|
|
|
|
Beyond partisan deadlock, there's a nation in search of 'can do' democracy
By Will Marshall
PPI's President
for The Hill
Campaign 2024 is just getting underway, but President Biden already has framed it as a fight to save American democracy. That’s true no matter who wins the Republican presidential nomination. If it’s Donald Trump, the threat to democracy is obvious. Having already instigated one failed coup attempt, he won’t hesitate to reject the voters’ verdict if he’s defeated again in November.
And if he wins, Trump has vowed to sic the Justice Department on his political enemies and pardon the Jan. 6 rioters, defining treason down for future insurrectionists. Even a Biden victory, though, would only be a reprieve from our deeper dilemma: Public confidence in democracy is cratering.
|
|
|
New from the Experts
ICYMI: Tamar Jacoby, PPI's Director of the New Ukraine Project: Will Ukraine's Refugees Want to Go Back Home?
⮕ The Wall Street Journal
Growing Momentum For A Fiscal Commission In Congress, ft. Ben Ritz, PPI's Director of the Center for Funding America's Future
⮕ Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Trump says a lot of stuff about the economy. What would he actually do?, ft. Diana Moss, PPI's Vice President and Director of Competition Policy
⮕ Vox
Labour Land, Meanwhile in Washington: ft. a PPI delegation of Labour parliamentary candidates
⮕ POLITICO London Playbook
Trade Fact of the Week: 55 countries have ratified the WTO’s 2022 fishery subsidies agreement. They need 55 more by late February.
⮕ PPI's Trade Fact of the Week
|
|
|
Republican Budget Concessions Enrich Tax Cheats and Increase the Deficit
By Alex Kilander
PPI's Policy Analyst, Center for Funding America's Future
for The Messenger
The budget deal recently struck by congressional leaders would be a bittersweet resolution to this year's spending fight. On the one hand, it prevents a harmful government shutdown and adheres to the spending levels in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) negotiated by President Biden and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in June. But it rewards Republicans for threatening to renege on the agreement they already made and may help wealthy tax cheats in the process. Moreover, it avoids any real discussion about what is needed to remedy our nation’s fiscal imbalance.
The bipartisan agreement calls for just under $1.66 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal year 2024, split between domestic and defense programs. Defense spending will be set at $886 billion, a 3% increase over the previous year, while non-defense spending will be set at $773 billion, roughly flat from the previous year. After accounting for inflation, this amounts to roughly flat defense spending with a 3.4% cut for non-defense spending.
|
|
|
🗓️ Mark Your Calendar!
Thursday, January 18: Women in Policy Alliance: Coffee and Conversation on the Hill
⮕ Details here
Tuesday, January 23: A Conversation with Moody’s on America’s Challenging Fiscal Landscape
⮕ Details here
Be sure to keep an eye out for future PPI events!
|
|
|
|
Mosaic Moment
What it's Really Like to Testify Before Congress
On this episode of the Mosaic Moment, former Director of Mosaic, Jasmine Stoughton, sits down with Sara Nichols, Environment and Economic Development Director at the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, to share her experience testifying before Congress. Get a behind the scenes look at what goes into a Congressional hearing from the perspective of an expert witness.
|
|
|
|
Get More Smarter
How Democrats Can
Get it Right in 2024
Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, joins the Get More Smarter Podcast to talk pragmatism versus performance, how Democrats can start winning working class voters again, and what the 2024 election is going to look like.
|
|
|
|
Don't Miss These PPI Reports
|
|
Staff Spotlight: Lief Lin
 Lief Lin
Policy Fellow
Lief Lin is a junior at the University of Michigan studying Political Science with a minor in Statistics. He is part of Michigan Political Consulting, a student group that offers pro-bono political strategy for campaigns and NGOs, and has also served as a research assistant studying diverse topics like behavioral pharmacology and the U.S. Congress. His passion for politics stems from his Taiwanese background, which has fostered interests in U.S. foreign policy as well as certain facets of domestic policy (e.g., health care and housing). He is currently figuring out what career path within politics is right for him. Outside of work and school, he enjoys playing basketball, tennis, and golf, as well as spending time with friends and family.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
