In an Economix post in The New York Times, former Council of Economic Advisers chair and CRFB board member Laura Tyson argues that the sequester is poor policy for both short-term economic challenges and our long-term debt issue. The sequester both harms the short-term economy by providing too much deficit reduction in the short term, and it does not sufficiently address long-term debt issues since it doesn't touch the drivers of our debt. She says:

We've talked a great deal about how sequestration is bad policy, but that the worst outcome would be to cancel the sequester without offsets. In the Fix the Debt Campaign's new sequester deal scoring system, that is the option that would receive their "F" grade.

Yesterday, Urban Institute Fellow and CRFB Board Member Gene Steuerle tied the ability of federal and state governments to control health care costs to the ability of governments to provide quality education. According to Steuerle, the growing costs of health care in budgets across the country is crowding out value spending in other sectors, and particularly in education, since it is another major spending line in state budgets. He writes:

Responding to a U.S.

In an op-ed in today's Politico, former Fiscal Commission co-chairs and CRFB board members Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson argue that there is a bipartisan compromise out there if lawmakers are willing to get serious about the debt.

Former U.S. comptroller general and CRFB board member David Walker writes in a Poltico op-ed about the need for lawmakers to focus on reaching a compromise on a bipartisian deficit reduction plan. He draws inspiration from the "No Budget, No Pay" provision in the debt ceiling bill, which withholds Members' salaries until their respective chamber passes a budget resolution.

Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) comments on the partisanship in Washington, an issue that so far has been holding back attempts to reach a deal that will solve our deficit problem. He elaborates:

What is causing all this dysfunctionality in Washington?  Is there a way forward that does not involve the chaos theory our government is functioning under?

In a Tax Policy Center blog, Urban Institute fellow and former CBO director Rudy Penner makes the case for going beyond the amount of deficit reduction necessary to stabilize the debt.

Today in an op-ed in The Patriot News, CRFB president Maya MacGuineas and Pennsylvania Fix the Debt Co-chair Thomas Rippon call for bipartisan compromise from our national leaders in putting our debt on a sustainable path.

Urban Institute Fellow and CRFB board member Gene Steuerle suggests that the greatest challenge for today's lawmakers is not action, but realizing that their solutions will be imperfect. Rather than viewing certain programs and elements of the tax code as sacred, lawmakers should figure out ways in which programs could be improved or replaced with superior alternatives.