Heidi Pascual's web site

By CAP Dept of Advocacy & Outreach

This profile is part of a project that finds and tracks the public and private sector investments generated or supported by three of the Biden administration’s economic laws. These laws make investments in the American people, helping to grow the middle class, lowering the cost of living, and setting up America to better compete and cooperate in the world. Pulling directly from several sources, this catalog provides users with publicly available information such as the number of jobs created, workforce training partnerships, and storytellers benefiting from particular projects, among other detailed information. The profile below expands on the economic, practical, and climate impacts of just one of the 35,000 investments that can be found in the Biden Administration Investment Tracker. It may be updated to account for future project developments.

The Biden administration is investing more than $1.06 billion in a project to save a key connection between Minnesota and Wisconsin. More than 30,000 vehicles cross the Blatnik Bridge daily, with the bridge serving as an essential connection for interstate and international commerce. This project will rebuild the bridge, create jobs, and generate economic growth in the region. - CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Greta Bedecovics

This article is part of a series from the Center for American Progress exposing how the sweeping Project 2025 policy agenda would harm all Americans. This new authoritarian playbook, published by the Heritage Foundation, would destroy the 250-year-old system of checks and balances upon which U.S. democracy has relied and give far-right politicians, judges, and corporations more control over Americans’ lives.

At a time of escalating global tensions and numerous verified instances of foreign interference in U.S. elections, the far right would ban U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM)—the key component in the U.S military’s arsenal for combating election-related cyberthreats—from participating in federal efforts to fortify elections. This proposal in the far right’s Project 2025 authoritarian playbook could empower foreign actors to tip the scales in U.S. elections and allow the far right to amass more power as foreign adversaries seek to divide Americans and promote extremist ideologies.

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​ByRyan Mulholland

Hurricane forecasters know that every once in a while, a storm that appears dead hangs on long after the public’s attention has waned, only to exceed expectations and grow back into a powerful force. The Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) might follow a similar path.

Many commentators pronounced IPEF dead after negotiations at last year’s ministerial meeting in San Francisco failed to reach agreement on the initiative’s trade pillar. But like a small storm gathering strength, the reality is that IPEF’s other three pillars—on supply chain cooperation, the green transition, and anti-corruption—have continued at pace and are now beginning to deliver tangible economic and foreign policy impacts.

And importantly, each pillar is not stagnant. Every one provides a platform for alliance-strengthening activities that can help the relationships fostered by IPEF grow stronger over time. For this reason alone, it is worth monitoring the initiative’s progress, as its impact cannot be measured merely in trade flows or investment. ​ -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Allison McManus, Robert Benson, & Courtney Federico

From June 13–15, 2024, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will convene G7 leaders in Apulia, Italy. The high-level convening comes against the backdrop of a considerable array of global challenges, including war in Ukraine, ongoing conflict in Gaza, climate disasters, and a mounting sovereign debt crisis in the Global South. Amid a resurgence of authoritarianism worldwide, renewed geopolitical tension, and existential climate crisis, this G7 summit represents more than just another leaders’ forum: It is a critical opportunity to reinforce democratic values and restore trust in international institutions through decisive, targeted multilateral action.

Here are five critical priorities the G7 should address at the summit this week.: *Use Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine Russian aggression continues to devastate Ukraine, causing extensive destruction to cities and infrastructure. The United States recently approved $60 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, but aid is arriving slowly, allowing Russian forces to make their largest advance since late 2022.

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By Nicole Rapfogel

This article is part of a series from the Center for American Progress exposing how the sweeping Project 2025 policy agenda would harm all Americans. This new authoritarian playbook, published by the Heritage Foundation, would destroy the 250-year-old system of checks and balances upon which U.S. democracy has relied and give far-right politicians, judges, and corporations more control over Americans’ lives.

Over the past two years, seniors and other Medicare enrollees have begun to benefit from monumental prescription drug price reforms thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. However, these lifesaving policies are now under threat. The Heritage Foundation has outlined a sweeping, far-right policy vision to put power—and profits—back in pharmaceutical companies’ hands. Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promise” calls for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act. Similarly, the Republican Study Committee’s “Fiscal Sanity to Save America” fiscal year 2025 budget proposal calls for a full repeal of the law. If Project 2025 is implemented, millions of Medicare enrollees will see their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs rise, reversing much-needed savings generated by the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Part D reforms and other provisions. -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE

By Weade James

Seventy years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that separating children in public schools based on race is unconstitutional. While the court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education marked a prominent shift toward equality, we have yet to see the promise of Brown fully realized. If we hope to produce an active and diverse citizenry committed to advancing democratic principles, our students must be able to learn with and from peers of different races, ethnicities, languages, faiths, and economic status. Despite the sit-ins, marches, and court rulings of the civil rights movement, today, many schools remain segregated by race and socioeconomic status, affecting inequities in funding and resources. Amid declining white student enrollment in K-12 public schools (45 percent) and declining National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores in reading and math overall—with score gaps between both white and Black and white and Latino students—persistent segregated learning environments are cause for concern.

America’s progress since Brown

A 2022 Government Accountability Office report found nearly 38 percent of all K-12 public school students attended a predominantly same-race school in 2020-21, with about half of white students attending schools with 75 percent or more white student populations.-- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE