1: Balanced Budget
Re-Balance our budget.
Stakeholder(s):
- Democrats: Summary: Democrats must accept a substantial reduction in our long-range federal deficits that is based significantly on entitlement
reforms. Democrats must accept reconfiguring the budget so that, in relative terms, the amount of spending on health care
and income supports is reduced compared to public investments. -- Democrats must accept that without a meaningful reduction
in our longrange spending on the principal entitlements for the elderly of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the working
age middle class of the future will be saddled by a withering tax and deficit burden. They must accept that there is no realistic
path to shoring up Social Security and financing ever-increasing expenditures for Medicare and Medicaid by simply taxing the
wealthy. They must also accept that, absent entitlement reforms that pare spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,
as well as federal pensions, there will be little room to spend on infrastructure, education, research, housing aid, overseas
food aid, and public safety. In relative terms, Democrats must accept that we must reduce federal consumption spending on
health care and income supports to make room for new public investments in growth areas. There are several workable plans
that solve the Social Security solvency problem with modest, gradual changes that trim benefits and increase flows into the
Trust Fund. We have one of them. There are various ideas that we and others have proposed to reduce Medicare and Medicaid
outlays through discreet measures that do not alter the guaranteed nature of health care to the elderly and poor and that
increase quality -- creating exchanges for Medicare and Medicaid, ending first dollar coverage for Medigap policies, better
managing of end of life care, a medical inflation fee, medical malpractice reform, among others.
- Republicans: Summary: Republicans must accept selected tax increases that meaningfully narrow the gulf between spending and revenue. Republicans
must accept that investments in young people, emerging industries, new ideas, breakthrough research, old roads, and new broadband
are important and must increase. -- Republicans must accept that, in a complex and global world in which the United States
faces existential national security challenges, glaring public investment needs, and an aging population that is expensive
to care for adequately, we cannot remotely afford their "all or nothing" approach to fiscal responsibility. They must accept
that increased tax revenue is part of any serious budget deal that brings deficits to a reasonable level. Selected tax increases
must meaningfully narrow the gulf between spending and revenue because a cuts-only approach is economically harmful and not
politically achievable. They must also accept that not all government spending is bad and that investments in young people,
emerging industries, new ideas, breakthrough research, old roads, and new broadband are worthy and should increase. Some ideas
that Republicans must abandon are the preservation of the Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000, opposition to
the use of chain-weighted CPI across all government programs including tax brackets, and steadfast support for even the most
narrowly tailored tax loopholes and expenditures. Republicans must also accept an increase in domestic discretionary caps
dedicated only to growth investments.
Objective(s):
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