Press Releases
RELEASE: What Are You Paying for the War?
Washington, D.C. - President Bush has submitted a new war funding request totaling $178 billion. $135.4 billion of this war supplemental would go toward operations in Iraq through the end of the year. The remainder of the $42.6 billion would go to operations in Afghanistan and other activities in the global war against terrorist networks.
¿Mayor Villaraigosa a shoe shine guy?
Today Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk host, said in a TV interview that he thought Mayor Villaraigosa was a “shoe shine guy.”
A Conversation on National Security with Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Opening Remarks:
John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
Introduction:
Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Distinguished Speaker:
The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker
Featured Speaker: Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times
Featured Panelists: Stewart Acuff, Organizing Director, AFL-CIO Gerald Seib, Assistant Managing Editor and Executive Washington Editor, The Wall Street Journal Ruy Teixeira, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation
Moderated by: Gene Sperling, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
STATEMENT: Food Price Crisis 101
Washington, D.C. - Food prices and political instability are rising sharply in a world agricultural system that is in transition and under pressure from changing diets, market turmoil, and rising energy costs. Food prices have risen 83 percent worldwide since 2005 and some staples such as rice and wheat have risen 141 percent and 130 percent respectively in the last year alone. In an increasingly resource-constrained world, there is little margin for error. Even in the months prior to the current crisis, over 830 million people worldwide went to bed each night malnourished and hungry.
STATEMENT: Bad News in New Job Numbers
Washington, D.C. - The latest job estimate numbers released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics boast little good news, especially for the nation’s most vulnerable workers. The economy in April shed another 20,000 jobs, making this the fourth month in a row that employment fell. Over these past four months, the U.S. economy has now lost 260,000 jobs, and employment is lower than at any point since August 2007.
ADVISORY: Full Disclosure
STATEMENT: All Signs Point in the Wrong Direction
Washington, D.C. - U.S. economic growth estimates released today for the first quarter of 2008 show that all parts of our economy experienced slower growth compared to the previous quarter, even exports, which is especially troubling given the overall weak performance of all other sectors.
STATEMENT: New Housing Numbers Underscore the Need for Action
Washington, D.C. - New housing numbers show that annual declines in house prices have hit record lows for the fifth consecutive month and the number of properties in the foreclosure process in the first quarter of 2008 have doubled since last year. The need for congressional action is ever more urgent.
REPORT: Early Deployment: Maximizing Carbon Capture and Storage Under the Lieberman-Warner Global Warming Bill
Washington, D.C. - A new report from the Center for American Progress by Bob Sussman and Ken Berlin analyzes the provisions of S. 2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008, which seeks to encourage early deployment of carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) at new coal plants. The report focuses on the "bonus allowance program," which would issue free allowances to utilities who build plants with CCS based on the tons of CO2 sequestered. The conclusion: This program would be very costly (between $68 and $110 billion through 2030) but would result in a small number of new plants with CCS (no more than 48 gigawatts by 2030). This is because utilities would receive windfalls far greater than the added costs of CCS itself—up to $4.6 billion for some 1 gigawatt plants.
RELEASE: The State of Minorities - How Are Minorities Faring in the Economy?
Washington, D.C. - Rapidly increasing amounts of debt, high job losses, skyrocketing gas and food prices, and a tidal wave of foreclosures are driving many American families to the edge of financial ruin. Although all U.S. households are hurt in the economic slowdown, Hispanic and African-American households are more vulnerable; they are likely to suffer first and to suffer more.
STATEMENT: Genetic Non-Discrimination -Policy Considerations in the Age of Genetic Medicine
Washington, D.C. - The world stands on the brink of a genome-based personalized-medicine revolution, with individual Americans poised to be the greatest beneficiaries. An international research consortium that includes our country’s National Human Genome Research Institute recently announced its $50 million plan to sequence the genomes of at least 1,000 individuals from around the world. According to NHGHRI Director Francis Collins, this project will increase the sensitivity of disease discovery efforts across the human genome five-fold, and within gene regions (the portions of a chromosome on which a particular gene is located) at least 10-fold.
STATEMENT: There’s More to College than Just Getting In
Washington, D.C. - April is a tense month for high school seniors and their parents. Hopes and dreams for a successful future lie in the college admissions (or rejection) letters that millions will receive this month, after which students and parents gather together to decide on their final choice.
