Robert Greenstein

Robert Greenstein is the founder and executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He is considered an expert on the federal budget and a range of domestic policy issues including low-income assistance programs, various aspects of tax policy, and Social Security.

Greenstein has written numerous reports, analyses, op-ed pieces, and magazine articles on budget- and poverty-related issues. He appears on national television news and public affairs programs and is frequently asked to testify on Capitol Hill.

In 2008, Greenstein received both the Heinz Award for Public Policy in recognition of his work to "improve the economic outlook of many of America's poorer citizens," and the John W. Gardner Award from Independent Sector for playing "a defining role in how people think about critical budget and tax policies." In 1996, Greenstein was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. The MacArthur Foundation cited Greenstein for making "the Center a model for a non-partisan research and policy organization."

In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed him to serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform.

Prior to founding the Center, Greenstein was administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he directed the agency that operates the federal food assistance programs, with a staff of 2,500 and a budget of $15 billion.