Robert Bixby, who leads the Concord Coalition, a grass-roots organization devoted to promoting fiscal responsibility in Washington, agreed that translating the patriotic sentiments of donors into action by politicians is key — even more so than the donations themselves.
“Anybody who’s serious about controlling the debt needs to get behind some sort of debt reduction plan” and “put pressure on candidates” to deliver on that plan during the next election, Bixby said.
Congress established the gift-giving program in 1961 so that the Treasury could accept $20 million from a wealthy Texan named Susan Vaughn Clayton, who dedicated the money “to my beloved country” when she died in 1960, according to her granddaughter, Burdine Clayton Johnson. The Claytons had plenty to be grateful for: They had made a fortune in the cotton trading business, and Susan’s husband, Will, helped craft the U.S. policy of aiding Europe after World War II when he served at the State Department.
Thirty years later, the gift inspired Lucile McConnell, a tax attorney working in the District, to start the Fund to End the Deficit, a grass-roots organization devoted to encouraging Americans to contribute their spare pennies to pay down the national debt — then a mere $3 trillion, plus change. McConnell went to schools and held fundraisers, concerts, news conferences and award banquets to try to get Americans to contribute to the cause, eventually raising $8,000 before disbanding the fund in 1999.
With the national debt now nearly five times what it was then, McConnell recently took the organization’s mascot, a giant penny costume dubbed Mr. Penny, out of her Randallstown, Md., home. She will soon restart her crusade.
When McConnell learned that her pennies did not go directly to repaying the debt, she said she was saddened. But she still believes that the PO box, and the generosity it has inspired, is the best way to help tackle the country’s debt.
“It gives me the right to be a citizen and not a mere consumer,” McConnell said.
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