Simpson And Bowles
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Co-chairmen Alan Simpson, left, and Erskine Bowles have proposed a new deficit reduction compromise. Reuters

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan Washington-based group promoting fiscal responsibility, is holding a contest on the best ways to better balance the nation's bank account and avert an economic disaster.

The CRFB's Fiscal Roadmap Project today announced the Voices of America video contest for people across the country to tell the budget experts in the Washington, DC their ideas on ways to fix America's fiscal house, the group said in a release.

The CRFB said it created the contest to broaden the national conversation over our national debt problem.

The debt of the United States government just topped $14 trillion, and as a share of the economy, it is at its highest point since just after World War II ended. Going forward, if our budget policies are not changed, our debt will soar as the gap between what the government spends and the taxes it collects continues to widen,' the group said.

The group was a strong supporter of the recommendations made last December by the bipartisan, presidentially appointed National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The plan did not receive the necessary backing from commission members to force Congress to consider it.

Several commission members, some of them members of Congress, have said that they would promote commission recommendations in this Congress. But the CRFB has doubts that these reformers will be heard.

Despite growing concern among Americans that we must tackle our fiscal challenges, there is a real risk that nothing will be done because our lawmakers may not be able to agree on how to move forward, the group said.

Therefore, the CRFB wants to get the public more involved, urging Americans to submit videos on their views of America's fiscal crisis and how you would fix it. Talk to your family. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your friends. And tell us what you find.

The video contest begins today, Jan. 19, and will close on Feb. 21 at midnight.

The top 2 winners will receive $1,000 each and their videos will be shown at a March budget expert event in Washington and be featured on the CRFB website. The top 10 videos, including the top 2, will be posted on the CRFB contest website.

To learn more about the contest, judging criteria, rules and submission information, visit the contest website.

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