Fiscal Responsibility and Health Care Go Hand in Hand

February 27, 2009

After eight years with a virtual “Do Not Enter” sign at the White House front door, President Obama has opened 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to leaders, policymakers and advocates of a wide range of views. On Monday, AFSCME President McEntee was among union and business leaders, conservative and progressive economists, and think tankers and Democratic and Republican lawmakers who came together for a “Fiscal Responsibility Summit.” At the summit, President Obama unveiled his outline to cut the $1.3 trillion federal deficit he inherited from the Bush administration in half by the end of his term by letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire, reining in tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and drawing down troops in Iraq, among other items. Obama stressed the importance of restoring “discipline and honesty to our budget” while not losing sight of priorities like our ailing health care system, which he described as “the single, most pressing fiscal challenge we face, by far.” He couldn’t be more right. Just like President McEntee stated in his latest Huffington Post blog entry:

“The cost of health care coverage has skyrocketed. It threatens the economic security of working families, it strains state and federal budgets and it reduces the competitiveness of American businesses (…) We need an American solution in which all of us – individuals, employers and government – share responsibility for guaranteeing quality, affordable health care we can all count on.”

Read more about the summit at the AFL-CIO’s Now blog.