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Senate’s Balanced Budget Amendment Could Force Deep Cuts in Aid to States
December 14, 2011
The Republican-sponsored version of a constitutional balanced budget amendment, which the Senate voted on today, would require enormous federal budget cuts, very likely resulting in dramatic reductions in federal grants to states and localities for services ranging from education to highway maintenance to public safety. The attached … -
The Senate’s Balanced Budget Amendment Would Require Extreme Budget Cuts
December 5, 2011
The constitutional balanced budget amendment (BBA) that the Senate is expected to consider this month would, like any version of a BBA, risk serious harm to the economy by requiring that the budget be balanced even during an economic downturn. But this BBA, in particular, would do far more damage because it also would prevent the … -
Republican Proposal To Pay For Payroll Tax Extension Would Increase Already Severe Cuts In Discretionary Programs
December 2, 2011
The plan of Senate Republican leaders to extend and expand payroll tax relief includes a smaller payroll tax cut and would provide less than half of the economic boost of the Democratic alternative. The plan claims to offset the costs of its payroll tax cut by freezing federal employee pay and cutting federal employment, but that claim is … -
Testimony: Robert Greenstein, President, on “A Balanced Budget Amendment: The Perils of Constitutionalizing the Budget Debate”
November 30, 2011
Thank you for the invitation to testify today. I am Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a policy institute that focuses both on fiscal policy and on policies affecting low- and moderate-income Americans. We, like most others who analyze fiscal policy developments and trends, believe that the nation's … -
Amash Constitutional Spending Cap Would Radically Shrink Federal Budget
November 28, 2011
Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has introduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would impose an extraordinarily severe cap on federal spending. The amendment would force radical shrinkage of the federal government, taking the nation down the road toward antigovernment activist Grover Norquist's vision of "starving the beast." If … -
How the Potential Across-the-Board Cuts in the Debt Limit Deal Would Occur
Updated November 22, 2011
The debt limit deal enacted on August 2 calls for about $900 billion in cuts in discretionary programs over the next decade and would impose further automatic, across-the-board spending cuts in many programs if Congress fails to enact an additional $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures by January 15, 2012. Those across-the-board cuts … -
Latest Democratic Offer Includes Further Compromise,
Matches Overall Numbers of Toomey Proposal;
Republicans Reject It
November 18, 2011
Democratic members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (called by some the Supercommittee) submitted an offer last Friday in response to a plan put forward earlier in the week by Senator Pat Toomey and other Joint Committee Republicans. Various media institutions reported today that this latest Democratic … -
GOP Tax Proposal Risks a Substantial Tax Shift From High-Income Households to Low- and Middle-Income Households
November 18, 2011
The Toomey plan from Republican negotiators on the deficit-reduction "supercommittee" would produce only a modest increase in revenues — about $300 billion over ten years, relative to a baseline that assumes Congress extends all of the Bush tax cuts. But it would accomplish this through what appears to be … -
Testimony: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, at Hearing on “Could Tax Reform Boost Business Investment and Job Creation”
November 17, 2011
Chairman Casey, Vice Chairman Brady, and other members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before this committee, which has been special to me since I first worked on the JEC staff in 1989. In my testimony, I want to make one overarching point about the question raised by the title of this hearing, … -
Program Cuts Under a Balanced Budget Amendment: How Severe Might They Be?
November 15, 2011
The constitutional balanced budget amendment that the House is expected to consider this week could force Congress to cut all programs by an average of 17.3 percent by 2018. If revenues are not raised (the House-passed budget resolution assumes no increase above current-policy levels) and all programs are cut by the same percentage, … -
Balanced Budget Amendment Highly Ill-Advised for Addressing Long-Term Fiscal Problems
November 14, 2011
The balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution that the House will consider this week would be a highly ill-advised way to address the nation's long-term fiscal problems. It would threaten significant economic harm while raising a host of problems for the operation of Social Security and other vital federal functions. The … -
The Composition of Past Deficit-Reduction Packages – And Lessons for the Next One
November 14, 2011
Revenue increases were a part of every major deficit-reduction package in the 1980s and 1990s until the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. In several cases — notably in 1982 and 1984 (where they offset a portion of President Reagan's large tax cuts of 1981) — they dominated the package. In several other cases … -
Video: Jared Bernstein and James Horney Discuss the Perils of a Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment
November 11, 2011
[A Constitutional balanced budget amendment] "is a really bad idea. First of all, we don’t really have to have a balanced budget. We certainly are running deficits right now, that are really large, now that’s largely because of the economic downturn and in fact it helps us to keep from going deeper into the economic hole, but in the long run, under current policies, we’re facing deficits that are way too large. We should get them down. We have to. But we don’t have to balance them."
