Bipartisan Policy Center Gives Obama’s Budget Mixed Review
Former New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici and former CBO Director Dr. Alice Rivlin, co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force, released a statement in support of language in the White House budget aimed at deficit reduction, but noted that the plan poses some concerns.
Domenici and Rivlin commended Obama on his plans to build on the $1 trillion savings in the Budget Control Act as well as endeavors put forth by the Bipartisan Policy Center Task Force and the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission.
They also applauded the President for the plan’s spending cuts that reduce low priority programs and increase resources for job creation and investment.
However, the co-chairs indicated that, while Obama’s plan marks a definite step forward to reduce the crippling national deficit, his proposal is by no means the be-all, end-all of deficit reform. They remarked on the relative short-sightedness of the deficit reduction plan, acknowledging its applicability to the next decade or so but questioning its long-term sustainability in anticipation of “a wave of retiring baby boomers.”
Domenici and Rivlin stated that any successful reduction plan must completely overhaul “the arcane tax code” in order to result in any real, permanent change, said the co-chairs. Obama’s proposed deficit reduction plan, while aiming to increase taxes on the wealthy and tighten the hold on larger corporations’ subsidiaries and tax loopholes, falls short of such a goal, they said.
“We agree with the president that ‘any serious plan to tackle our deficit will require us to put everything on the table’,” the co-chairs stated pointedly.
Despite hoping to expand upon the current proposal, the Bipartisan Policy Center seems prepared to throw its weight behind Obama’s plan for deficit reduction.
“The time to act is now, and we stand ready to help.”
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