Online registration for this event is closed. Walk-in registrations will be accepted.
Video of this event will be livestreamed online at http://www.american.com/watch/aei-livestream.
This year's elections may have produced the most conservative House of Representatives in modern American history. The new Congress takes office facing daunting challenges, including high
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unemployment, stagnant wages, rising debt levels, and a public divided over the sweeping new health care law and the proper limits of government.
To review the policy options available to the new Congress, AEI and the National Review Institute are hosting a discussion on health care policy, the economy, and the constitutional limits on the federal government. Policy experts will address the following topics: Can the recently enacted health care law be repealed and replaced, or modified? How should state governments respond to the controversy? What are the most promising strategies for reviving the economy and shrinking the federal government? Can a new federalism begin to return Washington to its proper constitutional limits?
8:45 a.m.
Registration
9:15
Introduction:
ARTHUR C. BROOKS, AEI
9:30
Panel I: Health Care Reform: Second Opinions
Panelists:
JAMES CAPRETTA, Ethics and Public Policy Center
SCOTT GOTTLIEB, M.D., AEI
RAMESH PONNURU, National Review
Moderator:
KATE O'BEIRNE, National Review Institute
10:30
Panel II: The Economy and Spending: Growing and Cutting
Panelists:
ANDREW G. BIGGS, AEI
KEVIN A. HASSETT, AEI
ROBERT STEIN, First Trust Advisors
Moderator:
STEPHEN SPRUIELL, National Review
11:30
Panel III: The Constitution: A Repair Manual
Panelists:
MICHAEL S. GREVE, AEI
DAVID MCINTOSH, The Federalist Society
MATTHEW SPALDING, The Heritage Foundation
Moderator:
MATTHEW FRANCK, The Witherspoon Institute
12:30 p.m.
Adjournment
WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 22, 2010--Panelists reviewed policy options for the new Congress to promote smaller government and reduce spending Monday at an American Enterprise Institute event cosponsored with the National Review Institute. In any policy area, both economic and constitutional factors must be considered. First, James Capretta, Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and Ramesh Ponnuru discussed how implementing market-based reforms now at the state level could mitigate the negative effects of ObamaCare, on both the economy and health care quality, when it goes into full effect in 2014. Next, economic analysts Kevin A. Hassett, Andrew G. Biggs, and Robert Stein commented on the necessity and difficulty of achieving fiscal consolidation, focusing primarily on the need to rein in entitlement spending and government-labor costs. Finally, scholars Michael S. Greve, David McIntosh, and Matthew Spalding discussed how the election has created an opportunity to educate a new class of legislators about their role in defending the enumerated powers and maintaining the constitutional limits of the federal government.
--MEAGAN BERRY
Arthur C. Brooks is the president of AEI. Until January 1, 2009, he was the Louis A. Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy at Syracuse University. He is the author of eight books and many articles on topics ranging from the economics of the arts to applied mathematics. His most recent books include The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future (Basic Books, May 2010), Gross National Happiness (Basic Books, 2008), Social Entrepreneurship (Prentice Hall, 2008), and Who Really Cares (Basic Books, 2006). Before pursuing his work in public policy, Mr. Brooks spent twelve years as a professional French hornist with the City Orchestra of Barcelona and other ensembles.
James C. Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), was an associate director at the White House Office of Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004. At EPPC, Mr. Capretta studies and provides commentary on a wide range of public policy and economic issues, with a focus on health care and entitlement reform, U.S. fiscal policy, and global population aging. His essays and articles have appeared in numerous print and online publications. In addition to his work as a researcher and commentator, Mr. Capretta is also a health policy and research consultant with Civic Enterprises LLC, a senior adviser to Leavitt Partners, and an adjunct fellow with the Global Aging Initiative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and with the Hudson Institute.
Scott Gottlieb, M.D., is a resident fellow at AEI. A practicing physician, he has served in various positions at the Food and Drug Administration, including senior adviser for medical technology, director of medical policy development, and, most recently, deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs. Dr. Gottlieb was also a senior policy adviser at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Ramesh Ponnuru is a senior editor for National Review and a columnist for Time. He has published articles in numerous newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Newsday, and the New York Post. He has also written for First Things, Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, the New Republic, Reason, and other publications, and appeared on numerous television news programs. He is the author of The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life (Regnery, 2006) and the monograph The Mystery of Japanese Growth (American Enterprise Institute/Centre for Policy Studies, 1995). He has been a fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London and a media fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
Kate O'Beirne is president of the National Review Institute and a former Washington editor of National Review. Before joining National Review in 1995, Ms. O'Beirne was vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, while serving as a contributing editor for National Review. Previously, she was the Heritage Foundation's deputy director of domestic policy studies and deputy assistant secretary for legislation at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Andrew G. Biggs is a resident scholar at AEI. Mr. Biggs was the principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration, where he oversaw the agency's policy research efforts and led its participation in the Social Security Trustees working group. He worked on Social Security reform at the National Economic Council in 2005 and was on the staff of the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security in 2001.
Kevin A. Hassett is the director of economic policy studies and a senior fellow at AEI. Before joining AEI, he was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University, as well as a policy consultant to the Treasury Department during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He served as an economic adviser to the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign, chief economic adviser to Senator John McCain during the 2000 presidential primaries, and senior economic adviser to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign. Mr. Hassett writes a weekly column for Bloomberg.
Robert Stein is a senior economist at First Trust Advisors LP. There, he is responsible for forecasting and analyzing economic indicators and writing economic commentaries. Before joining First Trust, Mr. Stein was assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department, chief economist for the Senate Budget Committee, and an economist for the Senate Banking Committee and Joint Economic Committee.
Stephen Spruiell is a staff reporter for National Review, covering domestic and economic policy. He appears regularly on television shows such as CNBC’s Kudlow and Co., Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends, and the CBC’s Power and Politics.
Michael S. Greve is the John G. Searle Scholar at AEI. Mr. Greve cofounded and, from 1989 to 2000, directed the Center for Individual Rights, a public-interest law firm. He has written extensively on many aspects of the American legal system, and his publications include numerous law-review articles and books. Mr. Greve also heads AEI’s Transatlantic Law Forum. His current projects include a book on the constitutional foundations of competitive federalism.
David McIntosh, a former congressman, is a partner at Mayer, Brown, Row & Maw LLP. His practice focuses on government affairs. During the Reagan administration, Mr. McIntosh was special assistant to the attorney general and special assistant to the president for domestic affairs. During the first Bush administration, he was executive director of the President’s Council on Competitiveness and assistant to the vice president. He later represented Indiana’s second district in the House of Representatives (1995 to 2001), becoming chairman of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Relief.
Matthew Spalding is the director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. A constitutional scholar and authority on American political thought and religious liberty, he is also project leader of the foundation’s First Principles initiative.
Matthew J. Franck is the director of the William E. and Carol G. Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution of the Witherspoon Institute. He is professor emeritus of political science at Radford University in Virginia, where he taught constitutional law, American politics, and political philosophy from 1989 to 2010 and chaired the Department of Political Science from 1995 until his retirement.
