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Progress Report
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News, events, and must-read analysis from the Progressive Policy Institute.
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** Who Will Stand Up to Trump’s Un-American Rule by Decree?
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By Will Marshall
Founder and President of the Progressive Policy Institute
for The Hill ([link removed])
In just three weeks, President Trump ([link removed]) has set an all-too-familiar tone for his White House sequel: chaotic, dishonest, bullying and contemptuous of the rule of law.
Only it’s worse this time because Trump erroneously believes his narrow victory last November — he won the popular vote by just 1.5 percent ([link removed]) — has given him a mandate to rule the U.S. by decree.
He’s lashing out madly in every direction — threatening our neighbors with massive tariffs, bullying small countries like Denmark and Panama whose territory he covets, proposing to depopulate and take over Gaza and settling scores with the very government he heads, which he imagines to be his worst enemy.
Americans are witnessing a naked power grab ([link removed]) that would shred the Constitution’s checks and balances, rob Congress of its most important powers, neuter the courts and create the imperial presidency that Richard Nixon dreamt of long ago.
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NEW PPI REPORT
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Across the United States, too many communities of color lack access to reliable and affordable energy. Facing the dual problems of inadequate infrastructure serving their neighborhoods and being more likely to live in older, less energy-efficient housing on average, low-earning Black and Latino families are forced to spend higher shares of their smaller incomes on energy compared to wealthier and better-connected neighborhoods around them. As a consequence, they face painfully high energy bills and experience energy insecurity at double the level of white households. This burden is a woeful legacy of poverty, discrimination, and underinvestment in poor urban neighborhoods.
READ THE FULL REPORT ([link removed])
New from the Experts
Michael Mandel, Vice President and Chief Economist and Andrew Fung, Economic Policy Analyst: Real Wages, Immigration, and the Election
⮕ PPI Publication ([link removed])
Tamar Jacoby, Director of the New Ukraine Project: As Ukraine Fights, Echoes of Historic Meetings in Yalta and Helsinki Abound
⮕ Washington Monthly ([link removed])
Paul Weinstein Jr., Co-Director of Reinventing America's Schools: Seven Lessons For Elon Musk And DOGE
⮕ Forbes ([link removed])
Ed Gresser, Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets: PPI Statement on President Trump’s Reckless Tariffs
⮕ PPI Statement ([link removed])
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** What USAID Really Did in Ukraine
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By Tamar Jacoby
Director of the New Ukraine Project
for The xxxxxx ([link removed])
Amid the tide of bilge—lies ([link removed]) , personal smears ([link removed]) , conspiracy theories ([link removed]) , and other drivel—offered by the Trump administration in the last two weeks as an alleged rationale for shutting down USAID and ending America’s decades-long tradition of foreign aid, one legitimate question stands out: How exactly is foreign aid in America’s interest? Or, to put it another way: How and to what extent do we benefit from spending money to improve conditions and better lives in other countries?
Consider USAID’s portfolio in Ukraine, which expanded sharply after Russia’s invasion in 2022—from $200 million in 2021 to $16 billion ([link removed]) in 2023, adding up to some $35 billion ([link removed]) in the past three years. USAID has served as the primary funnel for America’s nonlethal support for Ukraine, now the agency’s largest ([link removed]) recipient worldwide.
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Join Us: Upcoming PPI Events
Thursday, February 20: Women in Policy Alliance Coffee & Conversation
⮕ RSVP Here ([link removed])
Monday, February 24: PPI Briefing on Keeping the Cost of Living Down and How Antitrust Enforcement in the Food Sector Can Help Working Americans
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Check out and subscribe to PPI newsletters!
Ed Gresser: Extra tariff costs for Valentine’s Day in 2026: $2.5 billion?
⮕ PPI's Trade Fact of the Week ([link removed])
Ben Ritz & Alex Kilander: Tariffs Are Bad Taxes
⮕ PPI’s Budget Breakdown ([link removed])
Staff Spotlight: Elan Sykes
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Director of Energy and Climate Policy
Elan Sykes is the Director of Energy and Climate Policy at PPI. Elan works on energy deployment, innovation, and decarbonization. Prior to joining PPI, Elan served as a researcher at the Climate Leadership Council where he focused on carbon pricing, global climate policy, and the intersection of climate and trade policies. Before that, Elan served as an intern at the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel.
Elan received an AB cum laude from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs in 2018, where he wrote a thesis examining Eastern Mediterranean energy and security politics.
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