Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert Bixby & Peter G. Peterson Foundation President and CEO David Walker Launch Nationwide 'Fiscal Solutions Tour' in Washington, D.C.

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Sep 08, 2010, 09:30 ET

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Bill Novelli, and Isabel Sawhill Will Join in Tour Visits to Half a Dozen Cities Across the Country This Fall

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Concord Coalition and The Peter G. Peterson Foundation today launched a national "Fiscal Solutions Tour" to foster informed public dialogue about possible answers to the nation's daunting fiscal and economic challenges over the next decade and beyond.

At public forums this fall in six cities around the country, top public policy experts will offer diverse perspectives on options for defense and domestic spending cuts, Social Security and Medicare reforms, improvements in the health care system, better and fairer tax policies, and tougher budget controls in Congress.

Many of these options are being considered by President Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform as it works on recommendations to Congress and the administration. Those recommendations are due Dec. 1.

The public policy experts who will speak on the solutions tour include:

Robert L. Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition

David M. Walker, president and CEO of The Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former U.S. comptroller general

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of The American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office

Bill Novelli, professor, Georgetown University, and former CEO of AARP

Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution, and former associate director of OMB

The tour will be conducted by Concord with support from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. The forums are not intended to advance a specific set of solutions, but to provide the public with a balanced perspective on the many different possibilities.

"Although politicians this fall are talking a great deal about the current federal deficit, the real problems we face are the huge deficits that are projected a few years down the road – long after the economy has fully recovered from its current difficulties and our military commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq have been scaled back," Bixby said. "Fortunately, the country has options that could put it on a more sustainable course -- one that would make our country stronger rather than weaker for coming generations. The Fiscal Solutions Tour is designed to help people around the country understand the choices and trade-offs that will be involved in such an effort, and to encourage a vibrant public discussion about how we can move forward."

"As part of America's ongoing efforts to lay the groundwork for sustained economic growth, we must come together to find sensible, workable solutions to achieve fiscal responsibility," said Walker. "Given the sheer magnitude of the fiscal challenges we face, a narrow or ideologically driven approach will not work. All options need to be on the table and we need to adopt a plan of action soon. In doing so, it is critical that we engage the American people in this process in order to ensure its success."

The programs this fall follow up on "The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour," a highly acclaimed effort in which public policy analysts of diverse perspectives explained why they were increasingly alarmed by the nation's longer-term fiscal outlook. Between 2005 and 2009, the Wake-Up Tour visited more than 70 cities across the country and was the subject of the documentary film "I.O.U.S.A."

The initial Fiscal Solutions Tour schedule for this fall:

Thursday, September 23 – San Francisco, California
Friday, September 24 – San Jose, California
Thursday, September 30 – Des Moines, Iowa
Thursday, October 7 – Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Friday, October 22 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Friday, November 12 – Chicago, Illinois

The Concord Coalition is a non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility. Former U.S. Senators Warren B. Rudman (R-NH) and Bob Kerrey (D-NE) serve as its co-chairs and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson serves as president. For more information, visit www.concordcoalition.org.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of key economic challenges threatening America's future and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, we work to bring Americans together to find sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results. For more information, see www.pgpf.org.