RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, March 26, 2009, The Washington Post
President Barack Obama’s budget is the subject of floor debate in the House and Senate this week. Alice Rivlin says that the budget offers good remedies for America’s economic ills, but urges Congress to make it even better by paying for the new investments and reducing the long-term deficits. Read More
BOOK
Ron Haskins and Isabel V. Sawhill, September 15, 2009
Creating an Opportunity Society examines economic opportunity in the United States and explores how to create more of it, particularly for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, June 25, 2009, House Committee on the Budget
Testifying before the House Budget Committee, Alice Rivlin urged enforcement of the statutory pay-as-you-go budget rules to rein in the long-term deficit. She endorsed the recent actions taken to stimulate the economy and rescue the financial sector, but said the costly measures further obligate Congress and the administration to control deficits. Read More
VIDEO
William G. Gale, June 22, 2009
While many steps have been taken to help shore up the floundering U.S. economy, William Gale says that the long-term fiscal situation is still very dire.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William G. Gale and Alan J. Auerbach, June 2009, The Brookings Institution
William Gale and Alan Auerbach share increasing public concerns about the deficit. Their research shows that as bad as the $1.7 trillion deficit looks for this year, the medium term and long-term numbers are of much greater concern. Our fiscal house of cards has dire implications for the American economy.
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RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Henry J. Aaron, June 18, 2009, Kaiser Health News
Henry Aaron discusses the draft bill released by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and the Congressional Budget Office 's published estimate that the bill would cost $1 trillion over 10 years and leave 35 million uninsured.
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RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Henry J. Aaron, June 15, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Henry Aaron recently spoke about the budget, health care and entitlements at the Youth Action Conference. The conference, hosted by the Concord Coalition in conjunction with the Youth Entitlements Summit highlighted grassroots efforts and policy perspectives of youth organizations in addressing America's long-term fiscal challenge. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Isabel V. Sawhill, June 11, 2009, McClatchy Tribune
While the government has been busy with bailouts, who is going to bail out the U.S. government when our creditors tire of lending to us? And now, thanks to the stimulus, virtually all those over age of 65 are receiving $250 checks, regardless of whether or not they need it. Isabel Sawhill says it’s time for Congress and the administration to get serious about getting our fiscal house in order. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
The Fiscal Seminar Group, June 2009, The Brookings Institution
The United States faces a looming fiscal imbalance brought on by an aging population and rising health care costs. Yet, the current political environment discourages our leadership from making the tough choices required to fix our fiscal house. In this paper, a diverse group of budget experts reviews some of the recent history of appointed commissions, and discusses their potential role in long-term federal budgeting policy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alan Berube, May 15, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The detailed FY 2010 federal budget reveals many elements of the administration’s strategy to achieve needed reforms in schooling and worker skills. Alan Berube analyzes the significant steps in the departments of Education and Labor budgets toward a national economic strategy that invests strategically in human capital to improve our collective prosperity. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Jennifer Bradley, May 14, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Jennifer Bradley argues that sustainable growth strengthens existing cities and communities, conserves fiscal and natural resources, and advances U.S. efforts to address climate change and achieve energy independence—a central theme of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program’s Blueprint for American Prosperity Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Andrew Reamer, May 13, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Andrew Reamer points out that the Metropolitan Policy Program has long argued that current, accurate, and accessible federal socioeconomic statistics are necessary to sustain well-functioning metro regions. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Robert Puentes, May 13, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Robert Puentes discusses how President Obama’s FY 2010 budget holds the baseline on transportation infrastructure spending with slight increases at the modal agencies at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Mark Muro, May 13, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The in-depth versions of President Obama’s first budget released in early May detail a number of significant direct and indirect investments in the innovation capacity of U.S. metropolitan areas. Several of these proposals reflect ideas generated by Metropolitan Policy Program experts. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Henry J. Aaron, May 09, 2009, The New Republic
Behind closed doors all over Washington, serious people are working hard to design a major overhaul of the U.S. health care system. We should wish them well, but their chances of success are slim, says Henry Aaron. Since yet another complete failure would be catastrophic, some attention should be given now to policies that, he says, are politically palatable and would begin the evolution to a new and better health system. Read More