Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options

Presents more than 100 options for altering federal spending and revenues. Nearly all of the options would reduce federal budget deficits.

Federal budget deficits will total $7 trillion over the next decade if current laws remain unchanged, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects. If certain policies that are scheduled to expire under current law are extended instead, deficits may be much larger. Beyond the coming decade, the aging of the U.S. population and rising health care costs will put increasing pressure on the budget. If federal debt continues to expand faster than the economy--as it has since 2007--the growth of people's income will slow, the share of federal spending devoted to paying interest on the debt will rise, and the risk of a fiscal crisis will increase.