The White House continued its efforts to stimulate conversation among young Americans regarding President Barack Obama’s plan for deficit reduction in a conference call Thursday.
The Maneater and other college newspapers across the nation participated in the conference call.
“A lot of young Americans are concerned about their future,” said Kalpen Modi, associate director of the White House office of public engagement. “They’re worried about the economy, particularly worried about increasing debt that their generation is going to have to shoulder.”
Obama utilized social media to communicate with youth Wednesday by holding a town hall meeting at Facebook headquarters in California. Universities around the country hosted watch parties, and students could watch live on the White House website.
Modi attended a watch party at the University of Florida, where students are also participating in the latest White House measure to get input from young people.
“We’re asking young Americans to host roundtables in partnership with the administration,” Modi said. “It’s certainly not limited to just colleges and universities, but only young Americans.”
Modi said the administration was well on its way to meeting its goal of hosting 100 such roundtables by the end of May.
Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House council of economic advisers, said the purpose of the roundtables was to bring students’ concerns to the attention of the administration, so they can be reflected in the president’s plan for debt reduction and fiscal responsibility.
“He insists that while we are living within our means, there are a number of things that are too important to cut and must be protected,” Goolsbee said.
In the name of concern for students’ well-being, the plan would not make large cuts to education.
“It is short-sighted to go cut off the financial aid to 9 million college students in the middle of the year, causing 100-plus thousand of them to drop out of school,” Goolsbee said. “Not only does it hurt students to do that, it also, in the end, costs money to the government because people are going to make less for the rest of their lives.”
According to the White House, students would also suffer without debt reduction, which is why the president’s plan reduces $4 trillion from the deficit over 10 to 12 years. The makes cuts to defense, increases high-income taxes and lowers discretionary spending to a level unseen since President Dwight Eisenhower.
“It would reduce, significantly, the burden of what’s going to be put on young people today, what they’re going to have to be paid the next 20 and 30 years of their lives, because we’d have less debt,” Goolsbee said.
Goolsbee said the Republican measures of budget cutting to reduce deficit and maintain tax cuts are something the country cannot afford, if it wishes to maintain the president’s goal of not mortgaging the future.
“There are two ways to mortgage the future,” Goolsbee said. “One is to leave bills that the next generation can’t pay. The second is to not make the key investments in the training and the industries of the future.”