Over the weekend, I asked Henry Aaron, an economist at Brookings, whether it would be fair to say that the definition of fiscal responsibility had changed. Where once it meant entitlement cuts, now it meant an attention to health reform. "Yeah," he said. "That's exactly right." My column today tracks that transformation as a way of previewing this afternoon's White House Fiscal Summit. There's a reason that Bob Greenstein, whose Center for Budget and Policy Priorities was a leading player in changing minds on this matter, is speaking at the meeting, while Peter G. Peterson, whose foundation has been the central proponent of entitlement cuts, has no official role. Oh, and it includes graphs. Lots of them.
