The Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce (GIST) sponsors an Annual Budget and Tax Briefing in Washington, DC. This briefing provides funders with a unique opportunity to learn about and discuss why federal budget and tax work matters to national, state and local funders. This year, GIST is joining with local partners to make this event accessible to grantmakers unable to travel to Washington, DC through virtual Budget and Tax Briefing watch parties.  Local watch parties will view a webcast of the keynote address on the federal budget and tax outlook from Bob Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Recognized as a national leader on fiscal policy issues, Mr. Greenstein will provide an overview on the key provisions in the federal budget, discuss current and upcoming budget debates and battles, and offer insights on the potential impact for low income families, workers and communities.

Budget & Tax Briefing New York Watch Party 

March 22nd, 2018  11:00am – 1:00pm

Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo – Changemakers Room

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Session Agenda

11:00 am – Welcome

11:15 am – Federal Policy, Budget, and Revenue Outlook – What’s In Store During the 115th Congress? Noted tax and budget policy expert, Bob Greenstein, will provide an overview on the key provisions in the federal budget, discuss current and upcoming budget debates and battles, and offer insights on the potential impact for low income families, workers, and communities.

12:00 pm – Virtual Q&A with Bob Greenstein

12:15 pm – Local Implications: How the Federal and State Budget Intersect. Ron Deutsch, from the Fiscal Policy Institute will join us for a discussion between local funders.

1:00 pm – Adjourn

About Bob Greenstein

Bob Greenstein is the founder and President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  He is considered an expert on the federal budget and a range of domestic policy issues, including anti-poverty programs and various aspects of tax and health care policy.  He has written numerous reports, analyses, book chapters, op-ed pieces, and magazine articles on these issues. In 1996, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for making “the Center a model for a non-partisan research and policy organization.”  In 2008, he received both the Heinz Award for Public Policy for his work to “improve the economic outlook of many of America’s poorer citizens” and the 2008 John W. Gardner Leadership Award, given annually by Independent Sector, which said “Mr. Greenstein has played a defining role in how people think about critical budget and tax policies…. [and] help[ed] the nation address fiscal responsibility, reduce poverty, and expand opportunity.”  Two years later, he received the 2010 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize from the American Academy of Political and Social Science, which cited him as “a champion of evidence-based policy whose work at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is respected on both sides of the aisle.”  In 2011, the New Republic listed him as one of Washington’s 25 “Most Powerful, Least Famous People.” Prior to founding the Center, Greenstein was Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Carter, where he directed the agency that operates the federal food assistance programs, such as the food stamp and school lunch programs, and helped design the landmark Food Stamp Act of 1977, generally regarded as the Carter Administration’s principal anti-poverty achievement.  He was appointed by President Clinton in 1994 to serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform and headed the federal budget policy component of the transition team for President Obama.  He is a graduate of Harvard College and has received honorary doctorates from Tufts University, Occidental College, and Haverford College.

About Ron Deutsch

Ron Deutsch is the Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute. Ron has been a tireless advocate for working families for over 20 years in Albany. He led the Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security (SENSES), a statewide anti-poverty advocacy organization for 13 years and was the Executive Director of FPI’s sister 501(c)(4) organization, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness for nine years before taking the helm at FPI. Deutsch is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany. He also leads The Giving Circle, an all-volunteer non-profit that works to help improve the lives of families in the Capital District, nationally, and internationally.