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By CAP

This week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI).

As the first-ever executive order on AI, it includes many of the principles that the Center for American Progress has been calling for since April, including an all-of-government approach to AI that encompasses the framework of the 2022 AI Bill of Rights.

Dr. Alondra Nelson, a distinguished senior fellow at CAP who played a leading role in developing the AI Bill of Rights and was recently named as a U.S. member of new U.N. Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, issued the following statement in response: -- READ MORE

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By Paige Shoemaker DeMio, Allie Pearce, Tania Otero Martinez, & Marcella Bombardieri

The U.S. House of Representatives will soon consider a funding bill introduced by Republican leadership that would upend federal investments in public education and workforce programs that are intended to ensure the education system serves young people from all walks of life. Since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society agenda of the 1960s—a defining effort to tackle poverty and increase opportunity—the federal government has invested in supporting the growth of the youngest minds through Head Start providing equitable funding and highly skilled teachers to economically disadvantaged K-12 schools and their students making higher education affordable for low-income students and funding workforce training for youth who face barriers to employment. --READ MORE
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By Nicole Rapfogel

For far too long, drug companies have been free to both set prices as high as the market will bear and raise these prices year after year. In fact, according to a 2023 analysis by AARP, the 25 drugs with the highest aggregate Medicare spending have more than tripled in list price since entering the market. With 1 in 3 U.S. adults unable to afford taking their medication as prescribed, high and rising drug prices are having devastating impacts on Americans’ health and wallets.

To combat excessive pharmaceutical price hikes, the Inflation Reduction Act required drug companies to limit their Medicare price increases to the inflation rate or pay rebates, enabled Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, and capped out-of-pocket spending for Medicare beneficiaries. --READ MORE

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By By Patrick Gaspard & Allison McManus

Since Hamas militants brutally killed more than 1,200 Israelis on October 7, Israel has responded with some of the most intense bombardments the world has seen in decades, in an attempt to “destroy” the group. In declared efforts to starve resources to Hamas militants, Israel has imposed blockades on fuel, water, electricity, and other humanitarian assistance to 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Although Israel has agreed to four-hour temporary pauses in hostilities to allow aid to enter, these are wholly insufficient to stem the catastrophic consequences for millions of innocent Palestinians. Gaza’s Health Ministry has estimated that Israeli strikes have killed more than 11,000, and more than 1.4 million have been displaced—over half of Gaza’s population.​ ---READ MORE

By Isabela Salas- Betsch & Karla Walter
Unions and collective bargaining increase workers’ democratic voice raise wages and build wealth and improve conditions for all workers. It should be no surprise that nearly 70 percent of Americans support unions, and support is especially high among younger generations. Despite the fact that workers want and need unions, decades of weakened labor law has eroded workers’ ability to form unions and engage in collective bargaining. Yet, states have significant authority to build power for working people.
This column provides an overview of successful state action during the 2023 legislative session to strengthen workers’ ability to join unions and collectively bargain, such as repealing right-to-work laws, improving collective bargaining protections, strengthening protections for striking workers and allowing tax deduction for union dues. -- READ MORE​

The Port of Green Bay in Wisconsin has received funding to expand onto the site of a former power plant the transformation includes the removal of coal piles and other items left from the power plant, and ships will be able to both load and unload cargo at the new port.

Snapshot
Project name: Port of Green Bay Site Development Project
Program: Port Infrastructure Development Law: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Recipient: Port of Green Bay
Investment amount: $10,134,800
City: Green Bay State: Wisconsin
Congressional districts: 8
Construction start date: 2023
Jobs created: 20 expected-- READ MORE