But for most students, getting into school is the easy part. Successfully completing college is the hard part, especially for young people from low-income and minority communities.
RELEASE: Record Gas Prices Add Pressure to Already Squeezed Consumers
Washington, D.C. - Prices at the pump have now soared to $3.51 per gallon for regular gasoline, according to the Energy Information Administration, easily shattering an inflation-adjusted record that has stood since March 1981. As gasoline prices rise quickly, consumers’ spending is further squeezed, driving them deeper into debt.
Expertos disponibles para análisis sobre las primarias en Pennsylvania
Mañana martes se llevara a cabo la primaria en Pennsylvania donde alrededor del 3% son votantes latinos.
STATEMENT: Problems with Plastic – Credit Card Debt Hits Record High
Washington, D.C. - Amid the worsening U.S. housing crisis, lenders are tightening their mortgage standards, leaving only the most creditworthy borrowers able to take out new mortgages and tap new home equity lines of credit. That means more and more Americans are racking up record levels of credit card debt to make ends meet—tapping expensive and potentially explosive debt that lenders continue to offer.
STATEMENT: Bush’s Bankruptcy Legacy – Three Years and Nearly 1.5 Million Bankruptcy Filings Later
Washington, D.C. - On the eve of the three-year anniversary of president Bush’s controversial bankruptcy bill becoming law, data show that in the last two years nearly 1.5 million individuals filed for personal bankruptcy. The new data further questions the merits of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.
RELEASE: President Bush Continues to Oppose Global Warming Solutions
“After squandering seven years, President Bush still refuses to respond to alarm bells. His strategy announced today is like trying to douse a 10-alarm fire with a garden hose—it is completely inadequate.” -- Daniel J. Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy
ADVISORY: Supporting a Diplomatic Surge in Iraq
Please join the Center for American Progress for a special presentation:
Iraq: Examining the Diplomatic and Political Tools to Achieve Progress and Stability
RELEASE: Command Responsibility
When the nation learned that prisoners detained and interrogated after 9/11 had been tortured by U.S. personnel, the Bush administration sought to portray these episodes as a rogue operation or, at best, the actions of “a few bad apples.”
RELEASE: The Future of Human Rights
WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for American Progress today is happy to announce the release a new book edited by Senior Fellow William F. Schulz entitled The Future of Human Rights.
Elizabeth Edwards Joins CAP as Senior Fellow
Washington, D.C. – The Center for American Progress today announced that Elizabeth Edwards, New York Times best-selling author, attorney, and advocate, will be joining the Center as a Senior Fellow. Mrs. Edwards will be working on health care issues and will also write occasionally for the "Wonk Room," the Center for American Progress Action Fund's newly-launched, first-of-its-kind policy rapid-response blog. "Elizabeth is a woman of extraordinary talent, knowledge, and grace,” said John Podesta, President of CAP and CAPAF. “She has proven herself to be one of the most effective, tenacious, and caring spokespeople for progressive policies in the country and it is a distinct honor to have her join the Center for American Progress. We are thrilled to have her bring her talent and commitment to CAP.”
NEW REPORT: Additional Learning Opportunities in Rural Areas
WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for American Progress released a new report entitled “Additional Learning Opportunities in Rural Areas.” The report, by Roy Forbes, takes a look at an often-overlooked aspect of public education – the troubles of rural districts.
RELEASE: Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities
PITTSBURGH – The Center for American Progress, along with the Apollo Alliance, Green For All, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, released a first-of-its-kind guide outlining how cities can leverage local environmental, economic development, and workforce development programs to grow the “green-collar jobs” of the future.
NEW REPORT: Our Nation's Surprising Technology Trade Deficit
Against the backdrop of slowing U.S. economic growth and rising economic uncertainty among most working Americans, we as a nation at least find comfort in the underlying resilience of an economy traditionally strong in creativity and innovation. After all, a skilled and innovative workforce has fueled American productivity and economic growth for decades, allowing the United States to remain at the forefront of global competition, especially since the mid-1990s.
NEW REPORT: House of Cards - Consumers Turn to Credit Cards Amid the Mortgage Crisis, Delaying Inevitable Defaults
The U.S. credit card market is showing signs of trouble just as the home mortgage crisis surges to unprecedented heights across the United States and throughout the global financial marketplace. Against the backdrop of record-high numbers of home foreclosures, lenders are tightening mortgage lending standards, making it harder for families to maintain their consumption in the face of weakening income growth. At the same time, credit card issuers present their all-too-convenient lending product as a much needed but inevitably dangerous pressure valve for cash-strapped borrowers.
