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Happy Holidays from the Progressive Policy Institute!
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Dear friends,
The events of the past year underscore the importance of sound public policy solutions, bold and innovative ideas, and balanced and rational dialogue. As we close the books on 2021, PPI remains both hopeful and pragmatic about America's future.
First and foremost, after a four-year detour into lies, lawlessness, and governing incompetence, our democracy is regaining its health. As he promised, President Biden has restored honor, decency, and integrity to the White House. America is becoming herself again.
Working with Congressional Democrats, the president also has passed landmark laws to combat the pandemic, help Americans hit hardest by the COVID recession, renovate America’s worn-down economic infrastructure, and raise our game in the crucial competition with China for technological and political leadership in the 21st Century.
There’s more work to be done, of course, but the president and his party already have built — in the face of reflexive Republican obstructionism — an historically significant record of big legislative accomplishments. The Progressive Policy Institute’s expanding team has been proud to work with the White House and lawmakers to support these determined efforts to deliver for hard-working American families.
For example, our fiscal and tax policy team, headed by Ben Ritz, produced a timely analysis of the administration’s Build Back Better proposals and worked to break the impasse over the social investment bill by focusing on a smaller set of priorities that could be funded responsibly over the long term.
PPI’s Chief Economist Michael Mandel has crunched the numbers on the tech, e-commerce and app economies, and is a leading voice on this innovative, job-creating sector. Along with PPI’s Innovation Frontier Project, led by Jack Karsten, Michael has dug into job growth before and during the pandemic in this sector, and forecasted the potential gains we could see if we appropriately support this vital sector. PPI has also made a strong case for supporting federal and corporate R&D across the technology sectors, so we can have a competitive and innovative economy for generations to come.
Over the past year, we’ve also added a diverse array of policy analysts, communications and political outreach specialists, editors and digital media content producers to PPI’s roster. For example, we’re particularly glad to welcome back Ed Gresser, one of the nation’s most incisive analysts of trade and international economics, whose Trade Fact of the Week series is quickly attracting an influential audience.
PPI’s Mosaic Economic Project works with a growing cadre of highly accomplished professional women to raise their profile in Washington debates around economic, technology and other policies. Our New Liberals project, which consists of thousands of young, pragmatically liberal activists, now has 60+ chapters throughout the world. In addition to amplifying PPI ideas and themes, these activists are a growing grassroots force in local politics.
The Republican sweep of Virginia last month underscored the relevance of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project, headed by Curtis Valentine and Tressa Pankovits. As Republicans hope to emulate Glenn Youngkin’s success in tapping parents' frustrations with public schools, our push for dramatic changes in how America’s outdated K-12 system is organized and governed offers a progressive alternative to the status quo.
We encourage you to take the time to explore the work we’ve shared below, which covers just a few proud moments. Whether it’s producing innovative policy proposals, helping shape stories about the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better agenda in major news outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Axios, or hosting candid podcast episodes, Twitch streams, and webinars with Member of Congress, PPI has been at the forefront of the policy and political debates in Washington and beyond the beltway. Be sure to catch our recent opinion pieces in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the New York Daily News, and The Hill, and sign up for our growing list of e-newsletters.
We are so grateful for all of PPI’s supporters throughout 2021, who have helped make this new work possible and successful. Your support helps us craft innovative ideas and solutions for pragmatic progressives that move the country forward. This support is crucial to holding the center-left’s place of power in Washington. If you’re interested in donating to help support PPI’s mission, please click here or visit our website.
Thank you again for your support throughout 2021. We look forward to a new year filled with even more groundbreaking work.
We wish you and your families a happy, healthy holidays!
Will Marshall, President of PPI & the PPI Family
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PPI IN THE NEWS
Highlights from 2021
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New York Times: Biden Scales Back His Agenda in Hopes of Bringing Moderates Onboard | 10.5.21
By Jim Tankersley and Emily Cochrane
"On Tuesday, the centrist Progressive Policy Institute issued a report outlining a potential $2 trillion plan built around efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a means-tested prekindergarten program, an expansion of the Affordable Care Act and a more modest extension of the tax credit for parents than Mr. Biden has championed."
By Chuck Todd, Benjy Sarlin, Mark Murray and Ben Kamisar
"As Democrats begin to contemplate cuts to their $3.5 trillion 'Build Back Better' bill, the centrist Progressive Policy Institute took a crack at a $2 trillion version this week.
It’s one of the more detailed pitches for a smaller bill so far, and there’s some overlap between the group’s perspective and holdouts like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., so it’s worth taking a look at how they got there."
“There’s a supposition by our friends on the progressive left that it hardly matters what you do, as long as it’s big,” said Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Washington think tank. Instead, Democrats are ideologically diverse enough that “people who run in competitive races simply can’t embrace the same kind of ideas that people who run in safe, blue Democratic districts,” Marshall said.
BuzzFeed News: Here’s What It Actually Means To Cut $1 Trillion From The Democrats’ Big Social Spending Bill | 10.11.21
By Paul McLeod
“'If you set up programs so they are automatically going to expire, that creates the risk that they actually do expire,' said Ben Ritz, a director at the Progressive Policy Institute. 'I think it’s very problematic for Congress to create a new benefit that people come to rely on and then a few years later it goes away.'
Ritz pointed to the Affordable Care Act signed into law, permanently, by President Obama. Republicans have failed to actively repeal the ACA despite years of vowing to do so. But it would be a very different calculus if they could simply do nothing and let it expire on its own.
Ritz put together a framework of what a roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better Act could look like."
