A few Georgetown students were just sitting around talking about the debt ceiling negotiations, expressing their frustration at the stalemate in Congress about two and a half weeks ago. This conversation quickly evolved into the Do We Have a Deal Yet coalition, an effort to give students a voice in the ongoing debate on Capitol Hill.

“I think a lot of that frustration for them and certainly for a lot of people in our generation has been that we’re the ones who are going to inherit this mess no matter what and we have the most at stake in what’s happening,” said alumnus Andy MacCracken, former SG President. “They decided that they wanted to do something about it and the idea that came out was to write a letter to the policy makers—the people are actually going to be making the decisions—urging them to put politics aside with it and think about the next generation instead of the next election.”

Mike Meaney, head of the Georgetown Student Association, and Nick Troiano, one of its former leaders, called MacCracken. MacCracken heads the DC Student Alliance, a group that represents college students in DC and works with leaders from member campuses. They wanted his help in building an alliance of student body presidents, and the group quickly got to work, writing a letter that 120 student body presidents signed. Together, they represent about 2 million students.

***

MacCracken’s mostly been working behind-the-scenes, helping with strategy to ensure the group  has the largest impact possible. He organized the group’s press conference at the National Press Club where students asked Congress to put politics aside and do what’s best for both the country and the next generation. The non-partisan message of the campaign has been a key component in bringing students together. At the conference, Meaney said the group isn’t telling Congress exactly how to solve the problem, but rather that they need to lead and stop playing politics. The group supports the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission’s recommendations and the the Gang of Six’s proposal as a bipartisan framework from which to draw.

The day after the press conference, Speaker Boehner walked out of negotiations with Obama. MacCracken says the coalition expected Congress to have a deal soon after the group was formed, but he thinks the gridlock that followed gave the group more purpose.

“I think our voices are more relevant and crucial than ever because our leaders are absolutely kicking the can down the road by coming up with these very short term solutions that are on the table right now instead of something that’s going to be comprehensive and actually have a long term plans for cutting the deficit and cutting our spending and doing anything that’s actually going to in the long run give us, our generation, a better country than what our parent’s inherited,” MacCracken said.

That same day, the student body president of UMD briefly spoke to Obama—an interaction that would lead to the President giving the Do We Have a Deal Yet coalition a few minutes of his time over the phone.

***

MacCracken and SG President Tim McBride were on that conference call along with other members of the Do We Have a Deal Yet coalition. Kalpen Modi (Kal Penn) organized the call, which started out with opening statements from Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council. Then Obama went on the line for 4 or 5 minutes.

“There weren’t too many specifics that were offered for obvious reasons, not dramatically new information,” McBride said. “What was alluded to was basically what the President talked about in his speech on Monday, which was we need to have the general population rise up and say you guys need to stop playing games with this, this is absolutely absurd, the national economy shouldn’t be held hostage for any political ideological end regardless of how right that may be.”

After that, Sperling took questions from members of the coalition. McBride was on hold for a question when the call ended. He says he was going to ask: Why is the president laying out a plan and telling people to call their Congressmen and women and senators to support a balanced plan with tax increases when The White House in the negotiations has for all practical purposes given up the tax increases by giving their blessing to a plan that doesn’t include tax increases?

“They outlined— and I’m still confused about this—they continued to outline a pro-tax increase sales pitch just like the president had articulated in his speech on Monday, but The White House has already given pretty much their full blessing to the Reid plan, which doesn’t include any tax increases,” McBride said. “And I don’t understand why the president continues to claim that he’s staking out the position of the balanced tax increase approach.”

McBride doesn’t see a balanced approach to reducing the deficit as feasible by the August 2nd deadline, but he’s hopeful a shared sacrifice is possible long-term. McBride participated in an ABC News experiment with four others of various political backgrounds ranging from Tea Party conservative to liberal democrat, showing that while his ideal plan may be off the table, a bipartisan effort isn’t impossible. The group needed to agree to $2 trillion in cuts and make compromises that would end the political deadlock in Washington. The group put Washington to shame, agreeing on $2.5 trillion in cuts before the hour was up.

***

With the deadline a day away, a new plan rests on the table. While the new deal is being called a compromise, it consists heavily of conservative ideals and both parties have expressed opposition to the plan. The Do We Have a Deal Yet coalition visited with Speaker Pelosi’s staff this morning.

“We expressed relief that we’ll avoid default, but disappointment that after all this divisive politicking, our leaders kicked the can farther down the road to yet another committee to sort out,” MacCracken said.

While the coalition has only engaged with Democratic leaders, that’s not for lack of trying to reach out to the Republicans.

“No Republican leaders have responded to us, despite significant outreach,” MacCracken said. But he says the coalition will continue urging Congress to engage the coalition in the bipartisan committee that will be dealing with deficit reduction over the next few months, reaching out to both sides of the aisle.

So, Do We Have a Deal Yet? The Coalition says “SORT OF,” but it looks like we might have to wait awhile for a resounding “YES.”