NEW REPORT: Geneticizing Disease - Implications for Racial Health Disparities
Today it is almost impossible to pick up a newspaper or open a Web browser without finding an article that links a specific gene to a certain medical condition. In fact, a simple Google search of “gene linked” in November last year pulled up hits with genes linked to depression risk, restless leg syndrome, autism, breast cancer, childhood asthma, and type 1 diabetes in children. This is only on the first page of results from a total of 30,600,000 hits.
RELEASE: You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
“Duh,” the defining word in an ever-present car ad this holiday season, also summarizes what is happening to holiday shoppers. It should be obvious to anyone paying attention and paying credit card bills that American consumers have amassed record amounts of debt and have less disposable income than ever before.NEW REPORT: Future Choices - Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Law
In our modern world, sex is no longer the exclusive method for humans to reproduce. A new group of medical options, known as “assisted reproductive technologies,” are challenging our understanding of parenthood and biological relationships.NEW REPORT: Virtuous Circle - Strengthening Broad-Based Global Progress in Living Standards
As the next installment of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue begins today in Beijing, the Center for American Progress releases a major report on globalization entitled “Virtuous Circle: Strengthening Broad-Based Global Progress in Living Standards.” CAP’s Richard Samans and Jonathan Jacoby argue that U.S. international trade, aid, and monetary policies today exhibit anything but a clear and common strategic focus. These policies appear to be chasing all manner of foreign and domestic priorities, and they lack an organizing principle that speaks directly to public concerns about the growing insecurity and inequality accompanying globalization.NEW REPORT: Throwing Homeowners a Lifeline - A Proposal for Direct Lending to Qualified Troubled Borrowers
With each passing release of housing-related data, the picture becomes bleaker for the estimated 1.8 million homeowners with subprime mortgages whose interest rates have reset this year or are due to reset before the end of next year. Many of these borrowers and their families hold the 22 percent of adjustable rate subprime loans currently delinquent or the 3.84 percent of subprime loans that entered foreclosure in the second quarter of this year. For those still current on their loans, they can look forward to increases in monthly payments averaging 30 percent to 50 percent when their rates reset.NEW REPORT: Lifelong Learning -New Strategies for the Education of Working Adults
The United States has long relied on rising educational attainment in a rapidly growing labor force to help propel our economic growth. Over the last four decades of the 20th century in particular, steady increases in the education level of our labor force contributed very significantly to steady productivity gains, sustained economic growth, and formidable national competitiveness in an increasingly global economy. All those gains are today under threat because of a complex mix of factors that boil down to a single reality—the American workforce is steadily becoming less educated just when better and more diverse educational opportunities are essential for our labor force to maintain its justifiably famous productivity, flexibility and ingenuity.NEW REPORT: Principal Compensation - More Research Needed on a Promising Reform
School reforms and improvements depend crucially on the implementation of strategies at the school level—from human resources to curriculum to parent involvement. And the successful implementation of these strategies in turn depends largely on principal leadership.RELEASE: SEIU LEADS UNION VOTE FOR PCAS IN MASSACHUSETTS
Boston, MA – On Wednesday, over 22,000 personal care attendants in the state of Massachusetts voted to overwhelmingly unite with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This vote—the largest union election in New England History—will stabilize an industry plagued by high turnover, poor benefits, and low wages. The SEIU is the nation’s fastest growing union and a key leader in professionalizing service-sector industries in order to improve the daily lives of workers as well as the lives of the families they serve.RELEASE: AFGHANISTAN -- NEW REPORT, THE FORGOTTEN FRONT
WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for American Progress released a new counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan, outlining a set of recommendations for strengthening the Afghan government, increasing security, accelerating reconstruction, combating the narcotics trade, and removing the terrorist safe haven in Pakistan. The report also offers addresses U.S. policy toward Pakistan.RELEASE: Changing The Way We Pay Teachers
The Center for American Progress today released two new reports about the issue of teacher compensation in public education. There is a long, failed history regarding attempts to change the current teacher compensation system. The single salary schedule has had remarkable staying power—it is easy to understand and administer; it is predictable; and teachers believe it is fair and objective. But it has its limitations: it has not produced competitive salaries in the current job market, it does not respond to market forces, and the evidence linking teacher education and experience to improved student performance is weak. Pay-for-performance proposals are designed primarily to improve student academic outcomes. They also often address other policy problems including the distribution of high quality teachers in hard-to-staff schools and the recruitment and retention of teachers in shortage fields such as science, math, special education, and second language acquisition. How reformers frame pay-for-performance proposals is as critical to their success, if not more so, than the particular features of the plans.RELEASE: Global Warning - The Security Challenges of Climate Change
The Center for American Progress today released "Global Warming: The Security Challenges of Climate Change" authored by John Podesta and Peter Ogden. The piece is CAP's chapter in the new report entitled “The Age of Consequences.”
