The United States faces serious economic and social challenges. These problems may seem intractable. The policy debate typically puts them into silos, and within each silo, powerful forces support the status quo. This report seeks to break down these silos. Dealing with them all at once — in a “Grand Bargain” — is a more promising strategy than dealing with them individually, because it allows for different parties to strike deals across policy issues, not just within a single issue. For example, implementing a carbon tax to address climate change seems impossibly difficult. So does increasing accountability for teacher performance. Trading one for the other might be easier than pursuing both in isolation. Fixing the structural budget deficit by reducing entitlement spending is an enormous political challenge. So is increasing spending on programs that advance opportunity. Doing both at the same time could be more politically feasible than addressing them separately. 

Published by Bipartisan Policy Center.  Grand Bargain Committee Co-Chairs: Isabell V. Sawhill and Michael R. Strain.