About Centrists.Org
Updated 12/20/2004
Overview
Values
Topic Areas
Products
Organization
Centrist Policy Network
Biographical Information: Ed Lorenzen
Biographical Information: Maya MacGuineas
Biographical Information: Jeff Lemieux
Biographical Information: Scott Payne
Overview. Centrists.Org is a think tank and communications center for bipartisan policymaking. Centrists.Org provides detailed and practical centrist policy ideas that adhere to basic principles of fairness, cooperation and responsibility. It also serves as a clearinghouse for centrist ideas from outside experts.
American politics has become increasingly polarized, and legislators face tremendous pressure to maintain strict party unity and blame "the other side" for failure. Scoring political points all too often eclipses the objective of creating sound policy. Not only is the political debate often shrill, poorly informed, and unproductive, it fails to represent the largest portion of the public, which belongs to neither party.
Meanwhile, important problems go unsolved. Deficits have reemerged with no plan for how to reduce them. Roughly 40-45 million Americans have no health coverage. Almost half of the soon-to-be-retiring baby boomers have insufficient savings, yet the costs of entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are poised to squeeze the federal budget and future taxpayers. Washington’s economic policies sometimes seem as though they were designed for a bygone era, out of synch with modern economic problems, or are just motivated by pure politics. Relations between the federal government and the states are strained at a time when cooperation is essential to both homeland security and economic and social progress. Worst of all, Americans have lost faith in two pillars of modern society -- corporations and government -- because they doubt corporate executives' integrity and distrust government programs' ability to continually modernize and perform efficiently.
The country needs bipartisan cooperation and new centrist policy ideas. Workable, long-range solutions to the most important national problems cannot be rammed through legislatures on party-line votes. Instead, centrist policymakers need bold, practical new proposals that can bridge the divide between the two parties and gain broad public support. Centrists.Org aims to further this mission by developing innovative proposals to tackle the most pressing problems, and also laying out the sensible, coherent steps that Congress and the Administration can take to build confidence and make progress.
Values. A primary value is fiscal responsibility. In today’s split political system, conservatives almost uniformly push tax cuts, especially for high-earning or wealthy Americans, regardless of the nation’s long-term fiscal position or needs. Liberals’ absolute fealty to outdated and expensive entitlement programs is just as shortsighted. As both sides compete to buy votes, they ignore the larger national interest.
By contrast, centrists are more likely to be focused on long-run budgetary responsibility, carefully evaluating future budgetary needs and continuously modernizing spending programs so that future generations won’t face untenable tax burdens. Centrists must focus relentlessly on ensuring that government is effective and efficient -- providing the best possible value for the taxpayer’s dollar.
A related value for centrists is generational responsibility. We believe the baby boom generation should leave a legacy of safety, prosperity and opportunity to its children and grandchildren, much as the generations that fought the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War made sacrifices to benefit their successors.
Centrists believe high-value government uses market forces to achieve its goals, including cooperative arrangements between the federal, state, and local governments, and the private sector.
Government’s best role is to empower citizens with the information and tools they need to take care of themselves. At the same time, centrists are also progressive, and believe the national interest is best served when all Americans are free of poverty, and have sufficient opportunities for advancement.
Finally, centrists are almost always characterized by open-mindedness and a sense of fair play. Centrists have one overarching goal: accomplishment. We will not be bound by ideological preconceptions or rigidities of either the left or right.
Topic Areas. Initially, Centrists.Org will concentrate on five areas: health care, Social Security and pensions, budget and tax policy, economic policy, and public accountability and trust building.
In early 2005, Centrists.Org will begin examining a sixth topic area: Energy and Environmental Policy.
Some specific issues for study will include universal health insurance and high-quality health care, Medicare modernization and reform, savings and wealth creation for all Americans, including Social Security reform and personal savings accounts, tax reform and simplification for investors and businesses, and tort reform, especially on health care issues.
Topic Index Pages:
Health
Wealth-Building and Pensions
Budget and Tax Policy
Economy
Public Trust
Energy and Environment
Each topic has a home page and a set of "Issue Summaries." The Issue Summaries describe the general principles behind Centrists.Org's work and outline the main conclusions of Centrists.Org research on a topic. Each topic's (Basics) Issue Summary may also contain links to more detailed Issue Summaries on specific subjects. Issue Summaries are updated periodically, and are intended as a quick reference for policymakers.