RELEASE: President’s Budget to Cut Education Spending
The Senate continues the budget battle this week with the consideration of the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations bill, which sets levels for education spending, as well as other key domestic programs. President Bush has already stated he plans to veto the bill because it provides $64.9 billion for the Education Department. Bush's proposed budget appropriates only $61 billion—$3.9 billion less than Congress' budget and $1.3 billion less than the Education Department received last year. The Bush administration, in the same year that it is spending $50 billion each month on operations in Iraq, plans on vetoing a bill because it increases funding for American schools by $2.6 billion, among other domestic budget increases. What's even more surprising is that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings actually announced back in February that Bush's newly proposed budget would increase education funding by 41 percent relative to 2001. A look at the president's budget tells a different story. As this new interactive map shows, 44 out of 50 states would see reductions in federal funding for elementary and secondary education for fiscal year 2008 if the Bush administration got its way. Rather than bold increases, states on average will see a -1.4 percent decrease in elementary and secondary school funding.RELEASE: Congress and the United Nations
The relationship between the United States and the United Nations is in desperate need of repair. Although the United Nations owes its existence to the post-World War II leadership of America and its allies, in recent years the U.S.–U.N. relationship has spiraled downward into one that is too often dysfunctional. While the relationship has never been without tension, having endured Cold War-related polarization and other political disagreements, much of the breakdown has happened over the past decade—with the U.N. Secretariat, U.N. member states, and the U.S. executive and legislative branches all deserving a share of the blame. A significant part of the problem, however, has been the failure of the United States to provide sufficient support and leadership for the world body.RELEASE: Wacky Immigration “Experts” and the Mainstream Press
Amid the most recent immigration debate on Capitol Hill, a new crop of spokespeople has emerged in the media against the efforts to reform our broken immigration system. The Center for American Progress’ Senior Fellow Henry Fernandez writes about the ties these so called “immigration experts” have to white supremacists groups and their connections to leading restrictionist organizations such as NumbersUSA, FAIR, and the American Immigration Control Foundation.
RELEASE: Research shows need for Sen. Webb’s amendment to help our troops
The Center for American Progress launched an interactive chart detailing the strain of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan on the U.S. Army. Division by division, brigade by brigade, the chart breaks down all the available public information on deployment among the Army’s 14 divisions.NEW REPORT: Serving America - A National Service Agenda for the Next Decade
There is strong evidence over the past eight decades – from the 1930’s thru the 1990’s and AmeriCorps – that national service plays an effective role in solving specific problems in every sector of our society. Unfortunately, America’s progressive experiment with national service legislation ran into concerted conservative opposition. Some conservatives derided these programs, arguing that they simply paid people to volunteer. Authorizing legislation enacted in 1993 expired in 1997, the victim of calculated neglect by the Congressional opponents. And yet individual members of Congress, recognizing the important role of national service in our public life, came together in an informal bipartisan coalition to continue funding these programs, enabling millions of Americans—including half a million AmeriCorps members—to demonstrate the effectiveness of national service. AmeriCorps members served their communities through programs supported in whole or in part by this legislation, with additional funding from private funders, as well as state and local governments.The Costs of Staying the Course in Iraq
In a June 2007 interview, Gen. David Petraeus said that “historically counterinsurgency operations [like Iraq] have gone nine or 10 years.” Despite General Petraeus’ estimations, President Bush has not yet articulated the projected costs in both blood and treasure associated with a decade-long troop presence in Iraq. Based on past expenditures and casualties, we at the Center for American Progress offer this conservative projection of the costs of 10 more years of U.S. troops in Iraq.RELEASE: AVERTING THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO IN EASTERN CONGO
The international community must launch a new “carrots and sticks” initiative to prevent the breakout of Congo’s third major war in the last decade, according to an ENOUGH Project strategy paper released today. Death tolls from the deadliest conflict globally since World War II will mount rapidly unless an urgent diplomatic initiative and last-resort military preparations commence immediately.NEW REPORT: Choosing More Time for Students
A crescendo of support from education researchers, analysts, reform advocates, and lawmakers about the need for additional learning time for our nation’s under-performing students may well result in the coming months in meaningful reform. In fact, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings believes that the expansion of learning time will be the next major push in school reform. The reason: our nation’s public school students need to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century but they simply cannot in public school systems that remain much the same as they were 50 years ago. The shift in educational rigor that globalization has ushered in is pushing policymakers to embrace systemic change in public education, with particular focus on closing achievement gaps between disadvantaged students and their peers.
