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  • Op-Ed in Today’s Wall Street Journal

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 15, 2009 at 6:59 AM EST

    I have an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today on a topic of great personal interest and central to the nation’s future: the immense fiscal challenge of rising health care costs, and the opportunity embedded within that challenge to reduce costs in the health care system without sacrificing quality.

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  • Medicare Trustees to America: Bend the Curve!

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 12, 2009 at 4:09 PM EST

    Today, the Trustees of the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds released their annual reports detailing the financial operations and long-term positions of the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds.

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  • Clearing the Air

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 12, 2009 at 2:45 PM EST

    Media reports today are suggesting that OMB has found fault with EPA’s proposed finding that emissions of greenhouse gases from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that endangers public health and welfare. Any reports suggesting that OMB was opposed to the finding are unfounded.

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  • Last but Not Least – The Final Installment of the FY 2010 Budget

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 11, 2009 at 8:32 AM EST

    Today, we released the final volumes of the President’s FY 2010 Budget.

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  • The Health Care Reserve Fund: A Historic Commitment to Reform

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 9, 2009 at 8:30 AM EST

    As I have said more than a few times before (even on this blog) reducing health care costs is the key to the country’s fiscal future and also to providing relief to American families from rising health care bills.

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  • Using Statistics to Drive Sound Policy

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM EST

    This morning I delivered a speech at a Joint Symposium of the Committee on National Statistics and the American Academy of Political and Social Science on a topic near to my (admittedly wonkish) heart—the role of Federal statistics in developing and executing good public policy.

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  • Determining What Works, Line by Line

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 7, 2009 at 9:25 AM EST

    We in the Administration have spoken often about the President’s Budget heralding a new era of responsibility—an era in which we not only do what we must to lift our economy out of recession, but in which we also lay a new foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.

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  • This Week in Budget News

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 4, 2009 at 2:35 PM EST

    This week is another busy one at OMB: we are releasing the full account-level budget on Thursday.

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  • Congratulations to Xav Briggs

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on May 1, 2009 at 5:00 PM EST

    Champagne corks are flying (or more accurately, Diet Coke cans are being opened) here at OMB to congratulate Xavier de Souza Briggs for being awarded tenure by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today.

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  • Congratulations to Emmanuel Saez

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 27, 2009 at 12:47 PM EST

    My co-author and friend Emmanuel Saez was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal on Friday. The prize, which is awarded to the best American economist under the age of forty, is one of the highest honors the economics profession can bestow upon one of its own.

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  • Nudging Along

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 20, 2009 at 6:33 PM EST

    One of the most important intellectual developments of the past several years that has had a huge impact on my own thinking has been the rise of behavioral economics.

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  • The Case for Reform in Education and Health Care

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 20, 2009 at 10:59 AM EST

    This morning I delivered a speech before the Association of American Universities, an association of 62 major public and private research universities in the United States and Canada.

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  • Move Over R2, CPO is Here

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 18, 2009 at 8:00 AM EST

    Lately, OMB has been consumed with the “B” in our title – the budget – but an equally important part of our mission is the “M” or management of the federal government.

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  • Important EPA Finding

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 17, 2009 at 5:09 PM EST

    In addition to its other responsibilities, OMB reviews proposed regulations and coordinates an interagency review process. We have now concluded review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed finding that emissions of greenhouse gases from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that endangers public health and welfare.

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  • Changing the Game in Health Care

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 13, 2009 at 4:30 PM EST

    The National Journal blog entry on the Administration’s proposals on health care reform highlights some important issues. But is also contains some red herrings – like the idea the Administration’s proposals won’t reduce costs.

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  • Economic Downturns and Crime

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 9, 2009 at 1:35 PM EST

    The economic downturn imposes significant costs on families. But does it also increase crime?

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  • New Study on Hospital Readmissions

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 8, 2009 at 12:26 PM EST

    Estimates suggest that as much as $700 billion a year in health care services delivered in the United States cannot be linked to improved health outcomes – and one reason is that we have incentives for more care rather than better care.

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  • IOU, an Explanation

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on April 7, 2009 at 8:22 AM EST

    How much does the federal government owe? It might seem like a simple question to ask those of us wearing the green eyeshades, but there are lots of different concepts used to answer it.

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  • Not Your Reg-ular Blog Post

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on March 30, 2009 at 6:53 PM EST

    I know most of OMBlog’s readers are budget wonks – or “propellerheads” to use the now-popular White House term – but OMB also takes a very active and serious role in the management of the federal government, and that includes the regulatory agenda.

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  • Climbing the Hill

    Posted by Peter Orszag, Director on March 25, 2009 at 4:26 PM EST

    Today is a big day in the budget world as the House and Senate Budget Committees kicked off Congressional action on the federal budget with their markups of the budget resolutions.

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