Topic Issue Summaries (Basics):
Health
Wealth-Building and Pensions
Budget and Tax Policy
Economy
Public Trust
Energy and Environment
Products. Framework for analysis. With the breakdown of “regular order” in Washington, important bills often come up for sudden votes, bypassing or rushing through the committee structure. This can lead to the passage of poorly crafted legislation, with budgetary gimmicks and “sound bite” slogans dominating the process.
Centrists.Org attempts to create measurement frameworks for evaluating important proposals, most commonly using straightforward budgetary approaches, long-term impacts, and criteria for proposals' workability or practicality. We issue evaluations of pending proposals, and provide links to additional policy resources, such as outside cost estimates or descriptions of proposals.
Timely commentary. A central service is speed: up-to-date commentary and analysis of legislative developments. The website is updated continually with short updates on current legislative proposals, with links to in-house and outside policy analyses and news articles that explain their merits and implications.
Breakthrough ideas. The sharp left-right split in politics has shunted the development of policy proposals that combine the best ideas of liberals and conservatives, or that trace a new course that is off the regular political radar. Centrists.Org highlights innovative, breakthrough policy ideas from a variety of sources.
Workable policy proposals. Many good ideas for solving important problems die because they are insufficiently developed -- centrist policymakers often do not have the tools and resources to take rough sketches of innovative proposals and fill out the architectural details. Centrists.Org focuses on providing the necessary analytic details, so that breakthrough policy ideas can move more quickly from conception to enactment.
Realistic budget baselines. The official “baseline” budget forecasts used by Congress and the Administration are often distorted by politically unrealistic assumptions about future federal spending and taxes. Centrists.Org publishes updated, long-run baselines in year-by-year detail coincident with the official baselines, so that policymakers can see the fiscal outlook under more realistic assumptions. Additionally, these baselines are extended beyond the standard ten-year window in order to make more transparent the costs of intergenerational programs.
Cost estimates. Centrists.Org provides simple, reasonable and clear cost and workability estimates of important legislative proposals, including their long-run impact.
Organization and Staffing. Centrists.Org is a non-profit educational think tank, organized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code; donations are tax-deductible. The two co-founders of the organization are Jeff Lemieux, previously with the Progressive Policy Institute, and Maya MacGuineas of the New America Foundation. Ed Lorenzen assumed the position of Executive Director, effective December 2, 2004. Scott Payne is the Director for the Energy and Environmental Policy Project. Kelly Buck is the General Manager as well as the manager for the Energy and Environmental Policy Project. All can be reached at 202/546-4090 or via information@centrists.org .
The original Board of Directors includes Jeff Lemieux, Maya MacGuineas, and Eugene Steuerle, the tax reform expert from the Urban Institute. Maya is Chairman of the Board. Additional directors will include experts in economic and budget policy, pension and retirement issues, health care policy, and other issues, as well as moderate or centrist (retired) politicians, and, possibly, representatives of donors.
Centrists.Org will cooperate with the Progressive Policy Institute, as well as other think tanks and research groups dedicated to finding solutions and breaking legislative gridlock. We expect to generate considerable “content” (proposals, commentaries, opinions, estimates) from an extensive list of outside experts, on a voluntary basis.
Centrists.Org’s offices are at 236 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Suite 205, Washington DC, 20002.
The day-to-day focus of our work is the Centrists.Org website. We are developing an extensive e-mail network to connect the centrist policy community. Our goal is for the website to be a regularly used “portal” for policymakers and the media. Visitors to the website and members of the media can sign up for frequent email updates.
Centrist Policy Network. The Centrist Policy Network is currently operating on a volunteer basis, using free Weblog software and other tools provided via donation. It is a 501(c)(4) non-profit social welfare organization, which publishes political commentary and legislative resources in support of its social welfare (health coverage, budget discipline, entitlement reform etc.) mission. Donations to the Centrist Policy Network are not tax-deductible. The website is www.centristpolicynetwork.org .
Biographical Information: Edward Lorenzen.
Executive Director of Centrists.Org, Inc.
