The Center for American Progress Action Fund (@CAPAction) is a 501(c)(4) organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. We are the sister organization of the Center for American Progress (@AmProg), a 501(c)(3) progressive think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. American Progress Action Fund is headed by John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. CAP Action’s mission is to take progressive policy ideas and transform them into action through communications, social advocacy, and legislative action.
This is the second in a weekly series authored by CAP Action intern Casual Wednesday.
Here’s a sampling of what we are promoting.
The Results Are in: Midterm Elections Point to New Responsibilities in Washington
Election Results Fueled by Jobs Crisis and Voter Apathy Among Progressives
Latest GDP Figures Show Business Investment Powering Economic Growth
Interactive: Big Polluters' Big Ad Spending
Public Opinion Snapshot: Public Says, "No Thanks on That Repeal Thing
Cooperation or Confrontation on Clean Energy?
Ignoring Evidence, Politico Spins Climate Vote As Electoral Loser
History Is a Poor Guide for Future Federal Budgets
Southern Sudan Referendum Will Be Technically Flawed
The Election Was Bad For Liberals in Power, But Minorities and Women Will Suffer Most
Addressing Continuing Vulnerabilities in Air Cargo Security
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Election night, 2010 was pretty ugly for progressives. John Podesta gave us his take on the way forward in the 112th Congress.
The Results Are in: Midterm Elections Point to New Responsibilities in Washington
By John Podesta
There is no way to miss the point of yesterday’s midterm elections. The American people are deeply frustrated with how they are being governed. The political debate is at an all-time partisan low and the public over the last three election cycles are calling for something, almost anything, to change that. They want to see progress on the economy, on job creation, on taxes, and on the federal budget deficit. No matter how voters cast their ballots these are the issues that voters want their representatives in Congress to address. Now.
This overarching voter mandate to "fix it" delivers with it a set of responsibilities to the incoming Republican leadership of the House of Representatives and their strengthened minority counterparts in the Senate as well as to Democratic leaders in the Senate and President Barack Obama and his administration. For the Republicans this means they need to become partners in governing our nation. They can no longer be the "party of no" after yesterday’s vote. Republican leaders must craft serious legislative proposals to match the serious problems our country faces today and in the future.
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As progressives look toward the 112th Congress and beyond to the 2012 elections, there are still lessons to be learned from the midterms. Specifically, the Democrats were hurt by the poor economy, low turnout among base voters, and the number of vulnerable seats in conservative leaning areas. Still, the election was neither an endorsement of GOP policies nor Tea Party antigovernment sentiments.
Election Results Fueled by Jobs Crisis and Voter Apathy Among Progressives
by Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin
Experts and pundits will float many interpretations of the 2010 midterms over the next few weeks, each of which progressives should consider carefully. But the most parsimonious explanation of how 2010 unfolded in terms of lessons for progressives going forward lies in a few fundamental factors: the poor state of the economy; the abnormally conservative composition of the midterm electorate; and the large number of vulnerable seats in conservative-leaning areas. These trends cost the Democrats their House majority but were not strong enough to sweep them out in the Senate.
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The economy is actually starting to recover and the latest reports show the gross domestic product grew by a respectable 2 percent between July and September. CAP Senior Fellow Christian Weller argues that government policy helped, but the country still needs more private investment for a full recovery.
Latest GDP Figures Show Business Investment Powering Economic Growth
by Christian Weller
The overwhelming majority of the stimulus spending was intended to go to the private sector—households and businesses—because that’s where the greatest weaknesses of the economy were during the recession. There could be no strong, sustained recovery without a turnaround in the private sector. Short-term government spending is necessary in a recession to fill the hole left by the lack of consumption and investment, but it is not a sustainable way to boost economic growth over the medium term. The private sector has to take on that role of generating sustainable momentum. That’s why it is critically important to see sustained and hopefully strengthened expansions in business investment and consumer spending at this point.
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Prior to the election, CAP Action looked at the amount of corporate money that went toward influencing the electorate to vote against a clean energy agenda. Rebecca Lefton and Noreen Nielsen (@Noreen1) found that conservatives benefited more than Democrats by a margin of more than 10 to 1. The Citizens United ruling may have opened the door to anonymous spending, but at least we can track where the money was spent in each state.
Interactive: Big Polluters' Big Ad Spending
by Rebecca Lefton, Noreen Nielsen
Based on new information since last week, big polluters and their special interest allies have spent an additional $1 million combined, amounting to $69.5 million since the beginning of 2010 on misleading and fictitious television ads designed to shape midterm elections and advance their anti-clean energy reform agenda. ‘Conservative groups have outspent their Democratic counterparts by a margin of over 10 to one’ on overall political advertising in the weeks leading up to the election.
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Going forward, there is one big take-away from this election and the pre-election polling data. Our CAP partners reported that the 2010 health care bill may not be perfect, but the American people do not want to see a full repeal of the law. A clear majority support health care reform of some kind and a plurality want it to do more.
