Insight Over 350 Experts Call for Entitlement Reform Now

APRIL 2, 2011

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April 4, 2011

The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Harry Reid

Speaker of the House Senate Majority Leader

Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Mitch McConnell

House Minority Leader Senate Minority Leader

Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner, Minority Leader Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, and Minority Leader McConnell:

The President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform concluded that we are at a national “moment of truth,” saying: “We cannot play games or put off hard choices any longer. Without regard to party, we have a patriotic duty to keep the promise of America to give our children and grandchildren a better life.”

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To this end, the undersigned implore the Congress to include fundamental entitlement reform in its Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2012. There can be no greater national priority than reducing the prospective explosion of federal debt. It threatens the economic prosperity of this great country and represents a betrayal of our national obligation to deliver a better future to the next generations. Military leaders have identified future federal red ink as a national security threat. The unabated sea of federal spending lies at the intersection of these budgetary, economic, and national security threats. Reforming entitlements must be at the top of the agenda for the 112th Congress.

Such an act of Congressional leadership will promote job growth, support more rapid economic growth, and rekindle the American dream of upward mobility. We respectfully ask that the Congress include in its budgetary plans over the next 10 years reforms of the greatest budgetary threats: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

Respectfully,

[Affiliations listed for identification purposes only, does not constitute institutional endorsement]

Wayne Angell, Angell Economics, former Governor of the Federal Reserve Board

Michael Boskin, Stanford University, former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

James Buchanan, Virginia Tech, Nobel Laureate

Ernest Christian, Center for Strategic Tax Reform

Tom Duesterberg, Manufacturer’s Alliance/MAPI

Bill Frenzel, Brookings Institution, former Member of Congress

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum, former Director, Congressional Budget Office

R. Glenn Hubbard, Columbia University, former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Art Laffer, Laffer Associates

Bob McTeer, National Center for Policy Analysis, former President, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Pam Olson, Skadden Arps, former Assistant. Secretary for Tax Policy, Treasury Department

June O’Neill, Baruch College, CUNY, former Director, Congressional Budget Office

Rudy Penner, Urban Institute, former Director, Congressional Budget Office

Murray Weidenbaum, Washington University in St. Louis, former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

Burton Abrams, University of Delaware

Douglas K. Adie, Ohio University

Lee C. Adkins, Oklahoma State University

William P. Albrecht, University of Iowa

Donald L. Alexander, Western Michigan University

Leslie Alperstein, Washington Analysis Corp.

Ryan C. Amacher, University of Texas, Arlington

Geoffrey Andron, Austin Community College

Joseph Antos, American Enterprise Institute

David Aschauer, Bates College

George R. Averitt, Purdue North Central

Costas Azariadis, Washington University in St. Louis

Charles Baird, California State University, East Bay

Ray Ball, University of Chicago

Spencer Banzhaf, Georgia State University

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG W. Steven Barnett, Rutgers University

James R Barth, Auburn University

Atin Basuchoudhary, Virginia Military Institute

Mark Bayless, Wayne State University

Charles M. Becker, Duke University

Bruce Bender, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Bruce L. Benson, Florida State University

C. Gregory Bereskin, St. Ambrose University

Sanjai Bhagat, University of Colorado

Joydeep Bhattacharya, Iowa State University

Roger C. Bird, Avian Associates LLC

Robert G. Bise, Orange Coast College

David Blond, Quantitative Economic Research Group

Bruce A. Blonigen, University of Oregon

Richard Boden, University of Toledo

Elizabeth C. Bogan, Princeton University

Cecil E. Bohanon, Ball State University

Samuel Bostaph, University of Dallas

Donald J. Boudreaux, George Mason University

William Boyes, Arizona State University

Scott Bradford, Brigham Young University

Ike Brannon, American Action Forum

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG David A. Brat, Randolph Macon College

Jeffrey R. Brown, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Jan K. Brueckner, University of California, Irvine

Lawrence Brunner, Central Michigan University

Jay H. Bryson, Wells Fargo Securities

Todd G. Buchholz, Two Oceans Management

Richard Burkhauser, Cornell University

Edwin T. Burton, University of Virginia

Andrew Busch, BMO Capital Markets

James L. Butkiewicz, University of Delaware

William N. Butos, Trinity College

Noel D Campbell, University of Central Arkansas

Richard J. Cebula, Jacksonville University

Dustin Chambers, Salisbury University

Don M. Chance, Louisiana State University

Chun-Hao Chang, Florida International University

Robert Chatfield, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Kenneth Chilton, Lindenwood Univeristy

