The Congressional Budget Office is an independent agency.
Posted by Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
Platypus Economics with Justin WolfersSep 10, 2026
Multiple primary and tier1 sources, including cbo.gov, USC §601 and USAGov, describe the Congressional Budget Office as an independent, nonpartisan, legislative-branch analytic office, so the claim holds as of 2026-09-10. The claim's wording matches the passage, which calls the CBO 'independent and totally serious'; the 'totally serious' part is opinion and is not graded.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue versus the official statistical agencies and it gets hard because, when we're talking about the budget, a lot of the budget numbers come from the Office of Management budget and Budget, which is full of lying liars who lie, but a lot of the better projections come from the Congressional Budget Office, which in fact is independent and totally serious. Boy, who can keep track of OMB versus CVO? It feels like there's a lot going on, and everything's got a TLA, a three letter acronym. Um, and so this all becomes difficult. …
Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. USAGov describes the CBO as producing independent, nonpartisan analysis to support the congressional budget process.[3]
Supports. CBO's own '10 Things to Know' page states it is objective, impartial and nonpartisan and makes no policy recommendations, and it was established to provide an alternative to executive-branch budget information.[4]
Supports. Federal law establishes the CBO as an office of Congress, with personnel appointed without regard to political affiliation.[5]
Supports. The U.S. Government Manual describes the CBO as independently analyzing budgetary and economic issues, with a nonpartisan stance.[6]
Context. Reuters and PolitiFact describe the CBO as a non-partisan agency, and PolitiFact notes it does not take positions on legislation.[1][2]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 4 primary
- 1Sanford distorts impact of stimulus billpolitifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2US Congressional Budget Office hit by cybersecurity incidentreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3Congressional Budget Office (CBO) | USAGovusa.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 410 Things to Knowcbo.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 52 U.S.C. § 601: Establishmentuscode.house.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 6Congressional Budget Office - Agencyusgovernmentmanual.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post