"What we have to do is bring deficits down to a level, somewhere below 3% of GDP, that would keep our debt from rising constantly as a share of the economy. That’s the danger."
Duration: 6:12
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Plan From Toomey, Other Republicans Not a First Step Toward Balanced Deficit Reduction
November 10, 2011
Senator Pat Toomey and other Republicans on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (“Supercommittee”) portray their new offer to raise close to $300 billion in revenues (under a plan to reduce deficits by about $1.5 trillion over ten years) as a significant concession, and some observers have suggested it represents a … -
Economic Forecasting Firm Harshly Criticizes Proposed Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment
November 8, 2011
If a constitutional balanced budget amendment (BBA) had already been ratified and were now being enforced for fiscal year 2012, “the effect on the economy would be catastrophic,” according to a scathing analysis of a BBA by Macroeconomic Advisers, one of the nation’s preeminent private economic forecasting firms. This … -
Democrats Offer Significant Concessions
Revised November 1, 2011
The new deficit-reduction plan from several Democrats on the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the "supercommittee") marks a dramatic departure from traditional Democratic positions — and actually stands well to the right of plans by the co-chairs of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission and the … -
Republican Plan Contains Minuscule Revenue Increase Alongside Deep Cuts in Medicare and Medicaid
October 31, 2011
The latest proposal by Republicans on the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the "supercommittee") contains virtually no new revenue and deep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. In those respects, it represents little change from earlier Republican budget proposals. It stands in contrast to last week's … -
Repeal of Contractor Withholding Provision Would Encourage
Tax Abuse
October 26, 2011
The House will vote tomorrow on whether to repeal a 2006 law designed to fight tax abuse by private contractors for federal, state, or local governments. Congress and President George W. Bush enacted the 2006 law after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) uncovered widespread tax abuse by government contractors. … -
Video: A Discussion with Jared Bernstein and Chuck Marr on Tax Repatriation
October 20, 2011
Congress is considering a temporary "repatriation tax holiday" that would allow corporations to bring their overseas profits back to the United States at a fraction of the normal corporate tax rate. Proponents claim that corporations would then invest these earnings in the United States, but the evidence shows that a tax holiday would fail to boost the economy while increasing deficits and encouraging companies to locate jobs and future investments overseas.
In this video, Jared Bernstein and Chuck Marr discuss the proposal and its likely harmful impact.
Duration: 7:19
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Statement: Paul N. Van de Water, Senior Fellow, on the CLASS Act
October 14, 2011
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ announcement today that her department has not been able to design a financially self-sustaining CLASS program within the law’s boundaries is sad but not surprising. It does not, however, eliminate the need for new … -
Media Briefing: The Effects of a Repatriation Tax Holiday
October 13, 2011
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing to discuss the impacts of a heavily lobbied proposal to allow U.S.-based multinational companies to pay sharply lower taxes on the profits they return from overseas. This is popularly known as a “repatriation tax holiday.”
Speakers will included Edward Kleinbard, former Chief of Staff of the non-partisan Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and now Professor of Law at the University of Southern California and the author of a new important study that bears on these issues; Chuck Marr, the Center’s Director of Federal Tax Policy; and Center President Robert Greenstein, who will serve as moderator.Duration: 16:02
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Repatriation Tax Holiday Would Increase Deficits and Push Investment Overseas
October 12, 2011
Despite proponents' claims to the contrary, a proposal to enact a second tax holiday for the profits that U.S.-based multinational corporations bring back to the United States from foreign accounts would cost tens of billions of dollars in federal revenue — boosting deficits and debt – while not achieving its proponents' promise of … -
“Supercommittee” Should Develop Balanced Package of Tax Increases and Spending Cuts
September 27, 2011
The new congressional committee on deficit reduction (the so-called "supercommittee") not only can consider revenue increases, but must consider them — as well as spending cuts — if it's going to produce a balanced plan. [1] There are five main reasons why. Spending cuts alone can't do the job. … -
Converting Medicare to Premium Support Would Likely Lead to Two-Tier Health Care System
September 26, 2011
Some policymakers and analysts have proposed to convert Medicare to a "premium support" system — that is, replace its guarantee of health coverage with a flat payment that beneficiaries could use to help them purchase private insurance or, in some versions, traditional Medicare. But proponents have crafted a … -
Statement: James R. Horney, Vice President Of Federal Fiscal Policy, on President Obama’s Budget Package
September 19, 2011
President Obama proposed a balanced and well-designed package today that would boost economic growth and jobs in the short run while stabilizing federal debt as a share of the economy after 2013. By keeping federal debt held by the public from growing as a share of the economy, the President's … -
Will WIC Turn Away Eligible Low-Income Women and Children Next Year?
September 19, 2011
For each of the last 15 years, Administrations and Congresses of both parties have provided sufficient funding for the WIC nutrition program to serve all eligible low-income pregnant women, infants, and young children who apply. Leaders of the current Congress have reiterated this commitment rhetorically. But there are mounting questions as to … -
Testimony: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on Policy Prescriptions for the Economy
September 15, 2011
Chairman Conrad, Senator Sessions, and other members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on policy prescriptions for the economy. To use the medical analogy in the title of this hearing, the U.S. economy is experiencing a long and difficult recovery from a severe acute illness — the 2007-2009 financial … -
Media Briefing: Examining the New 2010 Census Data on Poverty, Health Insurance Coverage, and Income
September 13, 2011
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing for journalists Tuesday, September 13, at 1:30 p.m. (ET) to examine the new Census Bureau data for 2010 on poverty, health insurance coverage, and income trends that will be released that morning.
Duration: 21:12
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Media Briefing: Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age: A Misguided Deficit-Reduction Proposal
September 12, 2011
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities will hold a conference call briefing on Monday, September 12 at 11:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss the impact of raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, a proposal that the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is expected to consider in its effort to reduce the nation's long-term deficit.
Duration: 15:11
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Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the August Employment Report
September 2, 2011
Today's jobs report highlights the critical need for policies to put people back to work. Employers added no net new jobs and the unemployment rate remained 9.1 percent. Most leading forecasters in government and out expect the unemployment rate to remain very high for the next few … -
Statement: James R. Horney, Vice President Of Federal Fiscal Policy, on the Congressional Budget Office Update of Its Budget and Economic Outlook
August 24, 2011
Today’s Congressional Budget Office update of the nation’s budget and economic outlook reinforces the point that policymakers should not let legitimate concerns about deficits and debt in coming decades prevent them from pursuing policies to boost economic growth and increase jobs in … -
Raising Medicare’s Eligibility Age Would Increase Overall Health Spending and Shift Costs to Seniors, States, and Employers
August 23, 2011
Raising Medicare's eligibility age from 65 to 67, which the new Joint Select Committee will likely consider this fall as a deficit-reduction measure, would not only fail to constrain health care costs across the economy; it would increase them. While this proposal would save the federal government money, it would do so by shifting costs … -
Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the July Employment Report
August 5, 2011
Today's jobs report shows that the labor market continues to limp along rather than put people back to work. The share of the population with a job remains severely depressed and unemployment remains alarmingly high — with more than 40 percent of the unemployment rate … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on New Debt Ceiling Agreement
Updated August 2, 2011
The new debt ceiling agreement will achieve the essential goal of avoiding a potentially catastrophic default in the days ahead. But to say that the deal is likely to lead to highly unbalanced results would be an understatement. The deal places the nation on a disturbing policy course and sets what may become important precedents that are cause … -
Contrary to Speaker Boehner’s Claim, Budget Deal’s “Supercommittee” Can Consider Revenue Increases
August 1, 2011
Speaker of the House John Boehner erroneously claims that the legislation implementing the new debt limit agreement does not allow the joint congressional committee it establishes to propose revenue increases to help reduce deficits. The legislation does no such thing. Rather, it is the speaker's adamant opposition to … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendments Before the House
July 28, 2011
The House is scheduled to consider two versions of the constitutional balanced budget amendment later this week — H.J. Res 1 and H.J. Res 2. The first (H.J. Res 1) requires a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate for any legislation that includes a tax increase and also prohibits federal spending from exceeding 18 percent of GDP. Both of these … -
Press Release: Nobel Laureates and Leading Economists Oppose Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment
Updated July 28, 2011
Organized Jointly With Phoebe Silag 202-775-8810 (office) 202-870-2644 (cell) A group of leading economists, including five Nobel Laureates in economics, today publicly released a letter to President Obama and Congress opposing a constitutional balanced budget amendment. The letter outlines the reasons why writing a balanced … -
A Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment Threatens Great Economic Damage
Revised July 27, 2011
A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution — including the version that the House is expected to consider this week — would be a highly ill-advised way to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems. It would threaten significant economic harm while raising a host of problems for the operation of Social … -
Balanced Budget Amendment Would Require More Extreme Cuts Than Ryan Plan
Revised July 27, 2011
The constitutional balanced budget amendment that the House is expected to consider this week is a highly ideological measure that would force Congress to enact the Republican Study Committee's extreme budget plan or something similar to it. Even the House-passed budget plan of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would not pass … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on House Speaker Boehner’s New Budget Proposal
Updated July 27, 2011
House Speaker John Boehner’s new budget proposal would essentially require, as the price of raising the debt ceiling again early next year, a choice between deep cuts in the years immediately ahead in Social Security and Medicare benefits for current retirees, repeal of health reform’s coverage expansions, or wholesale … -
Testimony: Robert Greenstein, President, on “Deficit Reduction: A Review of Key Issues”
July 26, 2011
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the invitation to testify here today. As you well know, the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and substantial changes in policy will be needed to right the ship. As a number of bipartisan commission have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim … -
Gang of Six Plan Represents Useful Step Forward, Despite Troubling Elements
July 22, 2011
Some describe the Senate Gang of Six’s budget plan as a kind of fiscal Holy Grail. Others denounce it as a deeply unjust plan that cuts heavily into vital programs for the poor and the middle class while shielding the wealthy. Neither characterization withstands scrutiny. The plan is something of a mixed bag, with both very positive … -
Separating the Debt Limit from the Deficit Problem
July 21, 2011
Policymakers are risking a default on U.S. federal obligations because of a dispute over how to reduce budget deficits. The nation’s long-term fiscal path is unsustainable, and policymakers should address it in a timely and responsible way. But policymakers should not hold the debt limit hostage to approval of deficit … -
Greenstein Statement on the “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act” That the House Will Consider on July 19
Updated July 16, 2011
The “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act” that the House of Representatives will vote on next week stands out as one of the most ideologically extreme pieces of major budget legislation to come before Congress in years, if not decades. It would go a substantial way toward enshrining Grover … -
National Organizations Opposing the Balanced Budget Amendment
Updated July 14, 2011
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Testimony: Paul N. Van de Water, Senior Fellow, On the Financial Status of the Medicare Program
July 12, 2011
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Davis, and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today. Although Medicare faces significant financing challenges, claims that the program is nearing “bankruptcy” are highly misleading. The 2011 report of … -
Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the June Employment Report
July 8, 2011
Today’s very disappointing employment report shows that two years after the technical end of the recession and after 16 straight months of private-sector job creation, the jobs deficit remains huge (see chart). The depth of the job losses from the recession is unprecedented since … -
Leading National Groups Urge Importance of Reducing Deficits Without Increasing Poverty
June 27, 2011
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Proposal to Establish Federal Medicaid “Blended Rate” Would Shift Significant Costs to States
June 24, 2011
An Obama Administration proposal that’s on the table for budget negotiators would reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by reducing the federal share of Medicaid and CHIP costs, shifting costs to states and likely prompting states to cut payments to health care providers and to scale back the health services that Medicaid covers for … -
Media Briefing: Strategies For Reining in Health Care Costs Beyond Measures in Health Reform
June 23, 2011
Peter Orszag, former Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, now Vice Chair of Global Banking at Citigroup and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses and critiques various ideas and approaches for transforming the U.S. health care system in order to slow the rise in health care costs.
Duration: 16:24
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Unbalanced Approach to Deficit Reduction Could Cripple Housing and Community Development Programs
June 23, 2011
Housing and community development programs could face crippling cuts over time if Congress and the Obama Administration agree to a deficit reduction plan that relies primarily or entirely on spending reductions rather than on a balanced mix that includes a significant revenue contribution. Congress already made significant funding cuts in … -
Tax Holiday for Overseas Corporate Profits Would Increase Deficits, Fail to Boost the Economy, and Ultimately Shift More Investment and Jobs Overseas
Updated June 23, 2011
Momentum is growing in Congress behind legislation to enact another “repatriation tax holiday” that allows multinational corporations to bring profits held overseas back to the United States and pay tax on them at a rate of only about 5 percent (rather than the normal tax rate on corporate profits). But the … -
Testimony: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, Before the Joint Economic Committee
June 21, 2011
Vice Chairman Brady and other members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify. I feel especially privileged to be appearing as a witness before the Joint Economic Committee, which together with the President's Council of Economic Advisers — both established by the Employment Act of 1946 — … -
Global Spending Cap Would Make it Virtually Impossible to Enact Climate Legislation
June 16, 2011
In the bipartisan deficit-reduction negotiations that Vice President Biden is conducting with congressional leaders and senior lawmakers, Republicans have proposed that negotiators include a global spending cap in the package they craft. And this week, the House Judiciary Committee approved, on a party line vote, a … -
Redesigning the TANF Contingency Fund to Make it More Effective
June 13, 2011
When Congress created the TANF block grant in 1996, it created the TANF Contingency Fund for states to draw upon during periods of economic distress. This fund was intended to address some of the risks and hardships states would face as a result of the conversion of the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children program — an … -
House-Passed Proposal to Block-Grant and Cut SNAP (Food Stamps) Rests on False Claims About Program Growth
Revised June 7, 2011
The House-passed plan to convert SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps) to a block grant and cut the program by almost 20 percent rests on the false claim that the program is experiencing “relentless and unsustainable growth.” [1] SNAP’s substantial growth of recent years … -
Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the May Employment Report
June 3, 2011
Today’s employment report should be a wake-up call to policymakers who continue to say the budget deficit is a more immediate threat to the economy than the jobs deficit. Nearly two years after the economy technically turned the corner from recession to recovery, job growth was … -
Under House Budget, “Tax Reform” Places Top Priority on High-Income Tax Cuts and Ignores Deficit Reduction
Updated May 26, 2011
The tax proposals in the budget that the House approved on April 15 place a top priority on cutting taxes for high-income people, while doing nothing to reduce budget deficits, themselves. [1] In addition to making the Bush tax cuts permanent and continuing to provide relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax … -
Toomey Budget Even More Radical, and Potentially More Damaging, Than Ryan Budget
May 25, 2011
The Senate will likely consider this week a budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 from Senator Patrick J. Toomey that, in several ways, is even more radical than the House-passed plan of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.[1] At first blush, the Toomey plan may seem more moderate than the Ryan budget, which the Senate also will … -
What the 2011 Trustees' Report Shows About Social Security
May 24, 2011
On May 13, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report on the program’s financial status. [1] The trustees’ report shows some mild deterioration in the program’s short- and long-term outlook — a finding that was widely expected and well within the range of past revisions. Several key … -
Media Briefing: Understanding the Annual Reports of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees
May 13, 2011
Robert Greenstein, the Center’s President, and Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow at the Center and one of Washington’s leading experts on social insurance programs, discuss what the reports say about the long-term financial status of Social Security and Medicare.
Duration: 11:17
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Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2011 Medicare Trustees' Report
May 13, 2011
The new report from Medicare’s trustees shows little change from last year’s report in the long-run outlook for the program, while indicating that the program continues to face significant financing challenges. Partly because the trustees now foresee a modestly slower economic … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2011 Social Security Trustees' Report
May 13, 2011
The trustees’ report shows that Social Security faces no immediate crisis and will have substantial resources to pay benefits even over the long run, but it faces a long-term shortfall that Congress should address sooner rather than later so the program can meet its promises. … -
Testimony: Robert Greenstein, President, Before the House Judiciary Committee
May 13, 2011
Thank you for the invitation to testify today. I am Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a policy institute that focuses both on fiscal policy and on policies affecting low- and moderate-income Americans. We, like most others who analyze fiscal policy developments and trends, believe that … -
Economic Downturn and Bush Policies Continue to Drive Large Projected Deficits
May 10, 2011
We have since updated this paper. To view the new paper, click here. Some lawmakers, pundits, and others continue to say that President George W. Bush’s policies did not drive the projected federal deficits of the coming decade — that, instead, it was the policies of President Obama and Congress in 2009 and 2010. But, the fact remains: the … -
Lower-Than-Expected Medicare Drug Costs Reflect Decline in Overall Drug Spending and Lower Enrollment, Not Private Plans
May 6, 2011
Some supporters of the House budget plan’s proposal to replace Medicare with a voucher to purchase private health insurance claim that reliance on private insurers can lower costs.[1] They cite the fact that the costs of Medicare Part D, which took effect in 2006, have been lower than the Congressional Budget Office predicted … -
Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the April Employment Report
May 6, 2011
Today’s employment report provides mixed signals on the jobs market. The survey of employers shows they added jobs at a solid pace in April. Yet the jobs deficit from the recession remains very large and, even more discouraging, the survey of households shows that unemployment is still high, with too many people … -
Testimony: Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow, on Budget Enforcement Mechanisms
May 4, 2011
Mr. Chairman, Senator Hatch, and members of the committee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today. The federal budget is on an unsustainable path. If we continue current policies — including a further extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and AMT relief — deficits will remain high throughout the … -
Testimony: Aviva Aron-Dine on the Distribution of Tax Burdens and the Fairness of the Tax System
May 3, 2011
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Ryan Medicaid Block Grant Would Cause Severe Reductions in Health Care and Long-Term Care for Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Children
May 3, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan, which the House passed on April 15, would dramatically restructure Medicaid by converting it to a block grant and cutting the program’s funding sharply. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Ryan budget would reduce federal funding by 35 percent in 2022 … -
Chairman Ryan Gets Nearly Two-Thirds of His Huge Budget Cuts From Programs for Lower-Income Americans
Updated April 20, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan would get nearly two-thirds of its $4.5 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years from programs that serve people of limited means, which violates basic principles of fairness and stands a core principle of President Obama’s fiscal commission on its head. The plan … -
Statement of Robert Greenstein, President, on Chairman Ryan’s Budget Plan
Updated April 20, 2011
Chairman Ryan’s sweeping budget plan has been labeled “courageous,” but it’s a cowardly budget in a crucial respect. It proposes a dramatic reverse-Robin-Hood approach that gets the lion’s share of its budget cuts from programs for low-income Americans — the politically and economically weakest group in … -
Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs Would Skyrocket for Low-Income Seniors and People with Disabilities Under the Ryan Budget Plan
April 15, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget proposal to convert Medicare into a system of vouchers and to block-grant Medicaid would substantially increase out-of-pocket costs for millions of low-income seniors and people with disabilities who are “dually eligible” for both programs. Under current law, Medicaid pays the Medicare premiums — and in … -
Reforming Tax Expenditures Can Reduce Deficits While Making the Tax Code More Efficient and Equitable
April 15, 2011
With the federal budget on an unsustainable path, our country’s fiscal problems need to be addressed in a way that is both effective and equitable. Scaling back and reforming “tax expenditures” — spending that is delivered through the tax code rather than government programs — should be an important part … -
Proposed Cap on Federal Spending Would Force Deep Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
Revised April 15, 2011
A prominent proposal by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to limit total federal spending to no more than 20.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is attracting increasing attention, may sound benign, but it would inevitably force enormous cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and possibly Social Security. The … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein on President Obama's Deficit-Reduction Plan
April 13, 2011
President Obama made an important contribution today to efforts to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems, proposing a plan to reduce deficits by about $4 trillion over the next 12 years and meet the essential goal of stabilizing the national debt so that it rises no faster than … -
Podcast: The Effect of Chairman Ryan’s Radical Budget Plan on Medicare
April 13, 2011
Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow, discusses how Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan would affect Medicare.
Duration: 4:22
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Tax Foundation Figures Do Not Represent Typical Households’ Tax Burdens
April 12, 2011
This report has been updated. Click here for the updated analysis. Executive Summary Each year, the Tax Foundation releases a report projecting “Tax Freedom Day,” which it describes as the day when Americans will have “earned enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state, and local levels.” [1] The Tax … -
What if Ryan's Medicaid Block Grant Had Taken Effect in 2000?
April 12, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s radical proposal to convert Medicaid to a block grant, which the House will consider this week as part of Ryan’s sweeping budget plan, would have cut federal Medicaid funds to most states by more than 25 percent by 2009 and to several of them by more than 40 percent if it … -
Ryan Budget Would Slash SNAP Funding by $127 Billion Over Ten Years
April 11, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan would cut the SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps) by $127 billion — almost 20 percent — over the next ten years (2012-2021), which could throw millions of low-income families off the rolls, cut benefits for many households, or some combination of the two.… -
Ryan Budget Plan Produces Far Less Real Deficit Cutting than Reported
April 8, 2011
On April 9, the House Budget Committee announced corrections to Chairman Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget resolution. The Center’s April 13 blog post updates the data reflected in this report to account for the committee’s correction. Even some critics of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan have praised his “courage” and his willingness to make “hard … -
Chairman Ryan’s Baseless Attack on SNAP/Food Stamps
April 8, 2011
Falsely claiming that the nation’s most important anti-hunger program — SNAP, formerly called food stamps — is experiencing “relentless and unsustainable growth,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan calls for converting it into a block grant. The truth is that SNAP’s recent growth is temporary and reflects the battered … -
CBO Report: Ryan Plan Specifies Spending Path That Would Nearly End Most of Government Other Than Social Security, Health Care, and Defense by 2050
April 7, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's budget plan specifies a long-term spending path that means that, by 2050, most of the federal government aside from Social Security, health care, and defense would literally cease to exist, according to figures in a Congressional Budget Office report[1] that was released on Tuesday. CBO's … -
Media Briefing: A Greater Understanding of Rep. Ryan's Budget Plan
April 7, 2011
Robert Greenstein, James Horney, and Paul Van de water discuss emerging new findings from the Center and from the Congressional Budget Office about House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan.
Duration 22:18
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Ryan Plan’s “Path to Prosperity” Is Just for the Wealthy
April 6, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s name for his budget — “The Path to Prosperity” — is a cruel joke. One of this nation’s core beliefs is that if you work hard and act responsibly, you can get ahead, raise a family, and have a decent life. That was never more true than in the three decades after World War II, when the path to … -
CBO Confirms Ryan’s Medicaid Block Grant Would Likely Harm States, Beneficiaries, and Providers
April 6, 2011
The majority of the $1.4 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next ten years in House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget would come from converting the program into a block grant. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued an analysis yesterday finding that block-granting Medicaid would shift costs to states, beneficiaries, and health care … -
Republican Study Committee Bill Would Require Deepest Cuts in Programs for the Poor in U.S. History
April 5, 2011
Legislation unveiled last month by the Republican Study Committee, the powerful caucus that includes 176 House Republican members, would require the most severe cuts in programs for the poor in the nation’s history. Introduced by RSC Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), Tim Scott (R-SC), and RSC Budget and Spending Task Force Chair … -
Heritage’s Rosy View of Ryan Budget
April 5, 2011
Ryan Avent beat me to the punch in calling out the Heritage Foundation’s analysis of how House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget would affect the economy. I’m with Avent: Heritage’s unemployment projection is so bizarre as to call into question the whole exercise. As the chart above shows, Heritage projects that under the Ryan budget, the unemployment rate will be 6.4 percent in 2012 — a full two percentage points below the Congressional Budget Office forecast — and will drop below 3 … -
Ryan’s Cowardly Budget
April 5, 2011
The Center has just issued a statement on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan and a brief analysis showing that the plan would get about two-thirds of its more than $4 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years from programs that serve people of limited means. . -
Off the Charts Blog Post: Chairman Ryan’s Baseless Attack on SNAP/Food Stamps
April 5, 2011
Falsely claiming that the nation’s most important anti-hunger program — SNAP, formerly called food stamps — is experiencing “relentless and unsustainable growth,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan calls for converting it into a block grant. The truth is that SNAP’s recent growth is temporary and reflects the … -
Off the Charts Blog Post: Ryan’s Rx for Medicaid Means Millions More Uninsured or Underinsured Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Children
April 4, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) will unveil a budget tomorrow that would cut Medicaid by as much as $1 trillion over the next 10 years and convert it into a block grant. He and others will likely claim that these changes would merely rein in “out-of-control” Medicaid costs while letting states stretch their reduced federal … -
Statement by Robert Greenstein on Senate Republican Leaders’ Proposed Balanced Budget Amendment
March 31, 2011
The balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that Senate Republican leaders unveiled today is the most radical major fiscal policy proposal in decades. It would require a balanced budget every year regardless of the state of the economy, an exceedingly unwise requirement that most … -
Media Briefing: Principles and Cautions for Deficit Reduction
March 24, 2011
Robert Greenstein, President, and James R. Horney, Vice President for Fiscal Policy discuss a major new report, which suggests a framework for a comprehensive deficit reduction package, discusses the appropriate mix of tax and program savings for it, recommends some important ways to achieve those savings, explains the effects that such a package should have on poverty and inequality, and highlights some misguided proposals that policymakers should avoid.
Duration: 20:13
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A Framework for Deficit Reduction: Principles and Cautions
March 24, 2011
The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and policymakers need to make major changes in policy. As a number of bipartisan panels have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy (the Gross Domestic Product) so the debt does not rise relentlessly as a share of the … -
Ryan-Rivlin Plan Would End Guaranteed Medicare, Shift Medicaid Costs To States And Beneficiaries
Revised March 22, 2011
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget Committee, and Alice Rivlin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget, issued a proposal in November that would make deep reductions in Medicare and Medicaid benefits and fundamentally alter the nature of those programs.[1] The proposal … -
Testimony: Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow, Before the Committee on the Budget
March 17, 2011
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Van Hollen, and members of the committee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today to discuss health and retirement security. Our landmark public programs — Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — are bulwarks in defending the well-being of America’s seniors and people with disabilities.… -
In Battle Over 2011 Appropriations, Both Sides Calling for Substantial Cuts
Updated March 11, 2011
Public discussions about congressional efforts to agree on a measure to fund the government for the rest of fiscal year 2011 have focused on the difference between the size of the cuts in non-security appropriations recently passed by the House and an alternative proposed by Senate Democrats and voted on yesterday. This … -
Testimony of Robert Greenstein, President, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Before the Senate Committee on Budget
March 9, 2011
Chairman Conrad, Ranking Member Sessions and members of the Budget Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss tax expenditures, tax reform, and what role they might play in deficit reduction. I am Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a policy institute … -
House Bill Means Fewer Children in Head Start, Less Help for Students to Attend College, Less Job Training, and Less Funding for Clean Water
Updated March 1, 2011
Some 157,000 at-risk children up to age 5 could lose education, health, nutrition, and other services under Head Start, while funds for Pell Grants that help students go to college would fall by nearly 25 percent, under a bill passed by the House that would cut current-year non-security discretionary funding by an average of 14.3 percent.… -
Administration’s Rationale for Severe Cut in Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Is Weak
February 18, 2011
The President’s 2012 budget proposes cutting funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) from the $5.1 billion enacted for 2010 to just $2.57 billion, a 50 percent reduction. The Administration’s rationale is that Congress sharply increased LIHEAP funding for fiscal year 2009 in response …
