|
Panel 1:Lawrence H. Summers, former Treasury Secretary and former Director of the White House’s National Economic Council andMartin Feldstein, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and former President of the National Bureau of Economic Research
Panel 2:David M. Cote, Chairman & CEO of Honeywell,Alfred P. West, Chairman of the American Business Conference and CEO of SEI, andNavin Thukkaram, Chief Operating Officer of Qwiki Inc.
WASHINGTON, September 20, 2012 – Lawrence Summers, former Treasury Secretary and former Director of the White House’s National Economic Council, and Martin Feldstein, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and former President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, will headline the third forum ofStrengthening of America—Our Children’s Future, designed to raise public consciousness of the country’s growing and unsustainable debt. The forum will take place on Thursday, September 27th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Carnegie Corporation of New York in the 26th Floor Board Room at 437 Madison Avenue, NY, NY. Summers and Feldstein will speak to the challenge of pro-growth tax reform, and will be followed by a second panel featuring American business leaders David Cote, Alfred West and Navin Thukkaram offering their perspectives.
Strengthening of America—Our Children’s Future is led by former U.S. Senators Sam Nunn (D-GA), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Warren Rudman (R-NH), and Evan Bayh (D-IN). Together they have convened a bipartisan group of former senators and representatives to come together for four forums before the first presidential debate. Each of the forums resembles a congressional hearing with high-level former U.S. government officials providing remarks before a panel of former elected representatives. Past sessions have focused on the foreign policy, national security, and economic implications of the debt as well as bipartisan plans to address the issue, and have included as participants notable policy and business leaders such as James A. Baker, III, Robert E. Rubin, Robert Gates, Admiral Michael Mullen, Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson, and Alice Rivlin. The final session will focus on the imperative of entitlement reform and health care cost control.
The effort is a joint project of The Concord Coalition, The Bipartisan Policy Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the American Business Conference, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Strengthening of America—Our Children’s Future, is working closely and coordinating with the Campaign to Fix the Debt, the Comeback America Initiative, and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s ongoing efforts to call attention to the fiscal challenges threatening America’s future.
The Steering Committee for Strengthening of America currently includes the following former members of Congress: Howard Baker (R-TN), Bob Bennett (R-UT), David Boren (D-OK), Bill Brock (R-TN), Richard Bryan (D-NV), Mike Castle (R-DE), Jack Danforth (R-MO), Tom Davis (R-VA), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Mickey Edwards (R-OK), Daniel Evans (R-WA), Bill Frenzel (R-MN), Dan Glickman (D-KS), Slade Gorton (R-WA), Bob Graham (D-FL), William Gray (D-PA), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Jane Harman (D-CA), J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA), Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS), David McCurdy (D-OK), Jim Nussle (R-IA), Tim Penny (D-MN), Chuck Robb (D-VA), Tim Roemer (D-IN), Alan Simpson (R-WY), Charlie Stenholm (D-TX), John Tanner (D-TN), Tom Tauke (R-IA), and Tim Wirth (D-CO).
“Too many people assume it is impossible for Republicans and Democrats to work together,” said Senators Nunn, Domenici, Rudman, and Bayh in their joint statement. “Our experience tells us that it is not only possible—it is absolutely essential. While we are not naïve about the unlikely prospect of any agreement until after the election, there are plans currently on the table—like Simpson/Bowles and Domenici/Rivlin—that are bipartisan, that put everything on the table, and that provide a useful starting point for debate and agreement. We need to focus attention on this vital issue today to preserve our children’s future tomorrow.”
For press inquiries on Strengthening of America, please contact Andrew Schwartz, CSIS senior vice president for external relations, at aschwartz@csis.org or call (202) 775-3242.
The effort is a joint project of the following organizations:
The Concord Coalition
The Bipartisan Policy Center
The Center for Strategic and International Studies
The American Business Conference
The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University
The Hoover Institution at Stanford University
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University
You can follow the initiative on Twitter@USAStronger.
|
|
