Speech by Isabel V. Sawhill, National Press Club (5/15/06)

Thank you. I first want to say I agree very much with everything that has been said so far. At Brookings we have produced two books on the fiscal situation facing the country — one in 2004, one in 2005. In both of those books, we laid out solutions that included both spending cuts and revenue increases and we got quite specific about both. There are many ways to bring back some balance between revenues and spending, and the ways we suggested are not the only ways. If elected officials do not like our ways then they should suggest some others. But I want to emphasize everything that has been said up to now about the need to get serious about this.