In Washington, D.C., there is a set of people who move into town when their party comes to power

and who eventually leave once their party is voted out. These are the high-profile residents of D.C.,

the ones who make headlines. But for every one of these people, there are thousands more

that you rarely hear about or hear from. This is the other Washington, D.C. These people work

behind the scenes on all sorts of important matters, like U.S. tax policy or the runaway national

debt.

Our guest today is a specialist in both those matters.

My nonpartisan approach is to be critical of everybody in Washington.

Do you have any friends?

No.

Not really.

Much of my policy has been sharing uncomfortable truths and, frankly, angering people.

So do you see yourself as someone who's sounding the alarm?

Absolutely. I've been sounding the alarm since 2001.

How's that working out?

As you can see from the debt, my career has been an abject failure.

This friendless soul is Jessica Riedel.

I'm a senior fellow in budget, tax, and economic policy at the Manhattan Institute.

Despite her claim to failure,

Reidel is consistently named by Washingtonian magazine as one of the most influential economic

policy professionals in D.C. She has testified before Congress. She routinely briefs lawmakers

in both political parties, and she has two messages. Number one, the federal debt crisis is even

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