State of the Union Policy Series
Monday, January 23, 2012 | 12:00 p.m. – Friday, January 27, 2012 | 10:30 a.m.
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About This Event

Foreign Affairs and Defense
Monday, January 23, 12:00-1:30 PM, in B-338 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to tim.welter@aei.org.

Though America’s continuing economic malaise dominates the national political conversation, major developments abroad will demand the president’s attention in 2012. Social unrest in the Arab world and Russia, the rise (and decline) of China, Iranian brinksmanship, terrorism, and maintaining a capable military in an era of budget cuts are serious challenges for the commander in chief.

Before President Barack Obama delivers his annual State of the Union address to Congress and the nation, join American Enterprise Institute scholars Leon Aron, Daniel Blumenthal, Mackenzie Eaglen and Frederick Kagan for a lively conversation. AEI Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Danielle Pletka will moderate the discussion.

Related material:

"Strait talk with Iran" by Frederick W. Kagan

"Following One's conscience, part 2: a quest for democratic citizenship" by Leon Aron

"Against the East Asia 'pivot'" by Dan Blumenthal

"What's likely in the new Pentagon strategy" by Mackenzie Eaglen

Economy

Tuesday, January 24, 8:30-10:00 AM, in B-338 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Breakfast will be served. Please RSVP to john.cusey@aei.org.

The economy continues to be the top policy issue for the American public, and it is likely to continue as a primary concern in 2012 and beyond. What should congressional staff look for in 2012? Will there be an economic recovery? How about job growth? What will happen with taxes and entitlements? Will Europe’s economic problems impact us? What is our economic outlook?

On the morning of President Obama’s State of the Union address, join members of the AEI economic policy team, Kevin Hassett, Alex Brill, Alan Viard and John Makin, for a discussion about the state of our economy in 2012 and beyond.

Health Care

Wednesday, January 25, 12:00-1:30 PM, in CVC Congressional Meeting Room North. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to sara.huneke@aei.org.

In 2012, a number of health care-related issues promise to be on the minds of policymakers and the public. The Department of Health and Human Services will implement more of the Affordable Care Act, impacting states and the insurance market structure. Medicare and Medicaid will exert increasing pressure on the budget and will impact policy decisions. The FDA will face challenges, including drug shortages that began in 2011.

Join AEI health policy scholars Joe Antos, Thomas Miller, and Robert Helms for a discussion about health and budget policy challenges this year.   

Energy

Thursday, January 26, 12:00-1:30 PM, in B-338 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to cristin.datch@aei.org.

In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency exercised an unprecedented amount of regulatory authority, the green jobs movement shifted into relative obscurity, and the call for increased domestic oil production grew louder. In 2012, we are sure to see an even greater number of changes in the energy sector, particularly as policymakers continue to tie domestic energy production to job growth.

Join AEI’s Ken Green and Steve Hayward for a discussion of the data and rationale behind current energy policy in the U.S. and a preview of what we might see in 2012 and beyond.

Financial Services

Friday, January 27, 9:00-10:30 AM, in B338 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Breakfast will be served. Please RSVP to john.cusey@aei.org.

The American financial system is fragile and still recovering from the mortgage bubble. Dodd-Frank implementation will continue through 2012 and policymakers will be faced with how to deal with systematic risk. Is FHA following the path to insolvency that Fannie and Freddie took? What other risks are out there? How healthy are the banking and housing finance systems in this country? How will Europe’s financial situation impact our financial services system?

At the end of State of the Union week, please join Peter Wallison, Alex Pollock, Desmond Lachman and Ed Pinto from the AEI Financial Services policy team for a discussion about the State of the Union and the challenges facing our financial services system in 2012 and beyond.

 

Event Materials
Robert Helms slides
Thomas Miller slides
Joseph Antos slides
AEI Participants

 

Joseph
Antos

  • Mr. Antos's research focuses on the economics of health policy—including Medicare and broader health system reform, health care financing, health insurance regulation, and the uninsured—and federal budget policy. He has written and spoken extensively on the Medicare drug benefit and has led a team of experienced independent actuaries and cost estimators in a study to evaluate various proposals to extend health coverage to the uninsured. His work on the country’s budget crisis includes a detailed plan to achieve fiscal stability and economic growth developed in conjunction with AEI colleagues.  


    Joseph Antos is also a commissioner of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission and a health adviser to the Congressional Budget Office.  Before joining AEI, Mr. Antos was Assistant Director for Health and Human Resources at the Congressional Budget Office.




    Watch Mr. Antos in an interview with Bill Erwin of the Alliance for Health Reform on "Will Health Reform Reduce the Federal Deficit?"

    nullFollow Joseph Antos on Twitter

  • Phone: 202-862-5938
    Email: jantos@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Catherine Griffin
    Phone: 2028625920
    Email: catherine.griffin@aei.org
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Leon
Aron

  • Leon Aron is Resident Scholar and Director of Russian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of three books and over 300 articles and essays. Since 1999, he has written Russian Outlook, a quarterly essay on economic, political, social and cultural aspects of Russia’s post-Soviet transition, published by the Institute. He is the author of the first full-scale scholarly biography of Boris Yeltsin, Yeltsin: A Revolutionary Life (St. Martin’s Press, 2000); and Russia’s Revolution: Essays 1989-2006 (AEI Press,2007); Roads to the Temple: Memory, Truth, Ideals and Ideas in the Making ofthe Russian Revolution, 1987-1991 (Yale University Press, Spring 2012).


