Underscoring the high stakes involved for younger Americans, student body presidents from more than 120 colleges around the country have called on President Obama and congressional leaders to set partisan politics aside, raise the federal debt ceiling and agree on long-term deficit reduction plans.
“Your decisions will determine what kind of country we will inherit,” the students said in a letter released at a press conference Thursday in Washington. “So please hear us clearly: It is time to put the politics aside. It is time to put the parties aside. It is time to put the pledges aside. Now is the time to do what is right for the country.”
The letter, written on behalf of nearly two million students in 40 states, supported the recommendations of the President’s bipartisan fiscal commission and the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Six.
“Shared sacrifice and common purpose must underpin whatever compromise is reached,” said the students, who have launched an initiative titled “Do We Have a Deal Yet?”
At a town hall at the University of Maryland on Friday, Obama met with Kaiyi Xie, the student body president at the university and one of the signers of the letter, to express appreciation for it.
The Concord Coalition strongly supports this student initiative, which serves as a model for greater engagement by young Americans in the cause of fiscal reform.
External links:
Do We Have a Deal Yet? (Website)
White House Blog on President’s Meeting with UMD Student Body President
Sacramento Bee: Student Body Presidents Speak Out on Debt
ABC News: Student Body Presidents Ask Capitol Hill, ‘Do We Have a Deal Yet?’
Washington Post: Student body presidents urge political leaders to reach compromise on debt debate
