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Recap: At Bipartisan Policy Center, Paul Ryan, Jamie Dimon & experts discuss expanding economic opportunities

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By: AIF Staff

Washington, DC – Earlier this week at the Bipartisan Policy Center, American Idea Foundation President Paul Ryan joined a panel of experts from the private and public sectors to discuss the future of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The event, which was the latest in a quarterly series hosted by the American Idea Foundation, featured a wide-ranging conversation between Ryan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, moderated by BPC President Margaret Spellings, and remarks from Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman.

The dialogue between former Speaker Ryan and Dimon focused on how policymakers and private sector leaders can expand economic opportunities for hard-working Americans, while also touching on the national debt and the impact it will have on economic growth moving forward. The pair discussed how to improve poverty-fighting policies like the Earned Income Tax Credit and how to better utilize technology to administer these credits.

A recap of the media coverage from the event follows.  

Just the News:  Ryan, Jamie Dimon warn U.S. nearing edge of fiscal cliff: ‘Most predictable crisis’

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon are warning the American public and U.S. elected officials that the nation is nearing the edge of its fiscal cliff, calling it the “most predictable crisis” the country faces.

Ryan said interest payments on the U.S. national debt will exceed the entire Pentagon budget within 5 years. Dimon said quantitative easing during COVID cost about $4 trillion, describing it as “fiscal irresponsibility” that has consequences…

“There will be a rebellion and that’s the worst possible way to do it. There’s a cliff. We see a cliff. It’s about 10 years out,” Dimon said during a Bipartisan Policy Center discussion Friday on “Building Greater Economic Security for Working Families.”

“It’s the most predictable crisis we’ve ever had,” Ryan added.

“Exactly,” Dimon replied. “This is about the security of the world. We need a stronger military. We need a stronger America. We need it now.”

Ryan said a “statutory” fiscal commission is the only way to solve the grave financial challenges facing America as it heads toward $35 trillion of debt….Ryan said entitlement program reform must be part of the solution to put America on a sound fiscal path in the next 10 years, but neither President Joe Biden nor former President Donald Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner, currently support changes to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

Ryan empathized that a statutory fiscal commission would be the best way for entitlement reform to come to fruition.

CNBC: Improving this tax credit for low- to middle-income families is a ‘no brainer’

The EITC — which provides around $60 billion annually to workers and their families — could be reformed to be more efficient, experts said at a panel hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center on Friday.

“This is like a no brainer, lift up society,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said. “And I would pay for it by taxing the wealthy a little bit more.” Increasing spending on the earned income tax credit would give more money to households and communities, and therefore providing more money for food and children’s education, he said.

“It brings dignity,” Dimon said. “That money will be spent in local communities….”

Approximately 1 in 5 workers who are eligible for the federal earned income tax credit fail to claim it, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. In addition, there is also a high rate of improper payments, due to the credit’s complex eligibility rules. Having a more efficient system could make it possible to have it so the credit shows up in workers’ paychecks, rather than as one lump sum when they file their taxes, he said.

“I would rather have it embedded in the paycheck itself, so that each pay period you have that higher pay, so that you can budget more accordingly,” Ryan said.

Improved technology could also help get the earned income tax credit to eligible workers who are not currently receiving it, while also making it easier to change the terms of eligibility.

“We have a lot of expiring provisions coming in tax law at the end of the next session of Congress,” Ryan said. “There is where you have churn of tax policy where you probably have an opportunity to make some of these expansions.”

The Well News: Ryan Calls EITC ‘Best Tool in the Arsenal’ for Economic Mobility

According to Paul Ryan, former speaker of the House, on hand at the Bipartisan Policy Center to discuss economic security for working families, the impending reopening of the federal tax code in 2025 may be an opportunity to consider enhancements to the EITC.

“If you are pushing for a society that is known for upward mobility, and you are striving for equality of opportunity, the best tool in the arsenal that we have today is the EITC,” Ryan said.

“This is as much of a no-brainer policy as I have ever seen,” agreed Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO and chairman….

Saying the EITC “has proven to be very effective,” Ryan emphasized that technology is the key to enhancing the program’s efficiency further.

