with Senators Sessions and Udall
Game is Designed to Teach Americans about Hard Tradeoffs to Fix Deficit
WASHINGTON? The country needs a national conversation about the national debt, lawmakers from both parties said Wednesday, and they embraced the popular game Budget Hero as a way to jumpstart that discussion.
?The point of the game is to educate and empower us and I hope it is played in schools and right here at the Capitol,? Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) told reporters.
On Wednesday, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Public Insight Network at American Public Media launched an updated version of Budget Hero at a session on Capitol Hill hosted by Udall and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee. The Senators were joined by former Representatives John Tanner (D-TN) and Robert Livingston (R-LA), who was House Appropriations Committee Chair in 1997 when a balanced budget was enacted.
While debate continues in Washington over raising the debt ceiling, many Americans remain confused about underlying budget issues. To help make the budget accessible and understandable, the Wilson Center?s Science Technology and Innovation Program (STIP) and the Public Insight Network team at American Public Media have developed Budget Hero 2.0, a computer game that allows anyone the opportunity to test and recognize the effects of specific budget cuts or expenditures on the federal budget. This latest version of Budget Hero includes updated Congressional Budget Office numbers and text about the pros and cons of various budget decisions.
?I have been arguing for months that we should be [discussing the budget] publicly in the constitutional process so the American people could see what?s going on,? Sessions said on a news talk show last week. ?We?re not just going to ratify some secret deal even if our good leaders plop it down on the floor of the Senate...I really believe we need a national discussion.?
At this event, two college students played the game, one as a Democrat and one as a Republican. They created mock budgets based on their budgetary priorities and explained how their choices affected the budget well into the future.
"Budget Hero provides facts - not spin or ideological talking points - such as exactly how much we spend on foreign assistance, the military budget, health care and on entitlements, and what difference it would make to cut or eliminate them, or to increase them," explained Jane Harman, director, president, and CEO of the Wilson Center. "At a time when the Congressional conversation about the budget has all but broken down, we are here...to provide a teaching tool to the American people...That way, the American public can become the heroes we need."
The original Budget Hero has been played more than 830,000 times and it?s been covered in at least 100 blogs with various sources calling it ?fascinating,? ?very cool,? and ?instructive and fun.? The new version, Budget Hero 2.0, has been updated to reflect financial sector bailouts, stimulus plans and major policy initiatives with budgetary implications, such as health care reform. In the latest update to the game, there are some new policy cards including Sen. Paul Ryan's Medicare plan; freezing military spending; and a Tea Party option.
?If we?ve learned anything with the Public Insight Network and with Budget Hero, it?s that the American people, regardless of politics or personal background, have an incredible capacity to understand complex issues and an eagerness to share their insights ? with journalists and policy makers,? said Linda Fantin, director of Network Journalism and Innovation for American Public Media.
?People also are willing to make tough tradeoffs, even when those decisions run contrary to their own personal interests. Many participants said members of Congress should be required to play the game.?
The updated version of Budget Hero is available at www.wilsoncenter.org and at www.marketplace.org.
?The point of the game is to educate and empower us and I hope it is played in schools and right here at the Capitol,? Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) told reporters.
On Wednesday, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Public Insight Network at American Public Media launched an updated version of Budget Hero at a session on Capitol Hill hosted by Udall and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee. The Senators were joined by former Representatives John Tanner (D-TN) and Robert Livingston (R-LA), who was House Appropriations Committee Chair in 1997 when a balanced budget was enacted.
While debate continues in Washington over raising the debt ceiling, many Americans remain confused about underlying budget issues. To help make the budget accessible and understandable, the Wilson Center?s Science Technology and Innovation Program (STIP) and the Public Insight Network team at American Public Media have developed Budget Hero 2.0, a computer game that allows anyone the opportunity to test and recognize the effects of specific budget cuts or expenditures on the federal budget. This latest version of Budget Hero includes updated Congressional Budget Office numbers and text about the pros and cons of various budget decisions.
?I have been arguing for months that we should be [discussing the budget] publicly in the constitutional process so the American people could see what?s going on,? Sessions said on a news talk show last week. ?We?re not just going to ratify some secret deal even if our good leaders plop it down on the floor of the Senate...I really believe we need a national discussion.?
At this event, two college students played the game, one as a Democrat and one as a Republican. They created mock budgets based on their budgetary priorities and explained how their choices affected the budget well into the future.
"Budget Hero provides facts - not spin or ideological talking points - such as exactly how much we spend on foreign assistance, the military budget, health care and on entitlements, and what difference it would make to cut or eliminate them, or to increase them," explained Jane Harman, director, president, and CEO of the Wilson Center. "At a time when the Congressional conversation about the budget has all but broken down, we are here...to provide a teaching tool to the American people...That way, the American public can become the heroes we need."
The original Budget Hero has been played more than 830,000 times and it?s been covered in at least 100 blogs with various sources calling it ?fascinating,? ?very cool,? and ?instructive and fun.? The new version, Budget Hero 2.0, has been updated to reflect financial sector bailouts, stimulus plans and major policy initiatives with budgetary implications, such as health care reform. In the latest update to the game, there are some new policy cards including Sen. Paul Ryan's Medicare plan; freezing military spending; and a Tea Party option.
?If we?ve learned anything with the Public Insight Network and with Budget Hero, it?s that the American people, regardless of politics or personal background, have an incredible capacity to understand complex issues and an eagerness to share their insights ? with journalists and policy makers,? said Linda Fantin, director of Network Journalism and Innovation for American Public Media.
?People also are willing to make tough tradeoffs, even when those decisions run contrary to their own personal interests. Many participants said members of Congress should be required to play the game.?
The updated version of Budget Hero is available at www.wilsoncenter.org and at www.marketplace.org.
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