WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In another era, agreement among analysts from leading left, center, and right-leaning think tanks over a sweeping plan to address major fiscal and social issues might carry some heft in Washington policymaking.
In today's culturally infused, party-line politics, when establishment voices particularly among the U.S. Republican party have been sidelined, perhaps not so much.
But after a yearlong debate and analysis, Brookings Institution, Bipartisan Policy Center, and American Enterprise Institute economists and analysts have still given it a shot, outlining a national "grand bargain" addressing everything from immigration and decarbonization to tax and entitlement reform.
Launched on Tuesday with a forum at Brookings, the authors have no illusions about how their plan will be greeted by the incoming Trump administration. While some of the ideas aren't inconsistent with things the president-elect and his circle often favor, such as expanded school choice, stricter teacher accountability, and regulatory reform, it also recommends things they don't agree with: adopting a carbon tax, a bigger safety net for the poor, a large federal role in building out a decarbonized electric grid, and increased federal taxes as a share of gross domestic product.
"The point," said American Enterprise Institute economist Michael Strain who co-chaired the group along with Brookings senior fellow Isabel Sawhill "was to show compromise across broad principles at least was possible."
"If someone felt that school choice is a huge concession," Strain continued "maybe they feel happy about a carbon tax or a Social Security system that is more generous to elderly Americans in poverty or higher revenue to GDP."
"It does move the country as a whole in a better direction," he added.
"You want to be clear-eyed and realistic. This is 100% Republican controlled Congress," said Ben Harris of Brookings. "They don't have incentives to cooperate... This is more of medium-term play. To solve some of the biggest challenges we need bipartisan compromise."
Harris noted beforehand many Democrats' discomfort around entitlement reform even as they'd cheer things like expanded school nutrition and richer tax credits for the working poor.