Page 154 of The First Gentleman

Many see these same details spool out on their laptops and phones. Jessica Martin’sWashington Postexclusive has been released to coincide with her speech, as has an entire administration website devoted to describing the effort in terms ordinary Americans can grasp.

Toward the end of her speech, Maddy recaps the important points. “To raise more money, the United States will increase the legal immigration quota by a million people per year for a decade; the immigrants who pass a thorough vet will be given immediate work permits and go only to states that welcome them. All their federal taxes will go into a lockbox for a decade, with total tax revenue divided equally between Social Security and Medicare until both are sustainable for thirty years.

“The United States will pass a fifteen percent global corporate tax rate, so even companies that put their profits in tax shelters will pay that. The increased revenue will also go into the lockbox to pay for entitlements, along with new revenue from repealing the carried interest tax rate, which currently taxes the fees fund managers automatically earn, usually two percent, whether they make or lose money or don’t invest at all.

“The carried-interest funds can also be used to incentivize the owners of office buildings with lots of empty space to convert them into energy-efficient, multipurpose structures housing offices, shops, and apartments, including affordable apartments for those with modest incomes, with all the new taxes these activities produce going into the lockbox or a revolving fund to pay for more conversions. This program will create good jobs in all states, raise revenue for state and local governments, and reduce the harmful emissions from the built environment thataccount for most of the emissions in cities—seventy percent in New York City, for example.

“If these efforts don’t produce enough money in the short run, Congress will be authorized to raise the cap for Social Security taxes for people with incomes above three hundred thousand per year.

“To save money, the government will be able to bargain for lower prices for all the drugs it buys in bulk, building on the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which permits it for the ten most expensive drugs in common use. The government will also replace the costly student loan system with a direct loan program, which in the 1990s saved both students and taxpayers billions with lower costs and fewer defaults, thanks to an income-based repayment system.

“The program will be available to all student borrowers for legitimate colleges and community colleges and other skills-based training. The Grand Bargain will also bring back Al Gore’s Reinventing Government initiative from the 1990s, which made government function better and at lower costs, with the federal workforce at its lowest level since 1960.

“Finally, our future growth rate will be enhanced by creating a National Economic Investment Fund to more adequately fund the ARPA agencies, including DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which gave us the internet and GPS; and the ARPA-H agency, which supports transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs, including further advances in the Human Genome Project, which has already given us a return on investment of more than one hundred and forty-one to one.

“The National Investment Fund will operate the way university research programs that produce commercially valuable results have functioned for more than forty years. Universities can license their discoveries to the private sector in return forup-front payments or for stakes in new companies as long as all profits go back into further research efforts.

“For example, MIT charges nothing on the front end for the use of its taxpayer-funded research but takes a modest ownership position. New York University has earned a lot of money from contributing its discoveries to new companies. So has the University of Central Florida. Based in Orlando, its campus is now the third largest in the United States after the University of Michigan and Ohio State. UCF’s creative software developments have been used by NASA, Disney World, video-game companies, and others.

“In addition to selling the software technology, UCF gives faculty members leaves of absence to help start-ups deploy new technologies and established companies integrate their advances into ongoing operations. This system has enabled taxpayer-funded creativity to generate an enormous number of new jobs that make America more competitive, and it provides money to the university to keep expanding its software work. It’s time to take a system that works well with university-funded research and apply it to other taxpayer-funded R and D efforts, increasing government revenues and reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio without raising taxes above what’s outlined in the plan.”

Then Maddy says, “We know that big investment programs produce more tax revenues than they cost. But if we’re short of our goal after five years, the Reinventing Government board will be empowered to make more recommendations on savings, beginning with a review of the recommendations in the Simpson-Bowles budget report from 2010 and a rigorous effort to bring health-care costs in Medicare and Social Security Parts C and D into line with inflation. The board’s decisions, after public hearings, can be implemented unless they’re blocked by Congress.”

When she gets to that point, Maddy realizes that while she hasbeen delving deeply into specifics, into policy and politics, the entire chamber has been silent. Unlike at the State of the Union, her Democratic colleagues haven’t jumped up in applause to show support for certain line items, and the people on the other side of the aisle haven’t murmured or blurted out opposing sound bites.

It unnerves her, but she finishes the details of the programs and pauses, preparing to deliver some rhetorical flourishes meant to convey solidarity and trust.

She doesn’t get the chance. The chamber explodes with applause, and after many minutes waiting for it to subside, she gives up.

She leans forward and says, simply, “Thank you.”

EPILOGUE

ONE YEAR LATER

CHAPTER

140

Manhattan

The morning news comes on my car radio as I’m searching for a parking space near Madison Square Park, just below Twenty-Third Street. As soon as I hear the first few words of the intro, I turn it up.

“And now, from Washington, DC, John Agro, the man sometimes known as Jack Doohan—among other aliases—has agreed to turn state’s evidence in the case against Burton Pearce, implicating the former White House chief of staff in a web of murderous conspiracies. Meanwhile, former Providence Mafia captain Tony Romero is due to stand trial next month for the murder of New England Patriots cheerleader Suzanne Bonanno more than eighteen years ago, a crime for which First Gentleman Cole Wright was convicted, then formally exonerated.”

Sounds like I might finally have my ending!

A van pulls out of a space just ahead of me and I swoop in to park against the curb.Perfect timing.I promised to be here at ten, and I’m just one minute late.

I head into an office building across from the park. The lobby has a worn marble floor and decorative pillars. Old-school New York. The elevator doors look like burnished bronze.

When I get to the sixth floor, I head down the hall to suite 605, the office of my literary agent, Marcia Dillion. After Nottingham chief Reginald Hamilton canceled the contract with me and Garrett, Marcia started her new career. She tells me ex-editors make the best literary agents, which is one way she justifies her 15 percent commission.

Fine by me. She earns every penny.

I see her waving from her office door like she can’t wait to see me. Marcia looks ten years younger. Being her own boss obviously agrees with her. I appreciate the enthusiastic welcome and the big bear hug she gives me.

She puts her arm around my shoulders. “They’re fantastic!” she whispers in my ear.

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