Public Opinion Snapshot: Public Says, "No Thanks on That Repeal Thing"
by Ruy Teixeira
Conservatives are likely to do very well in Tuesday’s election. They are also likely to make all kinds of fallacious claims about what the election results mean. One we’re likely to hear a lot about is a supposed mandate to repeal health care reform. But claiming a mandate doesn’t make it so. Consider these results from two recent polls.
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As conservatives replaced moderates in Congress, the way forward on global warming and clean energy legislation became a lot more difficult. Indeed, a comprehensive bill is probably out of the question for the next two years at least. Still, CAP’s Daniel Weiss (@DanJWeiss) found a few key policy points on which Democrats and Republicans could find common ground.
Cooperation or Confrontation on Clean Energy?
by Daniel Weiss
President Barack Obama wanted to pass a comprehensive clean energy and climate pollution reduction law, but it didn’t happen during his administration’s first two years. Now that Republicans have won control of the House and dramatically narrowed the party split in the Senate there are two paths Congress and the administration can take toward energy legislation that would create jobs, reduce oil use, and cut pollution—cooperation or confrontation.
After the election day hurricane that replaced moderate legislators with conservatives it's clear that comprehensive global warming solutions are off the congressional agenda for two years. President Obama acknowledged this before the election when he said in an exclusive interview with the National Journal on October 24 that "another big omnibus, comprehensive one-size-fits-all energy bill" isn't likely. But he suggested that he is willing to take the cooperation path.
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On a related note, the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson (@ClimateBrad) debunked the notion that voters were out to punish members who voted for the 2009 bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions.
Ignoring Evidence, Politico Spins Climate Vote As Electoral Loser
by Brad Johnson
In fact, Democrats who voted against clean energy were more than three times as likely to lose their seats than those who voted for it:
And ThinkProgress reported that a full 50 percent of the incoming GOP members deny that human activity contributes to global warming while 86 percent oppose any climate change legislation that increases government revenues.
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Conservative candidates ran on messages about cutting spending and taxes, as they often do. There is no question that federal deficits and the U.S. debt present some serious questions for policy makers to answer. CAP Michael Linden cautions them not to use history as a guide for solving tomorrow’s problems.
History Is a Poor Guide for Future Federal Budgets
By Michael Linden
More importantly, it’s simply wrong to try and budget for the future by looking backwards and trying to shoehorn future needs into whatever the past levels have been. Instead, we should be trying to determine broadly how much public investment will be required as we move deeper into the 21st century, and then how do we pay for those investments in the most efficient way possible. Why should we even consider the average from the past 60 years as an appropriate constraint until 2070? Certainly everyone agrees that times and circumstances have changed, and that the federal government should, presumably, change with them.
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A half a world away, Sudan is preparing for a vote of its own. Specifically, the majority Christian South will hold a referendum on succession from the largely Muslim North. The country has seen years of civil war as well as genocide in the Darfur region as political tensions continue to fester. A peaceful North-South split may be the best possible solution. Unfortunately, CAP’s ENOUGH! Project (@ENOUGHproject) reports that there are still significant hurdles to overcome in order to hold a fair and legitimate referendum.
Southern Sudan Referendum Will Be Technically Flawed
By Amanda Hsiao
A consensus has emerged between Sudanese and U.S. officials, policy, and advocacy groups that a new deal—facilitated with proper leverage from international actors—must be struck between the two Sudanese parties. This deal is needed to push forward implementation of outstanding provisions in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, stabilize North-South relations for the future, and ultimately, maintain peace in Sudan through what will be a series of potentially volatile exercises.
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Compromises and silver linings aside, CAP’s Campus Progress reported that the election results could spell trouble for progress on women’s rights, immigration reform, and net neutrality. They predict that conservative policies would hit women of color particularly hard.
The Election Was Bad For Liberals in Power, But Minorities and Women Will Suffer Most
By Shani Hilton
That's not to say, though, that things aren't going to get worse. But while the slumping economy will continue to have a negative impact on all Americans, the increase of anti-choice and anti-immigration elected officials likely means legislation that will actively make things worse for women and people of color.
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Finally, last Friday authorities discovered bombs on cargo planes that were apparently part of a terrorist plot hatched by Al Qaeda. In 2007, CAP released a report on this very issue and Congress acted soon after. Unfortunately, the federal government did not reach its stated goal of 100 percent inspection by August, 2010.
Addressing Continuing Vulnerabilities in Air Cargo Security
by Peter Juul
Last week’s attempted attack illustrates the need for more vigorous and urgent action to confront threats to the international air cargo system. That action includes more resources for TSA to properly and directly inspect cargo entering the United States, and a concerted push to establish a more rigorous and robust international air cargo inspection regime.
The U.S. government has taken important steps to improve air cargo security, but last week’s episode makes it clear that vulnerabilities remain. These vulnerabilities, however, can be addressed.
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