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By Reema Bzeih, Sam Ricketts, and Shannon Baker-Branstetter

Introduction and summary

State climate action has never been more important. Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House, and his administration’s stated intention to stall and reverse federal climate and clean energy policies, means it is even more imperative that states lead the way on climate. A majority of the American people know that climate change is real and harms the nation, and they want the government to do something about it. And a majority support expanding access to clean energy, rather than more fossil fuels. However, starting in January, the Trump administration could work in the opposite direction.

For years, many state governments have demonstrated strong leadership on climate change. Indeed, the Center for American Progress and its partners have argued that states laid a policy road map for bold nationwide climate action, which informed the groundbreaking policies advanced in the Biden-Harris administration. However, as the impacts of climate change continue to accelerate—with deadly consequences for American communities and around the globe—and as federal lawmakers look to take U.S. climate policy backward, more state governments must go further in this leadership. -​- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Sachin Shiva, Karla Walter, & David Madland

Wages for too many working Americans have stagnated over the past several decades, even as corporate profits have approached record highs and CEO pay skyrockets. A key reason for this is that workers still do not have sufficient power to negotiate for higher compensation. Decades of attacks against collective bargaining, along with changing economic and employment structures, have weakened worker power. While federal reforms are necessary to rebalance power across the economy and fix many structural issues facing workers, state lawmakers can empower workers to bargain for decent working conditions and support good-quality jobs in local communities, even without federal action.

This issue brief details eight ways that states can continue growing worker power and improving the lives of working people in the U.S. economy:

​ *Bring workers and employers together in industry standards boards to help set minimum workplace standards across an entire sector of the economy.

*Create good jobs for workers from all walks of life through government spending by adopting pay standards and hiring goals and encouraging project labor agreements, responsibility standards, and community benefits agreements to support the consistent delivery of goods and services..-- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Steven Woolf and Jill Rosenthal

The introduction of routine childhood immunization in the 20th century is heralded as one of the greatest success stories in public health. Few other measures have been as impactful and cost effective in controlling and preventing disease, improving health and quality of life, and extending lifespan. A 2024 study published in The Lancet estimated that vaccines have saved 154 million lives globally since 1974, comparable to a rate of six lives every minute. Of those saved lives, 95 percent were children younger than 5 years old. Perhaps partly owing to the success of this effort in slashing the rate of once common diseases, many parents today may take vaccines for granted. The percentage of parents who consider it “very” or “extremely important” for their children to get vaccinated fell from 94 percent in 2001 to 69 percent in 2024. They may not remember that the infectious diseases that modern vaccines prevent—which, thankfully, are now rare—once claimed the lives of millions of U.S. children or left them disabled.

Despite the tremendous successes of these vaccines—which required years of rigorous testing, an intensive approval process before use, and are subject to ongoing safety monitoring—many Americans now express concerns about vaccine safety, fueled increasingly by misinformation circulating on social media and the false claims of public figures. This skepticism is fueling decreased vaccine uptake, setting the stage for more outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease. -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Aurelia Glass and Karla Walter

Despite doing essential work for the roughly 1 billion passengers per year flying in the United States, airport cleaners, baggage handlers, ticketing agents, caterers, concessions workers, passenger service agents, and lounge workers who make airports and flights operate smoothly are paid low wages with limited access to benefits.

New analysis from the Center for American Progress finds that wages in airport service occupations fall below the private sector standard and that more than 3 in 10 workers in some airport service occupations do not receive employer-provided health insurance. Low pay harms workers’ ability to afford basic necessities such as housing, and nearly half of passenger attendants—who assist passengers who use wheelchairs and provide other services to ensure passenger safety—are rent burdened. This disproportionately harms both workers of color—who make up a majority of workers in many air travel jobs—and the public, as low pay reduces the willingness of well-qualified workers to stay in the field. --CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Patrick Gaspard

Everyone deserves to be safe in their community, no matter what. Laken Riley’s murder was a tragedy, and she should still be alive today.

People who are in this country must obey the law, and those who do not must be held accountable. But the Laken Riley Act requires changes before the U.S. Senate votes on its passage.

As drafted, the bill violates due process by requiring mandatory, indefinite detention even for those merely accused, but not actually found guilty, of certain property crimes. Secondly, it ensnares people who have been expressly granted permission by the government to live in the United States, such as DACA and TPS recipients.

Thirdly, it contains no safeguards for minors, including those who may be subject to federal detention by the bill even if wrongfully accused of petty theft. Fourthly, the bill may harm some survivors of gender-based violence, including by giving abusers more tools to control their victims, who may either be coerced into committing property crimes or wrongly accused of such crimes by their abusers. -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Sam Hananel

Washington, D.C. — To mark the fourth anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, Patrick Gaspard, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, released the following statement: That the fourth anniversary of the January 6 riot will be followed closely by the second inauguration of Donald Trump, the primary instigator of that riot, illustrates the extent to which Americans have been pulled apart on the most fundamental of our shared histories and values. January 6 was a day of shame and infamy that is now increasingly seen through hyperpartisan lenses that have been latched to far-fetched conspiracies believed by large percentages of our fellow citizens. This should give pause to all in government, civil society, and the media who still believe that this nation endures on the strength of our common beliefs.

This new administration enters the White House on vows to exact retribution against political enemies and to dismantle vital guardrails. The greater danger is that Americans will shrug off these brazen acts if they continue to feel unheard and unseen by guardians of the very institutions they experience as inattentive to their most basic needs. ​-- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE