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In the 1990s the CRFB formed the Cost Containment Coalition, led by then-president Carol Cox Wait. Paul Blumenthal and Ryan Grim in HuffPost criticized the CRFB for receiving funding from Philip Morris, a multi-national tobacco company, and the Tobacco Institute during this period. Cox Wait was also criticized for her personal connections to Philip Morris, as she was a "corporate affairs consultant" for the company and was married to Philip Morris vice president Bob Wait. An "inter-office correspondence" memo says that the Coalition was thought up by employees at Philip Morris but was going to be formed "under the auspices of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget," and that its purpose was to take "the focus away from excise taxes."[7] The Coalition lobbied against an excise tax on tobacco under consideration by the Clinton administration.[8]
From 2004 through 2013,[citation needed] the CRFB was based at the New America Foundation, a non-profit public policythink tank based in Washington D.C. Maya MacGuineas, president of CRFB, was the program director of New America's Fiscal Policy Program,[9] and most of CRFB's staff were also co-appointed to positions at New America. As of January 2014 the organization no longer has ties with the New America Foundation.[citation needed]
In 2008, the organization received a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to raise the public understanding of important fiscal matters facing the country during the 2008 presidential election.[citation needed] This project, called US Budget Watch, was also tasked with tracking the candidates’ tax and spending promises both during and after the election. The project has continued to release reports in subsequent presidential elections.[10][11]
In late 2008, CRFB received support from The Peter G. Peterson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts to create a new commission that would explore options for reforming the federal budget process, the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform.[12] The Commission released its initial report, "Red Ink Rising," in December 2009[13] and its second report, "Getting Back in the Black," in November 2010.[14]
In early 2009, CRFB unveiled Stimulus.org, a database which tracked the spending and deficit impact of all major government actions taken due to the 2008 financial crisis.[15] On the April 5, 2009 edition of CBS’ Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer used figures from CRFB's "Stimulus Watch" chart while questioning Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about the amount of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds that remained unspent.[16]
In 2009, CRFB's "Fiscal Roadmap Project" was launched. The Project outlined how the U.S. could move from stabilizing the economy during the 2008 financial crisis to addressing its long-term fiscal problems. The ultimate goal of the Project was to show how policymakers could eventually put the country in what CRFB regarded as a sounder fiscal position.[17] The project released at least two long analyses, one on deficits[18][citation needed] and another on the activities of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis.[19] The Fiscal Roadmap Project was originally directed by Anne Vorce, former U.S. economic expert for the European Commission.[citation needed]
In early 2011, former fiscal commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson launched the Moment of Truth Project, with the intent "to foster honest discussion about the nation's fiscal challenges" through "public education, Congressional outreach, and technical and policy analysis."[20][21]
CRFB launched the Go Big Initiative after The Budget Control Act of 2011 tasked a bipartisan 12-member Joint Congressional Committee on Deficit Reduction with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. For this reason, CRFB launched "Go Big" in an effort to urge the Joint Congressional Committee to exceed its savings mandate of $1.5 trillion and enact a bipartisan, comprehensive fiscal reform plan.[22][23]
In 2014, The Better Budget Process Initiative was created to fix the "broken" budget process by "increasing focus the on long-term fiscal outlook, improving the process for dealing with the debt limit, strengthening statutory budget enforcement, revising the content and structure of the budget resolution, moving to biennial budgeting, and addressing treatment of tax expenditures in the budget process." Publications produced by the initiative include principles for a budget resolution and budget baseline reforms.[24]
The McCrery-Pomeroy SSDI Solutions Initiative was launched in 2014 to identify "practical policy changes to improve the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and other policies for people with disabilities." It was co-chaired by former CongressmenEarl Pomeroy (D-ND) and Jim McCrery (R-LA), both former chairmen of the House Ways & Means Social Security Subcommittee. The initiative published a book, SSDI Solutions: Ideas to Strengthen the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, in 2016 based on papers commissioned from various policy experts. It published several more commissioned papers in 2018 and 2019.[28]
In 2020, FixUS was launched as an initiative of the Fix the Debt Campaign. According to its website: "FixUS is a group of Americans united in shared concern over the divided state of our country. We believe that healing these divisions is our highest national priority, and essential to preparing our nation to face the defining challenges of the 21st century."[29] FixUS conducted a national Roadshow and Listening Tour to discuss the national debt as well as partisan divisions, and produced a report on its findings.[30][31][32]
The stages in the annual federal budget cycle (e.g., the president's budget submission, Congressional Budget Resolution, explainers on appropriations, government shutdowns, etc.)
Developments and changes in Congressional budget procedures and process, such as an appropriations tracker
The status and future prospects of long-term government "entitlement" programs (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security)
The findings of regular financial and budgetary reports put out by government offices (e.g., the Congressional Budget Office's "Monthly Budget Report," the "Budget and Economic Outlook," and the Long-Term budget Outlook.")
Tax and spending bills proposed by Congress or the president
The costs of the candidates’ campaign promises during the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections, including an analysis of 2020 candidate health care plans
The fiscal implications of the government's actions during the 2008 financial crisis
Economist Paul Krugman, writing in The New York Times, criticized "deficit scolds" like the CFRB for having bad policy suggestions and being hypocritical, as well as having hidden intentions to "shred the social safety net". Krugman argued that "the deficit scolds, while posing as the nation's noble fiscal defenders, have in practice shown themselves both hypocritical and incoherent. They don't deserve to have a central role in policy discussion; they really don't even deserve a seat at the table."[38] In July 2025, however, he said that the CFRB is "an honest, highly competent think tank".[39]
