenship preventing the CBO from determining the cost of federal program s already in existence and proposed programs by left leaning candidates?


5. Asking if the person filling out the form is not a citizen but has a visa for legally staying in the country a problem?


6. Assuming voting is a right or privilege, it is for those who are citizens. Is there a good reason we do not have Voter Id’s? What reason would be considered acceptable?

Any thoughts on the operation of the CBO?

The CBO is rarely if ever, all that accurate. The problem is, the public and media, simply don't pay attention.

While your concern is just as valid as any other, the CBO is used to simply justify the positions of whoever is in power.

But the reality is, they have always been inaccurate. The Farm Bill of 2002, which I opposed. I can only assume Bush signed it for political purposes, but regardless, it cost hundreds of billions more than it was ever projected to cost.

The problem with all CBO projections is that they rely on 'static' data. Meaning, they have to assume what is true today, will be true tomorrow, because they can't actually know what will be true tomorrow.

Example. You have have an estimate 10,000 children in your state with zero insurance. You draft a proposal to insure all children that don't have health insurance. You estimate the cost, on how much it costs to cover 10,000 kids, plus you consider that as the population grows, the number of uninsured kids will grow a relative rate... and you come up with a cost estimate.

Then you enact the bill. Thousands of parents call up their insurance companies, cancel insurance on their kids, and suddenly you have a million kids on the government plan, costing billions of dollars.

https://nypost.com/2008/10/27/hawaiis-hard-health-care-lesson/

But then state officials found that families were dropping private coverage to enroll their children in the plan. “People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free,” said Dr. Kenny Fink of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services.

In fact, 85 percent of the children in Keiki Care previously had been covered under a private, nonprofit plan that costs $55 a month.​

This is the reality of government handouts. When you offer a hand out, people will change how they live, to get the hand out. FYI, the Hawaii plan was canceled because of this. Couldn't afford it.

I've said this before, if the company offered free sandwiches for employees so poor, they only had flip flops to wear, everyone would be showing up in flip flops.

This is a real story, I don't have a link for it, because I was there. A guy a corporate building I worked at, brought in a coffee machine for his own cubicle. Even though the corporate building had cheep coffee vending machines in the lunch room, he just wanted his own pot. Soon his friends were asking if they could get a cup of joe too. Sure. Soon he had people popping in time to time to get a drink. So he moved the coffee machine right outside the cubicle, so he could work without interruption. Soon he had a group round the machine outside the cubicle making noise. So he moved the coffee machine to the end of the isle. Soon people from the floor above, and floor below his, were getting a drink from his machine, so that every time he wanted a drink, it was empty. He packed up the machine and brought it back home. The next day the manager called him into the office, everyone complained he had stolen the coffee machine, and were asking everyone where it was.

When you offer something free, people are going to change how they live, to get the free stuff. And additionally once you offer something free, people believe they are owed it, and complain bitterly if you take it away. This is why Conservatives fight desperately to never enact handouts to begin with, because people will bankrupt and destroy the entire country, rather than give up those freebies.

It is simply human nature.

So when the CBO makes a projection, it does not really matter if they have good data, or bad data, or missing data, or complete data. The CBO can't project how many people will alter how they live to qualify for the handouts. This is why cash for clunkers went broke in 6-days.

'Cash for Clunkers' Goes Broke

You don't ever truly know how many people will take advantage of a handout, until you offer it.

 

[Picaro]

Both the CBO and the GAO used to be reasonably non--partisan, but no longer; it was more important for the GAO to be neutral, but that is no longer the case any more. Essentially there is no valid honest data collecting going on by the Federal govt., and it isn't just the left wingers who want fake data put out.

 

[Dekster]

IIRC, even in their reports on creating Obamacare and then on eliminating obamacare, I recall there being a lot of cautionary language that amounted to "Who the hell really knows"

 

[longknife]

The CBO is a joke. 250 employees in the following divisions:

Divisions
The Congressional Budget Office is divided into eight divisions.[10]

• Budget Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Health, Retirement, and Long-Term Analysis
• Macroeconomic Analysis
• Management, Business, and Information Services
• Microeconomic Studies
• National Security
• Tax Analysis

And not one of their predicitions has come anywhere close to being accurate.

• 
  
  

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

The Bureau of Bullshit & Wild Guesses

 

[Picaro]

A lot of that work gets farmed out to 'think tanks', i.e. fronts for campaign contributors, pseudo-academics, law firms, accounting firms, etc. All part of 'privatizing Government, since it drives up costs and therefore profits for 'private business', you know.

 

[Picaro]

The CBO is a joke. 250 employees in the following divisions:

Divisions
The Congressional Budget Office is divided into eight divisions.[10]

• Budget Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Health, Retirement, and Long-Term Analysis
• Macroeconomic Analysis
• Management, Business, and Information Services
• Microeconomic Studies
• National Security
• Tax Analysis

And not one of their predicitions has come anywhere close to being accurate.

• 
  

You think Wall Street does better? I hope not, because that's who does these 'studies' for them.

 

[percysunshine]

So, if Congress has a bill to raise taxes on say, apple sales, to $10 per apple, the CBO will score the bill and calculate the revenue by taking the number of apples sold times $10.

They will never consider that fewer apples will be sold because the price is too high. They always over estimate revenue and under estimate costs because they are morons.

 

[Jackson]

These are all excellent responses to the question of the CBO (and GAO). One would think with our technology today and if we had a proved accurate track record, we could accurately suggest a cost that is commensurate with past records, psychology of consumers or participants for the proposed change in legislation.

It seems to me that no one really cares.

Maybe it is time to scrub these agencies and start over with accurate information, and useful, honest data. But there is the rub. Politics interferes with the collection of data...don't question citizenship, don't question illegal status, don't require voter ID's, don't invade my privacy with questions.

The people that honest statistics would help and prepare us for the future don't trust government with their information. Can we say we blame them?

 

[BluesLegend]

The CBO is about as useful as the federal debt ceiling.

 

[Jackson]

The CBO is about as useful as the federal debt ceiling.

Then >Lets kill it and change the p;arameters, making it a useful tool to understand what we will need to meet Social Security mandates and the true cost of proposed legislation by presidential candidates.