Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
My column from today's Roll Call explains why the attempts to get the super committee to do more than the monumental task it is already facing and will have so much trouble completing successfully are silly.
The Concord Coalition has now joined the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in praising the remarkably vapid and incredibly inconsequential letter 64 senators sent to the White House last week asking for a comprehensive deficit reduction effort but not even hinting that they will vote for it if it is developed.
As I said in my post about the CRFB press release about the letter, the fact that the Concord Coalition thought the letter deserved to be hyped may say more about how desperate deficit reduction groups are to show something they can classify as progress than about any actual progress.
At this point I have to wonder whether CRFB and/or the Concord Coalition had anything to do with drafting the letter and getting senators to sign it. I have no information that indicates they did either of those things, but it's not uncommon for in
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in a press release last week that this letter to the president from 64 U.S. senators calling for comprehensive deficit reduction is significant. I say that the letter is so meaningless that it makes you wonder whether the committee is desperately searching for any tiny morsel that indicates it's still relevant.
First, some disclosure. Over the years I have worked with and (in a consulting capacity) for the committee. I know and think very highly of CRFB's president, Maya MacGuineas. I have attended many CRFB-sponsored events over the years as their guest. And I know and hold in great esteem many of the people who have been and still are on CRFB's board.
If there is such a thing, much of the fiscal policy world's glitterari were in full display on Wednesday night when the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget hosted its annual dinner in Washington, D.C. There were current and former OMB, CBO, and GAO directors; the economic advisors to (in alphabetical order) presidential candidates Clinton, McCain, and Obama; current and former House and Senate Budget Committee chairmen; lots of other former and sitting members of Congress; a number of chief economists from federal budget and economic agencies; and congressional staffers galore.
Andrew, Pete, Troy, and myself --the four people responsible for Capital Gains and Games -- were there as well. (This was the first time the four of us have ever been in the same room at the same time so the moment obviously needs to be recorded for posterity.)
