Facing the Future

This week on Facing the Future, we talk to Rachel Snyderman of the Bipartisan Policy Center about a brand new report containing an estimate for the 'X-Date' when the federal government will run out of borrowing authority to meet all of its obligations in full and on time. The BPC estimates that date will land sometime between early June and late August, if Congressional leaders and President Biden cannot agree on an extension or suspension of the federal debt limit. This could have a serious and lasting economic impact for all of us.

This week on Facing the Future, we take a deep dive into the federal budget for the Department of Defense and all the country's intelligence and national security needs. It's a big number and constantly growing. President Biden has proposed spending $842 billion on defense in his proposed budget, which does not include likely additional funds that may be needed for the Ukrainian effort to fight off the Russian invasion. So, where does all that money go? For answers to that question and many others, we got expert analysis from Dr. Gordon Adams, former Associate Director for National Security at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

This week on Facing the Future, Concord Coalition policy director Tori Gorman and chief economist Steve Robinson - both veterans of Capitol Hill - dissect the particulars of Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal to raise the debt limit in exchange for about $4.5 Trillion in deficit reduction. A laudable goal, but should it be the start of a budget negotiation rather than a set of conditions for raising the debt limit to avoid a government default this summer? We also speak to Professor Mike Aguilar of the University of North Carolina about the collegiate Fiscal Challenge competition, which he founded and runs. 

Facing the Future was in Washington DC this week for the national finals of the annual "Fiscal Challenge" competition among college students all over the country. The students put forward some thorough and well-researched plans to reduce the national debt as a share of the American economy over the next 30 years. Concord Coalition Communications Director Av Harris spoke in detail with the college teams about their proposals to raise revenue, reduce federal spending, and grow the economy. He also spoke with professor Sita Slavov of George Mason University's Schar School of Public Policy, who evaluated and scored these plans as one of the fiscal challenge judges.

This week on Facing the Future, we hear from two experts on the federal budget process and the search for more revenue which mamy fiscal policy experts believe we are going to need - along with spending cuts - if we expect to truly address the historic imbalance between what the  government spends and what it takes in. Our guests are Howard Gleckman of the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center, and Tom Kahn, Faculty Fellow at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University who for 20 years was staff director for Democrats on the House Budget Committee

This week on Facing the Future, we hear from labor economist Betsy Stevenson, who is a professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and served on the Council of Economic Advisors under President Obama. In a recent piece for the Peter G. Peterson foundation, Stevenson looks at some social science research showing that we are in an unusual time when public trust in government is at some of the lowest levels ever recorded. Stevenson recommends several steps Congress could take to stabilize our economy, end the dangerous game of chicken with the federal debt limit holding our financial system hostage, and enact some meaningful tax reforms to allow us to more fully  fund Social Security and Medicare. 

This week on Facing the Future, we travel to Iowa to get some perspectives on the long-term fiscal and economic challenges facing the United States. We are joined by a panel of experts from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business to look at short and long-term economic trends and how to bring down the cost of healthcare. They were joined by Concord Coalition chief economist Steve Robinson who takes a look at the current debt limit fight in Congress, and what is at stake for our economy. Plus, how can we avoid the Social Security Trust Fund going insolvent which could mean major benefit cuts for seniors. 

This week on Facing the Future, we hear excerpts from a recent panel discussion focusing on the economic and federal budget impact of climate change. The White House estimates that environmental damage may cost taxpayers up to $130 billion every year, and may cut our economic output by as much as 10% by the end of the century. The panel discussion was sponsored by the Concord Coalition, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership, and Public Service at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.

This week on Facing the Future, we have an in-house panel of Concord Coalition experts - policy director Tori Gorman and chief economist Steve Robinson - evaluate the validity and credibility of President Biden's recently released Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget plan. The President did propose some changes to Medicare and a significant amount of new revenue, but his plan comes up short in other areas. We take a look at the budget through a set of criteria we developed and assign some color codes - green, yellow and red - to tell us whether the President's budget meets the mark.

This week on Facing the Future, we hear from Andrew Biggs, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In a recent Op-Ed for the Washington Post entitled "Biden Once Cut Social Security. Now, He Can Save It" Biggs argues that both Republicans and Democrats need to stop making empty promises not to touch Social Security retiree benefits if they're unwilling to pay higher payroll taxes to fund them. And we also hear from Concord Coalition chief economist Steve Robinson on how the federal government might still be able to cut Social Security checks even when it hits the debt limit and can't borrow any more money.