Prior to becoming Centrists.Org's Executive Director, Ed Lorenzen worked on Capitol Hill for fourteen years, working for several conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives. 
Ed served as the Legislative Director in the office of Congressman Charles Stenholm, focusing primarily on fiscal and economic policy. In that capacity Ed coordinated Congressman Stenholm's activities as Co-chairman for Policy of the "Blue Dog Coalition" of conservative Democrats in the House. In addition, Ed handled the staff work for the Public Pension Reform Caucus, which Congressman Stenholm co-chaired with Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and has worked on Social Security reform legislation advocated by Congressman Stenholm. Ed also worked closely with the staff of the Agriculture Committee, where Congressman Stenholm was the ranking member.
Ed has been active in fiscal policy issues before Congress and helped develop several of the policy initiatives of the Blue Dog Coalition. He has also worked on Social Security, welfare reform, campaign finance, labor, health care and other issues. He has been profiled in National Journal and was included in Roll Call's "Fabulous Fifty" list of Congressional staff. He was actively involved in the drafting various Blue Dog budget alternatives, the Tanner-Castle welfare reform bill, Social Security reform legislation developed by the National Commission on Retirement Policy, and numerous other budget, tax and welfare-related legislation.
Prior to working with Congressman Stenholm, Ed worked for Congressman Collin Peterson of Minnesota. While working for Mr. Peterson, who was the Blue Dog Coalition co-chairman for policy at the time, Ed coordinated all of the legislative activities of that Coalition.
Ed served as legislative director for Congressman Nathan Deal from 1994 through spring of 1995. During that period, Ed oversaw the development of a welfare reform bill that became the Democratic alternative when the House considered welfare reform.
Ed began his Congressional career with Congressman Stenholm in 1990. He worked for Congressman Stenholm for fourteen years, working on many budget and labor initiatives, most notably the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.
Ed graduated from The American University in 1992 with a degree in government and international relations. He is originally from Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
Biographical Information: Maya MacGuineas.
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Maya MacGuineas is chairman of the board of directors of Centrists.Org, Inc. She has spent the past decade working in the public policy arena, with extensive experience in economics, finance and fiscal policy. Her areas of expertise include the budget, entitlements, tax policy, and ethics in government.
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She is executive director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and director of the New America Foundation's Retirement Security project.
At the New America Foundation, she is undertaking a major project to study the options for reforming Social Security using individual accounts as a means to increase national saving, while mitigating risk, avoiding moral hazard and maintaining progressivity. Her work has been published in a variety of outlets including The Atlantic Monthly, Washington Post, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Monthly. Her media appearances include The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Washington Journal, Voice of America’s Economic Forum, International Herald Tribune television, Reuters television and National Public Radio. She has testified multiple times before Congress on topics ranging from Social Security reform to adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and for The President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security. She has been selected to participate in The Next Generations Leaders Conference on the future of biotechnology, The American-German Young Leaders Conference in Germany, and the Young Turks Program in Taiwan.
Before coming to New America, MacGuineas worked as a Social Security adviser to the McCain presidential campaign, where she helped craft the Senator’s Social Security reform proposal and traveled with the campaign. Prior to that, she worked at the Brookings Institution studying tax policy, international trade policy, economic mobility and the commercial banking crisis. MacGuineas has worked with and helped build two successful public policy advocacy groups. She helped to start Economic Security 2000, a grass-roots organization dedicated to reforming Social Security and served as the Policy Analyst for the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan organization founded by Senators Tsongas and Rudman, dedicated to eliminating the federal budget deficit. Additionally, on Wall Street, MacGuineas worked as an equity researcher at PaineWebber where she covered the financial and real estate industries.
MacGuineas received her Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where her thesis, Addressing the $9.5 Trillion Dollar Question: How to Finance the Transition to a Funded Social Security System, won acclaim.
Currently, MacGuineas serves on the Governing Boards of: Common Cause, a nonprofit committed to ensuring openness and honesty in government; Third Millennium, a nonprofit focused on providing long-term solutions for policy problems facing the United States; My Sister’s Place, a Washington DC based shelter for victims of domestic violence; and Youth Vote, a national coalition of organizations promoting civic engagement. She is a resident of Washington DC.
