Long Range Initiative

Long Range Initiative: News Background Analysis

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Even though we are at an early stage in the initiative, here are some ways to get involved:

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Get involved in the leadership by contacting OMB Watch.

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For more information on this initiative, see the "background" tab at the top of this page or the links below

Leadership of the Initiative

Overview

Here’s the Problem...

Expert analyses of the federal budget situation, including the White House’s own budget documents, indicate that the present course of revenue cuts and rising costs, particularly for health care, is unsustainable. Record deficits and historic low revenue today, coupled with forecasted increases in spending on entitlements programs and military engagements will together squeeze the rest of the budget beyond acceptable levels.

Everything from education to low-income assistance, and from job retraining to national park service is under threat of cuts or elimination. What’s worse, the long-term outlook makes the current dismal budget situation look like a walk in the park.

This outcome is no accident: many conservatives have described the tax-cutting strategy as “starve the beast” or in the words conservative leader Grover Norquist, “kill the taxes and you kill the government.”

Many of us now spend most of our time defending against things we don’t like, such as spending cuts or tax giveaways to the wealthy, and very little pursuing a vision of what we do want. Yet a growing number of groups believe it is time to break out of this cycle.

Breaking the Cycle

OMB Watch has launched a series of activities to break the cycle.

December 2003: Call-to-action paper to "develop a long-term (say, 10-year), proactive strategy on federal tax and budget issues - one that also directly confronts the negative perception of government programs and the continuous attacks launched by conservatives."
Jan - Feb, 2004: An Internet survey completed by more than 700 groups from nearly every state on whether an initiative should be started, what its objectives should be, and whether the group would participate. Ninety percent of respondents said it was time to launch a proactive initiative. See Survey Questions and Results or Survey Analysis
Mar - May, 2004: Five day-long regional meetings to discuss the dimensions of the problem and what should be done about it. They were in (click for summaries):
June, 2004: A two-day national retreat comprised of local, state, and national groups that resulted in the formation of an Interim Working Group to develop next steps.

News

Congress Drops the Ball on Minimum Wage Again 06/27/2006
Congress failed last week to raise the federal minimum wage which has stagnated for nearly a decade. The failure to act means its unlikely American workers will see a minimum wage increase any time soon. In the Senate, two measures to raise the minimum wage were voted down. In the House, an appropriations bill that contains a minimum wage increase is being kept from the floor, and Republicans have simultaneously rebuffed a Democratic effort to link an increase in the minimum wage with a bill that would nearly repeal the estate tax. Read More

Think Tank Focuses on Economic Security 06/13/2006
The incongruity between Congress's priorities and the needs of average Americans was in stark contrast last week. As the Senate prepared to vote on estate tax repeal, the Center for American Progress held a briefing June 6 to explore the growing problem of economic insecurity facing many Americans. Read More

Congress Remains Out of Step with Public in Hurricane Relief Efforts 11/01/2005
It has been two months since Hurricane Katrina hit and one month since Rita made landfall on the already-ravaged Gulf Coast, yet reverberations continue to be felt not only in Washington, but throughout the country. Congress was forced to reshuffle the legislative calendar to address the immediate needs of the relief effort, postponing consideration of the reconciliation bills and a vote on repealing the estate tax, dropping Social Security reform legislation, and passing a stark continuing resolution to fund government services past the end of the fiscal year and allow for more time to pass the annual appropriations bills. Outside of Washington though, a larger reshuffling is occurring as the vast majority of Americans no longer believe the country is on the right track and are turning to government to help redress some of the startling inequalities witnessed in the wake of the hurricanes. Read More

Study Adds Voice of Low-Income Americans to Debate Over Economic Divide 10/18/2005
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there has been widespread concern that the local residents of New Orleans and other affected communities be an integral part of any and all reconstruction efforts in the Gulf Coast region. In order to embrace a similar approach in addressing deep and persistent U.S. poverty brought to light by Katrina, the Marguerite Casey Foundation commissioned a comprehensive study looking at attitudes of Americans, particularly those of low-income families, before and after Hurricane Katrina. Read More

Next Steps Survey Results 02/14/2005
OMB Watch conducted a survey of interested nonprofits in October 2004 to gauge priorities and receive feedback about possible next steps in the construction of a long-range tax and budget policy initiative. The possible next step items included in the survey were put together by OMB Watch after a series of regional and national retreats and interviews in the summer and fall of 2004. Respondents to the survey identified different priorities than participants in interviews and retreats, but responded with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for continued work on a longer-range initiative.

Read the full Next Steps Report (.pdf)

National Retreat 08/06/2004

A National Retreat on fostering a long-term proactive tax and policy initiaitive was held on June 13th and 14th in Baltimore Maryland.

This page includes links to documents related to that event. Read More

Update on Long-term Proactive Initiative 05/17/2004

We thought you would like to know about an exciting and promising new effort aimed at stimulating the development of a long-term, proactive initiative on federal tax and budget policy.
Read More

Towards a Proactive Long-Term Federal Tax and Budget Initiative 03/18/2004

In December 2003, OMB Watch released a paper citing the need for a proactive initiative promoting long-term action on federal tax and budget issues - to push for what we as a community want in federal tax and budget policy. We used this paper as a tool to begin discussions with a variety of people and groups. Read More

Moving Towards Long-Term Action on Tax and Budget Issues 12/04/2003
Our community must seize the initiative on tax and budget issues if we are ever to succeed in promoting what we stand for -- a fair, simple and equitable tax system that generates adequate resources to implement the government programs and services that Americans want. For the purposes of discussion, this paper lays out a call to action to develop a long-term, proactive strategy on federal tax and budget issues -- one that also directly confronts the negative perception of government programs and the continuous attacks launched by conservatives.

Download Full Version, Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)