October 31, 2008
Idea of the Day: Helping Small Businesses Offer Health Coverage
A shrinking number of small businesses can afford to offer health benefits to their workers, especially the smallest employers.

October 30, 2008
Idea of the Day: Provide Incentives for Mortgage Restructuring
Congress added provisions to the October financial rescue bill to require Treasury to use its new authority under the legislation to exhort servicers toward more loan restructurings, but we need to free servicers from conflicting requirements and give them an incentive to sell mortgages to Treasury for refinancing and foreclosure avoidance.

October 29, 2008
Idea of the Day: Experiment with Co-payments and Incentive Schemes
Co-payments and incentive schemes could be used to reduce student exposure to teacher absences and reward excellent attendance.

October 28, 2008
Idea of the Day: Justify Statutory Leave Privileges for Teachers
The same infrastructure that would support a federal requirement for teacher absence information on school report cards could also facilitate research on the costs and benefits of changing statutory floors on leave provisions or other state-driven policies around teacher absence.

October 27, 2008
Idea of the Day: Teacher Absences on School Report Cards
It would not be too intrusive or onerous to require that school report cards include information on teacher absence.

October 24, 2008
Idea of the Day: Americans Need to Debate the Proposed U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement
Americans cannot afford to allow a lame duck administration to push through an 11th-hour agreement with Iraq that might not advance America’s national security interests.

October 23, 2008
Idea of the Day: Enable Public-Private Partnerships to Support Increased Educational Attainment for Working Adults
New and expanded federal programs and services should also provide incentives for businesses and corporations to increase investments in postsecondary education and skills development for working adults.

October 22, 2008
Idea of the Day: Transparency About Federal and State Financial Aid
Transparency in federal and state financial aid programs is a necessary and fundamental component of a progressive agenda for higher education.

October 21, 2008
Idea of the Day: Align Workforce and Postsecondary Policies for Working Adults
There need to be stronger connections between workforce programs and adult education systems so participants can seamlessly move across education and training systems to improve the skills necessary for productive employment.

October 20, 2008
Idea of the Day: Expand Existing Federal Policies to Help Working Adults Attain Postsecondary Credentials
Federal access policies such as the Pell grant, as well as policies that provide academic and support services, need to be expanded to help working adults with their education.

October 17, 2008
Idea of the Day: Provide the National Guard and Coast Guard with the Mission and Resources to Defend the Homeland
The National Guard and Coast Guard should be designated as the principal homeland security and homeland defense forces to respond in a crisis.

October 16, 2008
Idea of the Day: Improve Domestic Intelligence Analysis, Information-Sharing, and Warning Systems
The United States needs a domestic intelligence capability that rivals well-established foreign and military intelligence agencies.

October 15, 2008
Idea of the Day: Incorporate Robust Safeguards and Enforcement for Immigration
Comprehensive immigration reform must make enforcement—at our borders, ports of entry, and in the workplace—a priority.

October 14, 2008
Idea of the Day: Don't Forget the Climate Crisis
Over the past few weeks, the political focus has shifted from the climate crisis to the financial crisis. But during this upheaval we must remember that achieving energy security and slowing global warming are equally critical to our nation.

October 10, 2008
Idea of the Day: Continue Helping Low-Income Families with Energy Costs
Sustained and increased support will continue to be necessary to help low-income families with rising energy costs.

October 9, 2008
Idea of the Day: Better Retirement Plans
Clearly there is both public desire for and a defined need to improve the retirement security of America’s workers.

October 8, 2008
Idea of the Day: Ending Women's Poverty
The best policy solutions to address women’s poverty must combine a range of decent employment opportunities with a network of social services that support healthy families, such as quality health care, child care, and housing support.

October 7, 2008
Idea of the Day: Engagement with Latin America
Nostalgia for the Washington consensus has no place in the democracy of the 21st century in Latin America and the Caribbean.

October 6, 2008
Idea of the Day: Close Supervision of Treasury as It Buys and Manages Assets
There must be very close supervision of the Treasury as it buys and manages assets under the financial rescue legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush on Friday.

October 3, 2008
Idea of the Day: The Community Reinvestment Act Didn't Cause the Financial Crisis
The argument that the Community Reinvestment Act is the cause of the subprime mortgage mess doesn't hold up.

October 2, 2008
Idea of the Day: Labor Rights Can Be Good Trade Policy
A recent CAP paper shows that labor rights can be part of a trade agenda that aims to correct U.S. trade imbalances.

October 1, 2008
Idea of the Day: Help Struggling Homeowners
A bailout plan for Wall Street that does not address the problem mortgages that have led to frozen markets in mortgage-backed securities and their numerous derivatives will ultimately be far less successful than one that addresses the problem from the get-go.