By Will Marshall, for New York Daily News
Political trends in the United States and Great Britain often seem to move in parallel, and last week’s local elections across the United Kingdom yield some pertinent lessons for U.S. political parties.
For Republicans, the main takeaway is that competent governance matters. One big reason Britain’s Conservatives scored major gains on “Super Thursday” is that voters credit Prime Minister Boris Johnson with having done a good job of rolling out COVID vaccines.
In contrast, Donald Trump bungled the pandemic from start to finish in a clownish performance that his own pollster has…
By Veronica Goodman
Last week, the White House unveiled President Biden’s American Families Plan, which includes $109 billion for two years of free community college with the aim that more Americans have access to a degree or certification. Americans generally support making public colleges and universities tuition free, with the bulk of support coming from women, young people, and Black and Hispanic adults. Already, there are reports from states like Michigan, which launched a free community college program last year, and was inundated with applications and interest. …
By Will Marshall, for The Hill
This piece was first published in The Hill.
It’s been 89 years since Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in the depths of the Great Depression. But nostalgia for FDR’s New Deal dies hard.
Giddy Democrats are hailing President Biden’s ambitious plans for COVID-19 and economic relief and for rebuilding America’s physical and social infrastructure — which together are estimated to cost more than $4 trillion — as the second coming of the New Deal. The White House is tweeting out FDR quotes and photos.
Farther left along the spectrum, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)…
By Brendan McDermott
Congress responded to the pandemic recession with bold aid and stimulus programs that are fueling the economy’s impressive recovery. Yet lawmakers also set arbitrary expiration dates for many of those programs, such as the expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that expire in September and the $350 billion aid program that state and local governments can use until 2024. These arbitrary dates risk ending aid well before — or after — the economy stops needing it.
To avoid these risks during future recessions, federal lawmakers should replace most ad hoc stimulus with stronger “automatic stabilizers,” stimulus programs that…
By Arielle Kane
In his first joint address to Congress, President Biden made it clear that he plans to go big on many health care issues including expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), reforming drug pricing, and even “ending cancer as we know it.” But he was scant on details and Democrats in Congress are nervous that if he doesn’t act soon, the window for health reform will close with the 2022 midterms.
Everyone agrees that passing health care reforms won’t be easy with paper-thin Democratic majorities in the House and Senate — especially when Democrats themselves disagree over the…
BY WILL MARSHALL
Following a high-profile organizing campaign that drew international attention, workers at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, have voted overwhelming against joining a union. While National Labor Relations Board officials are still sifting through contested votes, the anti-union forces lead by almost a 3–1 margin.
The emphatic rejection was a bitter blow to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which launched the first-ever drive to organize an Amazon warehouse. Its fight to organize the largely African American workforce was likened to past civil rights struggles in Alabama and cast as a “David vs. …
by Will Marshall, President and Founder of PPI
President Biden’s bold plan to give America a shot at overtaking China in the race to electric cars and trucks is hitting a couple of speed bumps.
The first is China’s dominance of the raw materials needed to scale up electric battery production for U.S.-made cars and trucks. The second is a standoff between two South Korean battery makers for pole position in the burgeoning U.S. electric vehicle market.
Biden’s proposed American Jobs Plan throws a lot of good ideas and money at the first problem. …
By Veronica Goodman
The Biden administration released its American Jobs Plan yesterday — a bold package with critical investments in infrastructure and America’s workers. Among its more ambitious aims is $100 billion set aside for workforce development. This includes a long overdue investment to diversify career pathways, through approaches such as apprenticeship programs, a focus on sector partnerships, and a new and robust program for dislocated workers. There is a lot to cheer for in the AJP — here are five ways it gets it right in pairing job creation with next-generation training programs.
By Will Marshall, President and Founder of PPI
In 1212 (CE), thousands of European children afire with religious zeal set off on foot to free Jerusalem from infidels. The ill-fated “Childrens’ Crusade” didn’t make it past Genoa and ended with many young marchers being sold into slavery.
What’s happening today on the U.S.-Mexico border isn’t as dramatic, but it’s bad enough. More than 14,000 unaccompanied teenagers and children, mostly from Central America, have trekked to the border in hopes of finding asylum in post-Trump America. U.S. …
by Tressa Pankovits
Supporters of Cindy Marten, President Biden’s nominee for deputy U.S. secretary of education, laud her success in closing achievement gaps during her eight years as superintendent in San Diego. Unfortunately, such claims are false.
Linda Darling-Hammond, who led Biden’s transition team on education, cites Marten’s “enormous work” and “knowledge base on how to improve schools and close opportunity and achievement gaps” for poor and minority students as her lead qualification. When the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds its hearing on Marten this Wednesday, it should scrutinize that claim.
Complaints against Marten include inequitable treatment…
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