{"209241":{"#nid":"209241","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Students Take on the Fiscal Pressure of Balancing the Federal Budget","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn April 17th, students took a break from their busy schedules to try on a new hat: member of Congress with an assignment to reduce the national debt, and do it in two hours. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe cross-campus federal budget balancing event was organized by\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EAaron Hoodin\u003C\/strong\u003E, an\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EInternational Affairs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EModern Languages\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;major and a member of the Ivan Allen College\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EStudent Advisory Board\u003C\/strong\u003E, and was co-sponsored by the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan fiscal policy group co-chaired by\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESam Nunn\u003C\/strong\u003E, distinguished professor in\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Sam Nunn School of International Affairs\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;Students were randomly divided and given a brief rundown on the process and the current debt situation. Then they went to work on the problem that has stymied Congress for years.\u0026nbsp; Most groups were able to reduce the debt by about a billion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERose Anthony\u003C\/strong\u003E, an International Affairs major and a 2012-2013 IAC\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EDean\u0027s Scholar\u003C\/strong\u003E, shared her thoughts on the trials of balancing the federal budget.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022From talking to people after the event, it was clearly a success. Most told me that they usually don\u2019t have much fun learning about current events, but being able to discuss it with other people helped tremendously. One student said, \u0027It was fun and engaging. I surprisingly learned a lot in two hours.\u0027\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I had the pleasure of attending this event previously, and I can say that each time is a new experience. Comparing my old booklet to the new one, I was able to see that many of my decisions had changed dramatically. Seeing this put things in perspective because not only do our representatives have to deal with their own shifting ideals, but also those of society.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn April 17th, students took a break from their busy schedules to try on a new hat: member of Congress with an assignment to reduce the national debt, and do it in two hours.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27663","created_gmt":"2013-04-25 12:02:52","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:08","author":"Rebecca Rolfe","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"209231":{"id":"209231","type":"image","title":"Think You Can Beat Congress? Event","body":null,"created":"1449180001","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:00:01","changed":"1475894869","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:49","alt":"Think You Can Beat Congress? Event","file":{"fid":"196836","name":"budgetbalance_500x333.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/budgetbalance_500x333_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/budgetbalance_500x333_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":246706,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/budgetbalance_500x333_0.jpg?itok=wHtGuo8J"}}},"media_ids":["209231"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/concordcoalition.org\/","title":"Concord Coalition"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4195","name":"budget"},{"id":"64931","name":"Concord Coalition"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-1720\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}