Economic Policy

Economic Policy

We are focused on building an inclusive economy by expanding worker power, investing in families, and advancing a social compact that encourages sustainable and equitable growth.

A subway train pulls into the Flushing Avenue station in Brooklyn.
A subway train pulls into the Flushing Avenue station in Brooklyn on February 2, 2019, in New York City. (Getty/Gary Hershorn)

What We're Doing

Investing in people

We seek to eliminate poverty and ensure every American, regardless of their ZIP code, can live a life of dignity by developing, protecting, and expanding vital economic security policies and safety net programs.

Achieving sustainable growth

We work to address structural issues in the economy by promoting bold public investments, progressive tax reforms that require the wealthy to pay their fair share, and sound fiscal policies to support broad-based economic growth.

Expanding worker power

We work to ensure executive actions and legislation, promote high-quality jobs, increase worker power, and raise standards for government contract workers. As part of this effort, we are pushing for a federal $15 minimum wage and strengthening workers’ voices in their workplace.

Championing a new social compact

We need a new social compact with business that reimagines their obligations to society on issues such as environmental and climate matters, economic opportunity for workers, paying their fair share in taxes, and racial equality in the pursuit of more sustainable, innovative growth.

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The Trump Administration Continues To Demonstrate Its Failure To Appreciate the Plight of American Farmers Article
A combine harvests soybeans in Kentucky.

The Trump Administration Continues To Demonstrate Its Failure To Appreciate the Plight of American Farmers

China’s boycott of American soybeans may be resolved, but the episode exposed deeper, longer-term challenges that cannot be solved with a one-time bailout or a purchase commitment by foreign buyers that can be turned off at any time.

Everybody Likes Unions Article
SEIU Home Care Workers cheer as they officially win the SEIU Home Care Workers union election to join SEIU Healthcare Michigan at Cadillac Place in Detroit.

Everybody Likes Unions

At a time when Americans cannot agree on many things, unions have achieved popularity across nearly every age group regardless of partisan affiliation or education.

Aurelia Glass

The Fight To Unionize Starbucks by the Numbers Article
A Starbucks sign is reflected in the window as Starbucks employees, union members and supporters strike outside of a Starbucks store.

The Fight To Unionize Starbucks by the Numbers

Thousands of unionized Starbucks workers across the country are ramping up pressure on the corporation to finalize a first contract that could boost take home pay, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

Karla Walter, David Madland

How Trump Violated the Law to Pay the Military In the News

How Trump Violated the Law to Pay the Military

Bobby Kogan writes in Lawfare about how President Trump broke federal budget law in order to pay the military during the government shutdown.

Lawfare

Bobby Kogan

Trump Takes Aim at Minimum Wage In the News

Trump Takes Aim at Minimum Wage

In an op-ed for The Progressive, Aurelia Glass explains how Trump’s economic policy agenda will make life harder for working families.

The Progressive

Aurelia Glass

Australian Sectoral Bargaining Reforms Show Early Promise Article
Two workers on a building site

Australian Sectoral Bargaining Reforms Show Early Promise

Recently adopted labor reforms in Australia have helped increase collective bargaining coverage, union membership, and wage growth and may serve as a model for pro-labor advocates in the United States.

David Madland

A multilateral approach to climate and trade policy could revolutionize efforts to decarbonize heavy industries and counter non market overcapacity In the News

A multilateral approach to climate and trade policy could revolutionize efforts to decarbonize heavy industries and counter non market overcapacity

In an op-ed published by Renewal, Ryan Mulholland and Mike Williams argue in favor of cooperative action on challenges like climate change.

Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy

Ryan Mulholland, Mike Williams

Good Jobs for Government Workers Improve Public Services Report
A bus driver steers into the Forest Hills Station in Boston.

Good Jobs for Government Workers Improve Public Services

By maintaining fair working conditions for government workers, state and local policymakers can increase productivity, improve public outcomes, support stable revenues, and attract the next generation of public servants.

