Center for American Progress

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Building an Economy for All

Economic growth must be built on the foundation of a strong and secure middle class so that all Americans benefit from growth.

A child holds hands with her father and mother, January 12, 2020. (Getty/The Washington Post/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)
What We're Working On

What We're Doing

Investing in a stronger and more equitable economy

We must continue to invest in research, technology, and innovation in a manner that ensures participation and benefits communities that are too often left behind. Only through such an approach can the United States remain at the cutting edge in an increasingly competitive global market.

Strengthening worker power and economic mobility

We need to increase wages, reduce poverty among working families, increase worker power, and create pathways to economic mobility for all.

Raising the floor for basic living standards

Working toward a stronger and more equitable economy for everyone involves rebuilding, expanding, and strengthening America’s social safety net to make it more comprehensive in eligibility and services as well as more flexible in how it can be accessed and used.

Creating a new social compact with business

A new social compact with business includes a regulatory vision that better aligns investors, companies, and the public interest on critical matters such as climate, workers’ rights, and equality.

By the numbers

134K

An estimated 134,000 families are pushed into poverty each year by child care expenses.

CAP, “Child Care Expenses Push an Estimated 134,000 Families Into Poverty Each Year” (2024).

A group of parents is seen outside of a day care center. Some of them are pushing strollers.
Child Care Expenses Push an Estimated 134,000 Families Into Poverty Each Year

85%

The number of businesses grew in 85 percent of counties between 2019 and 2023.

CAP, “Entrepreneurship, Startups, and Business Formation Are Booming Across the U.S.” (2024).

An
Entrepreneurship, Startups, and Business Formation Are Booming Across the U.S.

10%

An estimated 10 percent wage premium is experienced by union members compared with similar nonunion members.

CAP, “4 Ways Unions Make Our Economy and Democracy Stronger” (2024).

Members of the Boston Teachers Union and their supporters rally in support of contract measures.
4 Ways Unions Make Our Economy and Democracy Stronger

54%

Permanently extending the Trump tax cuts would increase the fiscal gap by 54 percent.

CAP, “Permanently Extending the Trump Tax Cuts Would Increase Upward Pressure on the Debt Ratio by More Than 50 Percent” (2024).

Capitol building and overcast sky
Permanently Extending the Trump Tax Cuts Would Increase Upward Pressure on the Debt Ratio by More Than 50 Percent

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The House Republican Plan To Increase Gas and Electricity Prices Article

The House Republican Plan To Increase Gas and Electricity Prices

Terminating almost all federal clean energy investments will increase electricity rates and raise the price of gasoline by between 25 cents and 37 cents per gallon, costing households more than $400 billion on energy over the next decade.

Trevor Higgins

Farms and Families in Crisis: The Trump Administration’s Assault on America’s Food System Past Event

Farms and Families in Crisis: The Trump Administration’s Assault on America’s Food System

Please join the Center for American Progress for the next in a series of virtual events highlighting the impact that DOGE’s cuts are having on the lives of everyday Americans. This event will focus on how cuts to food pantries, Farm to School grants, and school lunches, as well as to USDA and FDA food safety oversight, put millions at risk of going hungry.

Online only

Who Pays for Choice? The Threat Privatization Poses to Public Education Past Event

Who Pays for Choice? The Threat Privatization Poses to Public Education

Join CAP and NCLD for a virtual event about the growing trend of privatizing public education and unpack the real costs of school choice, revealing how it affects students, weakens local schools, and strains communities.

Online only

State of the LGBTQ+ Community: New Data and Insights Past Event

State of the LGBTQ+ Community: New Data and Insights

Join the Center for American Progress for a discussion about the threats facing LGBTQI+ Americans using data from the 2024 CAP LGBTQI+ Community Survey.

Center for American Progress and online | A light breakfast will be provided.

Congressional Republicans’ Proposed Budget Reconciliation Bill Imperils 4.4 Million Pell Grant Recipients Article
Students are seen walking across a college campus.

Congressional Republicans’ Proposed Budget Reconciliation Bill Imperils 4.4 Million Pell Grant Recipients

Proposed changes to Pell Grant eligibility could mean nearly two out of three recipients could lose some or all their federal grant aid and incur up to an additional total of $7,400 for a bachelor’s degree and $3,700 for an associate degree.

Sara Partridge

The Fiscal Impact of DOGE’s IRS Layoffs Past Event

The Fiscal Impact of DOGE’s IRS Layoffs

Please join the Center for American Progress for an event featuring former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers and an expert panel on the importance of adequate funding for tax enforcement and administration in the federal budget.

Online only

Why Trump’s Pronatalist Agenda Is Actually Anti-Motherhood In the News

Why Trump’s Pronatalist Agenda Is Actually Anti-Motherhood

In an op-ed for Ms. Magazine, Sara Estep discusses how President Trump and Vice President Vance’s pronatalist agenda is actually at odds with what mothers and their families need to thrive.

Ms. Magazine

Sara Estep

CAP Comments on Proposed Guidance for Financial Contracts Based on Voluntary Carbon Credits Article

CAP Comments on Proposed Guidance for Financial Contracts Based on Voluntary Carbon Credits

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission raising concerns about the agency’s proposed guidance—now finalized—on the listing of financial contracts that are based on the value of specified voluntary carbon credits.

Alexandra Thornton

Breadwinning Women Are a Lifeline for Their Families and the Economy Report
A woman walks with her children, February 24, 2025.

Breadwinning Women Are a Lifeline for Their Families and the Economy

A new Center for American Progress analysis shows that large shares of working women—both mothers and married women without cohabitating children—continue to be breadwinners for their families. Policy must support working women to uplift families and the economy overall.

Kennedy Andara, Sara Estep, Isabela Salas-Betsch

Managing the Climate Change-Fueled Insurance Crisis Past Event

Managing the Climate Change-Fueled Insurance Crisis

Please join the Center for American Progress for a virtual event featuring keynote remarks from U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and a panel of experts who will discuss the interconnected issues and potential solutions of the climate change-fueled insurance crisis.

Online only

Point: Deception and Destruction — Musk and DOGE’s Real Goal In the News

Point: Deception and Destruction — Musk and DOGE’s Real Goal

In an op-ed published by InsideSources, Ben Olinsky argues that DOGE’s sweeping cuts are deliberately destroying the parts of government Americans rely on for basic services and protections.

InsideSources

Ben Olinsky

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