KeithHennessey.com

I hope that the pending health legislation is not enacted into law. If it is, fiscally responsible legislators, including those on the new Fiscal Responsibility Commission, should include in their formal recommendations repeal of all the deficit-increasing provisions of these new laws.

We need more serious policy debates and fewer spitting matches. Kudos to Mr. Ryan for playing offense and defense. Pushing good policy often involves political risk, but what’s the point of being in office if you don’t actually solve our most important policy problems? I hope more elected Republicans follow Ryan’s lead.

I like to oversimplify the Medicare debate into three questions:
1. Do you think we need to slow the growth of Medicare spending?
2. If yes, what should we do with the savings?
3. How should we change Medicare to slow its spending growth?

Politico is running my op-ed today explaining the linkage how the wrong health reform bill will hurt the economy.

The President and Vice President have this week sent mixed and confusing signals on the macroeconomic picture. This seems to be part of a broader problem with the Administration’s ability to send clear, coordinated, and internally consistent signals on economic policy.

Sometimes it helps to zoom way out. Here is a summary I would give to someone who had missed the past six months, including the good, the bad, the non-existent, the uncertain, and the too-soon-to-tell.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Rep. George Miller write in today’s Wall Street Journal in favor of their pay-as-you-go, aka “paygo” rule. I have a different perspective and offer it here in response.

The rapid growth of per capita health spending in the U.S. is a critical policy problem that needs to be addressed. It is not, however, the primary driver of our federal budget problems over the next 30-40 years. The aging of the population is. Policy changes need to address both pressures to prevent an eventual fiscal meltdown. We must not ignore demographics.

Each year Congress enacts 12 annual appropriations (spending) bills.  Those bills are the subject of vigorous and legitimate fights about spending priorities.
Included in these annual appropriations bills are spending for defense, veterans, military construction, highways, housing, education (except student loans), foreign aid and the foreign service, the FBI, CIA, and Department of Justice, most of [...]

Yesterday I wrote about the history of tax increases since World War II, and about the battle over the total level of taxation.  Now I want to turn to spending.
I am a low-tax guy.  I have worked on tax issues for 12 of my 15 years in Washington, helping elected officials lower taxes and prevent [...]