Press

WASHINGTON -- The Concord Coalition today commended House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for including proposals to rein in federal health care spending and greatly simplify the tax code as part of his Fiscal Year 2013 budget. Concord cautioned, however, that the favorable deficit reduction numbers shown in Ryan's budget depend upon a broad array of policy choices that are not spelled out and seem unrealistic. 

Diane Lim Rogers, chief economist for The Concord Coalition, told lawmakers today that reducing special provisions in the tax code that favor some taxpayers could simultaneously reduce the deficit, encourage economic growth and promote fairness.

Appearing before the Senate Budget Committee, Rogers urged lawmakers to broaden the tax base by reducing so-called tax expenditures, which she described as “upside down subsidies” for some taxpayers – largely those with higher incomes -- at the expense of others.

The Concord Coalition today gave mixed reviews to President Obama’s proposed budget for the 2013 Fiscal Year, praising its recommendations to broaden the tax base and achieve incremental Medicare savings but lamenting the lack of a greater commitment to broader structural reforms that his bipartisan fiscal commission recommended. Overall, the bottom-line numbers indicate that much additional work needs to be done.

WASHINGTON -- The Concord Coalition said today that new projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) should spur candidates for federal office this year to provide voters with realistic proposals to deal with the country’s difficult fiscal challenges.

College students and nine former members of Congress will confront the nation’s fiscal and economic difficulties through an interactive exercise this Saturday, Dec. 3, at George Washington University.   

Participants in the “Principles and Priorities” exercise, developed by The Concord Coalition, will try to do what the congressional super committee recently failed to do: Develop a broad plan to substantially reduce projected federal deficits over the next 10 years and beyond.

WASHINGTON – With little more than a week to go before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (“super committee”) is due to deliver its recommendations to Congress, The Concord Coalition said today that the panel’s co-chairs, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep.

Paul W. Hansen, a resident of Jackson, Wyoming with decades of experience in public policy work and civic engagement efforts around the country, has been named as The Concord Coalition’s Rocky Mountain states regional director.

Des Moines -- As they weigh presidential candidates’ rhetoric about the federal budget in advance of the January caucuses, Iowans will have an opportunity to try to improve it themselves in a community-wide deficit-reduction exercise Monday, Nov. 14 at Drake University.

WASHINGTON -- At its 18th Annual Economic Patriots Dinner this Wednesday, The Concord Coalition will honor Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) and present a panel of experts discussing the challenges facing the congressional “super committee” on deficit reduction with its deadline three weeks away.