I’m Bobby Kogan, the Senior Director of Federal Budget policy at the Center for American Progress. I’ve previously worked in the Biden White House and in the Senate. Ask me anything about the federal budget.

18 comments

1. Could you speak to the issue of aid to Ukraine in terms of strategic value, return on spending that comes back to US, investment in future geopolitical stability, and those sorts of issues?

   I ask as an ardent supporter of Ukraine, and I am concerned that people in the US who do not approve of support for Ukraine do not properly understand how the bigger picture necessitates that we do our best to send aid.

2. What happens/ does it ever happen where money set aside for a particular program or agency does not get used up? Similarly, what are the consequences of a program or agency overspending?

3. How much did the Trump/Republican tax cuts reduce U.S. tax revenues?

4. How secure is our social security? (heh) I remember after the Trump admin’s tax cut, it was estimated that social security could run out in the next 10 years or so. Are we still heading down an unsustainable path?

5. What is the effect of careening from shut down threat to shut down threat? So far we have made it under the wire every time, but does the mere threat (or multiple threats in this case) have a lasting impact?

6. How can we realistically break out of the cycle of threatening default and government shutdowns? I think the natural “cure” to those problems would be an election cycle where we vote out people who choose to default instead of compromise, but it appears the electorate doesn’t seem to be bothered by that behavior, and in some cases, encourage it.

7. Our current trajectory is unsustainable, according to Jerome Powell. No one is going to get re-elected saying we have to raise taxes and cut spending. Is there a practical way forward that you see in the next decade or two to address the issue?

8. If the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for Part A goes insolvent, won’t they just automatically cut reimbursement for Part A across the board rather than pause new Part A enrollment? If so, isn’t Medicare Part A solvency not that problematic other than for Medicare acceptance by providers?

9. Why is the Federal budget calculated on a cash basis?

10. Having worked with politicians that negotiate the budget, do you have any advice for advocates in nonprofit work when trying to appeal for budget increases/rebalancing?

11. Why does the U.S. always have money to fund war but not schools? How do we always find money in the budget for certain things and not others?

12. Have you heard any update on whether there will be funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program which will run out of money next month?

    Will Project NextGen get more funding and what do you think the hold up has been on innovation compared to Project Warp Speed?

13. What is the most common restaurant democrats and republican senators eat at according to the budget show us it they are eating value meals or ordering expensive appetizers 

14. How optimistic or pessimistic should we be about the longevity of social programming such as SSA given the current health of the federal budget?

15. Wikipedia tells me:

    >The Center for American Progress was created in 2003 as a Democratic alternative to conservative think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

    Organizations like the Heritage Foundation have been in the news a lot recently for shaping policy for “the next conservative administration”, through things like Project 2025. Does CAP have a similar set of recommendations for the “next liberal administration” as a Project 2025 counterweight of sorts? For example, is there a breakdown of how CAP would direct funding to executive agencies in order to achieve policy objectives?

16. What is your opinion on the American healthcare industry is supporting not only healthcare dental vision but also their associated insurance agencies. Therefore doubling the cost.

17. What are your thoughts on the national debt (now at $34 trillion)? With the budgets that are passed the debt will just continue to rise indefinitely and seems to be sustainable. Does this matter? What will it mean for the country in practical terms when the debt hits $50 trillion? $100 trillion, etc..?

    Will there be a point that the debt is so high that taxes have to massively go up and federal spending has to drastically be cut? Or is it just a number policy makers don’t care about ?

18. I read somewhere that usually the top 3 expenditures categories for federal budget are:

    healthcare, Social Security, and defense;
    Hypothethical case: If, say, the majority of people do not see spending more on defense as helping their lives… but rather they believe spending more on healthcare and social security will improve national security and with the synergy of improving the economy by freeing money for defense to be allocated for more infrastructure then it is a viable strategy?
    If, instead, all these 3 go hand and hand then have we considered how a higher budget % for healthcare and social security compare to budget for defense can be a viable strategy to improving overall defense?
    Or defense budget is of primary importance because there’s a saying that goes might makes right?

    Or is it, if we spend too much on healthcare and social security and nothing on defense then we’re in big trouble?

    Thank you for your time.