NEW REPORT: Safeguarding the American People
Today the Center for American Progress released a new report by Reece Rushing, Director of Regulatory and Information Policy, detailing a progressive approach to safeguard the American people and its fragile infrastructure. The problems exposed in the last few weeks—from the Minnesota bridge collapse to the Utah mine disaster—reflect the hard-right conservative ideology that now permeates the entire executive branch. This ideology sees government principally as an instrument for advancing the interests of the corporate sector and by extension political allies who support this agenda. It is indifferent or even hostile to the common good—hence, the rampant cronyism and special-interest influence peddling of the Bush administration.RELEASE: President Bush’s Vietnam Comparison off the Mark
Today President Bush delivered a speech on Iraq that indicated his intention to continue with his administration’s failed policies. In 2004 President Bush refused to draw comparisons to Vietnam, but he decided to do so today. Drawing the wrong lessons from Vietnam, Bush argued against a withdrawal from Iraq, saying “one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam,” is that “the price of America’s withdrawal” is steep and painful.NEW REPORT: Managing Financial Risks as Markets Move
The recent nausea-inducing ups and downs of the stock market is widely acknowledged to be a direct cause of the collapse of the housing market and a crisis in our lending institutions. The question before us is: Now What?RELEASE: The Terrorism Index
A majority of America’s foreign-policy experts now hold a negative view of the White House’s “troop surge” strategy in Iraq, and two thirds support a redeployment of troops in the next 18 months, according to a bipartisan survey produced by FOREIGN POLICY magazine and the Center for American Progress.NEW REPORT: Access Denied
Today the Center for American Progress released “Access Denied,” a new report highlighting unchecked discrimination in the credit industry. Few families in the United States today could pay cash for a home, their children’s college education, a new car, or a major family medical emergency. Most families need to borrow money to create economic opportunities for themselves or protect their financial security. For many families, especially minorities and those with low incomes, access to credit opens doors that were previously closed—literally so in the case of homeownership. In the wake of the recent subprime home lending crisis, however, access to credit is becoming more restrictive across all credit products, even while persistent differences in access to credit and in the cost of that credit are still based on race, ethnicity, and income.NEW REPORT: An Oldie But Goodie
Today, on the eve of the anniversary of the 1935 Social Security Act, the Center for American Progress released a new report on the significance of Social Security as a source of income. Social Security remains the only universal source of retirement income for the vast majority of Americans; for most, it is the most relevant source of retirement income after a lifetime of hard work.NEW REPORT: Ignoring Productivity at our peril
Today, The Center for American Progress released “Ignoring Productivity at Our Peril,” a new report authored by Dr. Christian Weller and Amanda Logan. The virtuous cycle of higher investment, rising productivity growth, and growing income helped lift almost all economic boats in the late 1990s. Since the turn of the century, however, investment growth has been anemic, productivity growth has declined, and income growth has stagnated. A virtuous cycle is in danger of becoming a vicious cycle. Slow income growth does not give business executives an incentive to invest more money in growing their businesses, which in turn hampers productivity growth, thereby reducing future income growth.Iraq Study Group’s Recommendations Overtaken by Events in Iraq
Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have introduced legislation that would adopt all of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. There are growing signs that the White House and Republican legislators, having previously rejected the ISG report late last year, will now seek to co-opt the ISG recommendations this summer and fall to provide a bipartisan veneer to their efforts to pretend they are shifting course in Iraq.NEW REPORT: Caring About Long-Term Care
Thanks in part to a century of progress in public health and medicine, many people are enjoying healthier lives. Yet the success of modern medicine also presents us with challenges: As Americans live longer, the need for long-term care and long-term caregivers will continue to grow. Indeed, a defining issue for current and coming generations is how the United States and other nations will address the needs of their aging populations and provide adequate care for the
Six Peacekeeping Essentials for Peace and Protection in Darfur
The international community must move swiftly to protect the people of Darfur, says the ENOUGH Project in a strategy briefing released today.NEW REPORT: Strategic Reset – The Way Out of Iraq
The Center for American Progress today released “Strategic Reset,” the latest strategy report from the Center on the war in Iraq.RELEASE: New CAP Report on The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio
Despite the dramatic expansion of viewing and listening options for consumers today, traditional radio remains one of the most widely used media formats in America. Arbitron, the national radio ratings company, reports that more than 90 percent of Americans ages 12 or older listen to radio each week, “a higher penetration than television, magazines, newspapers, or the Internet.” Although listening hours have declined slightly in recent years, Americans listened on average to 19 hours of radio per week in 2006.Campus Progress Announces 2007 Student Award Winners
