Contact: Jeremy Rosen
jrosen@pgpf.org
With Critical 2025 Fiscal Deadlines Approaching, Peterson Foundation’s Solutions Initiative Provides Playbook for Lawmakers to Act
More than 200 Policy Recommendations to Stabilize the Budget, Save Social Security from Automatic Cuts, Lower Interest Costs, Reform the Tax Code and More
NEW YORK (July 23, 2024) — Seven leading think tanks have released more than 200 policy recommendations to stabilize the national debt and navigate critical upcoming fiscal deadlines as part of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s Solutions Initiative 2024: Charting a Brighter Future.
The participating organizations, which span the political and ideological spectrum, include: American Action Forum; American Enterprise Institute; Bipartisan Policy Center; Center for American Progress; Economic Policy Institute; Manhattan Institute; and Progressive Policy Institute.
Each group put forward a detailed, comprehensive plan, addressing both spending and revenue. Each plan would reduce America’s debt-to-GDP ratio by at least one-third over the long term, and lower 30-year interest costs by at least $13 trillion. Additionally, the organizations propose action-ready ideas for lawmakers to confront a series of highly consequential fiscal deadlines and decision points approaching in 2025, including recommendations to:
“The Solutions Initiative 2024 shows that there is widespread agreement that America’s fiscal challenges are both unsustainable and solvable, and we have many good options to chart a brighter future for our country,” said Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peterson Foundation. “As Election Day approaches and we face a series of critical fiscal deadlines in 2025, these seven comprehensive plans all put our debt on a sustainable path, offering a deep playbook of policy options to help voters and elected leaders prioritize solutions. The Solutions Initiative shows that strengthening America’s fiscal and economic future is entirely within our control — all we need is leadership.”
Solutions Initiative 2024 comes at a time when America’s fiscal outlook is rapidly worsening. Debt held by the public at the end of fiscal year 2023 was 97% of gross domestic product (GDP), and the Congressional Budget Office projects that in three years, that ratio will exceed the previous record high of 106% of GDP. By 2054, the debt would rise to 166% of GDP if current laws remain the same. That level of debt would represent uncharted territory for the United States, far exceeding the 50-year historical average of 47% of GDP. Each Solutions Initiative plan would significantly reduce and stabilize our debt trajectory:
As part of the Solutions Initiative 2024 project, each participating organization drafted a memo to candidates and policymakers, identifying its top three priorities. Those memos can be found here; the top three recommendations for each organization are:
# # #