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The 1.2 Trillion Dollar Question: Who Will Influence the Deficit Reduction Debate?

As Congress prepares for a fall debate on spending, everyone in the public and private economic sectors is bracing themselves for a fast and furious fight to defend their priorities in the eyes of the select few charged with reducing spending by at least $1.2 trillion.

The next four months will undoubtedly be full of challenges and opportunities; virtually everyone has something at stake in this debate.

As the new Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction gets to work, most interested parties are scrambling to nail down their strategy. While this scenario should be ripe for K Street, the entire debt ceiling debate has taught us that how individuals, organizations and businesses influence Washington is changing. As POLITICO reports in this article, lobbyists and trade groups are already shifting their strategy to ensure lawmakers to hear from local constituents, local media and community influencers to affect policy outcomes.

What used to be decided mainly in the halls of Congress is now being played out in home states and districts across the country. The rise of digital and social media has made it easier for individuals to participate in the process and has stolen the ears of elected officials like never before. National media outlets are giving up influence to a proliferation of local news sources more aligned with the daily concerns within a community. Add to this scenario the rise of the Tea Party and we are seeing a clear break from traditional Washington ways.

Many of these new faces around town seem more comfortable back home in a local diner than in a D.C. steakhouse. No surprise then that it is the voices they hear locally that carry more weight than anything they will hear at a D.C. dinner or reception. With the influx of new members, a renewal of community activism and the continued fragmentation of media, it is clear that local voices will continue to play a larger role in policy debates. Average Americans really care what happens here. Anyone who is even remotely concerned about federal spending or taxes has a stake in the outcome.

The Committee – and Congress as a whole – will be listening to a number of different voices through this process, and you can bet some of those will include their supporters back home. In such a short amount of time, corporations, organizations and issue advocates will have to amass the type of local volume and pressure needed to move the needle.

In the midst of arguably one of the most contentious legislative climates in the history of our country, policy makers are paying more attention to impassioned voices outside of D.C. Sides gearing up for the fight of their lives in the next 120 days have a lot to gain if they take advantage of the shifting tide in Washington by tapping into local communities and amplifying in-district voices.