Gregory C. Chow, Princeton University

Carl F. Christ, Johns Hopkins University

Lawrence R. Cima, John Carroll University

James E. Clark, Wichita State University

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG David L. Cleeton, Oberlin College

Warren Coats, International Monetary Fund, retired

John P. Cochran, Metropolitan State College of Denver

Ben Collier, Northwest Missouri State University

Robert Collinge, University of Texas, San Antonio

Roger Congleton, Roger Congleton

Lee Coppock, University of Virginia

Mike Cosgrove, University of Dallas

Erik Craft, University of Richmond

Eleanor D. Craig, University of Delaware

Steven Craig, University of Houston

Robert Crawford, Brigham Young University

Robert Crouch, University of California, Santa Barbara

Mario J. Crucini, Vanderbilt University

Julie Berry Cullen, University of California, San Diego

Coldwell Daniel III, University of Memphis

Minh Dao, Eastern Illinois University

Lawrence S. Davidson, Indiana University

Antony Davies, Duquesne University

Arthur De Vany, University of California, Irvine

Stephen J. DeCanio, University of California, Santa Barbara

Clarence R. Deitsch, Ball State University

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Robert Dekle, University of Southern California

Greg Delemeester, Marietta College

Allan DeSerpa, Arizona State University

James DeVault, Lafayette College

William G. Dewald, Ohio State University

P.J. Dhrymes, Columbia University

Arthur M. Diamond, Jr., University of Nebraska, Omaha

James A. Dorn, Towson University

Joanne M. Doyle, James Madison University

Joseph W. Duncan, Micro Mite Economic Consulting

Floyd Duncan, Virginia Military Institute

James Rolph Edwards, Montana State University-Northern

John B. Egger, Towson University

Michael A. Ellis, Kent State University

Alain C. Enthoven, Stanford University

Richard Ericson, East Carolina University

Bill Even, Miami University

Dino Falaschetti, Florida State University

Mira Farka, California State University, Fullerton

Allen Featherstone, Kansas State University

Susan Feigenbaum, University of Missouri, St. Louis

J. Peter Ferderer, Macalester College

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Mark J. Flannery, University of Florida

Christopher J. Flinn, New York University

James Forcier, University of San Francisco

Murray Frank, University of Minnesota

Micah Frankel, California State University, East Bay

Ralph R. Frasca, University of Dayton

Douglas Frechtling, George Washington University

Gary French, Economic Consultant

Luke Froeb, Vanderbilt University

Roth Gabriel, Independent Institute

Douglas Gale, New York University

Stephen W. Gallagher, Societe Generale

Alejandro Gallegos, Winona State University

B. Delworth Gardner, Brigham Young University

Dave Garthoff, The University of Akron

Robert Genetski, classicalprinciples.com

Mark Gertler, New York University

David Gillette, Truman State University

Micha Gisser, University of New Mexico

Charles J. Goetz, University of Virginia

William L. Goffe, SUNY Oswego

Stephan F. Gohmann, University of Louisville

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Rodolfo Gonzalez, San Jose State University

Lawrence Goodman, Center for Financial Stability, Inc.

John Goodman, National Center for Policy Analysis

Kenneth V. Greene, Binghamton University

Steven A. Greenlaw, University of Mary Washington

Earl Grinols, Baylor University

Darrin Gulla, University of Kentucky

Thomas Guthrie, FM Fincorp

R. W. Hafer, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Dennis Halcoussis, California State University, Northridge

Reza Hamzaee, Missouri Western State University

Gary Hansen, University of California, Los Angeles

Eric Hanushek, Stanford University

Stephen Happel, Arizona State University

Arnold C. Harberger, University of California, Los Angeles

Govind Hariharan, Kennesaw State University

David E. Harrington, Kenyon College

Scott E. Harrington, University of Pennsylvania

William R. Hart, Miami University

Joseph Haslag, University of Missouri

Joel W. Hay, University of Southern California

Will C. Heath, University of Louisiana, Lafayette

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG D. W. Hedrick, Central Washington University

