The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed a security breach on Thursday and noted that it is taking steps to manage the situation.
A spokeswoman for the CBO, Caitlin Emma, stated, “The Congressional Budget Office identified the security incident, took immediate action to contain it, and has implemented additional oversight and new security controls to further protect the agency’s systems going forward.”
She also mentioned that the situation is under investigation and that congressional oversight is ongoing. Emma added that like many government and private organizations, the CBO frequently faces threats to its network and actively monitors them.
This announcement follows a report suggesting that foreign actors might be responsible for the breach, raising concerns about potential access to lawmakers’ communications with nonpartisan staff.
The CBO is responsible for analyzing the fiscal implications of legislation and often “scores” bills to project their impact on the national deficit.
According to the report, the hackers may have had access to CBO’s chat logs and emails.
The revelation comes after the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) alerted the public in September that at least one government agency had been compromised, highlighting vulnerabilities in Cisco software that could be easily exploited. A subsequent emergency directive was issued last month, warning about cyber threat actors linked to nation-states using specific devices to infiltrate federal networks.
Traditionally, the CBO has flown under the radar but is crucial for lawmakers of both parties in the legislative process.
However, during the discussions around President Trump’s Big Beautiful Act, the agency faced criticism from Republicans when it estimated that the bill would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion over ten years.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) expressed in June that he was skeptical of CBO’s estimates, and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) referred to CBO officials as “bean counters,” arguing that they fail to consider economic growth.
Updated at 5:22 PM ET
