01.24.18

Enzi: Important to Review CBO’s Efforts and Improve Agency Operations

WASHINGTON D.C. – During a hearing on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today, Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said this oversight will help the committee review CBO’s performance and serve as a forum for discussing ways in which CBO can be more effective and attentive to the needs of Congress. This hearing is the third in a series of Senate Budget Committee oversight hearings of CBO under Chairman Enzi to review the agency’s performance, clarify its mission, and improve the office’s operations.

“It is important to increase CBO’s transparency and ways the agency can more clearly communicate the methods, assumptions, and data that underlie its budget analyses,” Chairman Enzi said.  “In 2018 and beyond, CBO will continue to play a key role in supporting Congress as we consider the budget and economic effects of proposed legislation. Its objectivity, accuracy, transparency, and timeliness are essential to help Congress make informed decisions.”

In 2017, CBO produced more than 700 formal cost estimates, several thousand informal cost estimates, nearly 130 appropriations scorekeeping tabulations and 86 analytic reports and working papers. 

“Last year was a busy time for the Senate Budget Committee,” said Chairman Enzi.  “This legislative activity put intense demands on CBO. This is why it is important to review those efforts and look back at what went right, but also what may have gone wrong.”

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