*This position is open to undergraduate students only*

American politics is broken, with the far left and far right making it increasingly impossible to govern. This will not change until a vibrant center emerges with an agenda that appeals to the vast majority of the American people. This is the mission of The New Center, which aims to establish the ideas and the community to create a powerful political center in today’s America.

Overview and Responsibilities

The Policy Research Intern at The New Center will conduct research and analysis to assist the policy team in developing original papers and issue briefs that advocate for innovative policy ideas. Working closely with The New Center’s policy team, responsibilities will include:

• Conducting research within an array of issue areas including healthcare, technology, economics, social policy, national security, and climate and energy
• Assisting in the writing and development of policy papers and issue briefs
• Writing blog posts and op-eds analyzing policy issues and their political implications

Qualifications

• Rising sophomore, junior, or senior undergraduate student 
• Strong researcher and writer with experience in public policy and/or politics
• Passionate about politics and public policy with a strong understanding of the American political system, our legislative process, and the related political news cycle
• Organized, detail-oriented, and able to work independently on multiple assignments
• Able to begin the internship at the beginning of the fall semester

For students outside of DC, the internship will be remote. DC-based students will have the option to work in person at our offices downtown. The internship will be unpaid for the fall term.

In the wake of controversial Supreme Court decisions and a spate of recent polls showing Americans are more pessimistic about the future and less trustful of all our major institutions, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest Americans are drifting apart. But there are also some hopeful signs that the political center could be ripe for a resurgence in America. Here are just a few:

• Congress has gotten a lot more done than you might think. In the wake of the horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo, and elsewhere, many Americans likely expected Washington to once again do nothing. But the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—which included gun safety, mental health, and school safety provisions—became law one month after the Uvalde shooting, passing with the support of 14 House and 15 Senate Republicans along with unanimous Democratic support. It was the most significant federal gun safety legislation since the passage of the 1994 Assault Weapons ban. The 2021-2022 Congress has also seen the bipartisan passage of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the largest federal infrastructure investment in over sixty years. Other bills such as the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, the Postal Service Reform Act, and the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, all passed with the support of at least 100 House Republicans and over 200 Democrats. While Congress has notably deadlocked on some of the toughest issues, almost 95% of the bills passed in 2022 have received bipartisan support. This suggests, even in this era of polarization, members of Congress recognize the public’s desire to see leaders come to the center to make deals.
  
  

• The share of independents has been growing. Prior to 2011, the share of political Independents had never reached 40%. However, since then, the share of independents has stayed above at least 40%, except during presidential election years 2016 and 2020. This figure reached a high of 50% at the start of Biden’s presidency in January 2021. According to a Gallup poll conducted in June 2022, 43% of voters consider themselves Independents, while 27% identify as Republicans and another 27% as Democrats.
  
  

• Americans have had it with the extremes. According to Pew Research Center, voters did not rank political polarization as a top concern prior to the past two presidential elections. Yet, in 2022, they listed it as a top-three concern. In a June 2022 Ipsos poll, 62% of respondents said we need to actively reduce polarization in the country, compared to 9% who thought that we should just “let things be.”   
  

Consequently, more and more Americans want their leaders to move to the center. According to a May 2022 Harvard-Harris poll, 67% of Americans would prefer that President Biden move to the center on key issues. When surveyed in the fall of 2020, just before the election, overwhelming majorities of both Biden (86%) and Trump (89%) supporters told Pew Research Center they believed their preferred candidate should address the needs of all Americans, “even if that meant disappointing some of his supporters.” This past month, 60% of voters said that if there were to be a rematch between Trump and Biden in the 2024 election, they would consider voting for an independent centrist candidate. 

Despite these green shoots of progress, the center hasn’t yet coalesced into a coherent political force. The loudest, angriest, and most ideological voices may be smaller in number, but they’re much better organized and have much more agreement on what they do or don’t want from Washington.

Still, it’s clear that if one of the parties—or even a new party—can develop an agenda that resonates with the vast political center, they’ll find an eager audience for it.

Prices in May were 8.6% higher than they were this time last year, the largest year-over-year increase since December 1981. 

Gas, food, and housing costs are rising, and voters are taking note. A May Pew Research poll found inflation was the top concern for Americans by a wide margin. Seven in ten respondents called it a “very big problem,” more so than healthcare affordability (55%) and violent crime (54%). Inflation was the only issue that a majority of both Republicans (84%) and Democrats (57%) rated a “very big problem.”

The primary responsibility for curbing inflation lies with the Federal Reserve. The Fed has already sprung into action, raising its benchmark lending rate by 0.75%, the most since 1994. In a report to Congress the Fed said, “[Our] commitment to restoring price stability — which is necessary for sustaining a strong labor market — is unconditional,”

Although the Fed is the prime mover on inflation, the White House and Congress could take important additional steps. Unfortunately, it is becoming clear that all the talk from Capitol Hill will amount to little action.

Democrats are by and large proposing messaging bills—with no chance of becoming law—that they can tout to voters before the midterms. Republicans, for their part, seem content to just blame Democrats, while offering few ideas of their own

As for the White House, President Biden just yesterday proposed a three-month gas tax holiday that already appears doomed in Congress, with many members dismissing the move as a “gimmick.”

The New Center decided to review anti-inflation proposals and found that most of Washington is playing games. Here are just a few examples:

Congressional Democrats are proposing partisan bills, many of which are stuffed with long-time Democratic priorities. Rather than working on compromises that could actually pass, Democrats are focused on looking good to their supporters. 

• Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act – allows the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to sue gas sellers for “excessive” prices
• Price Gouging Prevention Act – allows the FTC to sue companies for price gouging during a “market disruption”
• Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act – windfall tax on gas profits above 2015-2019 levels
• End Corporate Greed Act – 95% windfall tax on all profits above 2015-2019 levels for large companies
• Food and Fuel Family Savings Act – gives tax rebate of $600 per person, raises corporate tax rate to 26.5%
• President Biden’s proposals:
  • Clean energy and electric vehicle tax credits 
  • Insulin price cap, Medicare expansion, pharmaceutical price gouging investigation
  • Billionaire minimum income tax (unrealized gains tax) 

Congressional Republicans have been mostly silent on inflation, speaking up only to blame Democrats. The few bills by Congressional Republicans are toothless, and only one has Democratic co-sponsors (but still not enough to pass a Democratic Congress). The Republican bills include:

• Informed Lawmaking to Combat Inflation Act – requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide inflation predictions on major legislation

• Inflation Prevention Act – prevents new spending that contributes to inflation if inflation is higher than 4.5% (unless 60 Senators agree, which is already needed to pass most legislation)
• Fight Inflation Through Balanced Budgets Act – prevents Congress from passing budgets that do not reduce the national deficit to zero within 10 years

This past week, Congress did manage to overwhelmingly pass the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act to strengthen supply chains by investigating unfair practices and prices in the shipping industry. This is a constructive step, but more action is required.

The New Democrat Coalition—98 moderate House Democrats—recently released a 24-page inflation plan that includes curbing the national deficit, cutting tariffs and other trade barriers, and investing in workforce development to boost productivity. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican, has made several proposals to boost the supply of houses and reduce shipping congestion through deregulation of zoning and trade, many of which overlap with the New Democrats’ plan.

But these proposals likely aren’t going anywhere either. As Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell put it: “Republicans have not offered concrete proposals because they’d rather the midterms serve as a referendum on the Democrats.”

It all adds up to Congress likely doing little, if anything, to address inflation before the November elections.