October 08, 2009

Update: View video of the 'Fiscal Wake-Up Tour' March 6

On Saturday, March 8 (at 7 p.m.) and again on Sunday, March 9 (at 5 p.m.) KSEE 24, NBC’s Fresno affiliate will air “The Maddy Report,” a 30-minute public affairs television program on “The Looming Federal Budget Deficit: Are We Mortgaging Our Children’s Future?”

This program is part of a series of public forums around the country (most recently at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin, Madison) sponsored by the non-partisan Concord Coalition designed to focus attention on our nation's daunting long-term fiscal challenges.

Those interviewed on “The Maddy Report” will be:

• David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability Office,

• Alice Rivlin, Senior Fellow and Director, Greater Washington Research Program, The Brookings Institute (former Office of Management and Budget Director in the Clinton Administration)

• Alison Fraser, Director, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation and

• Robert Bixby, the Executive Director of The Concord Coalition

Mark Keppler, executive director of The Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno, will host the program. The topics discussed will be this year’s $400 billion deficit, as well as the accumulated federal government debt of over $9 trillion that now costs $30,000 for every man, woman and child. The discussion will trace how this happened and what can be done about it.

“The goal of “The Maddy Report” will be to provide a balanced, fact-based and thought-provoking examination issues facing the region, state and nation,” said Keppler. Don Jackson, chair of The Maddy Institute, added that the program has “undoubtedly, advanced our mission of assisting in the development of a more informed and involved electorate.”

The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno was established in 1999 by the California Legislature in honor of State Senator Ken Maddy, whose 28 years of public service demonstrated the successful application of personal integrity, legislative know-how and bipartisanship to the governance of the State of California.

The Maddy Institute mission includes providing non-partisan, interdisciplinary and fact-driven analysis of public policy issues impacting our region and state. The Institute also provides practical training for local officials and civic leaders, fellowships for Fresno State students with local state and federal legislators, as well as symposia and extension courses on a range of topics relating to public policy and public administration.

For more information about the institute, call 559.294.9119 or e-mail mkeppler@csufresno.edu.