Join and Grow the Movement
Sign up with Fix the Debt to receive regular updates and opportunities to get involved. Then get your friends, family and other contacts to join the campaign. Sign Up and Recruit.
Reach Out to Decision Makers
Contact your members of Congress. Ask candidates for office about the debt. Reach Out.
Join and Recruit
Join Fix the Debt
Sign up with Fix the Debt to receive regular updates and opportunities to get involved. Then encourage your friends, family, and other contacts to join.
Reach Out
Write and send a letter to your representatives in Washington
Speak Out
Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper.
Host a Virtual Budget Exercise
Use our interactive Debt Fixer federal budget tool to conduct a group exercise to foster an informed discussion on what it will take to fix the debt.
Share our Is It Worth It tool
Compare and share campaign proposals, key legislation, and parts of the federal budget.
Write Congress
Tell your Members of Congress that you joined Fix the Debt and you expect them to support the goals of the movement. Click here to contact your representatives in Congress. Below is sample text for a letter.
Sample Text
Dear ___,
The national debt is one of the most important issues facing the United States. That is why I have joined the Fix the Debt Campaign and hope you will commit to addressing our fiscal challenges in a responsible, bipartisan manner when the current crisis is over.
The debt is exceptionally high by historical standards and is on course to reach unprecedented, and unsustainable, levels. For the sake of our economy, security and future generations, we should address the debt after the economy recovers.
The Fix the Debt Campaign includes Americans across the country from all backgrounds who are willing to work together to find common ground in getting the debt under control.
As a constituent, I hope you will embrace the goals of Fix the Debt and work with us to put the country on the right path. More information about the movement can be found at https://www.fixthedebt.org.
Attend a Tele-Town Hall
Members of Congress and candidates for office regularly convene and attend public events when they are home for a congressional recess and during the campaign season. While fewer in-person town hall-style meetings with constituents are being conducted due to COVID-19, politicians still hold various virtual events.
These events are a great opportunity to let your representatives know that the national debt is important to you as a constituent as well as an effective tactic for getting lawmakers on the record on the issue and clarifying their stance. Here are the steps for attending a virtual event and asking a question.
- Find out about events in your area.
- Visit here to find information on events involving members of Congress and candidates for office.
- Get informed and comfortable discussing the subject.
- Come up with a question to ask. Here are some ideas.
- Do you think the national debt is a problem that should be addressed after the current crisis is over?
- Is addressing the national debt a priority for you?
- Do you have a plan for growing the economy and getting our fiscal house in order?
- Do you support offsetting new spending or tax cuts so that they don’t add to the deficit?
- Get yourself recognized as quickly as possible when it comes time for questions. Speak clearly and confidently.
- Report back on the experience to us at info@fixthedebt.org and on social media.
Write Your Local Paper
Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper about the need to address the national debt.
Find your local paper here and write and send your letter directly to the newspaper.
Here are some tips for writing your letter:
- Pick one newspaper to write to. If that paper does not print the letter, then you can send to another.
- Keep it brief. Letters to the Editor requirements vary by newspaper, but generally letters should be about 200 words.
- Discuss why the issue is important to you personally. For example, you can discuss how rising national debt will affect you and your family.
- It is most effective to tie the letter to a recent article in the paper or a recent development.
Here are some talking points to help you draft your letter.
- An aging population, rising health care costs, growing interest payments on the debt, and insufficient revenue are the primary drivers of the long-term debt.
- Investments in education, infrastructure, research, housing, and transportation that can help grow the economy and improve our standard of living will be squeezed into a small sliver of the budget.
- Higher national debt means higher interest rates down the road and less capital available for small businesses, large companies, and families to borrow and invest.
- Families will feel the effects of rising debt because reduced investment will mean lower wages while higher interest rates will make home, automobile, credit card and college loans more expensive.
- The Campaign to Fix the Debt is a nonpartisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path. More information about the movement can be found at http://www.fixthedebt.org
The Debt Fixer
AN INTERACTIVE TOOL FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE FEDERAL BUDGET
Educators, community leaders, elected officials, and civic and business groups across the country are using the Debt Fixer to help educate people about the federal budget and national debt.
This online interactive tool allows groups large and small to gather and debate the difficult trade-offs necessary to put the United States on a sustainable economic budget path. Participants spend time negotiating and selecting budget priorities, including in areas like health care, defense, Social Security, taxes and other domestic spending, which demonstrates how such choices impact our national debt.
The Debt Fixer was developed by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an organization led by budget experts that has provided objective research and analysis of budget issues for over 35 years. The Campaign to Fix the Debt is a project of the Committee.
Please contact us! DEBTFIXER@CRFB.ORG.
Students discuss options at a Debt Fixer budget exercise.