Category Archives: Fiscal Outlook and The Debt

National Save for Retirement Week

The U.S. population is changing and so is retirement. Boomers are aging, traditional pensions are shifting to voluntary contribution plans, and Social Security faces important financial challenges. Planning—and saving—for retirement is more important than ever. For National Save for Retirement … Continue reading

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Will “Hamilton” Win Big? Its Namesake Already Inspired a Lot of GAO Work

Alexander Hamilton has quite the legacy: he was the first Secretary of the Treasury; he created a plan for managing the national debt; and he is now the inspiration behind the Tony Award-nominated musical, Hamilton. In anticipation of this Sunday’s … Continue reading

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Auditing the Government’s Books

Congress and the President need reliable, useful, and timely financial information so they can make difficult budget choices and deal with the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. Each year, we audit the governmentwide financial statements to help make sure good information … Continue reading

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Understanding Sequestration

The 2013 budget cuts known as “sequestration” were the first of their kind in more than two decades—and they’ll be with us for years. In fact, sequestration in some form is scheduled to continue annually through 2025, in the hopes … Continue reading

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Taking a Long Look at the Federal Budget

What’s the future of the federal budget? Since 1992, we have simulated how different policies would affect the federal deficit and debt. Our latest update, released Monday, shows that the federal government continues to face long-term fiscal challenges. The future … Continue reading

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Projecting the Future of Federal Finances: Long-Term Fiscal Simulations

Since 1992, we have prepared long-term fiscal simulations to show federal deficits and debt under different sets of policy assumptions. Our latest update shows that the federal government continues to face a long-term fiscal sustainability challenge.

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Fiscal Exposures: 5 Sources of Risk that Drive Future Spending

In tandem with today’s release of our audit of the federal government’s fiscal year 2014 consolidated financial statements, we want to highlight our work on fiscal exposures. This is a term that describes services or expenditures that Americans may expect, … Continue reading

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