Congressional Budget Office Reportedly Hacked By Foreign Entity

Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Congressional Budget Office is believed to have been hacked by a foreign actor, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The Post quoted anonymous sources saying that CBO officials recently discovered the hack that may have compromised lawmakers’ communications, including emails and chat logs.

The breach could expose “key financial research data Congress uses to craft legislation,” the report said, adding that the CBO acts as “a counterweight to the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers and Office of Management and Budget.”

Even though the CBO believed it caught the incursion early, a source told the outlet that “some congressional offices have generally stopped corresponding with the CBO via email because of the cybersecurity risks.”

In a statement, a CBO spokeswoman told The Post:

The Congressional Budget Office has identified the security incident, has taken immediate action to contain it, and has implemented additional monitoring and new security controls to further protect the agency’s systems going forward. The incident is being investigated and work for the Congress continues. Like other government agencies and private sector entities, CBO occasionally faces threats to its network and continually monitors to address those threats.

“The CBO came under fire from congressional Republicans over the summer after it released its cost estimate for President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill,” the report said. “The office’s determination that the legislation would add trillions to the national debt led the Senate GOP to rewrite some rules over how to apply the CBO’s scores.”

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