Bradley K. Hobbs, Florida Gulf Coast University

Randall G. Holcombe, Florida State University

Andrew Holmes, Brigham Young Unversity

Charles L. Hooper, Hoover Institution

Yilin Hou, University of Georgia

C. Thomas Howard, University of Denver

E. Philip Howrey, University of Michigan

James Huffman, Lewis & Clark Law School

Forrest E. Huffman, Temple University

J. Christopher Hughen, University of Denver

Constance L. Hunter, Aladdin Capital Holdings LLC

E. Bruce Hutchinson, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Christopher R. Inama, Golden Gate University

Thomas R. Ireland, University of Missouri, St. Louis

F. Owen Irvine, Michigan State University

Joseph Jadlow, Oklahoma State University

Dennis Jansen, Texas A&M University

Boyan Jovanovic, New York University

Steven Kaplan, University of Chicago

Michael Kaylen, University of Missouri

Adrienne Kearney, University of Maine

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Melissa Kearney, University of Maryland

Barry Keating, University of Notre Dame

Peter Kilby, Wesleyan University

Miles Kimball, University of Michigan

Daniel Klein, George Mason University

Thomas J. Kniesner, Syracuse University

James V. Koch, Old Dominion University

Paul Koch, Olivet Nazarene University

Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Boston University

Ilan Kremer, Stanford University

Robert Krol, California State University, Northridge

Cory Krupp, Duke University

Kishore Kulkarni, Metropolitan State College of Denver

Richard E. La Near, Missouri Southern State University

Dale W. Larson, American University of Afghanistan

Lori Leachman, Duke University

M. Cary Leahey, Decision Economics, Inc.

Norman B. Lefton, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Tom Lehman, Indiana Wesleyan University

Carol A. Leisenring, The Wharton Financial Institutions Center, retired

Robert Lerman, American University

Irving Leveson, Leveson Consulting

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Philip I. Levy, Columbia University

Michael T. Lewis, Free Market Inc.

Robert Ley, Bemidji State University

Stan Liebowitz, University of Texas, Dallas

Jane Lillydahl, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tony Lima, California State University, East Bay

Bruce R. Lippke, University of Washington

Anthony T. Lo Sasso, University of Illinois, Chicago

Francis Longstaff, University of California, Los Angeles

Edward J. Lopez, San Jose State University

Richard A. Lord, Montclair State University

Donald Losman, Economic Consultant

James R. Lothian, Fordham Univ ersity John Lunn, Hope College

Glenn MacDonald, Washington University in St. Louis

Michael L. Marlow, California Polytechnic State University

Richard Marston, University of Pennsylvania

Craig S. Marxsen, University of Nebraska, Kearney

Keith E. Maskus, University of Colorado, Boulder

John Matsusaka, University of Southern California

Merrill Matthews, Institute for Policy Innovation

Timothy Matthews, Kennesaw State University

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Timothy R. Mayes, Metropolitan State College of Denver

Kenneth T. Mayland, ClearView Economics, LLC

Thomas H. Mayor, University of Houston

John McArthur, Wofford College

Martin C. McGuire, University of California, Irvine

Charles E. McLure, Stanford University

W. Douglas McMillin, Louisiana State University

Lawrence McQuillan, Pacific Research Institute

Stephen Meardon, Bowdoin College

Roger Meiners, University of Texas, Arlington

Allan Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University

John L. Mikesell, Indiana University

James C. Miller, Husch Blackwell LLP

David E. Mills, University of Virginia

Wilson Mixon, Berry College

Sunil Mohanty, University of Saint Thomas

James Moncur, University of Hawaii, Manoa

Carlisle E. Moody, College of William and Mary

Ron Moomaw, Oklahoma State University

Michael Moore, George Washington University

Michael Moran, Daiwa Capital Markets America

Michael Munger, Duke University

John Murray, University of Toledo

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Steven C. Myers, The University of Akron

Forrest Nelson, University of Iowa

Thomas Nesslein, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

George Neumann, University of Iowa

Robert D. Niehaus, Robert D. Niehaus, Inc.

