This activity and paper is your chance to change the Federal Budget for the coming year. Follow this link http://www.federalbudgetchallenge.org/pages/overview (Links to an external site.)and explore the budget challenge in order to decide what areas will need to be trimmed, added to, or left alone. Upon entering the site you will need to enter zip code, age range, etc. for the initial time only and then proceed into the activity. The idea is to decide which programs will be cut or expanded and keep in mind this activity is the basis for your argument in the essay. There will be a summary that you can print and then scan into the Appendix of your essay. This summary will identify the areas of changes and will be worth a fair amount of the score on the essay. Be realistic about the changes you will be making in the budget. The essay will be a minimum of 1,000 words of discussion highlighted your proposed changes and the basis for your argument. For instance you may conclude that there should be a reduction in entitlement spending and then you will identify the specific areas and the amount of the decrease (% and dollar value). What affect will this have on other areas of the budget? On the debt of the country?
Your budget proposals will breakdown the major categories and the proposed changes along with the arguments for your decision. The paper will include a well formatted Title page, 1,000 words of discussion on double-spaced and numbered pages as well as a well formatted Works Cited or Reference page listing your in-text sources (a minimum of 5 beyond your text) and the summary page from the budget activity site. By the way Wikipedia and the local papers are off limits.
