A conversation with House Budget Chair Tom Price on budget priorities, process, and fiscal challenges

The day after President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress and the nation, Economic Studies at Brookings hosted Chairman of the House Budget Committee Tom Price, M.D., for a wide-ranging conversation about House Republicans’ budget priorities this year, prospects for improving the congressional budget process, the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges, the debate over tax and spending emerging in the presidential campaign – and what, if anything, Congress is likely to accomplish in this election year. 

Rep. Price, M.D. (R-Ga), who worked in private practice as an orthopedic surgeon before turning to politics, was elected to Congress in 2004 after four terms in the Georgia State Senate. He succeeded now-House Speaker Paul Ryan as chairman of the Budget Committee last year. In previous Congresses, he served as chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and chairman of the Republican Study Committee. 

David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, led the conversation with the congressman, which was followed by questions from the audience and a panel discussion with Brookings experts.