Seth W. Norton, Wheaton College

Lee Ohanian, University of California, Los Angeles

Ed Olsen, University of Virginia

Peter Orazem, Iowa State University

Donald Oswald, California State University, Bakersfield

Tomi Ovaska, Youngstown State University

Stephen Parente, University of Minnesota

Judd Patton, Bellevue University

George Pennacchi, University of Illinois

Mark J Perry, University of Michigan, Flint

Tomas Philipson, University of Chicago

G. Michael Phillips, California State University, Northridge

Brian Poi

Joe Pomykala, Towson University

Ivan Pongracic, Hillsdale College

Gregory N. Price, Morehouse College

Ronald L. Promboin, University of Maryland University College

Stephen W. Pruitt, University of Missouri, Kansas City

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Jim T. Query, New Mexico State University

Richard W. Rahn, Cato Institute

Valerie Ramey, University of California, San Diego

James B. Ramsey, New York University

James F. Refalo, California State University, Los Angeles

Mark Rider, Georgia State University

Christine Ries, Georgia Institute of Technology

Jay R. Ritter, University of Florida

Mario Rizzo, New York University

Nancy Roberts, Arizona State University

David C. Rose, University of Missouri, St. Louis

Steven Rosefielde, University of North Carolina

Larry Ross, University of Alaska Anchorage

Paul Rubin, Emory University

Carrington Samantha, California State University, Los Angeles

Andrew A. Samwick, Dartmouth College

Anthony Sanders, George Mason University

David Sappington, University of Florida

Raymond Sauer, Clemson University

Thomas R. Saving, Texas A&M University

D. Eric Schansberg, Indiana University Southeast

Francis H. Schott, Consultant

Larry Schweikart, University of Dayton

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Carole E. Scott, University of West Georgia

Alan Shapiro, University of Southern California

Dennis P. Sheehan, Penn State University

Steven Sheffrin, Tulane University

Judy Shelton, Atlas Economic Research Foundation

Stephen Shmanske, California State University, East Bay

William F. Shughart, II, University of Mississippi

Andrei Simonov, Michigan State University

Evangelos Otto Simos, The Journal of Business Forecasting

Vijay Singal, Virginia Tech

Neil Skaggs, Illinois State University

Mark Skidmore, Michigan State University

Frank Sloan, Duke University

James F Smith, EconForecaster.com

Jeff Smith, University of Michigan

Donald L. Snyder, Utah State University

John Soper, John Carroll University

David E. Spencer, Brigham Young University

Dennis Starleaf, Iowa State University

Robert Stauffer, Roanoke College

E. Frank Stephenson, Berry College

Robert Strauss, Carnegie Mellon University

Gerald J. Swanson, University of Arizona

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Richard Sweeney, Georgetown University

James Sweeney, Stanford University

Thomas W. Synnott, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Robert Tamura, Clemson University

T. Craig Tapley, University of Florida

John A. Tatom, Indiana State University

Jason Taylor, Central Michigan University

John Taylor, Stanford University

Rebecca Thacker, Ohio University

Teresa Tharp, Valencia Community College

Petra Todd, University of Pennsylvania

Edward Tower, Duke University

Frederick Treyz, Regional Economic Models, Inc.

Philip Trostel, University of Maine

David G. Tuerck, Suffolk University

Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute

Roger Tutterow, Mercer University

Stan Ullerich, Buena Vista University

Donald Vandegrift, The College of New Jersey

David VanHoose, Baylor University

Richard Vedder, Ohio University

Robert L. Vigil, Analysis Group

George J. Viksnins, Georgetown University

AMERICANACTIONFORUM.ORG Thomas Warschauer, San Diego State University

Ivo Welch, Brown University

J. Gregg Whittaker, William Jewell College

Michael E. Williams, University of Denver

Peter Williams, University of North Alabama

Jonathan Williams, American Legislative Exchange Council

Bradley Kemp Wilson, University of Saint Thomas

Charles Wolf, Jr., Hoover Institution

Gary Wolfram, Hillsdale College

Stephen A. Woodbury, Michigan State University

Ted Woodruff, St. Ambrose University

Gene Wunder, Washburn University

Steve B. Wyatt, Miami University

Tom Wyrick, Missouri State University

Pavel Yakovlev, Duquesne University

Bruce Yandle, Clemson University

Jerold Zimmerman, University of Rochester

Joseph Zoric, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Benjamin Zycher, Pacific Research Institute

Zenon Zygmont, Western Oregon University

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