    Dr. Aron earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University, has taught a graduate seminar at Georgetown University, and was awarded the Peace Fellowship at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has co-edited and contributed the opening chapter to The Emergence of Russian Foreign Policy, published by the U.S. Institute of Peace in 1994 and contributed an opening chapter to The New Russian Foreign Policy (Council on Foreign Relations, 1998).


    Dr. Aron has contributed numerous essays and articles to newspapers andmagazines, including the Washington Post, the New York Times, theWall Street Journal,   Foreign Policy, The NewRepublic, Weekly Standard, Commentary, New York Times Book Review, the TimesLiterary Supplement. A frequent guest of television and radio talkshows, he has commented on Russian affairs for, among others, 60 Minutes,The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, CNN International,C-Span, and National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Talk of theNation.”


    From 1990 to 2004, he was a permanent discussant at the Voice of America’s radio and television show Gliadya iz Ameriki (“Looking from America”), which was broadcast to Russia every week.

  • Phone: 202-862-5898
    Email: laron@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Daniel Vajdic
    Phone: 202-862-5942
    Email: daniel.vajdic@aei.org
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Dan
Blumenthal
  • Dan Blumenthal is a current commissioner and former vice chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, where he directs efforts to monitor, investigate, and provide recommendations on the national security implications of the economic relationship between the two countries. Previously, he was senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Secretary of Defense's Office of International Security Affairs and practiced law in New York prior to his government service. At AEI, in addition to his work on the national security implications of U.S.-Sino relations, he coordinates the Tocqueville on China project, which examines the underlying civic culture of post-Mao China. Mr. Blumenthal also contributes to AEI's Asian Outlook series and is a research associate with the National Asia Research Program.
  • Phone: 202-862-5861
    Email: dblumenthal@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Lara Crouch
    Phone: 202-862-7160
    Email: lara.crouch@aei.org
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Alex
Brill
  • Alex Brill, a former policy director and chief economist of the House Ways and Means Committee, also served on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). In Congress and at the CEA, Mr. Brill worked on a variety of economic and legislative policy issues, including dividend taxation, the alternative minimum tax, international tax policy, social security reform, defined benefit pension reform, and U.S. trade policy.

    At AEI, Mr. Brill studies the impact of tax policy in the U.S. economy; the fiscal, economic, and political consequences of stimulus legislation; health care reform, pharmaceutical spending, unemployment insurance reform; and financial innovation and technology.
  • Phone: 202-862-5931
    Email: alex.brill@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Veronika Polakova
    Phone: 202-862-4880
    Email: veronika.polakova@aei.org
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Mackenzie
Eaglen

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    Mackenzie Eaglen has worked on defense issues in the U.S. Congress, both House and Senate, and at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff. She specializes in defense strategy, budget, military readiness and the defense industrial base. In 2010, Ms. Eaglen served as a staff member of the congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel, a bipartisan, blue-ribbon commission established to assess the Pentagon's major defense strategy. A prolific writer on defense related issues, she has also testified before Congress.


     


     

  • Phone: (202) 862-7183
    Email: mackenzie.eaglen@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Charles Morrison
    Phone: (202) 862-5945
    Email: charles.morrison@aei.org
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Kenneth P.
Green
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Kevin A.
Hassett
  • Before joining AEI, Mr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University, as well as a policy consultant to the Treasury Department during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He served as an economic adviser to the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign and as Senator John McCain's chief economic adviser during the 2000 presidential primaries. He also served as a senior economic adviser to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign. Mr. Hassett is a columnist for National Review.

