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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 5, 2005
CONTACT: Eric Landau
(202) 204-3624
ACADEMY ADDRESSES AMERICA’S FISCAL FUTURE
Washington, DC—December 5, 2005— In a town where everyone cannot always agree, there is one topic that all will agree to: there is no easy solution to America’s long-term fiscal future. As part of the National Academy of Public Administration Big Ideas initiative, the Academy’s Fiscal Future Committee hosted a lunch forum today with current and former government officials to address the fiscal future of the United States. Guest speakers included Academy President C. Morgan Kinghorn, Paul A. Volcker, Alice Rivlin, Roland Harris III, and G. Edward DeSeve.
“Eonomic growth alone will not solve the problem,” Kinghorn said. “If we begin to plan now, the coming fiscal challenges will be more manageable, while further denial and delay will make them only more difficult to address. Policy makers and the public must recognize that today’s decisions can change the fiscal future—making it better or worse. Setting priorities and making the difficult choices will pay off in the years to come and strengthen the ability of government at all levels to serve the public interest.”
For the past 18 months, the Fiscal Future Committee examined the short and long-term fiscal future of the United States. Based on their findings, the committee prepared a report, “Ensuring the Prosperity of America: Addressing the Fiscal Future” which was released today at the forum. The report contains findings and recommendations designed to contribute to the dialog and debate.
The committee believes that the solution to the fiscal challenges lie in:
- Public education, awareness and engagement: The public needs to: (1) understand better how current policies and proposed alternatives will affect younger generations; and (2) become more engaged in the establishment of principles, setting goals, ranking priorities and weighing alternatives. Without greater popular support for adequate levels of taxation and benefit changes, elected officials will be reluctant to set fiscal goals and make the tough decisions required to achieve them.
- More effective communication, measurement, and disclosure. New ways to present information about complex issues, options and consequences and make them accessible to general audiences are required. More effective presentation of fiscal trends and economic consequences could help motivate policy makers by making risks and rewards much clearer to the public.
- Budget enforcement and enhanced fiscal discipline. Additional efforts should focus on the development of workable and effective approaches that would put the budget on path to structural balance and fiscal sustainability instead of on the do-nothing path of bigger deficits and deeper debt.
or more information, please contact Carrie Sloan, 202-204-3668.
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