This post was written by Hatchet reporter Colleen Murphy.
A former senator and a budget expert called Tuesday on the country to elect the candidate who can offer a stable plan to avoid the looming “fiscal cliff.”
On the eve of the first presidential debate, former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., said in a panel at 1957 E St. that the next president must come up with a sustainable budget that chips away at the country’s $16 trillion debt. He called it “the most avoidable economic crisis in history.”
He said Americans should be wary of candidates who claim to have a plan but do not address Medicare, Medicaid, social security and defense.
Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, joined Simpson. Simpson co-chaired the president’s bipartisan national debt commission, while Bernstein served as Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economist from 2009-2011.
“The thing that is hurting us is the fact that we’re, over the longer term, spending more than we’re taking in and that health care costs are growing,” Bernstein said.