Forum gives treasury secretaries their turn

Forum gives treasury secretaries their turn
Former heads of treasury discuss their roles Oct. 5
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BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

The role of the secretary of the treasury will be discussed at a forum Friday evening, Oct. 5, at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy by eight men who have held that position.

Participants will share their views from the treasury on bureaucracies, politics, personalities, process and policy. Among the many issues to be addressed: Should the tax system be reformed? Should there be a balanced-budget amendment? How interventionist should the government be regarding the exchange rate? How should Social Security and Medicare be handled?

Former secretaries of the treasury who will attend the forum (and the presidents under whom they served in that role) are James A. Baker III (Reagan), Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. (Clinton), W. Michael Blumenthal (Carter), Nicholas F. Brady (Reagan and Bush), G. William Miller (Carter), Donald T. Regan (Reagan), Robert E. Rubin (Clinton) and George P. Shultz (Nixon).

ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial-page editor, Paul Gigot, will serve as panel moderators. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the moderated discussions.

The forum will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Commons at James A. Baker III Hall. The Baker Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., are presenting the forum with support from the Carlyle Group and the Shell Oil Co. Foundation.

This is the third in a series of joint programs between the Baker Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center. Previous forums held in Washington, D.C., reunited former White House chiefs of staff and national security advisers to discuss their roles.