Study Group with Former Attorney General Jeff Rosen: Where Does This All Lead? Who Will Set Policy and Manage Federal Agencies? What Will it Mean for Governance and What Impact Will it have on Americans?

In 2022, the federal government spent $6.2 trillion and the cumulative federal dept increased to nearly $31 trillion. As recently as 2001, the federal government spent only $3.27 trillion and the total federal dept was only $9.48 trillion. Spending is now 25 percent of GDP compared to 17.6 percent of GDP in 2001. When Joe Biden entered the Senate in 1973, annual federal spending was $245 billion (not trillion). In my lifetime, annual federal spending was once as low as $82 billion. So the trendline is all in one direction and accelerating. What does this portend for the future, not only in a fiscal sense, but in how the country is governed? This session will look at the cumulative aspects of the government's size, scope, cost and management challenges, and assess the future outlook.

AUDIENCE: These conversations are open to members of the Harvard community. Please RSVP with a valid Harvard email address.

OFF-THE-RECORD: In keeping with our long tradition at the IOP to ensure honest and candid discussions of politics, all IOP study groups are off-the-record.