On Facing the Facts this week, The Concord Coaliton’s Executive Director Robert L Bixby substituted for regular host Chase Hagaman. Bixby’s guest was Josh Gordon, Executive Vice President and Director of Policy & Research at Free the Facts. Prior to joining Free the Facts in October, Gordon served for 18 years as Concord’s Policy Director.
Bixby and Gordon discussed the final Fiscal Year 2019 numbers, the potential benefits of the TRUST Act (see above) and the prospects for a government shutdown in late November. They also discussed Gordon’s new role and the mission of Free the Facts.
Gordon explained that Free the Facts is “focused on educating college age students… and the idea is to bring the policy discussions that we have in Washington to their campuses in a way that they don’t normally experience them.”
“Most college students,” Gordon said, “have told us that they are faced with partisan political debates but they don’t get into the current policy debates that policymakers should be having in Washington.”
The goal, Gordon said, is to show college students that “there are ways to look at the facts that are nonpartisan. The facts are the facts.” And even if solutions can become partisan, “we want them to understand what the different solutions could be and we want to prepare them to have a policy discussion with people who may not agree with them on those solutions but free from partisan talking points.”
The organization conducts tours of college campuses in the fall and spring of each year. Topics for discussion include Social Security, Medicare and student loans.
Hear more on “Facing the Future.” Chase Hagaman hosts the program each week on WKXL, NHTalkRadio.com (N.H.), and it is also available via podcast. Join Chase as he discusses national fiscal policy issues with budget experts, industry leaders, elected officials and candidates for public office. Past broadcasts are available here. You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play or through RSS.
