Federal spending has been rising much faster than revenue. If the debt keeps growing as a share of our country’s total output, we will eventually need to make big cuts in critical programs and/or boost taxes to levels that could crush the economy. To have a brighter future, we need to raise revenue, invest in education and research, while spending money in other areas more efficiently.

Many Americans lack the skills to get ahead in a high-tech economy. We need to improve education from the earliest years through higher ed, so students can reach their full potential and meaningfully contribute to their communities and the economy.

In the US, healthcare costs almost twice as much as in other wealthy countries, but we have the worst health outcomes in the developed world. Medicare and Medicaid are a rapidly growing share of the Federal budget and boosting the national debt to unsustainable levels. We need to make healthcare more effective and less costly.