Avoiding a Government Debt Crisis?

What will it take? Will our creditors believe us? Will the political process be able to produce a solution?

In December, the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform released Red Ink Rising - an approach to stabilizing the nation's mounting federal debt.

In this half-day policy forum we bring together the nation's leading experts to discuss the fiscal problems facing the country, the international and financial market issues involved, and whether the political system is equipped to tackle the challenges. Special keynoters will include David Walker, former Comptroller General of the U.S., and Thomas Hoenig President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Agenda

8:40 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Registration and Breakfast

9:00 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. - Welcome

Charlie Stenholm*
Co-Chair, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

9:10 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. - Defining the Fiscal Agenda

David Walker*
President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation,
Former Comptroller General of the U.S.

Moderator
Maya MacGuineas*
President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

9:30 a.m. -10:20 a.m. - In Search of a Fiscal Goal

Douglas Holtz-Eakin*
President, American Action Forum

Rudolph Penner*
Fellow, The Urban Institute

John Podesta
President and CEO, Center for American Progress

Robert Reischauer*
President, The Urban Institute

10:20 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. - What are the Markets Thinking - and Lessons from Abroad

Martin Baily
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Richard Berner
Managing Director, Co-Head of Global Economics and Chief U.S. Economist, Morgan Stanley

Carlo Cottarelli
Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund

11:10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Spinning Past the Politics

Clive Crook
Senior Editor, The Atlantic Monthly

Jim Kolbe*
Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund and former Member of Congress

Norm Ornstein
Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

Jamal Simmons
Principal, The Raben Group