After spending most of Day 4 with background experts, both the Debt and Economic Issues Committees heard again from advocates from Demos, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The Economic Issues Committee has worked hard to make sense of the multiple and interconnected factors affecting our economy. They carefully revised their main questions from Day 4, identifying questions that requested 1) clarification of the advocates’ previous statements; 2) additional evidence to defend their statements; or 3) information on the impact or the effect of the positions they articulated.
For example, in seeking additional information on the housing bubble’s effect on the economy, they crafted a question seeking information on the assertion that government-required housing loans to inner city or low-income families was a major cause of the rise in foreclosures; and another asking about the pros and cons of speeding up the foreclosure process.
They spent the afternoon reviewing the discussions of the previous 4 1/2 days, reflecting so that they will choose in Day 6 as highest priority for policymakers and their neighbors.
The Debt Committee also questioned the representatives of the three main positions, as they continued to refine the specific proposals and justifications behind each.
By lunch, they voted on the four top statements justifying each position, and spent the afternoon in small groups turning the rough bullet points into paragraphs that could be used to express each point of view more clearly.
For example, to articulate the position that debt reduction is less important than economic stimulus, they focused on a statement on the importance of sparking middle class consumer spending. At the same time, a statement on government waste was drafted in support of the position that immediate reductions in spending would improve the economy.
For both committees, day 5 represented a critical transition, as they finished receiving information from experts and advocates, and began to reach conclusions and draft their statements.