Fix The Debt

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie became the latest in a long line of presidential candidates to sit down and answer questions about his budget and economic plans on our Fiscal Fridays television interview program.

Governor Christie has made tackling the national debt a key part of his candidacy. He put out an entitlement reform proposal early in his campaign. See our summary of the plan and our statement on it.

Entitlement and tax reform were big topics in the interview. He claimed that he would send a tax reform plan and an entitlement reform plan to Congress within the first six months of his presidency.

Governor Christie started the session by discussing his ideas for reforming entitlements, saying that failure to do so would “sell away our children’s and grandchildren’s future.” He would gradually raise the Social Security and Medicare retirement ages and means test Social Security benefits so that wealthier Americans would receive less from the program. He criticized those urging hands off Social Security, saying that doing so would be like letting someone drown and walking away because the program’s trust fund is headed towards insolvency.

Turning to tax reform, Christie said his plan would lower rates and simplify the tax code by getting rid of all the tax breaks, also known as tax expenditures because they are basically spending through the tax code, except for the home mortgage interest and charitable contribution deductions. He said that his plan would be revenue neutral, and thus, would not dig the fiscal hole deeper.

He also talked about health care. Two of his big ideas are to eliminate the fee-for-service system in federal health care and to require states to develop health care plans.

Fiscal Fridays is a TV interview series focused on the fiscal and economic priorities of 2016 presidential candidates. First Budget, an initiative of Fix the Debt and the Concord Coalition, is a proud sponsor of the series.

Several White House contenders have participated so far, but there are a few to go. Help us encourage all the candidates to take part by contacting their campaigns below.

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