“The reason we couldn’t fix this when I was running the committee that deals with this, is technology,” he said. “By now, surely technology can solve this problem; Can make sure that [the credit] goes to who it needs to go to…Can clear up waste, fraud and abuse.”

Doubling down on his criticism of the Treasury Department’s “terrible data system,” Ryan said that with the right software, EITC could be a “monthly or biweekly” credit “embed[ed] in a person’s paycheck.”

In addition to addressing the shortcomings of the current data systems and software at Treasury, Dimon prefers any updates to the EITC “get rid of the child requirement,” which Ryan has also previously endorsed, and simplifying the credit as a straightforward benefit.

“It is either that or universal basic income. Those are the two debates in front of us,” Ryan said. “Smooth disincentives and focus on individual customized benefits that get people to work.”

Video of the entire panel discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center is accessible here.  

At Harvard’s Kennedy School, Ryan calls for pro-growth reforms to avert a debt crisis & touches on Speaker of the House drama

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By: AIF Staff

Cambridge, MA – Yesterday, American Idea Foundation President and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke at Harvard’s Institute of Politics at an event titled: Inflation, Tax Policy, and the Way Forward. In a conversation facilitated by Professor Karen Dynan, the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, Ryan detailed his thoughts on how America can prevent a debt crisis through a series of pro-growth policies and common-sense reforms. He also touched on the latest developments around the next Speaker of the House.  

To watch the entire discussion that Speaker Ryan had with Harvard students and the broader university community, click here or on the video below.

Following the conversation, Ryan talked with the Harvard Crimson about the ongoing discussion around the next Speaker of the House:

Ryan criticized the current state of national politics in relation to the economy and the rising national debt.

“You have unserious politics that is incapable of dealing with the drivers of our debt, which basically are our entitlement programs,” Ryan said.

“It’s all populism and personality, and that’s one of the reasons why people are having a hard time getting everybody to get on the same page,” he added….

“Jim’s the next guy in the queue and he’s trying it right now,” Ryan said. “I don’t think he will go 15 rounds,” he added, referencing McCarthy’s lengthy election process.

“It’s a harder hill to climb. I think [Jordan] can do it, but he’s got to flip 17 people,” he said…..

In an interview with The Crimson following the forum, Ryan dismissed the idea of a bipartisan solution. Instead, he supported Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) receiving “elevated powers,” to allow the legislative body to resume its duties.

“The last, last, last resort is a coalition government because that means the majority ceding its power to be a majority, ” Ryan said. “I think they’ll go to McHenry as a souped-up Speaker pro temp as the last resort before they do that.”

To learn more about Ryan’s proposal to spur economic growth and avert a debt crisis, please visit: https://www.americanrenewalbook.com/.

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On Sunday Edition with Boyd Matheson, Paul Ryan discusses visit to Utah Valley U., civil society, polarization, & the need for solutions-oriented legislators in Congress

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By: AIF Staff

Last week, AIF President and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan visited Utah Valley University in Orem, UT to serve as a guest lecturer at an event held by the Governor Gary Herbert Institute for Public Policy. While on campus, Ryan spoke with UVU students and the wider university community about the short-term and long-term challenges facing America.

As part of his visit, Ryan spoke with Boyd Matheson for an interview that aired on Sunday Edition. During the wide-ranging discussion, Speaker Ryan talked about his message to UVU students, the need for comprehensive immigration reform starting with border security, and the state of Congress after a tumultuous week in Washington. The full interview is accessible at below and some excerpts follow.

Ryan’s message to Utah Valley University Wolverines:

“I teach economics at the University of Notre Dame but I also go around the country speaking with young people. It’s a good use of my time, frankly. I want to talk to young people about the future of their country and the need to get involved and solve the problems that we have. But it also gives me sustenance. It gives me hope, because you meet with these really wonderful, young people who are doing incredible things and it gives me hope and confidence for the future. It does me a lot of good too.

There are problems that seem intractable in this country and they want to know is there a way out of this problem. I hear more and more about our mounting federal debt that they are going to inherit. This $33 trillion debt that is coming from me and my generation. [They say:] “We have to pay off your debt from my generation before we can start having our government and our programs.” I think there’s an awakening to this problem, a desire to address it, and a lot of questions about that.

