Nation's Budget Experts Say Politicians 'Addicted' to Debt; Launch Recovery Program

Nation's Budget Experts Say Politicians 'Addicted' to Debt; Launch Recovery
Program

'US Budget Watch' Aims to Force Politicians to Quit

WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Committee for a Responsible
Federal Budget, a bipartisan group of some of the most highly respected budget
experts in the United States that includes former directors of the Office of
Management and Budget, Congressional Budget Office, and Government
Accountability Office, as well as many former members of Congress, today
launched US Budget Watch, a critically important new effort to force the 2008
presidential candidates to pay attention to the deteriorating federal budget
situation.

US Budget Watch, which today released its "Twelve Principles for Fiscal
Responsibility," announced that it will continue to monitor the campaigns'
policies and provide monthly public reports on the overall budget and the
specific topics that will most affect it--such as taxes, Social Security and
healthcare.

According to Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible
Federal Budget, it is not an accident that there are 12 principles. "The
White House and Congress have clearly become addicted to deficits and debt,"
she said. "That makes it appropriate for US Budget Watch to be the equivalent
of a 12-step program to help policymakers deal with their addiction."

In keeping with its commitment to provide an objective and nonpartisan
assessment of the 2008 presidential campaign, US Budget Watch will not endorse
a particular candidate. It will, however, provide voters with the information
they need to take fiscal responsibility into account when they go to the polls
in November.

"Every member of the board of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
has his or her own political views and favored candidate," MacGuineas said.
"But regardless of who they are supporting, they are all committed to fiscal
responsibility and that is what US Budget Watch will focus on," she added.

The 12 principles US Budget Watch will monitor during the 2008 election
campaign are:

1. Admit That We Face Serious Fiscal Problems

2. Elevate the Issue of Fiscal Responsibility

3. Commit to Reducing the Deficit

4. Suggest Solutions to Fix Social Security

5. Suggest Ways to Address Rising Health Care Spending

6. Suggest Solutions to Outstanding Tax Issues

7. Plan to Reform the Budget Process

8. Use Honest Numbers

9. Offset the Cost of New Policies

10. Don't Perpetuate Budget Myths

11. Do Not Attack Someone Else's Plan Unless You Put Forward an Alternative

12. The Media Should Do Its Job

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget board member Leon Panetta, who
formerly served as director of the Office of Management and Budget and
chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that US Budget Watch was exactly
what was needed in the 2008 election campaign. "This is the best way to make
sure the presidential candidates and their staffs think about the budget
implications of what they are saying and proposing," he said. "Our hope is
that every speech not only includes the words 'fiscal responsibility,' but
that the proposals are themselves fiscally responsible."

Another Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget board member, former House
Ways and Means and Budget Committee member Bill Frenzel, said the candidates
need to know that someone will be monitoring what they are doing from a budget
perspective. "Candidates and elected officials respond when they know a
particular issue is of increasing importance to voters and the media," he
said. "US Budget Watch will make it much more likely that will happen."

The full text of US Budget Watch's "Twelve Principles for Fiscal
Responsibility" and additional information about US Budget Watch can be found
at www.USBudgetWatch.org.

About The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is a bipartisan, non-profit
organization committed to educating the public about issues that have
significant fiscal policy impact. The Committee is made up of some of the
most important budget experts in the country including many of the past
Directors of the Budget Committees, the Congressional Budget Office, the
Office of Management and Budget and the Federal Reserve Board.

For more information about the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget,
visit www.crfb.org.

SOURCE Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Kathryn Stetz, +1-202-683-3157, kstetz@qorvis.com, for Committee for a
Responsible Federal Budget