Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, focusing on budget, tax, and economic policy. Previously, he worked for 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. Before that, Riedl spent a decade as the Heritage Foundation’s lead research fellow on federal budget and spending policy.

He also served as a director of budget and spending policy for Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign and was the lead architect of the 10-year deficit-reduction plan for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.

A prolific researcher, Riedl has published nearly 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. He often testifies before Congress, works directly with congressional leaders, and briefs top-tier presidential candidates on fiscal and economic policy. 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, Washington Post, New York Post, CNN.com, Vox, The Daily Beast, The Dispatch, and other publications. His economic policy expertise is also 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 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, and 2024.

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.