What I’m encouraged most about is young people are looking at the hyperpolarization that is engulfing our country lately and engulfing democracy and I think it’s the fact that we’re a more digital society. The digitization has pulled us apart in many different ways and the fact that young people are waking up to this and saying: “This doesn’t look right. I don’t like this. What can we do about this? This is a problem I’m sensing.” Just the fact that young people are concerned about the polarization in our country, asking what they can do about it, that is encouraging to me.”

Ryan on the motion to vacate the Speaker of the House:

“It was a total disgrace. I think it was an absolute disgrace that they kicked the Speaker of the House out for doing his job. They, being 4% of the Republican Conference, said to the other 96% that we’re going to bring Congress to a screeching halt and we’re going to kick the Speaker out for simply doing his job. And they were led by one disgraced, unethical, unprincipled demagogue and the fact that 7 people would follow him to do that is very disturbing. I know there are a lot of raw emotions in Congress. You cannot function without a Speaker of the House.

First and foremost, I think the Republican Conference needs to fix this rule because what happens with these entertainers in Congress is today’s extreme tactic is tomorrow’s normal behavior. It’s a one-way ratchet. So, you have to fix this motion to vacate if any future Speaker is to be in any way successful, because the job of Speaker, you say no more than you say yes to Members. Members are asking you for things constantly, every day, and you can’t say yes to all of these demands….

I said this to the students: If people aren’t mad at you as Speaker of the House – if 10 people aren’t mad at you at any given day – you’re not doing your job. So, if you have these carnival barkers in Congress who are going to bring it to a screeching halt because they didn’t get their way, that’s not the way our Founders set the legislature up to work so they have to fix that for any future Speaker to be successful.”

House Democrats’ role in the Motion to Vacate vote:

“I think they decided to take a political advantage over protecting the institution. I think they made the wrong decision. I think they thought: Let’s take the best player that Republicans have off the playing field. Kevin McCarthy is the best at recruiting; he’s the best at raising funds for the majority; he’s a very effective Speaker; and he helped build the majority. So I think they thought, let’s take him off the playing field because they’re not going to replace him with someone who is as good and we’re going to get a political advantage over their chaos that will make us look better by comparison. I think they chose a political advantage over institutional protection.”

Ryan on the appetite among legislators to address our national debt:

“We know what to do to solve this debt crisis. I passed four budgets in the House that balanced the budget and paid off the debt. This book that we wrote at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank I work at, is the latest version of showing how we do it. There are other ways to solve this but the point being is we can solve this debt crisis, we can get our debt under control – it will take us time – but we have fundamentally, unserious politics.

But to answer your question: Are there people in Congress today who know how to solve this problem and are willing to solve this problem? Yes, but there aren’t enough of them. That’s part of the problem. And it takes leadership.

Right now, we do not have presidential leadership, frankly, from either front-runner for the nominations that are willing to take on this challenge. They would rather play demagogic, populist politics on the debt crisis than actually leaning in, telling people hard truths, and solving the problem. The problem with our debt crisis is the longer you delay solving it, the uglier that your options and your solutions become. So that’s why it’s so much in our interest to get ahead of this problem, solve it on our own terms as a country, and solve it in a bipartisan way rather than kick the can down the road and then do emergency surgery in a debt crisis when the bond markets have turned on us.”

Saving our safety net will help our most vulnerable:

“Republicans and Democrats agree that we want a safety net. We want these programs. We, in society, think this is a good thing. The problem is these programs were written in 20th century in ways that are proving unsustainable in the 21st century. They go back to like the 1960’s and the 1930’s so we know so much more now about how better to run these programs, to fulfill these missions, than we did then. So applying these new ideas, technologies, and techniques to running these programs and changing them is how you solve the debt crisis, and we can do it in a way that doesn’t affect the benefits for people in and near retirement — that’s the good news in this story, if we act soon….

On the need for civility in public discourse:

“I think we need to put a premium on civility and we need to start talking about civility and what it takes to have a civil society. So, I think we need to bring to the front of our dialogue and the front of our minds: Civility, because this digital culture we live in is very uncivil and that is what is ripping us apart. If we can keep our society bounded, if we can keep each other, from different walks of life, in this common society, in a civil society, there is no stopping this country.”

For more information on Speaker Ryan’s efforts to strengthen our social safety, check out American Renewal.