Karla Walter, Sachin Shiva

New Trump Administration Policies Will Decrease Average Incomes for All Americans Except the Top 1 Percent Article
U.S. President Donald Trump greets guests on the South Lawn of the White House

New Trump Administration Policies Will Decrease Average Incomes for All Americans Except the Top 1 Percent

New policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, paired with the Trump administration’s tariffs, will leave the bottom 99 percent of Americans with less after-tax-and-transfer income by 2027, while the top 1 percent benefit—per combined scores from nonpartisan analysts.

Corey Husak

Why a judge shut down Trump’s latest budget stunt In the News

Why a judge shut down Trump’s latest budget stunt

In an op-ed published by MSNBC, Bobby Kogan explains how the president is trying to use a “pocket rescission” to ignore parts of spending laws that he already signed off on.

MSNBC

Bobby Kogan

The Trump Administration Is Quietly Gutting Minimum Wage Protections for Millions of Workers Article
A group of workers is seen walking along a brick pathway.

The Trump Administration Is Quietly Gutting Minimum Wage Protections for Millions of Workers

The administration has already cut minimum wage protections for hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers and halted plans to require companies to pay disabled workers at least $7.25 per hour; this Labor Day, it will advance plans to eliminate federal minimum wage protections for millions of child care and home care providers.

Aurelia Glass

State Fact Sheets: How the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Are Increasing Costs for American Families Fact Sheet
The Capitol dome reflected in water on pavement

State Fact Sheets: How the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Are Increasing Costs for American Families

This series of fact sheets provides insights into how the OBBBA and the administration’s policies will increase the costs of health care, food, energy, and borrowing in each state in the near future.

What Is a Pocket Rescission? Article
A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 3, 2025.

What Is a Pocket Rescission?

Understanding President Donald Trump and Russ Vought’s new plan to illegally stop spending.

Bobby Kogan

Is This What Winning Looks Like? Report

Is This What Winning Looks Like?

The Trump administration’s brazen unilateral trade war has put the future of America’s trade partnerships in doubt, made a recession more likely, and hurt American workers and families.

Ryan Mulholland

10 Egregious Things You May Not Know About the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Article
Members of the House walk up the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

10 Egregious Things You May Not Know About the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Congressional Republicans’ radical budget and tax bill includes several less-known provisions that will increase costs, fuel the Trump administration’s overreach, and waste taxpayer dollars.

8 Ways the Senate Budget Bill Is More Extreme Than the House-Passed Big, ‘Beautiful’ Bill Article
The U.S. Capitol Building seen at dusk.

8 Ways the Senate Budget Bill Is More Extreme Than the House-Passed Big, ‘Beautiful’ Bill

Many have assumed that the House of Representatives’ One Big, Beautiful Bill Act would be moderated by Senate counterparts. However, the Senate’s proposed cuts to health care and food assistance—along with the potential sell-off of public lands and changes to make it easier to buy guns—are more extreme.

Crushing the Commonwealth: Virginians Share How the Trump Administration’s Policies Are Hurting Them, Their Livelihoods, and the Virginia Economy Past Event

Crushing the Commonwealth: Virginians Share How the Trump Administration’s Policies Are Hurting Them, Their Livelihoods, and the Virginia Economy

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 the Trump administration's impacts on Virginia.

Online only

Despite Musk’s Departure, Trump’s War Against Unions and Workers Will Continue Article
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk.

Despite Musk’s Departure, Trump’s War Against Unions and Workers Will Continue

While DOGE made headlines for firing tens of thousands of federal workers, Elon Musk's departure will not slow down the Trump administration’s efforts to end collective bargaining for more than 1 million workers, slash wage protections for hundreds of thousands, and muzzle a key agency protecting organizing rights.

Aurelia Glass

Governors Should Fight for an Economic Agenda To Improve the Lives of Working-Class Residents Report
Workers install solar panels.

