Sen. Carper Spends Monday, May 1st in New Castle County

Wilmington, DE – On Monday, May 1, 2006, Senator Tom Carper will spend the day in New Castle County. The Senator will start his morning by attending the Concord Coalition Budget Forums at the Riverfront. Carper and Congressman Mike Castle will join federal budget analysts and the Delaware Public Policy Institute to co-host a stop on the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, a nationwide series of town hall forums on the nation’s long-term fiscal challenge. U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker will be the featured speaker, and for the first time, the tour will feature a bipartisan pair of elected representatives with Senator Carper and Representative Castle acting as co-hosts. The purpose of this new issue-oriented grassroots project is to draw attention to the simple fact that, according to analysts of diverse political views, current fiscal policy is unsustainable and hard choices must be made to set things right. The Coalition has joined forces with speakers from the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, the Committee for Economic Development, and the Government Accountability Office and other organizations who may differ on proposed solutions but who all agree on the magnitude of the problem and the need for serious action. The purpose is not to cast blame but to give the public a better idea of how serious the long-term fiscal problem is; why there is no free lunch, and what the realistic trade-offs are. Senator Carper will then head to Delcastle Technical High School to take part in the announcement of the winners for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month Poster Contest. The winning posters were chosen from 40 posters submitted for the Alliance for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention’s sixth annual Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month poster contest. Billboards, featuring the winning student’s poster design and the theme “I’m Not Ready To Be A Parent …” will be displayed in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties during May 2006 in honor of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. KeAira Dickerson, an 11th grade student at Delcastle Technical High School, submitted the winning poster. The concept for her design was “I’m Not Ready To Be A Parent Because… I’m Still Taking baby Steps Myself.” “The idea, says Dickerson, “was meant to show that teens are still finding themselves and discovering their dreams and goals, and having a child should wait until you are ready.” Monday, May 1, 2006 9:30 am – 10:45 am Concord Coalition Budget Forum Chase Center on the Riverfront 800 South Madison Street Wilmington 11:00 am -11:40 am Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month Poster Contest Award Announcement Delcastle Technical High School 1417 Newport Road Wilmington