In the News Archive

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    • Colloquy Remarks of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) -- Middle-Class Tax Increase
      August 3, 2009
      Floor Remarks of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
      I am sure the Senator from Arizona remembers Isabel Sawhill’s distinguished service. She had some comments on tax increases as well. "There is no way we can pay for health care and the rest of the Obama agenda, plus get our long-term deficits under control, simply by raising taxes on the wealthy," said Isabel V. Sawhill, a former Clinton administration budget official. "The middle class is going to have to contribute as well."
    • Health Care Battle – Andrea Mitchell Interviews Sen. Alexander
      August 3, 2009
      MSNBC
      “And this weekend, Isabel Sawhill, who was in the Clinton administration, and many others were saying in order to pass the Obama agenda, you're going to have to tax them middle class. So I thought the comments yesterday were honest and I think the comments today are misleading.” – Senator Alexander
    • Obama’s Pledge to Tax Only the Rich Can’t Pay for Everything, Analysts Say
      July 31, 2009
      New York Times by Jackie Calmes
      “There is no way we can pay for health care and the rest of the Obama agenda, plus get our long-term deficits under control, simply by raising taxes on the wealthy,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, a former Clinton administration budget official. “The middle class is going to have to contribute as well.”
    • Tax Surcharge For Health Care Faces Broad-Based Opposition
      July 31, 2009
      Investor’s Business Daily, by Jed Graham
      "Choosing to finance health care reform by taxing the rich is bad economic policy, bad health policy, bad budget policy and poor leadership," wrote Brookings Institution economist William Gale in a forum at National Journal Online.
    • Bernanke explains Fed’s new openness
      July 30, 2009
      Financial Times, by Edward Luce
      “I would be astonished if Ben isn’t re­appointed,” says Alice Rivlin, a former vice-chairman of the Fed. “He has become very good at interacting with people beyond the usual circles and he is good at avoiding traditional Fed-speak.”
    • Fed Struggles with Perceptions of Transparency
      July 30, 2009
      PBS – NewsHour
      “They have been less and less secretive over the years. This started back in the Greenspan years. There was a time when the Fed didn't tell anybody anything about what they were doing, even on monetary policy. They didn't say what they had done. They allowed the markets to guess.” – Alice Rivlin
    • Bernanke out in the open
      July 28, 2009
      Chicago Tribune, by Don Lee
      Following the financial crisis, Greenspan, who was lionized during his two decades of Fed leadership, has been roundly criticized for not getting on top of lax mortgage lending standards in 2002 and 2003, when things got out of hand. Bernanke joined the Fed board as a governor in 2002. "The whole board shares some blame for that," said Alice Rivlin, a Fed governor from 1996 to 1999 and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
    • Tales From the Fed: Rivlin on the Perfect Storm
      July 26, 2009
      PBS/NewsHour (Solman)
      Alice Rivlin on Wall Street's perfect storm of 2008 and what it means for the Federal Reserve – “Sometimes clichés are apt, and this is a very good example. It was a “perfect storm” in the sense that everything that could go wrong went wrong at the same time and produced a cataclysm. How did it become an “ice storm” – meaning that the banks stopped lending – confidence plummeted and banks were afraid of failing, and when they’re afraid of failing and they’re distrustful even of each other they stop lending...”
    • $1 Trillion: What Does It Look Like?
