Spending Restraint and Lessons Learned: Why Cutting Spending is Key to Balancing the Federal Budget

Please join the Mercatus Center at George Mason University for an expert panel discussion of why spending control is key to balancing the federal budget and which proposals might be most effective in starting the process.

Special guests Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Representative Connie Mack (R-FL) will discuss their “One Percent Spending Reduction Act of 2011” to balance the budget by cutting one cent of every dollar the federal government spends.

Speakers include the Honorable Jim Miller, Director of the Office of Management and Budget for President Reagan; Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy at Cato, and Jason Fichtner, Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center.

Discussion topics will include the following:

• Why must fundamental spending reform play a key role in balancing the budget? •
• Why must politicians’ incentives to increase spending be changed? 
• Which spending-reduction proposals are most likely to be effective?
• What has worked in other countries? Can the U.S. cut spending and spur economic growth? 

This will be a widely attended event, free and open to all congressional, executive branch, federal agency staff, and press. Lunch will be provided. For questions, please contact Ashley Schiller at aschiller@gmu.edu or 703-993-9228.