  • Phone: 202-862-7157
    Email: khassett@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Veronika Polakova
    Phone: 202-862-4880
    Email: veronika.polakova@aei.org
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Steven F.
Hayward
  • Steven F. Hayward writes on a wide range of public policy issues. He is the author of the Almanac of Environmental Trends, and the author of many books on environmental topics. He has written biographies of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and of Winston Churchill, and the upcoming book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents. Mr. Hayward is also a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He contributes to AEI's Energy and Environment Outlook series. 
  • Phone: 202-862-5882
    Email: shayward@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Hiwa Alaghebandian
    Phone: 202-862-5820
    Email: hiwa.alaghebandian@aei.org
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Robert B.
Helms
  • Robert B. Helms has served as a member of the Medicaid Commission as well as assistant secretary for planning and evaluation and deputy assistant secretary for health policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). An economist by training, he has written and lectured extensively on health policy and health economics, including the history of Medicare, the tax treatment of health insurance, and compared international health systems. He currently participates in the Health Policy Consensus Group, an informal task force that is developing consumer-driven health reforms. He is the author or editor of several AEI books on health policy, including Medicare in the Twenty-First Century: Seeking Fair and Efficient Reform and Competitive Strategies in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
  • Phone: 2028625877
    Email: rhelms@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Catherine Griffin
    Phone: 2028625920
    Email: catherine.griffin@aei.org
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Desmond
Lachman
  • Desmond Lachman joined AEI after serving as a managing director and chief emerging market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney. He previously served as deputy director in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Policy Development and Review Department and was active in staff formulation of IMF policies. Mr. Lachman has written extensively on the global economic crisis, the U.S. housing market bust, the U.S. dollar, and the strains in the euro area. At AEI, Mr. Lachman is focused on the global macroeconomy, global currency issues, and the multilateral lending agencies.
  • Phone: 202-862-5844
    Email: dlachman@aei.org
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John H.
Makin
  • John H. Makin is a former consultant to the U.S. Treasury Department, the Congressional Budget Office, and the International Monetary Fund. He specializes in international finance and financial markets (stock, bonds, and currencies including the Euro and the U.S. dollar). He also researches the U.S. economy (including monetary policy and tax and budget issues), the Japanese economy, and European economies. He is the author of numerous books and articles on financial, monetary, and fiscal policy. Mr. Makin writes AEI's monthly Economic Outlook.
  • Phone: 202-862-5828
    Email: jmakin@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Daniel Hanson
    Phone: 202-862-5883
    Email: daniel.hanson@aei.org
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Thomas P.
Miller
  • Thomas Miller is a former senior health economist for the Joint Economic Committee (JEC). He studies health care policy and regulation. A former trial attorney, journalist, and sports broadcaster, Mr. Miller is the co-author of Why ObamaCare Is Wrong For America (HarperCollins 2011) and heads AEI's "Beyond Repeal & Replace" health reform project. He has testified before Congress on issues including the uninsured, health care costs, Medicare prescription drug benefits, health insurance tax credits, genetic information, Social Security, and federal reinsurance of catastrophic events. While at the JEC, he organized a number of hearings that focused on reforms in private health care markets, such as information transparency and consumer-driven health care.
  • Phone: 202-862-5886
    Email: tmiller@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Catherine Griffin
    Phone: 202-862-5920
    Email: catherine.griffin@aei.org
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Edward J.
Pinto
  • An executive vice president and chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s, Edward Pinto has done groundbreaking research on the role of government housing policies in the lead-up to the financial crisis. In particular, his data have revealed striking facts about the contributions of housing policy to the mortgage crisis. Two of his major research papers have been submitted to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: "Government Housing Policies in the Lead-up to the Financial Crisis: A Forensic Study" and "Triggers of the Financial Crisis." At AEI Mr. Pinto is continuing his work on the role of housing policies in the financial crisis and researching policy considerations and options for rebuilding our housing-finance sector.
  • Phone: 202-862-7185
    Email: edward.pinto@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Steffanie Hawkins
    Phone: 202-419-5212
    Email: steffanie.hawkins@aei.org
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Danielle
Pletka
  • Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Before joining AEI, she served for ten years as a senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She writes frequently on national security matters with a focus on domestic politics in the Middle East and South Asia regions, U.S. national security, terrorism and weapons proliferation.
  • Phone: 202-862-5943
    Email: dpletka@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Lazar Berman
    Phone: 202-862-5872
    Email: lazar.berman@aei.org
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Alex J.
Pollock
  • Alex Pollock joined AEI in 2004 after thirty-five years in banking. He was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004. He is the author of numerous articles on financial systems and the organizer of the “Deflating Bubble” series of AEI conferences. In 2007, he developed a one-page mortgage form to help borrowers understand their mortgage obligations. At AEI, he focuses on financial policy issues, including housing finance, government-sponsored enterprises, retirement finance, corporate governance, accounting standards, and the banking system. He is a director of the CME Group, the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, the International Union for Housing Finance, and the chairman of the board of the Great Books Foundation.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ALEX POLLOCK'S ONE-PAGE MORTGAGE FORM
  • Phone: 2028627190
    Email: apollock@aei.org
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Alan D.
Viard
  • Alan Viard was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and an assistant professor of economics at Ohio State University prior to joining AEI. He has also worked for the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Tax Analysis, the White House's Council of Economic Advisers and the Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress. Viard is a frequent contributor to AEI's Tax Policy Outlook, AEI's On the Margin column in Tax Notes and AEI's Marginal Impact column in State Tax Notes. In January 2010, he was named by Tax Notes as a nominee for 2009 Tax Person of the Year. Viard is also the co-author of Progressive Consumption Taxation: The X Tax Revisited published in May 2012.
  • Phone: 202-419-5202
    Email: aviard@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Veronika Polakova
    Phone: 202-862-4880
    Email: veronika.polakova@aei.org
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Peter J.
Wallison
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