      July 24, 2009
      NPR/Morning Edition
      “A trillion dollars is definitely a lot of money. Even if we're already now spending trillions of dollars on things like the financial bailout, the economic stimulus package and so on, we shouldn't get inured to the idea that just because we got to spend that, that it's not a huge amount of money.” – William Gale
    • New Concerns Over Meeting Between President and CBO Director
      July 23, 2009
      FOX News/Neil Cavuto
      “I met with President Carter several times – not one on one – but in meetings like this meeting on Monday (which I was also at) it wasn’t any big deal. I got criticized fairly heavily on the Hill once for meeting with David Stockman who was Reagan’s budget director. I was rather surprised by that criticism…I think it’s very important for the Executive branch and the Congressional people to be understanding each other or talking about how they get to different estimates. That was not what the Monday meeting was about…” – Alice Rivlin
    • Soak the Rich
      July 21, 2009
      National Journal Experts Blog
      “Given the growing inequality of incomes, especially at the very top of the distribution, asking this group to pay higher taxes seems like the right thing to do. And I have never been persuaded that people at the top of the distribution are going to work or save less just because their taxes have gone up from present levels...” – Isabel Sawhill
    • Government Debt Swells as Choices Get Harder
      May 24, 2009
      San Francisco Chronicle, by Carolyn Lockhead
      "We are accumulating a massive debt. We owe about half of that debt to foreigners, including the Chinese and others whose foreign policy is not always well aligned with ours," said Isabel Sawhill, a former Clinton administration budget official who now co-directs the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution. "So we are really losing control of our economic destiny and possibly losing control of our foreign policy as well."
    • RealClearPolitics - Future Prosperity Depends on 'New Contract for Kids’
      May 20, 2009
      Real Clear Politics, by Mort Kondracke
      President Barack Obama plans to tackle, one by one, the biggest problems threatening America's future prosperity, but he needs to fashion nothing less than "a new social contract between the generations." That means, said Brookings Institution scholar Isabel Sawhill, gradually shifting the balance of federal spending from seniors to children to enable them to support both themselves and their elders in the future.
    • Obama's Vast Agenda Sparks Concern
      May 19, 2009
      Washington Times, by Donald Lambro
      "I don't buy the 'too much on the plate' argument," said Alice Rivlin who was Mr. Clinton's budget director. "I think the Obama team is right to move ahead on health care and the environmental issues, even as they work to get the economy back on track.”
    • US Medicare Funding Under Threat
      May 17, 2009
      Atlanta Journal Constitution
      Among others seeking to instill a sense of urgency is the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan group whose directors include former Office of Management and Budget directors Alice Rivlin, who served during the Clinton administration, and David Stockman, who was a top adviser to President Ronald Reagan.
    • President Obama’s Job Jumpstart?
      May 10, 2009
      MSNBC - Andrea Mitchell Reports
      “I think there are a few green shoots, but I think it’s really premature to say whether we are out of the woods or not. This is clearly going to be a long and deep recession.” – Isabel Sawhill
    • Budget Proposes Cuts in 121 Programs
      May 7, 2009
      Wall Street Journal, by Jonathan Weisman
      "There is a kind of 'Nixon going to China' aspect to this," said Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center of Children and the Family at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution. Just as only Republican President Richard Nixon could go to communist China in 1972 without being destroyed politically, only a popular Democrat could challenge liberal groups on sacrosanct programs that may have outlived their usefulness, she said.
    • Obama's Budget Knife Yields Modest Trims
      May 7, 2009
      Washington Post, by Lori Montgomery and Amy Goldstein
      "Even if you got all of those things, it would be saving pennies, not dollars. And you're not going to begin to get all of them," said Isabel Sawhill, a Brookings Institution economist who waged her own battles with Congress as a senior official in the Clinton White House budget office. "This is a good government exercise without much prospect of putting a significant dent in spending."
    • Obama set to suggest $17B in cuts
      May 6, 2009
      USA Today, by Richard Wolf
      Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning think tank, says it pays for a president to try cutting programs even if he doesn't succeed. "It's always difficult, because Congress usually says no," says Sawhill, a Clinton administration budget official.
    • Budget Targets Fraud and Errors in Social Programs
      May 5, 2009
      Wall Street Journal, by Jonathan Weisman
      If only a Republican like Richard Nixon could be the first president to go to China, only a Democrat like Mr. Obama could persuade Democrats to cut payments for unemployment and disability, said Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution. "When Republicans talk about program integrity, Democrats worry it's just a smokescreen for cutting programs. When Democrats do it, it looks a lot more credible," she said.
