国会预算办公室2027财年拨款申请证词

The Congressional Budget Office’sRequest for Appropriations forFiscal Year 2027 Phillip L. SwagelDirector Before the Subcommittee on the Legislative BranchCommittee on AppropriationsUnited States Senate APRIL 15 | 2026 Chair Fischer, Ranking Member Heinrich, and Membersof the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunityto present the Congressional Budget Office’s budgetrequest.1CBO requests appropriations of $76.3 mil-lion for fiscal year 2027 (see Figure 1). Most of thatamount—85 percent—would be for pay and benefits;11.7 percent would be for information technology (IT);and 3.3 percent would be for training, expert consultantservices, office supplies, and other items. The requestedamount is an increase of $1.5 million, or 2 percent,above the funding provided for this fiscal year. were in 2025, the agency will need to shrink to about 268positions (from 274 on March 13, 2026) to absorb theadditional costs. The fiscal year 2027 request, which reflects an increase of$1.2 million (or 1.8 percent) for personnel expenses, wouldenable CBO to grow to 285 employees. That number wouldallow the agency to better meet its responsibilities under theCongressional Budget Act of 1974. Of the 17 additionalstaff members CBO would hire in 2027, 6 of them wouldbe for positions that the agency was not able to refill thisyear after departures. Of the 11 new staff members, The requested budget is based on continued strong inter-est in CBO’s work from the Congressional leadership,committees, and Members. For instance, in 2025, CBOsupported Congress as it developed and considered the2025 reconciliation act (Public Law 119-21). Specifically,the agency provided technical assistance, which, forexample, kept committee markups on track. It also pro-vided cost estimates and dynamic analysis incorporatingeconomic effects and their feedback to the budget, whichprovided budgetary and economic information ahead ofvotes. Throughout, the agency responded promptly tothe many separate requests for analysis that came fromMembers. Providing technical assistance, estimates,analysis, and reports to the 120th Congress as it consid-ers significant legislative initiatives is expected to requireadditional resources. •4 would improve CBO’s capabilities to provide timelyanalysis of changes to means-tested programs anddefense programs; •1 would enhance the agency’s responsiveness andtransparency related to cost estimates;•1 would improve the agency’s capabilities in dynamicanalysis;•3 would enhance the agency’s cybersecurity and ITefforts; and•2 would support publishing and digitalcommunications, namely, an addition to the editingstaff to enhance the readability and accessibility ofpublications and an addition to the web developmentteam. The funding that CBO is requesting for fiscal year 2027would also support efforts to strengthen the agency’scybersecurity that began this year—including addinglayers of security controls to CBO’s IT infrastructure,further strengthening identity and access controls, andimproving continuous monitoring and incident responsecapabilities. In fall 2025, CBO was notified of unautho-rized access to a subset of the agency’s emails. Workingwith security partners, CBO secured its IT environmentand is now implementing recommendations to hardenit against additional threats. To address the unexpectedexpenditures, CBO received $2.75 million above itsoriginal request for such activities for fiscal year 2026. Intotal, CBO expects to obligate more than $7.1 millionfor cybersecurity activities this year. For nonpersonnel expenses, CBO’s request includes anincrease of $364,000 (or about 3 percent), mostly for ITequipment. In total, CBO is requesting a 2 percent increase total-ing $1.5 million. That constrained increase is possiblebecause certain onetime expenditures for cybersecuritywill not recur in 2027. The total amount that CBO plansto devote to cybersecurity activities would remain ele-vated but decline from the amount this year. In addition,certain personnel expenses, like contributions to theFederal Employee Retirement System, would decline in2027. CBO’s Budget Request andIts Consequences for Staffing andOutputIn fiscal year 2027, CBO will continue its mission The added expenses for cybersecurity (even after account-ing for the $2.75 million in additional resources) meanthat CBO’s funding for other purposes will be flat thisyear. Because payroll costs will be larger in 2026 than they of providing objective, insightful, clearly presented,and timely budgetary and economic information toCongress. The $76.3 million requested would be usedmostly for salaries and benefits. Funding Request for Personnel Costs andConsequences for StaffingCBO requests $64.9 million for salaries and benefits to Funding Request for Nonpersonnel CostsCBO requests $11.4 million for nonpersonnel costs. That request is an increase of $364,000, or 3.3 percent, fromthe fiscal year 2026 funding. The requested nonpersonnelfunds would mostly fund IT operat