Governors Should Fight for an Economic Agenda To Improve the Lives of Working-Class Residents

By advancing policies to build power and raise the wages of working-class families, governors can improve economic opportunity for all state residents and illustrate a strong contrast with the Trump administration, which is abandoning its commitments to working people.

Karla Walter

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Has Helped Millions of Americans Article
Close-up of CFPB logo on glass

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Has Helped Millions of Americans

Since 2011, the CFPB has defended Americans’ economic security, handling complaints to ensure customers are treated fairly by banks and other corporations.

Sachin Shiva, Lilith Fellowes-Granda

State Estimates of Increases in Homeowner and Small-Business Borrowing Costs Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Article
The sun sets behind the U.S. Capitol.

State Estimates of Increases in Homeowner and Small-Business Borrowing Costs Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The “big, beautiful bill” passed by House Republicans in reconciliation is expected to significantly increase U.S. government debt, driving up interest rates for borrowers—including families taking out a mortgage or people growing their own businesses.

Natalie Baker, Sara Estep

The Devastating Harms of House Republicans’ Big, ‘Beautiful’ Bill by State and Congressional District Article
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) arrives to a House Rules Committee meeting on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at the U.S. Capitol.

The Devastating Harms of House Republicans’ Big, ‘Beautiful’ Bill by State and Congressional District

Estimates for the increase in number of uninsured people by 2034; how many people could lose some or all SNAP benefits; and the number of jobs at risk due to elimination of clean energy tax credits under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act.

Mayhem on Main Street: Trump’s Attacks on Small Business Break the Back of Local Economies Past Event

Mayhem on Main Street: Trump’s Attacks on Small Business Break the Back of Local Economies

Please join the Center for American Progress, in partnership with Small Business Majority, 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 assistance programs, along with uncertainty and economic pressure imposed by President Trump’s tariffs, are harming the backbone of America’s economy: small businesses.

Online only

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

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

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

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

CAP Testimony Before the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Testimony

CAP Testimony Before the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development

Alexandra Thornton testified before the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development regarding reauthorization of the CFTC.

Alexandra Thornton

CAP Testimony Before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Testimony

CAP Testimony Before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence

Alexandra Thornton testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence regarding crypto market structure legislation and U.S. securities laws.

Alexandra Thornton

How Congress Can End Trump’s Trade War Article

How Congress Can End Trump’s Trade War

Congress should focus on actions that immediately end the harm the Trump administration is imposing on American workers, businesses, and consumers.

Doug Molof

Will the U.S. Housing Crisis Be Exploited for a Massive Public Lands Sell-Off? Report
The San Jacinto Mountains are seen from afar at the Big Morongo Wildlife Preserve in Morongo Valley, California, April 11, 2007.

Will the U.S. Housing Crisis Be Exploited for a Massive Public Lands Sell-Off?

Some politicians are using the nation’s housing affordability problems as a pretense to sell off public lands—an extreme agenda that puts America’s treasured lands and waters at risk without substantively addressing housing needs. A new initiative from the Trump administration publicly promises restraint, while specific proposals from Capitol Hill tell a different story.

Drew McConville, Doug Turner

5 Facts About the Labor Market Experiences of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Women Article
Cashier hands out grocery bags

5 Facts About the Labor Market Experiences of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Women

Analysis from the Center for American Progress and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum finds that AANHPI women, who are often immigrants, have a broad range of intersecting identities that make their labor market experiences unique. Breaking down these aggregates helps break down racial stereotypes too.

Managing the Climate Change-Fueled Property Insurance Crisis Report
A couple stands to the left of the remains of a home burned down in January 2025 during a massive wildfire in and around Los Angeles.

Managing the Climate Change-Fueled Property Insurance Crisis

As private insurers pull back services in the face of mounting losses, governments are looking to spread the costs of more frequent and severe natural disasters while confronting insurance availability and affordability challenges.

