WASHINGTON – U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker and other national experts will discuss solutions to the fiscal challenges facing the country at a forum Thursday, April 1, on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland.  

The Fiscal Solutions Forum is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and The Concord Coalition. 

The panel will speak and answer questions from the audience on possible solutions to large federal deficits, funding problems in the entitlement programs and the related risks to the American economy. 

The panel members: 

• Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who is in his 15th term representing Maryland’s Fifth Congressional District.
• David M. Walker, who previously headed the U.S. Government Accountability Office and is now president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He is the author of Comeback America, a recently published book on how to restore fiscal responsibility.
• Robert L. Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition since 1999. 
• William D. Novelli, a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He previously served as CEO of AARP, a national organization that champions the interests of older Americans.
• Andrew G. Biggs, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He formerly served as the principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration.
• Donald F. Kettl (moderator), dean of the Maryland School of Public Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author or editor of a dozen books and monographs, including The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail Us and How to Fix Them.

"Analysts across the political spectrum realize that our country is on an unsustainable fiscal path,” Bixby said. “Even after the economy strengthens, Washington expects to run up trillions of dollars of additional debt in the coming decade. An aging population, spiraling health care costs, unfunded promises in the big federal entitlement programs and political procrastination are threatening our nation's future. It's high time the country began to address these challenges. Thursday's forum will offer a variety of perspectives on how best to do that."  

For reservations e-mail events@ur.umd.edu or call (301) 405-4638. (Please indicate "Fiscal Solutions Tour.")

For more information visit http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/sppupdate/fiscalwakeup.

The forum will stream live at http://bit.ly/bVwdID or through www.concordcoalition.org.

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The Concord Coalition is a national, nonpartisan, grassroots organization. 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.

The University of Maryland School of Public Policy is one of the nation's leading graduate programs devoted to the study of public policy, management and international affairs.