Long Term Fiscal Outlook

Video Message: Gene Dodaro,
Acting Comptroller General

Gene Dodaro

Acting Comptroller General of the United States

Over the next few decades, the nation's fiscal outlook will be shaped largely by demographics and health care costs. As the baby boom generation retires, federal spending on retirement and health programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will grow dramatically. A range of other federal fiscal commitments, some explicit and some representing implicit public expectations, also bind the nation's fiscal future. Absent policy change, a growing imbalance between expected federal spending and tax revenues will mean escalating and ultimately unsustainable federal deficits and debt.

To analyze and monitor changes in the long-term fiscal outlook, GAO maintains a long-term model of the federal budget. For over a decade, GAO has published the results of its long-term budget simulations in reports, testimonies, and other products. The models' results dramatically illustrate the need for action sooner rather than later to address the long-term fiscal imbalance. Visit Our Nation's Fiscal Outlook for additional information about the long-term fiscal outlook and GAO's latest simulation results.