So Who is Jessica Riedl?
Jessica Riedl is a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution, in the Tax Policy Center. Earlier, Riedl spent six years as chief economist to Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and as staff director of the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. She has also served as a leading budget and tax research fellow at the Manhattan Institute (2017-2025) as well as the Heritage Foundation (2001-2011).
Riedl’s campaign experience includes serving as the lead architect of the 10-year deficit-reduction plan for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, and as the director of budget and spending policy for Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Based in Washington D.C., Jessica regularly testifies before Congress, works directly with congressional leaders (of both parties), drafts and shapes key legislation, and briefs top-tier presidential candidates on fiscal and economic policy.
A prolific researcher, Jessica has published more than 600 studies and articles since 2001 on federal spending, taxes, deficits, and economic policy, and has assisted in the writing of several New York Times best-selling books. Additionally, Riedl is frequently sought out nationally as a popular public speaker on unsustainable federal spending and deficit trends.
Riedl’s op-eds are regularly published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Washington Post, New York Post, Politico, CNN.com, Dispatch, Reason and elsewhere. Her economic policy expertise is cited hundreds of times annually by reporters and columnists in top national newspapers and magazines. Riedl regularly discusses economic policy on all major TV networks, as well as high-profile radio programs and podcasts.
Washingtonian Magazine named Jessica Riedl one of the 500 most influential policy professionals in Washington D.C.—including one of the 26 most influential within economic policy—in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. Riedl holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.
When not building budget charts, Jessica hangs out with her spouse and two daughters, suffers with Wisconsin sports teams, and unapologetically, like, enjoys 1980s music, television, movies, fashion, and pop culture.
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