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CBO Director discusses the 2025 Reconciliation Act and cybersecurity incident. CBO provided objective, non-partisan information to Congress and is working to strengthen defenses. #CBO #ReconciliationBill #Cybersecurity #Congress #Budget
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Ranking member Bole and members of the
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committee, thank you for inviting me to
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testify about the work of the
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Congressional Budget Office. I will
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start with CBO's work on the 2025
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reconciliation bill and then I'll turn
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to cyber security issues. So CBO spent
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much of the past year supporting both
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sides and both chambers of Congress as
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lawmakers developed and considered the
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2025 reconciliation act public law
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11921.
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Uh, my written testimony provides
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details about that work. CBO's technical
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assistance helped committee markup stay
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on track. Our cost estimates
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and dynamic analysis provided budgetary
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and economic information ahead of votes.
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We provided considerable analysis
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directly to members. All of that work
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epitomizes CBO's mission to provide
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objective nonpartisan information in
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support of the congressional budget
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process. The timeliness of CBO's
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analysis was of paramount importance for
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the reconciliation process. In the
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course of our work at times, we needed
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to strike a balance between timeliness
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and making our analysis as transparent
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as possible. After enactment of the
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bill, we have gone back to provide more
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information on our estimates. The next
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budget and economic outlook in February
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2026 will have the 10-year budget update
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including impacts of the 2025
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reconciliation act on the economy and on
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the budget. We will have analysis of the
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many changes in tariffs this year,
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changes in immigration and much more.
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All right, let me next turn to cyber
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security. Two weeks ago, CBO learned
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from our security partners that we were
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the target of a sophisticated cyber
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attack. This incident involved
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unauthorized access to a subset of CBO's
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email by a threat actor. Working with
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our security partners, CBO took
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immediate action to address that
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unauthorized access. Our security
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partners have told us that based on
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current findings, we have not observed
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further evidence of unauthorized access
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to CBO email. CBO is operating as normal
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and our work to support the Congress has
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continued without interruption.
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The investigation into this incident is
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extensive and ongoing with help from our
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federal partners and from private sector
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security specialists. I'm grateful to
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the House and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms,
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the Senate CIO, the House CEO for their
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guidance, to the US Capital Police, and
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the Architect of the Capitol for their
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support, and to many others across the
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legislative branch. I realize that
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members have questions. The
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investigation is still going on,
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including with regard to CBO email, the
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threat actor's activities, and steps to
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further strengthen CBO's defenses. When
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we know more, I will provide that
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information in a closed-door setting. I
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cannot say things in this setting that
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might hinder remediation or
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investigation. You have my commitment
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that you will get complete information.
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Chairman Arrington and Ranking Member
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Bole, members of the committee, thank
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you again for your support.
#Law & Government