Charles Paul "Chuck" Blahous III (; born 1963) is the J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Chair and Senior Research Strategist at th
Mercatus Center
at

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

, as well as a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, specializing in domestic economic policy and retirement security (with an emphasis on Social Security), as well as federal fiscal policy, entitlements, and health care programs. Blahous was nominated by President Obama, and confirmed without opposition by the Senate, to serve as a public trustee for Social Security and Medicare. Blahous and Robert Reischauer served as the public trustees from 2010 through 2015. Blahous was formerly the deputy director of President Bush’s National Economic Council, special assistant to the president for economic policy, and executive director of the bipartisan President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security. He served on th
Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings
Additionally, through the Bipartisan Policy Center, Blahous and Reischauer have continued to monitor Social Security and Medicare finances as “shadow trustees.”

Research

In July 2018, Blahous publishe
The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System
The study found, if enacted, the Medicare for All Act would cost at least $32.6 trillion, on top of current federal healthcare spending, in the first decade. On April 30, 2019, Blahous testified on this research at the first Congressional hearing on Medicare for All, in front of the House Rules Committee.

Biography

Blahous was born in 1963 in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

, United States, the second of three children of Charles Paul Blahous II of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

descent and Marjorie Alice Robertson of

Scot The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

ancestry. His father's paternal grandfather Cyril Blahuš (1883–1934) was from

Ostrožská Lhota Ostrožská Lhota () is a municipality and village in Uherské Hradiště District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,500 inhabitants. Geography Ostrožská Lhota lies in the Vizovice Highlands, in the valley of the Okluky s ...

and grandmother Alžběta Sochorová (1885-1978) was from

Strážnice Strážnice (german: Straßnitz) is a town in Hodonín District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Etym ...

. He was raised in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and received an

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1985, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in computational

quantum chemistry Quantum chemistry, also called molecular quantum mechanics, is a branch of physical chemistry focused on the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems, particularly towards the quantum-mechanical calculation of electronic contributions ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1989. Between 1989 and 1996, Blahous worked as a legislative aide to Senator Alan Simpson of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

; he was his Congressional Science Fellow in 1989–1990 and legislative director in 1994–1996 (sponsored by the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

). After Simpson's retirement, Blahous served from 1996 to 2000 as a policy director for Senator

Judd Gregg Judd Alan Gregg (born February 14, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and was a United States senator from New Hampshire; in the Senate, Gregg served as chairman of the ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. From June 2000 through February 2001 he served as the executive director of the

Alliance for Worker Retirement Security An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. From 2001 to 2007, he served as a special assistant to the president for economic policy, during which time he also served as executive director of the bipartisan President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. From 2007 to 2008, he held the position of the deputy director of the National Economic Council. After the end of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's second term in office in January 2009, Blahous joined the

Hudson Institute The Hudson Institute is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporat ...

as a senior fellow. In 2010, Blahous left the Hudson Institute and became a research fellow at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

. His ideas about Social Security reform issues are explained in ''Reforming Social Security for Ourselves and Our Posterity'', a book he published in September 2000. Blahous' second book, ''Social Security: The Unfinished Work'', was published by Hoover Institution Press in November 2010, and a third, ''Pension Wise: Confronting Employer Pension Underfunding – And Sparing Taxpayers the Next Bailout'', was released by the same publisher in December 2010.Charles Blahous Author Page on Amazon.com
/ref> Apart from politics, he is also a member of the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

and has published several articles on

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

in renowned American baseball journals. His publications cover also federal

entitlement An entitlement is a provision made in accordance with a legal framework of a society. Typically, entitlements are based on concepts of principle ("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement. In psychology ...

demographics Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

and

. In 2012, he co-authored an article with Jason J. Fichtner entitled 'Social Security Reform and Economic Growth' in '' The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs'', published by the

George W. Bush Presidential Center The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which opened on April 25, 2013, is a complex that includes former United States President George W. Bush's presidential library and museum, the George W. Bush Policy Institute, and the offices of the Geor ...

References

External links

Blahous' bio
at the

Mercatus Center The Mercatus Center is an American Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with ...

Hudson Institute Biography for Chuck Blahous

Hoover Institution Biography for Charles Blahous
*

''(archival copy)''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blahous, Charles United States presidential advisors Princeton University alumni UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni American people of Czech descent 1963 births Living people American people of Scottish descent American people of English descent George W. Bush administration personnel People from Alexandria, Virginia George Mason University faculty Virginia Republicans Maryland Republicans Mercatus Center