New America Policy Papers

U.S. tax policy is urgently in need of reform. Our tax system is overly complex and has failed to keep pace with changing economic conditions. The current economic crisis has led to an escalating budgetary shortfall, which will exacerbate the already significant fiscal challenges facing the country. Moreover, looming changes written into the tax law will require Congress to make major decisions regarding the tax code. On December 31, 2010, most of the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 ("the Bush tax cuts") will expire. In… more

Yesterday, the Senate passed its version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by a vote of 61 to 37. Differences between the House and Senate are being worked out in a conference committee.

In total, the House bill costs roughly $820 billion over ten and a half years, while the Senate bill costs $838 billion. Although similar in size, the two stimulus bills contain a number of important differences. The Senate version relies more on tax cuts and… more

Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of this committee for the honor of addressing you today.  Mr. Chairman, it is a tribute to your leadership that this roundtable is being convened in recognition of the centrality of economic and financial issues to American foreign policy. 

Summary

We are currently in the midst of two immense economic challenges: an immediate and severe financial crisis, which has already wiped out over $20 trillion in global wealth; and a longer-term fiscal crisis, which existed before the financial crisis but will be made worse because of it.

As a new congress and new administration take their places in Washington, early education is attracting more attention. The 111th Congress will have numerous opportunities to enact policies that improve access, quality, efficiency, and alignment in early education, including the forthcoming economic stimulus package and the scheduled reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The New America Foundation's Early Education Initiative proposes

Today’s young people have considerably more progressive opinions about economic issues than do their elders. Under-30s voted very strongly for Barack Obama in 2008 and expressed liberal views about the economy (and about other issues) in pre-election polls. Observers and strategists are now asking whether we will see a lasting change in American politics as a result of the Millennials’ arrival. It is possible that they are liberal because they are young, and they will move to the right as they grow older. But analyses of the trajectories across… more

The 2008 presidential election unleashed a potent new force in American politics. It is the Millennial Generation: Americans born since 1982, now age 26 and under. Politicians and pundits alike were surprised by the waves of young volunteers who manned the campaign front lines, phone banking, blogging, canvassing door-to-door, and organizing large groups of peers to do the same. Politics was suddenly cool, pushing Time to jump ahead of longtime favorite Cosmo as the most popular magazine on college campuses. Youth turnout in the primaries jumped

Far too many students leave high school unprepared for the rigors of college and the workplace. Nearly a third of all incoming freshmen- 42 percent of first-year students at public two-year colleges-require remediation. At some postsecondary institutions, more than 90 percent of first-time freshmen need to take remedial classes before enrolling in courses that count toward their degrees. Remedial courses are offered at 99 percent of public two-year colleges and more than 75 percent of public four-year institutions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) warned against slipping policies intended to be permanent, into the stimulus bill under the guise of temporary stimulus measures.

Summary

The Congressional Budget Office's January estimates of baseline federal budget deficits have grabbed the attention of members of Congress and the public. The cumulative effects of persistently large deficits show up in the stock of debt held by the public and the net interest costs of servicing that debt. This brief will provide historical data on those items and CBO's current projections. It also will discuss some of the risks to CBO's estimates.

Debt Held by the Public

To:            President Barack Obama

From:       Robert Bixby, William Galston, Ron Haskins, Julia Isaacs, Maya MacGuineas, Will Marshall, Pietro Nivola, Rudolph Penner, Robert Reischauer, Alice Rivlin,  Isabel Sawhill, Eugene Steuerle

Subject:   A Budget We Can Believe In

Date:        January 27, 2009

The ASPIRE Act - Universal, lifelong savings accounts at birth The ASPIRE Act promotes lifetime savings, financial literacy, and opportunities for all young adults by establishing a progressively funded savings account for every child born in America. Each account receives $500 at birth. Households below national median income receive up to an additional $500 at birth and

Introduction/Background

In recent years, the role that savings and assets play in shaping people's lives has increasingly captured the attention of researchers, policy analysts and elected officials. Their interest in savings and building wealth has grown along with an increased awareness of specific policy tools and interventions, such as matched savings accounts available for lower-income workers. The launch of the SEED Initiative in October 2003 was an important marker in this process because it introduced the

An updated version of this paper can be found here.

In May of 2008, Congress passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA) in response to concern that credit market conditions could disrupt federal student loan availability. The law gives the U.S. Department of Education temporary authority to purchase federally backed student loans made by private lenders, effectively providing a secondary market for the loans. Congress opted to leave the new purchase authority largely undefined in statute, giving… more

The rental housing market in the United States is characterized by a fundamental disconnect between rents and household incomes. It has been this way for decades. Millions of Americans simply earn too little to afford to rent a decent home. To meet these families' basic needs for shelter, the federal government spends more than $25 billion each year to provide rental assistance to more than four million poor and near-poor households. This assistance is delivered through a mix of housing vouchers and deep

The Fiscal Roadmap Project was created to help policymakers navigate the serious economic and fiscal challenges facing the country.

Currently, fiscal policy is being shaped in a haphazard way: bailing out a firm here, letting another firm go bankrupt there; attaching conditions to a company bailout, writing a check to another company without strings attached. These are not ordinary times.

As a result of the current financial crisis, consumers are more concerned about their personal finances than ever before.  Household confidence in job security and future employment prospects, income stability, and the ability to preserve and build assets is plummeting; meanwhile, high fuel and food prices and tightening credit conditions are placing more pressure on households to maximize their financial decisions.

The United States, which entered into over $23 billion in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreements in fiscal year (FY) 2007 and $32 billion in FY 2008 (see table 1), is the world's largest arms supplier. U.S. exports range from combat aircraft to Pakistan, Morocco, Greece, Romania, and Chile to small arms and light weapons to the Philippines, Egypt, and Georgia. In 2006 and 2007, the United States sold weapons to over 174 states and territories, a significant increase from the… more

The United States is the world's leading arms exporting nation, accounting for over 45 percent of all weapons transferred globally in 2007.