Lilith Fellowes-Granda, Marc Jarsulic, Alexandra Thornton

CAP Testimony Before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets About Investor Access to Capital Testimony

CAP Testimony Before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets About Investor Access to Capital

Alexandra Thornton testified before the House Financial Service’s Committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets in response to private market expansion proposals that would heighten risks for investors and the financial system.

Alexandra Thornton

Industrial Policy Projects Boosted Harris and Hurt Trump in the 2024 Election, but Not by Much Report
An electric car charges in a parking garage.

Industrial Policy Projects Boosted Harris and Hurt Trump in the 2024 Election, but Not by Much

A county-by-county analysis finds that additional IIJA, CHIPS and Science Act, and IRA investments were associated with higher vote share for Kamala Harris compared with Joe Biden and a lower vote share in 2024 for Trump compared with 2020—but the differences are slight.

Scott Bessent’s 3 Percent Deficit Target Would Require Massive Cuts to Anti-Poverty Programs and Middle-Class Tax Increases Article
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, arrives for a meeting with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID).

Scott Bessent’s 3 Percent Deficit Target Would Require Massive Cuts to Anti-Poverty Programs and Middle-Class Tax Increases

Basic arithmetic suggests that the fiscal goals of President-elect Donald Trump’s treasury pick would slash health care and food security for working- and middle-class families while renewing tax cuts tilted to the wealthy.

Brendan Duke, Bobby Kogan

Republican Tax Legislators’ Potential Framework for Extending Trump’s Tax Cuts Is a Gimmick That Would Cost More Than Advertised Report
The U.S. Capitol building is seen on a foggy morning.

Republican Tax Legislators’ Potential Framework for Extending Trump’s Tax Cuts Is a Gimmick That Would Cost More Than Advertised

Using a current policy baseline to mask the cost of extending Trump’s tax cuts is a gimmick that cannot change the fact that doing so would increase the deficit.

Bobby Kogan, Brendan Duke, Sophie Cohen

A Trade Strategy for the Post-Neoliberal World Report

A Trade Strategy for the Post-Neoliberal World

A progressive, pragmatic approach to trade and industrial policy can reorient global production trends and reward high-standard markets and firms, using trade to address the challenges of the 21st century.

Ryan Mulholland

Removing Barriers to Abundant, Affordable Housing In the News

Removing Barriers to Abundant, Affordable Housing

InsideSources published an op-ed from Kevin DeGood about the role that state and local governments play in America’s housing affordability crisis.

InsideSources

Kevin DeGood

4 Lessons on Creating Good Manufacturing Jobs Through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Industrial Investments Report
Robot lifts a battery as it is installed on the frame of a Ford Motor Co. battery-powered truck

4 Lessons on Creating Good Manufacturing Jobs Through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Industrial Investments

The Biden-Harris administration's industrial investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act are creating U.S. manufacturing jobs and often result in high-quality union jobs, but policymakers can go further to uphold job quality on projects that receive federal investments.

In the Wake of Hurricane Helene, Congress Must Invest in Rebuilding Strong, Prosperous, and Climate-Resilient Communities Article
A bridge across Mill Creek damaged by flooding from Hurricane Helene is seen in Old Fort, North Carolina.

In the Wake of Hurricane Helene, Congress Must Invest in Rebuilding Strong, Prosperous, and Climate-Resilient Communities

The Biden-Harris administration has rapidly mobilized disaster relief aid to Appalachia and other hard-hit areas. Congress must act quickly to deliver the funds required to rebuild communities that can prosper and withstand future climate disasters.

Lower Costs Through Better Competition Past Event

Lower Costs Through Better Competition

Please join the Center for American Progress for an event featuring FTC Chair Lina Khan and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) about protecting consumers and preserving competition.

1333 H St NW

Building Opportunity: Expanding Housing in America by Reforming Local Land Use Report
A group of townhomes are seen under construction in Falls Church, Virginia, on March 9, 2023.

Building Opportunity: Expanding Housing in America by Reforming Local Land Use

Reducing regulatory barriers to housing production can unleash new supply and serve as an important complement to federal, state, and local programs that provide direct subsidies for low-income housing construction and maintenance.

