THE ISSUE
Economy
PUBLICATION
Inclusive Capitalism: Expand the Table and Add a Seat
Despite continued worries about COVID-19, inflation, and supply chain issues, the U.S. economy and the labor market remain surprisingly strong. However, the over $5 trillion in COVID relief funds that Congress has appropriated since March 2020 won’t last forever. As America looks toward a post-pandemic world, Washington needs an equal focus on both growing the economy and making it more inclusive.
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PUBLICATION
The Path to A Bipartisan Infrastructure Solution
Infrastructure is a two-party problem that demands a two-party solution. But getting there will require creative thinking to determine which investments we should prioritize and how to pay for them. This paper from The New Center provides a bold and bipartisan plan for rebuilding and investing in America.
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PUBLICATION
Why Buy American Usually Doesn’t Buy Us Much
Biden has laid out his “Build Back Better” economic agenda, which includes implementing new rules to encourage “Buy American” as well as mandates to create products that are “Made in the USA.” But do these policies actually deliver on their promises to spur the U.S. economy and job market?
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PUBLICATION
Bring Labor Laws into the 21st Century
Nontraditional workers are less financially secure, have less health insurance, and are less prepared to retire compared to their traditionally-employed counterparts. But many of the solutions that policymakers in Washington have proposed either don’t solve these problems or would eliminate the flexibility and independence that many gig workers enjoy.
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PUBLICATION
Beyond Social Security & Toward Real Retirement Security
Even if Social Security’s finances are shored up, the program still will not be equipped to meet anything close to the retirement needs of the 10,000 elderly Americans who will be retiring in the coming years. The scale of America’s gathering retirement challenge demands some creative thinking—and fast—on how to create a new framework for retirement security in the 21st century.
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PUBLICATION
Why is Everyone in College Sports Getting Rich Except the Athletes?
Americans have been aware of the stark inequity between the people who run college sports and the kids who play them for years. But now, amid a pandemic that’s potentially putting college athletes at risk and renewed attention to broader issues of social justice, the NCAA’s stance that there should be a “clear line of demarcation between college athletics and professional sports” is looking increasingly untenable.
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PUBLICATION
Could Germany’s Kurzarbeit Come to America?
At least 20 million jobs have been lost since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, and millions more people are working reduced hours. Shouldn’t the historic government response from Washington buy us something better than the worst unemployment crisis since the 1930s, with millions of workers unsure when or if they’ll be able to go back to their old jobs?
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PUBLICATION
The Next CARES Act: A Better, Faster Way to Deliver Aid
In this issue brief, The New Center explores what went wrong with the implementation of some of the current CARES Act programs to assist individuals and businesses, and what new programs could be considered in the next round of coronavirus relief legislation.
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PUBLICATION
Centering on Coronavirus: Finding the Center on State and Local Aid
In this issue brief, published June 1, 2020, The New Center suggests the outlines of an urgent and common-sense bipartisan compromise that would keep states and localities afloat and keep frontline workers on the job now, while developing a more sustainable framework for state and local aid for future crises.
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PUBLICATION
Centering on Coronavirus: Aiding Vulnerable Nonprofits
In our May 4, 2020 installment of the Centering on Coronavirus issue series, The New Center explores why the United States should let Americans deduct any charitable donations made between March 13 (the date of national emergency declaration) and July 15 on their 2019 tax return, instead of 2020.
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PUBLICATION
Centering on Coronavirus: The Gig Economy
In our April 17, 2020 installment of the Centering on Coronavirus issue series, The New Center discusses the importance of the gig economy and the unique challenges of nontraditional workers in the fight against coronavirus.
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PUBLICATION
Making Trade Work for All
Free trade’s benefits far outweigh its costs. However, a new trade agenda is required to ensure its benefits are shared broadly and equitably across America.
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PUBLICATION
Economic Sanctions: 2019 Data and Trends
Economic sanctions have become a primary tool of national security and foreign policy for the Donald Trump administration, and are being used to a much greater extent than during the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. What has sanctions policy looked like in 2019, what is the purpose of sanctions, and are they achieving their intended goals? This New Center issue brief provides further insight.
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PUBLICATION
The New American Dream: Alleviating the Student Debt Crisis
Higher education has never been more important for Americans looking to get a good job. Yet young people are pushing back many milestones of adulthood—like starting a family or buying a home—because they are buried under mountains of student debt.
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PUBLICATION
Infrastructure Underinvestment: Closing the Funding Gap
Democrats and Republicans agree: American infrastructure is in desperate need of repair. Yet neither side can agree on where the money to fix this growing problem should come from.
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PUBLICATION
Infrastructure: A Tangle of Red Tape
Many of our bridges are 50-100 years old and our outdated facilities are polluting air and water. We can and must do better. America's decaying infrastructure is costing jobs, it is costing lives, and it is long past due for an overhaul.
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The Big Issues
Climate and Energy
Climate and Energy
The fight against climate change is a multi-decade challenge, and must be sustained across many presidencies and sessions of Congress. For any solution to stand a chance, it must be forged in the center.
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