Heidi Pascual's web site

By Hailey Gibbs

Key findings

• Forty-six percent of young children nationwide live in licensed child care deserts.

• In 42 percent of U.S. congressional districts, more than 50 percent of young children live in licensed child care deserts.

• In 14 districts—3.2 percent of all congressional districts—the share of young children in licensed child care deserts exceeds 80 percent.

• Rural congressional districts house a higher percentage of young children in child care deserts (49.1 percent) than both suburban (41.9 percent) and urban districts (45.6 percent).

Child care affects households in every corner of America—from the rural communities of Appalachia, where families might drive an hour to reach the nearest licensed provider, to dense urban neighborhoods where waitlists stretch months to years long. Yet as waitlists for child care assistance continue to grow at an alarming rate, the nation’s patchy and underfunded child care system remains plagued with supply shortages and high costs that leave too many families without options while undermining a fragile workforce.

Recent research from the Center for American Progress finds that nearly half of all young children in the country (ages 5 and under) live in a licensed child care desert—areas where demand for care outpaces local available licensed slots by a factor of 3-to-1. .​-- READ MORE

By Angelo Villagomez, Mariam Rashid, & Kendra Hughes

On June 16, 2026, U.S. Vice President JD Vance claimed on “The View” that “Black history is not erased from public spaces.” Yet there is overwhelming evidence that the Trump administration has launched a systematic, whole-of-government effort to rewrite America’s history on public lands through Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The administration is removing exhibits, pulling books from shelves, flagging signage for review, and dismantling the interpretive frameworks that give historical sites their meaning.

The Center for American Progress analyzed a leaked Department of the Interior database, reported by The Washington Post and shared on two websites, finding that the Trump administration is attempting to rewrite American history by censoring the stories of marginalized groups in more than one-third of U.S. national parks. Public lands and waters are indispensable in “defining the multicultural ideals and national identity of the United States.” The breadth and consistency of these actions make clear that this is not about “advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing,” as stated in the executive order it is a coordinated campaign to determine whose history is worth telling—and who belongs in America.


The scope and scale of erasure is massive

CAP’s analysis of the Interior Department leak reveals which communities the administration is targeting for erasure as well as the scale and scope of the censorship taking place on public lands across the country. -- READ MORE

As the United States observes its 250th birthday, American democracy is at a pivotal juncture that will determine the nation’s future. Anchored in the foundational notion that it is created of, by, and for the people, U.S. democracy has weathered daunting challenges and produced one of the most successful nations in human history. Indeed, most Americans continue to support democracy’s bedrock values, such as adherence to the rule of law, respect for fundamental freedoms, and free and fair elections.

Yet the values underlying American democracy have never been fully achieved and today are under active attack by extremist factions and wealthy special interests. Simultaneously, everyday Americans feel that the federal government is failing to deliver prosperity and security during a time of increasing economic and social turbulence. This disconnect has fueled frustration and distrust with our current political system, which is increasingly seen as unresponsive to people’s daily struggles.

Despite these profound challenges, Americans must not give up on democracy or give in to authoritarianism. Instead, we have the individual and collective power to build a stronger and more responsive system for the next 250 years. We can design a modernized democracy that finally achieves the goals of a government that is representative of and answerable to all people, without leaving anyone behind or unfairly favoring anyone. For its part, CAP will continue to offer an innovative policy roadmap for elected leaders who want to reach these goals. Our chief focus will be on democracy reforms to root out government corruption and conflicts of interest, optimize government responsiveness to its citizens, reduce the corporate and “dark” money that skew our system toward wealthy special interests, expand voting rights, and ensure free and fair elections that reflect the will of the people. -- READ MORE

By Jazmine Amoako & Karla Walter

States and local governments spend billions of dollars each year on essential public infrastructure and support millions of jobs through the construction, repair, and maintenance of roads, bridges, and schools. These investments must be delivered on time and on budget and provide the best value for taxpayers. Although cities and states that have long adopted fair contracting policies to meet these goals have generally been controlled by Democratic majorities, policymakers in communities where Republicans hold significant power are increasingly debating similar measures to help deliver on infrastructure investments and stabilize the contract workforce.

