WASHINGTON DC (September 18, 2019) — While policymakers are struggling to produce a federal budget and address rising national debt, a new report shows that Americans are not afraid to make hard choices.
To illustrate the tough budget trade-offs involved and promote an informed conversation about fiscal responsibility, we launched an interactive tool called the Debt Fixer. Since launching last year, more than 180,000 visitors have used the tool to confront many of the same budget decisions that lawmakers face and to see how those choices affect the debt.
Today, we released a report showing the findings of more than 10,000 users who voluntarily submitted their choices to share publicly. The results suggest that there is more support to reduce the debt than our hyper-partisan environment suggests:
- 69 percent of users successfully reached the goal of reducing the debt to 70 percent of the economy in ten years;
- 62 percent hit the benchmark of reducing debt to 40 percent of GDP by 2050;
- The average user achieved $7.6 trillion in debt reduction over a decade; and
- The single most popular policy was reducing prescription drug costs, receiving 85 percent support.
The Debt Fixer was just updated and is being used to help facilitate budget exercises across the country. From classrooms to civic groups, help bring a budget exercise to your community.
