Brain Trust - Patrick Knudsen

Patrick Louis Knudsen is the senior budget expert at the Heritage Foundation. He joined the Brain Trust to discuss Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget reform proposals. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Is Paul Ryan's work too radical or not radical enough?

In my own view, I wouldn't call any of his work radical either way. I do think he's on the right side of the conservative slate.

He's working on getting spending under control to change the relationship between individuals and the government.

How do you write something like this without going too far?

That's the political scale that's almost instinctive, I think. Chairman Ryan has always had a very good grasp of the issues he explored, and that gives him confidence when he's talking about it.

There are few politicians with that that instinct, but I think he is one of them.

 Is there any value in doing something like this when it won't pass?

The answer is yes, and he knows it. Here's why. Everyone can see that over the past couple years, the Congress budget system has completely broken down.

Chairman Ryan understands that most policies do not pass right away.

If you keep advocating the policies, if you keep saying what needs to be said, the people will get it. And if the people get it, the politicians will eventually catch on. 

I think he's making progress.

Does Rep. Ryan care about all the loopholes in the budget?

For instance, there's a loophole called the emergency loophole, so that if there are wildfires or tornadoes as there always are, Congress can spend an unlimited amount of money.

Chairman Ryan cares about all those things. You have to remember, though, that while they're degrading to the budget process, they're still relatively small issues.

Talk to us about changing the retirement age.

When Social Security started and the retirement age was set at 65, most Americans weren't living long past 65.

We're talking about programs that were established 80 years ago. Why not raise the retirement age to a more reasonable level? It wouldn't solve the entire problem, but it would certainly help.