CED Letter to Congressional Leadership: Public Policy Priorities for 2024

2024 will present many challenges to US economic growth and geopolitical stability. But it is also a year where the US can harness many of the exceptional opportunities to lay a stronger foundation for sustained prosperity.

We stand at a decisive crossroads—in a geopolitical and economic world of shock & awe. The unpredictable shocks—of COVID-19, followed by two wars—in Europe and the Middle East, and a fiscal crisis in Washington. And then the awe of opportunity—the rapid-paced development of vaccines, advances in technology at speeds unmatched, the unanticipated strength of a US and allied coalition to defend a rules-based order, the growing likelihood of a US economic soft-landing and the potential for a global coalition to successfully address climate change and a clean energy transition.

The challenges we face are exceptional—with both utopian and dystopian predicted implications. The solutions we deliver will have powerful consequences for decades to come. Committed, purposeful leadership, across the public and private sectors, will determine whether we leverage our opportunities to achieve responsible, sustainable outcomes.

For over 80 years, starting with our legacy founders’ role in the Marshall Plan and the Bretton Woods agreement, the Committee for Economic Development, the nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy center of The Conference Board (CED), has been dedicated to helping to carve bi-partisan pathways forward with advice from business leaders in the nation’s interest. In this spirit, we offer these recommendations to build a more resilient, sustainable economy providing equal opportunity for all Americans and reinforce our decades-long commitment to collaborate to achieve a rules-based international order.

2024 Public Policy Priorities

1. Long-Term Economic Growth:
   • Achieve Fiscal Stability

   • Responsibly Leverage Technology’s Rapid Advancements

   • Successfully Implement the Historic Federal Investments in Infrastructure, R&D, Manufacturing, and Clean Energy

2. Restore a Rules-based International Order:

   • Strengthen US Global Leadership amidst historic shifts and dangerous disruptions

3. Strengthen our Democracy:

   • Restore Trust in the 2024 Electoral Process