Budget Experts Left and Right Urge Action on Entitlements
By Monisha Bansal
(CNSNews.com) - Budget experts from across the political spectrum gathered in Washington, D.C., on Monday to address the looming financial "crisis" that entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security pose if they are not reformed in the near future.
Alice Rivlin, a senior fellow at the liberal Brookings Institution, said the groups came together out of "sheer panic."
"This group of budget folks sees a collision coming that the politicians aren't focusing on," she said at a press conference. "If current policies are not changed, we simply can't afford to keep these promises."
Rivlin and 15 other experts from the Brookings Institution, the conservative Heritage Foundation and the Urban Institute said Congress must be forced to address entitlement spending.
Robert Reischauer, president of the liberal Urban Institute noted that there is "no real incentive for politicians to act to improve the long-run fiscal situation, and in fact there are strong disincentives to acting."
"The solutions are unavoidably painful, more immediate and more specific" than the status quo, Reischauer said. "There appears to be no incentive to act now as opposed to next year or the year after, or the year after."
.... (read more)
(CNSNews.com) - Budget experts from across the political spectrum gathered in Washington, D.C., on Monday to address the looming financial "crisis" that entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security pose if they are not reformed in the near future.
Alice Rivlin, a senior fellow at the liberal Brookings Institution, said the groups came together out of "sheer panic."
"This group of budget folks sees a collision coming that the politicians aren't focusing on," she said at a press conference. "If current policies are not changed, we simply can't afford to keep these promises."
Rivlin and 15 other experts from the Brookings Institution, the conservative Heritage Foundation and the Urban Institute said Congress must be forced to address entitlement spending.
Robert Reischauer, president of the liberal Urban Institute noted that there is "no real incentive for politicians to act to improve the long-run fiscal situation, and in fact there are strong disincentives to acting."
"The solutions are unavoidably painful, more immediate and more specific" than the status quo, Reischauer said. "There appears to be no incentive to act now as opposed to next year or the year after, or the year after."
.... (read more)
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6:25 PM
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