The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 Is a Pyrrhic Victory

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 suspended the debt limit and imposed new statutory caps on discretionary spending for the next two years. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CFRFB) congratulated House Republicans for success in reducing deficits; the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Act will reduce deficits by $1.5 trillion over the next decade relative to baseline estimates. But before we break out the champagne, we should note that this legislation fails to stop unsustainable growth in public debt. The CBO estimates that with this legislation in place, debt subject to the debt limit will grow from $31 trillion to $51 trillion over the next decade, and the CBO projects that debt will grow to more than 200 percent of GDP by midcentury.Read More