Setting National Priorities Budget Choices For The Next Century

The federal policy changes that Congress and the President will have to make as we approach the 21st century will be among the most far-reaching since the enactment of the New Deal. The scope of legislation before policymakers as they continue their efforts to balance the budget will be vast and many of its elements very technical. This new, highly accessible book examines the nature of the challenges confronting policymakers, the options that are available to address these challenges, and the ramifications of the various options. This new book, which continues Brookings' highly acclaimed and influential Setting National Priorities series, will serve as a guide for understanding and evaluating proposals of the next Congress and the new administration. It is also designed to inform the policy debate during the presidential election. Edited by Robert Reischauer, one of the nation's most noted budget experts, the book covers such critical issues as prospects for economic growth, how to reduce domestic discretionary spending, how to restructure Medicare; how much to lower the safety net, how to reshape national security for the post-Cold War world, whether to transform the tax system, and how to prepare for the retirement of the baby boom generation. This book will be extremely useful for citizens anxious to make sense out of the campaign rhetoric, journalists attempting to explain the issues at play, and students of public policy, public health, political science, and economics. In addition to Reischauer, the contributors include Henry J. Aaron, Barry Bosworth, Gary Burtless, David Cutler, William G. Gale, Thomas E. Mann, Charles L. Schultze, John D. Steinbruner, R. Kent Weaver, and Joshua M. Wiener.

Examines the nature of challenges confronting federal policymakers, options available to address these challenges, and the ramifications of these options. Looks at issues such as measures to stimulate economic growth, reducing discretionary spending, restructuring Medicare, reshaping national security for the post-Cold War world, and preparing for

For the first time in 29 years, the US federal budget is in surplus and the need to reduce the deficit is not casting a pall over the policy debate. This new, highly accessible book examines the policy options that are available in this new environment to address the new and recurring challenges that face the nation. The book, which continues Brookings' acclaimed and influential Setting National Priorities series, will serve as a guide for understanding many of the complex issues that will be discussed during the presidential and congressional campaigns of 2000. Edited by Robert Reischauer and Henry Aaron, two of the nation's most noted budget experts, the book centers around three themes: providing opportunity in the domestic arena, restoring confidence in government, and adapting to the post-Cold War international environment. It tackles such critical issues as Medicare and Social Security, tax reform, and foreign policy spending, as well as many areas not included in previous editions, namely education, urban problems, the environment, trade, government renewal and reform, crime and drugs, and families. Destler, John DiIulio Jr, William Gale, Richard Haass, Bruce Katz, Robert Katzmann, Donald Kettl, Thomas Mann, Michael O'Hanlon, Paul Portney, Diane Ravitch, and Isabel Sawhill. Robert D. Reischauer and Henry J. Aaron are senior fellows in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Reischauer was director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995 and is the editor of Setting National Priorities: Budget Choices for the Next Century (Brookings, 1996). Aaron is vice president of the National Academy of Social Insurance and coeditor of Economic Effects of Fundamental Tax Reform (Brookings 1996).

" Setting National Priorities continues the highly acclaimed and influential series of books that examine domestic and foreign policy choices confronting the United States. Members of the Brookings staff join outside experts to evaluate America's course through the next decade. In clear and nontechnical terms the contributors explain and evaluate options for the United States in the 1990s, consider whether the federal government's current pollicies are consistent with long-term objectives, and explain what action could best achieve those goals. Charles L. Schultze shows why it is important to solve the problem of the federal budget deficit and how it can be done: John D. Steinbruner addresses the revolution taking place in American foreign policy and explains how the United States can be more secure with lower defense spending; Lawrence J. Korb evaluates President Bush's defense budget and suggests possible improvements; Robert Z. Lawrence describes how the U.S. government and private industry should respond to the competitive challenge from foreign companies; William D. Nordhaus explains the risks form global warming and presents a policy to meet them; John E. Chubb and Eric A. Hanshek chart new directions of American elementary and secondary education; Henry J. Aaron identifies the major problems with the financing of healthcare and describes how they can be solved; and Thomas E. Mann considers how political institutions and public preferences constrain our ability to enact needed policy changes and what might be done to overcome those obstacles. "

Setting National Priorities continues the highly acclaimed and influential series of books that examine domestic and foreign policy choices confronting the United States. Members of the Brookings staff join outside experts to evaluate America's course through the next decade. In clear and nontechnical terms the contributors explain and evaluate options for the United States in the 1990s, consider whether the federal government's current pollicies are consistent with long-term objectives, and explain what action could best achieve those goals. Charles L. Schultze shows why it is important to solve the problem of the federal budget deficit and how it can be done: John D. Steinbruner addresses the revolution taking place in American foreign policy and explains how the United States can be more secure with lower defense spending; Lawrence J. Korb evaluates President Bush's defense budget and suggests possible improvements; Robert Z. Lawrence describes how the U.S. government and private industry should respond to the competitive challenge from foreign companies; William D. Nordhaus explains the risks form global warming and presents a policy to meet them; John E. Chubb and Eric A. Hanshek chart new directions of American elementary and secondary education; Henry J. Aaron identifies the major problems with the financing of healthcare and describes how they can be solved; and Thomas E. Mann considers how political institutions and public preferences constrain our ability to enact needed policy changes and what might be done to overcome those obstacles.

Research monograph comprising an analysis of proposed allocations in the 1976 national budget of the USA - examines the choices and alternatives in government policy decision making, and covers defence, health, education, community development, public works, stabilization, nuclear weapons, energy, and other programmes. References and statistical tables.