Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Stop Bashing the CBO, Republicans

A word to the wise from a fellow conservative: Expert analysis isn't your problem; bad legislation is.

August 1, 2017 at 11:30 AM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

Experts aren't the enemy.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

The Congressional Budget Office is under fire.

The nonpartisan agency, which is responsible for producing impartial analysis for use by Congress, was the subject of a bizarre attack ad by the White House last month. Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director, has publicly questioned whether “the day of the CBO” has “come and gone.” Former House speaker Newt Gingrich recently advocated: “Abolish CBO. It is totally destructive. It is totally dishonest.” Last week, members of the House Freedom Caucus authored amendments that would cut the CBO’s funding in half and eliminate the division responsible for producing cost estimates of legislation.