The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), the bipartisan fiscal watchdog group, is releasing a series of papers entitled, “Let’s Get Specific.” Already on its web site are papers offering specific reforms to address Social Security, health care and the larger federal budget.
CRFB is performing a valuable public service with these papers. Those of us who have served in decision-making capacities within the White House and Congress are all too aware of the difficulty of moving the political system from general goals to specific solutions. A solvent Social Security system sounds great to most of the public; raising the retirement age, raising taxes and constraining benefit growth all sound much less so. A similar principle applies across the federal budget.