    • Congress Approves $3.5 Trillion Dollar Budget Plan
      April 30, 2009
      PBS – NewsHour
      Isabel Sawhill, director of the Center for Budget and National Priorities at the Brookings Institution said the reconciliation rule is crucial to the Democrats goal of reforming U.S. health care coverage. "Even though it's rather arcane, the reason (reconciliation) is so important is that it may determine whether we have health care reform this year or we don't have health care reform this year," Sawhill said. "I don't think it's going to be possible to get meaningful health care reform if you have to have a bipartisan vote."
    • The First 100 Days: Grading President Obama
      April 29, 2009
      The New Ledger, by Ben Domenech
      On the domestic front, such non-conservatives as David Brooks, Alice Rivlin and the editors of the Washington Post attest to the dangerous irresponsibility of his fiscal policy. [Obama] has helped popularize the phrase “generational theft” — and it will take generations to dig us out of the mess. His plans domestically on everything from healthcare to cap and trade to education bespeak a statist, bureaucratic mindset that is unsuited to a free and dynamic society.
    • Sizing Up Spending
      April 28, 2009
      CNBC – Closing Bell
      Isabel Sawhill is interviewed about spending during Obama’s first 100 days as President (starts at minute 4:35)
    • Obama Overthrows Reagan’s Government-Bad Dogma to Rescue Market
      April 27, 2009
      Bloomberg, by Rich Miller and Matthew Benjamin
      And budget experts are skeptical even that can be achieved. “We’re not going to be able to turn off the spigot completely when this downturn ends,” says Isabel Sawhill, who’s at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
    • $1 Billion a Day for Stimulus
      The Obama administration has committed $75 billion in stimulus money in 10 weeks. So far $14.5 billion has been spent, mostly for Medicaid.
      April 28, 2009
      CNNMoney.com, by Tami Luhby "There's a natural tension between using taxpayers' money in a prudent way and getting the money out the door quickly," said Isabel Sawhill, a Brookings Institution senior fellow.
    • Obama Budget Cuts Deemed Symbolic
      April 24, 2009
      UPI
      Isabel V. Sawhill, a Clinton administration budget official who directs the Budgeting for National Priorities project at the Brookings Institution, voiced doubts the budget plan would help convince people Obama cares about responsibility.
    • CBO Names New Panel of Economic Advisers
      April 24, 2009
      Wall Street Journal – Real Time Economics Blog
      Among the returning economists are former Fed Vice Chairman Alice Rivlin, Martin Baily…& rounding out the new members are Henry J. Aaron of the Brookings Institution, an expert on health-care.
    • President's Critics See a Dull Knife
      April 24, 2009
      Washington Post, by Philip Rucker
      Isabel V. Sawhill, a Clinton administration budget official who directs the Budgeting for National Priorities project at the Brookings Institution, said she feared the cuts would be "lampooned" on late-night talk shows. "I'm not sure I thought it was a good step towards convincing people that he cares about fiscal responsibility," she said.
    • Concerns raised on pace of stimulus
      April 20, 2009
      USA Today, by Brad Heath
      Critics say the government should speed up spending. "It's disappointing, given the urgency ... that we've only been able to spend $60 billion," says Brookings Institution economist Isabel Sawhill. She says the government must hire contractors and get projects reviewed — safeguards that slow the flow of money.
    • As We See It: Tax and spend - Santa Cruz Sentinel
      April 15, 2009
      Santa Cruz Sentinel
      Alice Rivlin, director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration, was joined by Jim Nussle, who held the same post in the last Bush administration. Amid a back-and-forth discussion on budget deficits, earmarks, entitlement programs and bailouts, the liberal Rivlin and conservative Nussle also tackled tax reform and government spending.
