Restoring Fiscal Responsibility: Challenges for the New Congress

On January 12th, the Brookings Institution, along with the Committee for Economic Development and the Concord Coalition, hosted a breakfast forum for the financial community in New York City. The forum focused on the budget outlook for FY 2006 and the impact of rising long-term federal deficits. The forum, Restoring Fiscal Responsibility: Challenges for the New Congress, featured three leading experts on economic policy:

Bob Kerrey, former U.S. Senator and President of The New School University
Alice M. Rivlin, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
Peter G. Peterson, former Secretary of Commerce and President of the Concord Coalition

The forum was moderated by Geoffrey Boisi, Vice Chairman (Ret.), JP MorganChase. All three panelists warned that the size of the federal budget deficit threatens future U.S. economic growth and outlined the political challenges Congress and the Administration will face in attempting comprehensive Social Security and Medicare reform in 2005.

Last year, Brookings published Restoring Fiscal Sanity: How to Balance the Budget, a report from Brookings scholars examining three plans to reduce federal deficits. In April 2005, Brookings will release Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting the Long-Run Challenge, which will address Social Security, health care, taxes, and politics in the budget process.