Wednesday, August 8, 2007 12:00 AM

The Brookings Institution is not being "timid" about offering specific proposals, nor is it "tiptoeing around" the issue of Social Security and Medicare and their effects on the federal budget, as Samuelson claims. There are more than 20 papers prepared by Brookings scholars and containing specific recommendations for dealing with a wide range of policy challenges, including the economic implications of the baby boomer retirement wave.

These "Opportunity 08" papers have been delivered directly to the staffs of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates with the aim of stimulating discussion during the campaign and serving as the basis for policy proposals by the next administration. As part of another Brookings series, "Budgeting for National Priorities," two of our scholars wrote a paper proposing a "hard cap" freezing government spending at fiscal 2008 levels and raising the Social Security retirement age to 67.

Specific enough for you, Mr. Samuelson?

One final refutation of Mr. Samuelson's contention that think tanks have not proposed specific agendas for heading off the budget deficit crisis in Social Security and Medicare: Brookings recently established a new policy center to recommend and promote reforms in the health care system, including the financing of that system. The founding director of this new center is Mark D. McClellan, who has real-world experience as former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Say you're sorry, Mr. Samuelson.

Ron Nessen
Journalist in residence, the Brookings Institution