Skip to main content
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Briefing Book
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Fiscal Facts
Twitter
Facebook
Logo Site
  • Topics
    • Individual Taxes
    • Business Taxes
    • Federal Budget and Economy
    • State and Local Issues
    • Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Features
Brief

The President’s Budget Priorities and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Erald Kolasi, C. Eugene Steuerle
May 7, 2020
Download PDFPrint
Share

Primary tasks

  • Overview(active tab)
  • Full Report
  • Media Mentions

Abstract

On March 30, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2021. The president submitted this budget on February 10, 2020, when the pandemic was in its early stages in the US and before the enactment of major relief bills in response to the public health crisis and ongoing recession. CBO estimated that from 2021 to 2030, the federal deficit would be $2.1 trillion less under the president’s budget than under the CBO baseline. These numbers will obviously be revised dramatically and continually as the recession and the corresponding federal response continue to materialize over the next year. Still, the president’s budget needs to be analyzed for what it contains and omits and how it relates to ongoing efforts to deal with the pandemic and recession.

The president’s budget does not propose altering the nation’s preexisting fiscal path whereby health care, Social Security, and interest costs totally dominate the growth in federal spending, though it does propose significantly cutting the share of health-insurance supports for poorer populations through Medicaid and Affordable Care Act-related exchange subsidies. Meanwhile, the budget would dramatically decrease domestic discretionary spending in real terms and as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). It would also moderately decrease defense spending in real terms and cut tax revenues further. Though the economic shock caused by the pandemic entails trillions of dollars of additional spending and revenue losses, those changes, if temporary, still pale in comparison to the long-term permanent growth built into the budget in health, retirement, and interest costs. 

Research Area

Federal Budget and Economy Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
To reuse content from the Tax Policy Center, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction.

Meet the Experts

  • Erald Kolasi
    Research Analyst
  • C. Eugene Steuerle
    Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair
Research report

New Evidence on The Effect of The TCJA On the Housing Market

Robert McClelland, Livia Mucciolo, Safia Sayed
March 30, 2022
  • Donate Today
  • Topics
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletters
Twitter
Facebook
  • © Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and individual authors, 2022.