34 Quotes by Brian Riedl

Congress has no incentive to rein in pork, because pork helps lawmakers get campaign contributions and get re-elected. It is entirely predictable that Congress would create the illusion of reform while retaining the system that allows them to sell government grants for campaign contributions.

It's something we have to decide as a country. What are our priorities?

The biggest economic danger of the next 50 years is the coming crisis in entitlement spending. The problem is the entire health care system is in crisis. The entire U.S. health care system needs to be overhauled. If not, it will literally bankrupt the federal government.

In the absence of even mentioning tax reform in his State of the Union address, it may be presumptuous to assume a revenue-neutral AMT fix after 2007.

I generally would still not count that as an earmark, even though it has a similar effect, because it is such a gray area of how specific is too specific when setting eligibility criteria. I obviously oppose those provisions, but I would not classify them the same as spending earmarks that actually list the name.

The fiscal situation will probably have to worsen and cause some economic pain before it becomes a priority.

The current trend points to tax increases in the long run. The political will to make the difficult decisions on spending is lacking.