Douglas Elmendorf testified on discretionary federal spending at a hearing of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Among the topics he addressed were defense spending, tax policy, federal revenue, entitlement programs, and the effects of President Obama’s announcement of troop withdrawal from Iraq on the deficit.
The hearing was briefly interrupted by a protester representing the Occupy Wall Street movement who called for tax increases on the richest one percent and an end to war as a means of reducing the deficit.