RELEASE: Levin Car Amendment’s Flex Fuel Provisions Yield Phantom Oil Savings
“Dual fuel” vehicles made to operate on either gasoline or 85 percent ethanol do not significantly reduce oil use since E85 is rarely available in most states, according to an analysis released today by the Center for American Progress. Although there are 4.4 million flexible fuel vehicles on the road, there are only 1,133 service stations that sell the clean, alternative fuel to the public. There are two-thirds fewer service stations per vehicle available for FFVs compared to service stations available for regular vehicles. Yet Senator Carl Levin’s (D-MI) fuel economy amendment to the Senate energy bill, H.R. 6, attempts to reduce oil use via a requirement that half of all cars be FFVs.RELEASE: Pelosi address, Iraq war opposition to highlight 2007 National Student Conference
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will deliver the keynote address to 1000 college and university students at Campus Progress’s third annual National Student Conference, to be held Tuesday, June 26, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Several events at the conference will address the Iraq war, reflecting growing student opposition to the Bush Administration’s conduct of the war. In addition to Speaker Pelosi, students at the conference will hear from Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, a leading opponent of the war, from Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison, from journalists Seymour Hersh and Asra Nomani, and from a closing panel of young Iraq war veterans.NEW REPORT: Immigrants in the U.S. Health Care System
Today the Center for American Progress released a new report Immigrants in the U.S. Health Care System. Restrictionist politicians and talking heads concur that immigrants in the United States are a burden on our health care system. A decade ago this belief contributed to legislation that limited immigrants’ access to the health care system. Today, similar sentiments misinform the current debate over immigration reform.Power and Superpower: Global Leadership and Exceptionalism in the 21st Century
On Monday, June 11, 2007, the Center for American Progress will host a luncheon discussion on the recently released book, Power and Superpower: Global Leadership and Exceptionalism in the 21st Century, published by the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation.NEW REPORT: THE FUTURE OF COAL
Ever-rising industrial and consumer demand for more power in tandem with cheap and abundant coal reserves across the globe are expected to result in the construction of new coal-fired power plants producing 1,400 gigawatts of electricity by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. In the absence of emission controls, these new plants will increase worldwide annual emissions of carbon dioxide by approximately 7.6 billion metric tons by 2030. These emissions would equal roughly 50 percent of all fossil fuel emissions over the past 250 years.The Way Forward in Northern Uganda
ENOUGH, an initiative founded by the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress to confront genocide and crimes against humanity worldwide, teams up with experts and activists to discuss ways to support the fragile peace process in Northern Uganda. While there has been recent progress in Uganda with a renewed cessation of hostilities agreement and a road map for comprehensive solutions to the conflict, the situation is fragile and success will require leadership from the international community, especially the United States. For two days next week, experts and activists will discuss the current situation in Uganda with students and members of Congress.Pain in the Gas
This coming Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer driving season across our nation, and newspapers and news shows across the country are reporting what millions of Americans already know—gas prices are on the rise again. Prices at the pump rose a whopping 32 percent in inflation-adjusted terms between December 2006 and mid-May of this year—just as the summer driving season is about to kick off. And as a new Center for American Progress report shows, the rise in gas prices is negatively affecting family budgets.Caught Off Guard
As the Pentagon struggles to maintain high levels of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense recently announced plans to deploy four more National Guard brigades to Iraq in the next year. As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the total Army, much has been said about the strain on the Active Forces, while the parallel strain on the Guard and Reserves has gone largely unnoticed.World Series of Poker to Host Star-Studded Event to Raise Awareness and Provide Assistance to the People of Darfur
Today the World Series of Poker announced that more than a dozen Hollywood celebrities and sports legends will join poker’s greatest players to raise public awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur in a special “Ante Up For Africa” tournament at the 2007 World Series of Poker.Competitive Contracting a Must For Congress
Selling products and services to the federal government has become an enormous industry in the United States. In 2005, federal contracts represented about 3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, making it approximately the same size as the entire automobile industry, including the sale of imported cars and auto parts. Insuring that the government maintains a fair, open, and competitive market for the goods and services it purchases is important not only for maintaining the quality of key government services and minimizing their cost but also for setting ethical and performance standards that affect the broader economy.
