The Congressional Progressive Caucus has drafted a progressive budget, titled the People’s Budget, as an alternative to the House Republican 2012 budget and President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget request. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has analyzed and scored the specific policy proposals in the People’s Budget and modeled their cumulative impact on the federal budget over the next decade. The policies in the People’s Budget reflect the decisions of the Congressional Progressive Caucus leadership and staff, not that of the Economic Policy Institute.1 The People’s Budget Department of Defense proposals were crafted by Congressional Progressive Caucus staff in conjunction with Congressional Research Service staff; budgetary scores were provided to the Economic Policy Institute but independent verification is beyond our area of expertise. All other policy proposals have been independently analyzed and scored by EPI based on a variety of other sources, notably data from the Congressional Budget Office, Joint Committee on Taxation, Office of Management and Budget, Tax Policy Center, and Citizens for Tax Justice.
This technical companion piece will explain the budget baseline assumptions, the policy choices, policy impacts, and budgetary modeling used in analyzing the People’s Budget.