Biographical Information: Jeff Lemieux.
Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Directors
Jeff Lemieux is the founder of Centrists.Org. He served as executive director from its inception through mid-October 2004, when he accepted a position as Senior Vice President directing AHIP's (America's Health Insurance Plans) new Center for Health Policy and Research. Jeff will remain an active member of the Board of Directors.
An economist specializing in health care and public finance, he is the author of centrist proposals for health coverage, Medicare reform, and balanced budgets, and creator of long-term projections of entitlement spending and federal budgets used by Congress and the policymaking community.
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As senior economist for the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) through 2003, he was responsible for studies of overall economic and federal budget, tax, and entitlement issues, as well as health care. His modeling for PPI included 30-year budget projections, as well as the impact of tax cuts on various classes of taxpayers, and comprehensive budget proposals. He has testified before the Ways and Means, Finance, and other committees of Congress on Medicare reform and tax-based proposals to expand health coverage. He is the author of dozens of PPI publications, and is an issue editor of Blueprint magazine, published by the Democratic Leadership Council.
Prior to joining PPI, Lemieux was the staff economist for the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, which was co-chaired by Senator John Breaux (D-La) and Bill Thomas (R-Ca). He was responsible for the long-term baselines for Medicare spending used by the Commission and the budgetary estimates of the Commission's proposals. He ran the Commission’s modeling tax force.
From 1992 through 1998, Lemieux was principal analyst at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). At CBO, he estimated the cost of national health reform plans and, later, the impact of Medicare reforms enacted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and other laws. He created CBO's projections of national health expenditures in 1992. Those projections were updated in a series of CBO publications between 1992 and 1998.
Between 1990 and 1992 he was with the Office of the Actuary at the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), and prior to HCFA worked for DRI/McGraw-Hill, an economic forecasting firm.
Jeff holds a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland, and he remains a Maryland resident. A native Midwesterner, he has undergraduate degrees in history and economics from St. Louis University.
Biographical Information: Scott Payne, R.G.
Director, Energy and Environmental Policy Project
Scott Payne joined Centrists.Org in late 2004 in order to bring his unique perspective and practical solutions to the energy and environmental policy debates. He runs Centrists.Org’s Montana office.
Mr. Payne has more than 18 years of experience as a professional hydrogeologist, environmental consultant, and group facilitator. He also serves as the contract lead for TMDL support services (targets, source assessment, load allocation, TMDL determination, stakeholder participation, and effectiveness monitoring).
His extensive experience in on-the-ground watershed assessment and planning experience, preparation of restoration and conservation plans, setting up complex monitoring sampling and analysis plans using the EPA Data Quality Objective approach (DQO) and TMDL preparation and development will serve to further the practical analysis that has come to be expected of 
Centrists.Org. Lastly, Mr. Payne has significant experience working on non-point source water pollution issues and is the contract lead for non-point source technical needs.
Mr. Payne has extensive experience evaluating / monitoring physical and chemical conditions associated with surface water, groundwater and aquifer systems, interpreting surface and groundwater chemistry, and evaluating potential groundwater supplies for industry and municipalities. He has served multiple times as an expert on water rights and water law and has conducted both analytical and numerical groundwater flow and solute transport modeling. Other experience includes expert witness and litigation support for Superfund projects, remediating contaminated soil through land farming and soil vapor extraction; evaluating water treatment and disposal systems; overseeing activities completed at CERCLA sites and RCRA facilities; and conducting document reviews. Mr. Payne has installed over 200 monitoring wells and is the author of numerous environmental documents, work plans, papers, and reports.
Since 1992, Mr. Payne has focused his career on accelerating investigation and cleanup of contaminated and impaired sites to efficiently and effectively protect human health and the environment, reduce risk, and reduce the overall cost of cleaning up sites. Mr. Payne is the author of Strategies for Accelerating Cleanup at Toxic Waste Sites published by CRC Press and marketed internationally.
Lastly, Mr. Payne is committed to ensuring Working Group satisfaction on each and every Centrists.Org project in terms of schedule, budget, and deliverable expectations.
Scott heads Centrists.Org's office in Sheridan, Montana (address below), but can also be reached through the Centrists.Org main office in Washington, DC.