Speaker Pelosi to address 2007 Campus Progress National Student Conference
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will be the keynote speaker at the third annual Campus Progress National Student Conference. The event will be held on June 26, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.NEW REPORT: From Poverty to Prosperity
Today the Center for American Progress released a new report from its Task Force on Poverty—From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half. CAP formed the task force over a year ago to tackle the persistent problems of poverty. With one in eight Americans living in poverty, and inequality at record highs, the time for action is now. The report recommends that the United States set a goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years.Governing by the Numbers Delivers Big Results
The United States faces a myriad of seemingly intractable policy dilemmas, from reducing environmental contamination to delivering affordable and reliable health care to providing quality education for all our children. Advances in information technologies, however, provide the opportunity to revolutionize the way government makes decisions and greatly enhance our ability to address these problems, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress, “Governing by the Numbers: The Promise of Data-Driven Policymaking in the Information Age.”Joint Statement from the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Center for American Progress, Jobs for the Future and the National Council of La Raza on the Introduction of the Graduation Promise Act
Today, four national organizations committed to improving educational outcomes for America’s high school students applaud the introduction of the Graduation Promise Act (GPA). The GPA is designed to improve high schools and reduce dropout rates, and was introduced today by U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, Richard Burr, R-NC, and Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy. The GPA is enthusiastically supported by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Center for American Progress, Jobs for the Future, and the National Council of La Raza.Campus Progress Releases Student Lending Investigation Guide
Campus Progress today released to its network of student journalists and activists a step-by-step guide to probing their campus financial aid offices for conflicts of interests that damage the student loan system. The guide, “Honest Lending, Fair Lending,” comes in the wake of a groundbreaking investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and weeks of front-page newspaper disclosures about loan companies exerting apparent undue influence on colleges and college officials.
Governing by the Numbers - The Promise of Data-Driven Policymaking in the Information Age
Advances in information technologies provide the ability to quickly and cheaply collect, aggregate, analyze, and disseminate enormous volumes of data. These advances provide the opportunity to rethink and reshape the way government makes decisions. By building a robust information infrastructure, policymakers can position themselves to diagnose problems and implement solutions with far greater precision than ever before.Americans Feel New Urgency on Energy Independence and Global Warming
A new survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the Center for American Progress shows a heightened demand among Americans for immediate action to tackle global warming and achieve energy independence. Most telling, Americans are demanding clean, alternative energy and they want their leadership to act now to change our energy policies to put the country on the right path. The public wants major change that quickly moves the country toward energy independence. Americans believe this will be a boon for the economy, will create jobs, and that America should lead the way. As this survey demonstrates, the public debate over whether global warming is here and whether it is caused by humans is settled. Americans now want immediate action.Larry Korb Testifies to Congress on State of Armed Forces
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Lawrence J. Korb testified today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Korb discussed the misuse of the United States' armed forces and makes recommendations for rebuilding and expanding them.Development Groups and Other Organizations Gather to Tackle Climate Change Impacts on Developing Countries
In the wake of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that highlighted the serious harm that global warming poses for poor countries, organizations and speakers at the summit are pressing the United States and other countries to address this growing crisis. The keynote address at the summit is to be given by Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.