Brian Riedl Quotes (29 Quotes)

There is no shortage of candidates for elimination. There is only the shortage of political will to make the difficult decisions.

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

It's about time lawmakers sacrifice pork projects that essentially serve as taxpayer-financed re-election advertisements.

Congress continues to resist cutting even one program.

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.

Mike Pence has done a fabulous job leading the Republican Study Committee. They have put out a realistic and credible and specific budget proposal to get spending under control when virtually no one else is talking about it.

Sacrifice ... At this time, there is none.

Conservative voters are very disappointed in Congress's record. If lawmakers do not trim entitlement programs, voters will continue to see spending as an issue.

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

There is not much courage out there. Like an alcoholic, the first thing you have to do is admit you have a problem. The flip side of it is, Americans are vehemently opposed to every possible solution.

Director Portman will be inheriting the most dire long-term fiscal outlook we've ever had. The first baby boomers retire in 18 months, and the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs are set to explode. On top of that, he'll be dealing with a Congress that's absolutely addicted to runaway spending and pork.

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.

NASA represents something important in the national psyche. Given that, there isn't a lot of hunger to cut NASA substantially, nor to cripple their ability to explore space.

It's symbolic progress for Congress to learn that they can terminate programs without the sky falling. Maybe they can come back next year and start terminating programs whose costs make a difference.

Yes, it's true that earmarks are only 1 percent of all federal spending, but earmarks have a cultural effect on Congress that is much larger than their cost. It fuses Congress together with lobbyists and creates a culture of government spending as a means to re-election, which bleeds into other areas.

dump the largest debt in world history into the laps of the next generation. Within a decade, tax increases would need to reach 7,000 per household (a 37 percent tax hike) just to balance the budget.

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

The White House always says it's due to defense and homeland security...but even without defense and homeland security it's record spending. The brakes are off everywhere.

States are dumping more and more expenses on federal taxpayers. States love to spend federal money because state voters don't pay for it or at least think they don't pay for it.

There's so much investment capital out there for profitable new technologies. Investors are constantly looking for good ideas to invest in. If these ideas are as good as these companies say, they should have no problem, at minimum, finding a loan.

Earmarks could be worthy or not, but we still consider it corrupting because lawmakers are deciding who gets a grant.

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.

As bad as the last five years have been, it's going to get even worse the next five years.

President Bush's pledge to halve the budget deficit by 2009 distracts policymakers from the real issue of unsustainable trends in long-term entitlement spending. The president's proposal to slow Medicare's 9 annual growth rate is a good fiscal step, but the budget does not propose enough immediate and bold reforms to the quickly growing entitlement programs that threaten to overwhelm the budget.

Congress distributes federal grants by politics rather than by merit.

The more controversial bills will most assuredly end up in a lame-duck Congress.

It's easy to practice checkbook compassion.

Even small-government conservatives believe Washington should prioritize defense, safety and security, and therefore see rescuing New Orleans as a top government priority.

What that means is those costs are being passed down to our children - with interest.