Kevin DeGood

A New Vision for Social Housing in America Article
Roadwork is seen being done in front of a low-income housing project in the Bronx borough of New York City on October 30, 2022.

A New Vision for Social Housing in America

The most effective way to solve America’s severe housing affordability crisis is to undertake a bold federal program of social housing construction that will deliver millions of new affordable, self-sustaining housing units located in opportunity-rich areas.

Kevin DeGood, Christian E. Weller, David Ballard, 1 More Jessica Vela

Project 2025 Would Cut Access to Overtime Pay Article
An employee pushes shopping carts out the front doors of a dollar store.

Project 2025 Would Cut Access to Overtime Pay

Project 2025 would make eligibility for overtime—also known as time-and-a-half pay—more confusing for workers to navigate and easier for employers to abuse.

Lily Roberts

Project 2025 Proposes Eliminating Aid for Families and Businesses Rebuilding After Storms Article
A person walks through a flooded street in Cedar Key, Florida, following Hurricane Debby.

Project 2025 Proposes Eliminating Aid for Families and Businesses Rebuilding After Storms

As climate change makes extreme weather events more common and more costly for Americans, the far right’s new authoritarian playbook would leave communities with fewer resources to rebuild after disasters like Hurricane Debby strike.

David Ballard

New Student Debt Relief Policies Fix Broken Promises and Benefit Borrowers Most in Need Article
A graduating student celebrates during the University of Massachusetts Boston commencement ceremony.

New Student Debt Relief Policies Fix Broken Promises and Benefit Borrowers Most in Need

The Biden-Harris administration proposed new regulations that would bring the share of student loan borrowers across the country who receive full or partial relief to about 3 in 4, targeting those who are the most likely to struggle repaying their debt.

Sara Partridge, Madison Weiss, Brendan Duke

Converting Vacant Office Space Into Housing Report
The corner of an empty apartment with windows that look onto office buildings in Lower Manhattan is seen.

Converting Vacant Office Space Into Housing

The adaptive reuse of underutilized office buildings, if paired with government support and comprehensive planning, might be a valuable tool in many local markets for addressing the vast need for more—and more affordable—housing.

Michela Zonta, Lily Roberts, Jessica Vela

The Minimum Wage Is a Poverty Wage Article
Activists in the restaurant and service industries gather for a Raise the Wage Act rally.

The Minimum Wage Is a Poverty Wage

The federal minimum wage has lost the ability to keep workers out of poverty; but this November, voters in multiple states will have the chance to ensure better wages.

Kyle Ross

Industrial Policy To Reduce Prescription Generic Drug Shortages Report
A pharmacy technician standing at a counter pours pills into a blue container.

Industrial Policy To Reduce Prescription Generic Drug Shortages

Policy interventions, including large-scale private-public partnerships, are key to reducing prescription drug shortages and averting patient harm.

Marc Jarsulic

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

4 Ways Unions Make Our Economy and Democracy Stronger

Unions raise wages for workers, reduce inequality, increase voter turnout, and advance middle-class interests; policymakers should make strengthening unions a top priority.

Sachin Shiva

Project 2025 Would Allow Financial Disaster To Bolster Wall Street’s Bottom Line Article
Street sign for Wall Street

Project 2025 Would Allow Financial Disaster To Bolster Wall Street’s Bottom Line

New CAP analysis gauges the potential effects of a present-day financial disaster on workers and the economy if a far-right plan to put short-term gains for Wall Street above long-term prosperity for American families is successful.

Marc Jarsulic, Lilith Fellowes-Granda

Any Budget Deal Should Preserve Parity Article
The U.S. Capitol

Any Budget Deal Should Preserve Parity

As Congress renegotiates the budget levels for fiscal year 2025, it should match every additional dollar of defense investment with an equal amount of nondefense spending.

Bobby Kogan, Jessica Vela

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