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Washington Post: Biden aims for sweeping climate action as infrastructure, budget bills advance | 8.11.21
By Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis
At the same time, Republicans risk forgoing the chance to shape major climate legislation, according to Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute.
“The clean energy transition that climate science requires will be the biggest economic story over the coming decade, but Republicans will have less influence on it because they are now purposefully sitting out the reconciliation bill, which will contain the most crucial policy measures,” Bledsoe, who served as a climate adviser under President Bill Clinton, said in an email.
Wall Street Journal: Draft Antitrust Bills Would Restrict Online Platforms | 6.9.21
By Ryan Tracy
Alec Stapp, director of technology policy at the Progressive Policy Institute think tank, said the draft language appeared to be written broadly enough that it could capture large companies outside Silicon Valley that offer some of their services online.
He criticized the potential merger restrictions. “Any company that is a potential nascent or competitive threat in any line of business couldn’t be acquired,” he said. “Shutting that down could harm investment in startups.”
Bloomberg Businessweek: Amazon’s $34 Billion Makes It an ‘Investment Hero,’ Study Says | 6.1.21
By Peter Coy
A new study from the Progressive Policy Institute, which was founded in 1989 as a centrist Democratic think tank and promises “radically pragmatic thinking,” calls Amazon its No. 1 “investment hero.” It estimates that Amazon boosted its U.S. capital spending by 75% in 2020, to $33.8 billion, from the year earlier, which was more than twice that of any other company.
NPR: More And More Democrats Embrace The 'Progressive' Label. Here's Why | 6.1.21
By Danielle Kurtzleben
For Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute, progressivism also has something to do with growing the economy.
"One strand is anti-corporate and anti-corruption. But at the same time, progressive also has a strand meaning pro-growth, pro-innovation and pro-jobs," he said. "Progress is both social progress, but it's also economic progress."
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PPI Celebrates 30th Anniversary of First Charter Schools Legislation, Featuring a Special Video Message From President Bill Clinton
PPI and the Reinventing America’s Schools Project hosted a webinar celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first charter school legislation. The event featured a panel of charter school advocates, experts, and trailblazers. Former President Bill Clinton, a longtime advocate of charters, provided a special video message for the event.
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Senator Joe Manchin Joins PPI's Center for Funding America’s Future for Event on Infrastructure Financing
PPI's Center for Funding America’s Future hosted a webinar on reinvesting in our infrastructure and potential options to pay for the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan, with opening remarks provided by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
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Helping Women Return to the Workforce, With Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
PPI hosted a webinar with special guest Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on policies to help women return to the workforce following the devastating effect of the pandemic on women’s labor force participation. Our panel included policy experts on labor, child care, and gender equity.
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Senator John Hickenlooper Joins PPI Event With Energy Experts on the Future of Clean Energy
PPI hosted an event with Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and a panel of energy experts, focused on expanding power line capacity to enable renewable energy deployment.
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How Better Statistics Lead to Better Policy in a Changing World
PPI's Innovation Frontier Project assembled a panel of leading experts to address the need for new statistics in the key areas of the digital economy; healthcare; and supply chains.
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PPI Opinions
Highlights from 2021
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Let's Get to Yes, with New Democrat Coalition Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene
- PPI President Will Marshall welcomed Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Chair of the New Democrat Coalition, to this episode of the Radically Pragmatic podcast. The two discuss the Republican party's identity crisis, the issue of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the need for the GOP to come to the table on a broad relief package.
Full Speed Ahead, with Rep. Seth Moulton
- On a bonus Radically Pragmatic Podcast episode, Paul Weinstein, Jr., Senior Policy Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, sat down with Rep. Seth Moulton (MA-06) for a special conversation about infrastructure development and high-speed rail.
Reconciling with Reality: An Audio Guide to PPI’s Build Back Better Blueprint
- Ben Ritz joined the Radically Pragmatic podcast to give listeners a walk through of the state of infrastructure negotiations in Congress, top priorities for building back better, and how PPI's must-read blueprint offers a bold and pragmatic solution to the legislative stalemate.
Talk Policy: Crime in America
- Director of Social Policy Veronica Goodman sat down with University of Pennsylvania Criminology Assistant Professor Aaron Chalfin, who researches crime and policing. They discussed the recent spike in violent crime and evidence-based approaches for crime prevention.
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Cybersecurity, Inequality, and Housing, with Rep. Jim Himes
- Rep. Jim Himes (CT-04) joined the Center for New Liberalism for a Twitch livestream to discuss his work in Congress on cybersecurity and inequality.
The Uighur Genocide, featuring Megha Rajagopalan & Alison Killing
- BuzzFeed News journalists Megha Rajagopalan and Alison Killing joined the podcast to talk about how their reporting uncovered a vast network of secret internment camps in Xinjiang. Shortly after this episode aired, BuzzFeed News won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
The Right-Wing Media, with Matt Gertz
- Media Matters Senior Fellow Matt Gertz joined the podcast to talk about Fox News and the rest of the right wing media.
Cost Disease Socialism, with Sam Hammond & Daniel Takash
- Sam Hammond and Daniel Takash of the Niskanen Center join the podcast to talk about their new report "Cost Disease Socialism," and discuss why education, childcare, healthcare and housing are rapidly increasing in cost, as well as the best ways to address the core issues causing these increases.
2022 Midterms - Assume Doom?, with Tim Miller
- Former Jeb Bush comms director and current xxxxxx writer Tim Miller joined the podcast to talk about next year's midterm elections.
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