CRFB Co-Chair Leon Panetta Tells Face the Nation We Must “Put Everything on the Table”

CRFB Co-Chair Leon Panetta was on Face the Nation on CBS this Sunday. Among a variety of topics, the former Secretary of Defense, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Chair of the House Budget Committee discussed the importance of putting everything on the table to deal with the national debt.

What has to happen in this town, and it hasn’t happened for a long time, is that the president and the Congress have to come to a budget agreement that really deals with this $20 trillion debt that we face...What you got to do is put everything on the table. You got to put entitlements, you have to put taxes, and you have to put discretionary. That’s what we did in the past. That’s how we got a balanced budget.

He specifically warned against taking entitlements off the table since they make up such a large share of the budget.
 

Anytime you put something off the table, you’re just asking for trouble. Entitlements make up two-thirds of the federal budget for goodness sake.

Hopefully, President Trump and Congress will heed Secretary Panetta's words as they develop their budgets.