By Leah Girard

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The government needs to get the support of the American public before attempting budget reform, said panelists at an event held by the Urban Institute Thursday.

"The role for the public is to endorse the choice to take action," Ruth Wooden, president of the opinion research organization Public Agenda said. In order to achieve this, the government needs to "bring the public along to get comfortable with action."

According to statistics presented by Public Agenda, the American public's awareness of a debt crisis is growing. The difficulty is that they are not informed about the solutions and their consequences. And even if they have been exposed to the projections released by the government, they are unlikely to believe them because of the unreliability of past projections.

Margaret Simms, director of the Low-Income Working Families project at the Urban Institute, said, "One of the problems is that nobody takes alarming or unpleasant news well from people they dont trust."

Besides, any message presented on the subject of budgets is not likely to be pleasant, she said. Panelists agreed that the key word when talking about reducing the deficit should be "sacrifice" and not just for the wealthy, a message to which most Americans might respond negatively.

Despite the natural reluctance to confront bad news, action is nevertheless needed, Richard Keil of Public Strategies Inc. said. "We cant keep going the way were going," he said. "Its unsustainable ... . We need to have a conversation about sacrifice."

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, agreed. "Somebody has to just throw the tough medicine out there ... . We are talking about every point of the budget," and its going to mean higher taxes for all. "The reform will be harder than expected," but not more than can be handled.

But showing the negative possibilities should not be a ploy to scare the American people into accepting action, Keil said. It "should only be used ... to get their attention," and should even be inspiring.

The message should also highlight the brighter side to this issue, that the budget problems are curable, Wooden maintains. There is, she said, more than one possible solution.

Simms said, "Its important that people understand that there are choices."

But just because there are options available, does not mean the government can put off choosing a course of action. MacGuineas said she still recommends proceeding with caution. "The notion of a fiscal goal ... is critical," But, she continued, "I still dont think the country is ready for specifics." Just tell the people, "If you dont do this, you will be worse off."

However the government proceeds, informing the people that action is under way is crucial. Eugene Steuerle, a fellow at the Urban Institute emphasized, "To be successful, we have to engage the public."

MacGuineas agreed, but stressed the message needs to be strong. "It has to start with the president ... and be more consistent," she said.

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