Pillar A
+$5.0 trillion
Revenue Optimization
Collect what is already owed — without raising wage taxes on the middle class.
How it works — 10 policiesThe American Stability and Long-Term Prosperity Act
Leave the next generation a country they can thrive in.
Fiscal balance is the means, not the destination. This nonpartisan 20-year framework adopts solutions already working in peer democracies — longer lives, cheaper housing, stronger schools, safer communities — while holding the middle class harmless and putting public debt on a path from 98 percent of GDP toward 70. The aim is a solvent, competitive country our children will be glad to inherit.
Working draft — Version 2, 2026. Illustrative estimates, not official CBO scores. Built from CBO, Treasury, IRS, OECD, and IMF baselines, and from consolidations and social programs that have already been run in peer democracies.
~98%
Debt held by the public
Share of GDP as the United States enters FY2026. CBO projects 107% by 2029 and 156% by 2055.
$1.8T
FY2025 federal deficit
The gap between what the government spends and what it collects in a single year.
$970B
Net interest
Already the third-largest item in the federal budget, behind only Social Security and Medicare.
$696B
Annual gross tax gap
IRS estimate of tax owed but not paid for tax year 2022. Closing part of this gap does not require new rates on wages.
Version 2 · Comprehensive Edition · 2026
Fiscal balance for what? Fiscal sustainability is the enabler of human flourishing, not a substitute for it. Version 2 adds a fifth pillar that closes ten measurable gaps between the United States and peer democracies — in health, education, housing, mental health, public safety, immigration efficiency, and civic infrastructure — without leaving the twenty-year path to 70 percent of GDP. Browse Pillar D.
Four moving parts, plus a fifth pillar for human flourishing
Collect more of what is owed. Spend more carefully. Grow the economy. Close the gaps. Protect the institutions.
The framework does not rest on a single silver bullet. It pairs revenue that mostly comes from closing gaps and preferences, with efficiency that lowers unit costs rather than benefits, with investment that raises the growth denominator, and with a fifth pillar that closes ten measurable gaps against peer democracies — all held together by independent analysis. Browse all 44 policies by category.
Pillar B
−$3.9 trillion
Spending Efficiency
Pay less for the same outcomes — without cutting benefits people rely on.
How it works — 10 policiesPillar C
+$2.1 trillion cost
Growth Acceleration
Grow the economy that has to carry the debt.
How it works — 8 policiesPillar D · New in V2
+$130 billion net
Human Flourishing & Societal Infrastructure
Close the measurable gaps against peer democracies.
How it works — 10 policiesFoundation
−$339 billion
Institutional Integrity
Build the institutions that make a 20-year plan survivable.
How it works — 6 policiesThe arithmetic
Current law climbs toward 156 percent of GDP. This plan bends the curve to 70.
The Version 2 base-case ten-year deficit reduction is on the order of $7.0 trillion — Version 1’s $7.1 trillion minus Pillar D’s net cost of about $130 billion, absorbed inside the same stress-case bands. Peak debt-to-GDP shifts by +0.3 percentage points. The 70 percent target is preserved.
Unchanged current-law path versus this framework’s base case.
- Current law
- This plan
Current-law markers follow CBO’s March 2025 long-term outlook (107% by 2029; 156% by 2055). Plan markers are the framework’s illustrative central estimates, conditional on substantially full enactment. Ranges and stress tests are in the working draft, Section 9.
Twenty years, three phases
Debt peaks early, then falls. Families see benefits before the ratio does.
01 · Years 1–3
Foundation
Peaks near 101% of GDP
Stand up the Independent Fiscal Council, fund IRS modernization, enact the carbon fee with dividend, expand drug-price negotiation and site-neutral Medicare payment, begin defense procurement reform, authorize the first growth-investment tranche, and start the Version 2 foundation: 988 and talking-therapies pilots, points-plus-employer immigration, digital public infrastructure, Teacher Corps recruitment, and the CVI fund.
02 · Years 4–10
Structural Reform
Falls toward 92% of GDP
Complete the measures that need a longer coalition: universal pre-K, Social Security solvency, remaining corporate-tax alignment, full workforce and manufacturing deployment, and the core of Pillar D — national primary care, paid family leave, income-contingent loans, social housing, and the Well-Being Impact Standard. Statutory reviews at Years 5, 7, and 10 can adjust course without abandoning the trajectory.
03 · Years 11–20
Consolidation
Approaches 70% of GDP; surplus in the base case
Lock in the gains. Activate the Generational Investment Framework and seed a sovereign wealth fund once debt-to-GDP reaches 70 percent and the structural deficit is closed. Standing Pillar D programs continue under five-year Independent Fiscal Council reviews; social-housing inventory targets 500,000 permanently affordable units by Year 15 and one million by Year 20.
What this means at the kitchen table
A family earning $75,000 is held harmless — and, on net, comes out ahead.
Over twenty years the modeled household balance-sheet improvement is on the order of $70,000–$125,000 in present value, Version 1 plus Version 2 — from healthcare, energy, skills, childcare, paid family leave, housing-cost stabilization, and student-debt restructuring — not from a tax cut financed with more borrowing.
$70,000–$125,000
20-year household PV improvement, V1+V2 · up from Version 1’s $40,000–$70,000
- 01
Carbon dividend
About $1,200–$1,800 a year per household, designed to more than offset energy-price pass-through for most families, with a rural multiplier.
- 02
Healthcare costs
Out-of-pocket health spending $1,800–$3,200 a year lower within ten years as universal primary care (D1), drug negotiation, and site-neutral payment take hold.
- 03
Skills account
A federal workforce account with a $5,000 opening deposit and $1,000 a year thereafter — portable, individual-directed, modeled on Singapore’s SkillsFuture.
- 04
Early childhood and family leave
Subsidized care worth about $8,000–$12,000 a year for households with children under five, plus 12 weeks of paid family leave at 80 percent of wages — about $8,000–$14,000 per birth or serious medical event.
- 05
Housing and student debt
In participating metros, $6,000–$18,000 a year in avoided rent premium within seven years, and income-contingent repayment that removes catastrophic student-debt exposure.
- 06
Retirement programs
Social Security and Medicare benefits for current retirees are not reduced. Solvency is restored through high-earner contributions and gradual parametric reform for younger workers.
For staff, press, and the public
Read the short version. Download the long one. Inspect the bill outline.
Layered on purpose: a plain-language plan, a 63-page Version 2 working draft with citations, and a title-by-title legislative architecture — including Title VIII — for Legislative Counsel. Not a slogan deck.
Figures in this framework are illustrative directional estimates derived from publicly available data and conventional Congressional Budget Office budget-window logic. They are not official CBO scores. Any provision adopted from this framework would require formal CBO scoring before legislative consideration. This document is a policy white paper, not an introduced bill.
Questions about method? How the plan was built. What this initiative is: About Plan for Prosperity. To write to the authors: Contact. To support the work: Donate.