Fed Event: TODAY at 4:30 PM

How Would the American Public Deal With the Budget Deficit and Social Security?

Thursday February 10 4:30-6:00 pm
Cannon House Office Building, Room 122

You are invited to a presentation of an innovative study in which a representative sample of Americans were asked to show how they would deal with the Federal budget and Social Security.

Respondents were:
--presented the discretionary budget divided into 31 major line items and allowed to adjust each amount, getting constant feedback on the effect on the deficit
--presented a wide range of detailed and scored options for adjusting tax revenues
--presented scored options for dealing with the Social Security shortfall and Medicare

Ultimately, most respondents were able to make enough hard decisions to cut the deficit deeply, solve the Social Security shortfall, and reduce the Medicare deficit. Some of their decisions may surprise you.

The budgets made by Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Tea Party sympathizers varied significantly, but there was also much common ground.

The study was conducted by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC), a joint program of the Center on Policy Attitudes and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, and fielded by Knowledge Networks.

Presenter: Steven Kull, director Program for Public Consultation

Moderator: I.M. Destler, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland

Discussants:

Bill Frenzel, Co-Chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, for 20 years a member of Congress specializing in budget matters.

Philip Joyce, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, author The Congressional Budget Office: Honest Numbers, Power, and Policy Making

Please RSVP: info@public-consultation.org or 301-458-0444