Interviews

Annelise Anderson
Associate Director, OMB, 1981-1983

Bert Carp
Deputy Assistant for Domestic Affairs for President Jimmy Carter, 1977-1981

Alan Cohen
Economist, Senate Budget Committee, 1983-1993
Senior Advisor, Dept. of Treasury, 1993-2001
Senior Budget Advisor, Senate Finance Committee, 2001-present

Tom Daschle
Senator (D-SD), 1987-2005

Christopher Edley
Associate Director, OMB,
1993-1995

John Hilley
White House, Director of Legislative Affairs, 1996-1998

William G. Hoagland
Staff Director, Senate Budget Committee, 1986-2003

Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Director, CBO, 2003-2005

James McIntyre
Director, Office of Management and Budget, 1977-1981

Jim Miller
Director, OMB, 1985-1988

Joseph Minarik
OMB, Associate Director for Economic Policy, 1993-2001

June O'Neill
CBO, Director, 1995-1999

Rudolph Penner
Director, CBO, 1983-1987

Robert Reich
Secretary of Labor, 1993-1997

Robert Reischauer
Director, CBO, 1989-1995

Alice Rivlin
Director, CBO, 1975-1983 Director, OMB, 1994-1996

Robert Rubin
Secretary of the Treasury, 1995-1999

Warren Rudman
Senator (R-NH), 1980-1993

James Sasser
Senator (D-TN), 1976-1994

Charles Schultze
Chair, Council of Economic Advisers, 1977-1981

John Sununu
White House Chief of Staff, 1989-1991

John Taylor
Member, Council of Economic Advisors, 1989-1991 Undersecretary of Treasury for International Affairs, 2001-2005

Alan Cohen

Alan Cohen is an economist by training, but focused on poverty and income security while in graduate school. He worked at the University of Wisconsin's Institute for Research on Poverty and then at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare before working as a budget analyst for the Senate Budget Committee in the 1980s. During the presidency of Bill Clinton, Cohen worked in the U.S. Treasury Department before moving to the Senate Finance Committee, where he continues to work as a budget specialist today.

In this interview, Dr. Cohen discusses the major U.S. budgetary issues since the 1980s from a distinctly insider's perspective, providing insights into both broad questions and specific issues.

Read the oral history transcript