LITTLETON, Colo. – Colorado Fiscal Institute Director Carol Hedges, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, and former state legislators Norma Anderson and Penn R. Pfiffner will be among the speakers at a public forum this Saturday on solutions to the nation’s debt at the Arapahoe Community College in Littleton.
LITTLETON, Colo. – Colorado Fiscal Institute Director Carol Hedges, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, and former state legislators Norma Anderson and Penn R. Pfiffner will be among the speakers at a public forum this Saturday on solutions to the nation’s debt at the Arapahoe Community College in Littleton.
The program, “Intergenerational Responsibility: What Must be Done Now to Fix the Debt,” will run from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Doors will open at 12:30 p.m.
The event is co-sponsored by the Valor Christian High School Society for Economic Education, as well as the Campaign to Fix the Debt and The Concord Coalition — two non-partisan organizations that work in Washington and around the country to help elected officials and the American public better understand the need for comprehensive fiscal reforms to put the government on a more responsible path.
Anderson, a former minority leader in the Colorado Senate, serves as a Colorado co-chair for Fix the Debt. Valor Christian High School teacher Kurt Gutschick will offer some introductory remarks and Paul Hansen, Concord’s western states regional director, will serve as panel moderator.
Hansen will also provide an overview of the federal budget based on projections by the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office and other nonpartisan sources. These projections indicate that, without fiscal reforms, younger Americans and future generations will inherit extremely high and destructive levels of federal debt.
The program discussion will include reforms in the big federal entitlement programs, cuts in other domestic spending programs, the defense budget, improvements in the health care system and significant changes in the tax code. As the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and other bipartisan groups have shown, such a broad approach can curb the rapid growth in the country’s debt and eventually stabilize it.
The speakers on Saturday will also discuss the importance of bipartisan cooperation and the need to simultaneously address short-term economic concerns and longer-term fiscal challenges. For more background on these challenges, see fixthedebt.org and concordcoalition.org.
WHAT: Forum on “Intergenerational Responsibility: What Must Be Done Now to Fix the Debt”
WHO:
Norma Anderson, a former minority leader in the Colorado Senate, is a state co-chair of the Campaign to Fix the Debt.
Carol Hedges is executive director and founder of the Colorado Fiscal Institute, which provides credible, independent and accessible information and analysis of fiscal and economic issues facing Colorado.
Tom Tancredo represented Colorado’s 6th Congressional District from 1999 until 2009. He currently serves as chairman of the Rocky Mountain Foundation.
Penn R. Pfiffner, a former Colorado legislator, is an Independence Institute senior fellow and was president of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers.
Kurt Gutschick teaches economics and government courses at Valor Christian High School. He is the president of the Valor Society for Economic Education, which engages the community in political and economic issues.
Paul Hansen, The Concord Coalition’s western states regional director, has decades of experience in public policy work and civic engagement efforts around the country.
WHEN: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 6. Doors will open at 12:30 p.m., with open seating.
WHERE: Warring Theatre, Arapahoe Community College, 5900 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton.
Free parking will be available.
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The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility.
Media contact: Steve Winn, [email protected], (703) 254-7828
