Taking the Budget Off Autopilot

One of the most daunting things about the long-term federal budget problem is that the programs that are in the most trouble -- Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security -- are also running on autopilot. Unlike the rest of the budget, Congress doesn't vote on these programs every year. They're driven by formulas, not by conscious decisions by policymakers. And these are the same programs that will bust the budget because of rising health care costs and the retirement of the baby boomers.

One way dealing with this problem is to turn off the autopilot before the crash comes, according to a group of bipartisan budget experts. The Taking Back Our Fiscal Future report calls for revamping how the "entitlement" programs, including:

• Setting explicit long-term budgets for these programs, with limits on spending growth
• A regular review process to ensure the programs stay within their limits
• Automatic changes that kick in if there are "significant long-term deviations" from the budget projections. Congress and the president could block the changes, but would have to have a specific vote to do so.

Several of the Facing Up partner organizations are involved with the report, including the Brookings Institution, Concord Coalition and the Heritage Foundation. But the report is also co-signed by experts at the American Enterprise Institute, Urban Institute, Progressive Policy Institute and the New America Foundation. It's going to take more than changes in the budget process to solve this problem. And real public engagement is absolutely vital if we're going to reform programs that touch so many Americans so closely. But there's no question that the way the federal government handles the budget make this problem easier to avoid. Changing the process may help force the political system to take this issue seriously.