Three foundations are teaming up to try to get Americans talking about the nation's looming budget woes.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation are pumping $4.2 million into AmericaSpeaks, a nonprofit that has pledged to get "thousands" of Americans to show up at 20 forums across the country in June to discuss the tough budget choices facing Uncle Sam as trillion dollar annual deficits become the norm, not the exception.

The announcement of the effort comes on the same day that President Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform--charged with tackling the problem--held its first meeting. Liberal groups are wary of the effort, arguing that Peterson in particular has it out for Medicare and Social Security. Campaign for America's Future and other liberal groups promised today to fight attempts to target those programs rather than other ways to deal with the federal debt such as tax rates for the wealthy.