One piece of change I can believe in is that the White House reached out to me and many other bloggers today and invited us to participate in a conference call with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Peter Orszag, who explained the administration’s budget proposals and took several questions. The whole experience was a little like being transported into an episode of The West Wing where you go over public policy and legislative strategies in a context where it actually means something. Of course, in this case, the decisions have already been made, but the effect is similar.
Director Orszag has the ability to explain complex budgetary decisions in everyday terms, which makes him a valuable spokesman for the administration’s policies. One interesting thing he discussed was a provision they plan on placing in the tax code which will make 28% the maximum rate at which you can make itemized deductions. This is a tax hike that will only effect people paying a higher marginal tax rate, and the additional revenue will go to making a ‘down payment’ on the health care reforms. As Orszag explained, this is a tax hike that was not a part of Obama’s campaign, but which is made necessary by the economic downturn so as to not have to water down Obama’s health care proposals.
We also discussed other reforms that will raise revenues, including new provisions that will examine business expenditures to see if they really serve a legitimate business purpose, or are only made to exploit tax loopholes. He mentioned another proposal that would eliminate the ability of corporations to keep foreign-based profits off their books and thereby indefinitely postpone paying taxes on them.
Orszag emphasized that the health care reforms are aimed at saving money in the long-run, and he went over provisions to save money in the Medicare system, and to incentivize hospitals to save money on end-of-life care, among other reforms.
A lot of what he had to say is available in the public domain or was stated earlier at this morning’s press briefing with Council of Economic Advisers’ chair Christina Romer. But it is a sure sign of the administration’s interest in reaching out to the party activists that they set aside time to talk directly to the blogosphere. It’s an impressive change and a personal honor to be invited to participate in these kinds of calls. I want to personally thank Jesse Lee for the opportunity.
The administration is definitely making an effort to understand and work with new media outlets, and we’re all going to benefit from it.