Specifically, bipartisan and Republican-led coalitions have begun adopting three core strategies for ensuring fair contracting: responsible bidder ordinances, prevailing wage requirements, and apprenticeship utilization standards. These models are being advanced in communities with Republican trifectas and where Republicans and Democrats split control of the government—including Nevada, Utah, and several local jurisdictions in Indiana—as well as in numerous communities where Republican leadership at the state level preempts local adoption of other workplace standards. This article highlights these approaches and the Republican-leaning jurisdictions advancing them, making the case for why such models are attractive to lawmakers across the political spectrum.

How fair contracting policies benefit local communities Fair contracting policies offer a pragmatic solution to common workforce challenges, particularly within the construction industry, where ongoing labor shortages are intensified by an aging construction workforce. Roughly 1 in 5 workers employed in the construction industry is now over the age of 55, and rising retirement rates are expected to significantly shrink the available workforce over the next decade. -- READ MORE

By Kennedy Andara & Aurelia Glass

July 2, 2026--Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Employment Situation report for June 2026. The labor market added 57,000 jobs, coming in well below expectations, and job growth over the prior two months was revised down by 74,000. The unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.2 percent, but this was entirely driven by people leaving the labor force rather than moving into employment. The data also showed that job growth over the past year was concentrated in low-wage industries.

Strong headline numbers in May led some economists to take a more upbeat outlook on the labor market and even predict that it will “thaw” in 2026, yet the recent downward revisions and uneven job growth since the start of the second Trump administration suggest that labor market growth remains weak. Additionally, underlying labor market weakness—as seen in elevated underemployment and unemployment durations—along with low churn undercut the narrative that the labor market is reaccelerating, especially as workers struggle to connect with good jobs and families continue to face affordability pressures.

New analysis from the Center for American Progress, using Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland forecasts, shows that inflation is expected to outpace nominal hourly wages in June 2026, which landed at $37.64, for the third month in a row. Additionally, since June 2025, job growth has been concentrated in industries paying below-average wages, especially health care and social services. These factors imply that job growth is failing to put more money into the pockets of working families. At the same time, the Trump administration has attacked key avenues by which workers can ensure their wages keep up with rising prices, imposing more barriers to forming unions and taking steps to weaken the minimum wage for millions of workers in private education and health services—the fastest-growing industry. -- READ MORE

By Devon Ombres

The Supreme Court’s 2025 term furthered a far-right agenda that undermines the Constitution and the interests of the American people in favor of the powerful and special interests.

This year, the U.S. Supreme Court term once again concluded with several major cases that undermine Congress, unduly empower the presidency, and leave the American people exposed to abuses by government and corporate special interests. Though certain decisions did not go as far as democracy advocates feared, the court continued its trend of undermining American rights and freedoms. In Louisiana v. Callais, it struck a powerful blow to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). And in Trump v. Slaughter, it overturned an almost 100-year-old precedent, fundamentally changing how independent agencies work and putting unprecedented power in the president’s hands.

These decisions and more are discussed in greater detail below, highlighting how, on our nation’s 250th birthday, the Supreme Court is working to undermine the very constitutional principles that make this the United States of America.

Undermining voting rights and election integrity

This term, the Supreme Court decided to drastically weaken Section 2 of the VRA in Louisiana v. Callais, having already gutted Section 5 in 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder. This decision makes it nearly impossible to challenge racially discriminatory voting districts, supercharging mid-decade political gerrymandering—which the court greenlit in Rucho v. Common Cause—in several states that have now eliminated multiple majority-minority congressional districts. The court also declined to hear a case that held that disabled people do not have a private cause of action to sue to overturn state laws hindering their ability to get help voting under Section 208 of the VRA. -- READ MORE