On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released separate reports on the ten-year budget outlook and the financial outlook for major federal trust funds. The reports show the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, the failure of Congress to responsibly manage federal spending, and the cost of doing nothing to put federal entitlement programs on a sustainable financial path.

FreedomWorks has submitted the following statement for the record to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, for their hearing entitled “Examining the Root Causes of America’s Unsustainable Fiscal Path.”

Republicans in Congress have retreated on their pledges to cut spending. How else should one interpret the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, H.R. 1892, last week? The bill busts the spending caps by $296 billion over two years ($165 billion for defense and $131 billion for nondefense). Congress added another $80 billion in disaster relief, bringing the total to at least $376 billion.

As Congress approaches the debt ceiling debate, conservatives in both chambers should look for outside-the-box approaches to address federal spending. It's simply not enough to make cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, which, over the next ten years, represents less than 13 percent of all federal outlays. Mandatory spending, or direct spending, however, represents nearly 65 percent of outlays and is what is largely driving deficits higher.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), on Tuesday, released its first budget outlook report of the new year, offering a look at the fiscal picture for the next ten years, FY 2018 through FY 2027. It isn't pretty.

With Congress set to convene to tackle sequestration and the fiscal cliff, the talk has once again centered around federal budget cuts and their potential effects. Tax hikes are back on the table, according to a few prominent Republicans this weekend. A large number of difficult military cuts looms. But few are thinking about the other layers of public spending that will be affected. State budgets will see massive effects from a potent mix of direct spending cuts and revenue reductions based, ironically, on the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts.