Facing the Future

This week on Facing the Future, we heard from Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute on why Zombies are in control of the federal budget and what must be done to break their grip on the future. Concord Coalition Chief Economist Steve Robinson joined the conversation.

In a new book, “Beyond Zombie Rule: Reclaiming Fiscal Sanity In A Broken Congress,” Steuerle updates an earlier book with a similarly chilling title, Dead Men Ruling. The main theme of both books is that too much of the federal budget has been predetermined by spending and tax decisions made long ago, leaving today’s policymakers and future generations with limited flexibility to make their own decisions.

This week on Facing the Future, we discuss the budgetary priorities and procedural hurdles facing the new Republican majority in Congress as they try to quickly enact an ambitious agenda. Our guest is Rohit Kumar, Co-Leader of the National Tax Office at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a former senior advisor to Senate Republican leaders.

This week on Facing the Future, we looked back at the fiscal developments of 2024 and looked ahead to 2025. Joining me for the discussion were Concord Coalition Chief Economist Steve Robinson, National Field Director Phil Smith and Digital Media Intern Kyle Duffy. Our special guest star was Chase Hagaman, the original host of Facing the Future who now serves as Economic Development Director at the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs. 

This week on Facing the Future, the Concord Coalition staff looks back on fiscal year 2024 and what to expect in 2025. Our special guest is Chase Hagaman, director of economic development at the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) and the original host of Facing the Future.

This week on Facing the Future, Concord Coalition chief economist Steve Robinson explains why the "Social Security Fairness Act" would result in an unearned windfall for a small number of workers. We'll also discuss a new debt limit warning by the Government Accountability Office.

This week on Facing the Future we began by discussing an Illustrative package of 13 federal tax and spending reform options prepared by the Penn-Wharton Budget Model (PWBM). Our guest for this segment was Dr. Kent Smetters, faculty director of the PWBM. Then, Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, walked us through some big decisions on the budget that the new administration and new Congress will need to make after they take office in January. Concord Coalition chief economist Steve Robinson joined the conversation.

This week on Facing the Future we'll talk with Christopher Pope, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute about his ideas for slowing the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, which account for about 22 percent of the Federal budget.

This week on Facing the Future we looked at how the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate are expected to handle major issues such as tax cuts, tariffs, government waste, and the debt limit. Our guests were Brian Riedl of the Manhattan Institute and Ben Ritz of the Progressive Policy Institute.

There has been a lot of discussion in Washington about the major fiscal cliff coming up at the end of 2025 when a portion of the 2017 Trump tax cuts expire. Before the elections, most of the talk had been about the trade-offs that might be needed to get an agreement between the parties. 

But now, with the Republicans taking control of the House, Senate, and White House, it’s possible that Republicans can get what they want without compromising with Democrats by passing a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions, which is a budget process maneuver that would allow them to overcome a filibuster by Democrats in the Senate. 

This week on Facing the Future, we’ll talk about the fiscal and economic implications of the election results and how receptive Congress will be to President-elect Trump's agenda. Our guests are Bill Hoagland senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center and Tom Kahn professor of budget policy at American University.

This week on Facing the Future, Rachel Snyderman, Managing Director of Economic Policy at the Bipartisan Policy discusses why the growing debt poses risks in areas such as housing, healthcare and the workforce. Also, Erica Patella, Program Coordinator for the Fiscal Challenge joins us to discuss this year’s competition.