Wilson Center Newsletter, October 2011

Student & Alumni News

James Hoffman '10 has joined the firm of David Consultants in Richmond as a registered lobbyist

Edward Ware '07 has been admitted to the graduate program in public policy at George Mason University

William Simonson '06 has just returned from service with the Peace Corps in Armenia

James “Rusty” Foster '04 is a Political Engagement Manager with SIGMA, America‘s Leading Fuel marketers

CPT Matt Jamison '01 has been deployed to Afghanistan with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. He is the HHC Commander for the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment

Col. Mark Rummel, '81 is deployed to Forward Operating Base Salerno near Khost, Afghanistan. He is serving as the Deputy Commander Clinical Services in addition to his duties as a Vascular/General Surgeon. This is his second deployment to Afghanistan and third overseas deployment.

Edward Gamble '86 is an inspector/detective with the San Francisco Police Department

Maurice Jones '86 has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the Deputy Secretary of HUD Read the article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

What our alumni are saying about.......

The Congressional Deficit Reduction
"Supercommittee"

William C. Boinest '54 – Board of Advisors Wilson Center and Past Chairman of H-SC Board of Trustees, Retired chairman of Craigie, Inc
I do not look for a favorable outcome from the 'super committee.' The same people are involved who want revenue increases rather than spending reduction and those who want only spending reduction and no revenue increases (tax increases). This Congress has no desire to compromise which has gotten things accomplished in the past. It is all about politics with no regard for what is best for America. They
will not reduce the deficit by any appreciable amount and why not just let the automatic reductions kick in so that neither party can take any blame for cutting out programs for the special interests.

Tucker Shumack '95 – Principal at Capitol Counsel, LLC
The challenges are immense. The first hurdle that they must clear is purely political - Republican opposition to increased revenues and Democratic opposition to more spending cuts without more revenues. If they overcome that not so insignificant issue, simply drafting and scoring whatever deal they come up with will be a monumental task.

The CBO Director recently testified that he would need the proposal by early November to have it fully scored by November 23rd. Therefore, the deal really needs to be cut before sometime in late October because drafting a bill is no small task and it can sometimes take multiple revisions to get it right. When/if it is reported from the Super Committee, it has to be in final form given that no amendments to presumably fix any drafting mistakes are allowed once the bill leaves the Committee, so drafting is
critical and cannot be glossed over this time. And this is notwithstanding the political acrimony that seems to be getting worse following the President's more partisan tone and Republicans' sharp response. That said, I think the Committee will come up with a product, but I would lower my expectations as to exactly what the product will be given the difficulties previously mentioned and that Congress rarely acts before they have too (the pain, i.e. sequester, doesn't begin until 2013). I think they will come up with a package that may be somewhat less than the $1.2 trillion to prevent an outright sequester given what I believe is a sincere desire by the leadership on both sides for some success, and the fear of market reactions to a failure on the part of the committee to provide a product at all. I think the country needs substantially more than that but given the difficulties involved in such a short time frame, I do not see a path to a grand bargain of some sort to include entitlements, tax reform and lots of moving parts.