    • Obama on Tightrope in Government Budget
      April 1, 2009
      Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, by Craig Gilbert
      "I think people who talk about Europeanization don't know much about Europe," said Alice Rivlin, a Brookings Institution fellow and former budget director for President Bill Clinton, who criticized the size of the deficits in Obama's budget but rejects the conservative charge that "we are actually moving toward socialization."
    • Global Recession, Security Challenges Test Obama's Popularity Among World Leaders
      March 25, 2009
      FOXNews, by Stephen Clark
      "I think it's fair to say on these economic issues, there seems to be a critical divide between the U.S. and some of our friends in Europe that is going to make it more difficult for the G20 to be successful," said Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings Institution. But Sawhill and other economists downplay the growing friction between Obama and Europe. "I don't think it has much of anything to do with him," Sawhill told FOXNews.com. "I think it has to do with a disagreement about what's the best response to the global recession. And many of the European countries are uncomfortable about the pressure they [see] us bringing to bear on them to stimulate the economy as much as we have ours."
    • CBO: US Deficit Ballooning to Record $1.7 Trillion
      March 20, 2009
      Christian Science Monitor, by Ron Scherer
      “It will be much more difficult to reform health care, move on the energy front and invest in education,” said Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a former official at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Clinton administration. “It makes his whole reinvestment agenda much more problematic, especially if there is not something done to curb entitlement spending in Social Security and Medicare.”
    • Resolving the Economic Crisis: An Interview with Alice Rivlin
      March 19, 2009
      St. Louis Beacon, by Mary Delach Leonard
      Even as the nation fixates on the employee bonuses handed out by taxpayer-bailed-out insurance giant AIG, the key to fixing the nation's economy still hinges on getting the banking system functioning again, says Alice Rivlin, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and budget director for President Bill Clinton.
    • Obama Team Touts Economic Plans
      March 14, 2009
      Washington Post, by Lori Montgomery
      Brookings scholar Alice Rivlin, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and a budget director for President Bill Clinton, said the campaign appears to have two goals: First, to respond to the "flak" the administration is taking over its $3.6 trillion budget request. And second, to tamp down unrealistic expectations for a speedy recovery.
    • Obama's Budget Trades Steep Deficits for Broad Goals
      February 27, 2009
      The Los Angeles Times, by Maura Reynolds and Peter Nicholas
      "There's a lot of rhetoric about it, but no plan," said Isabel Sawhill, a former associate director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration. "Right now, they're singing the right song about fiscal responsibility, but they don't have a plan to get there."
    • Obama Announces the 2010 Budget
      February 25, 2009
      The First Post
      Writing in the Guardian, Isabel Sawhill says that though there is little political appetite for the tax cuts and spending plans, they are a financial necessity. "The problem is not a lack of resources – the problem is a lack of political will to make the sacrifices that our current predicament requires. But at least we have started the conversation."
    • Real Reaganites Raise Taxes
      February 21, 2009
      National Journal, by Jonathan Rauch
      "I'm going to say spending is never going to go below 21 percent again in this country," says Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. At the Brookings Institution, Isabel Sawhill, an economist and a former Clinton administration budget official, says, "My best guess would be 24 percent in 2012."
    • “Next, Cut Spending”
      February 10, 2009
      New York Post, by Paul Weinstein Jr.
      If we don't [address burgeoning retirement and health-care costs], and insist on maintaining the tax burden where it has been over the last 50 years (about 18 percent of GDP), the Fiscal Seminar group estimates public debt will most likely exceed 100 percent of GDP within 25 years.
    • The ‘W’ Word, Re-engaged
      Feb. 7, 2009
      The New York Times, by Jason DeParle
      “This tension waxes and wanes — but it remains a tension, absolutely,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, a researcher at the Brookings Institution. “Americans understand that some people are poor through no fault of their own. On the other hand, they suspect that some people aren’t doing all they could to help themselves. It’s pretty deep-seated in our national mindset, this belief that you can succeed.”