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Zeke Emanuel, Center for American Progress Give Up on Obamacare

"The examples given in [a recent paper by the Center for American Progress] are too government-heavy: All-payer databases, price fixing, and mandatory 'transparency.' Another weakness is that only governments will be able to share in the savings. How about a model where patients share in the savings, through a credit to a Health Savings Account (or Medicare MSA), for example?"

Center for American Progress Issues Proposal to Generate $385 Billion Reduction in Federal Health Spending Over 10 Years

"The Senior Protection Plan proves that it is possible to produce substantial savings, as scored by the Congressional Budget Office, without harming beneficiaries. All told, the plan would produce federal savings in excess of $385 billion over 10 years. In addition to the plan's savings, its tax policies related to health care would generate up to $100 billion over 10 years. But most importantly, the plan includes an array of reforms that would bend the cost curve over the long term."

Center for American Progress and the Fordham Institute Offer Solutions to Teacher Pension Crisis

While both reports identified the same problems, the solutions they outline diverge on key points.

American Retirement Savings System Could Be Much Better

"The personal retirement-savings plans that most Americans use, such as 401(k)s and [IRAs], are unnecessarily costly and needlessly risky. But instituting another kind of retirement plan that combines the best elements of both defined-contribution and defined-benefit plans -- such as the Center for American Progress's [CAP's] proposed Secure, Accessible, Flexible, and Efficient, or SAFE, Retirement Plan, or the related USA Retirement Funds proposal from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) -- could provide a more secure retirement at a far lower cost ... Our actuarial analysis finds that CAP's SAFE Retirement Plan significantly outperforms both 401(k)s and IRAs on cost and risk measures."

A Simple Solution to Lower Drug Prices for All Americans

"There's a simple solution for lowering prices of both old and new drugs for all Americans, not just for seniors under Medicare: a windfall profits tax that takes back surplus profits derived from excessive prices. This tax would be equal to the difference between a drug's list price -- the price that is used for patient payments -- and the drug's justified price, multiplied by the number of units sold."

Americans Need to Save More -- and the Government Needs to Make That Easier

Excerpt: The middle class is in an economic bind. The savings rate reached zero percent in June 2005. This is not because many households don't want to save more, but because they often can't. Stagnant wages and rising prices have caused families to borrow record amounts of money to make ends meet. Many families' financial situation is actually worse than it appears on paper because the majority of their wealth is in the housing market, which is likely vastly overvalued.

Video and Transcript of Senate HELP Committee's Roundtable Discussion: 'Pension Modernization for a 21st Century Workforce'

2 hours, 34 minutes. Witnesses included Aliya Wong, Executive Director of Retirement Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Susan L. Breen-Held, Consulting Actuary, Principal Financial; Richard Hudson, Consulting Actuary, Cheiron; Karen Friedman, Retirement USA; John Adler, Retirement Security Campaign Director, SEIU; Andrew G. Biggs, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; and David Madland, Director of the American Worker Project, Center for American Progress.

Laying the Groundwork for More Efficient Retirement Savings Incentives

"Reforming the tax code to make it more efficient should prioritize refundable tax credits over new tax deductions; emphasize progressive savings matches that offer relatively higher benefits to lower-income households; create savings incentives that are simple to use; and establish new savings options, such that gaining access to savings incentives depends less on employers offering retirement plans.... The benefits of these steps would largely go to the Americans who need the most help saving more, including lower-income workers and people who work for employers that do not offer retirement benefits."

EEOC Holding Public Meeting Today to Address Best Practices to Avoid Discrimination Against Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities

Excerpt: The Commission is scheduled to hear from invited expert panelists on the importance of caregiver-friendly workplace policies in economic hard times. The panelists are: Cynthia Calvert, Deputy Director, The Center for WorkLife Law; Karen Minatelli, Director of Work and Family Programs, National Partnership for Women and Families; Heather Boushey, Senior Economist, Center for American Progress; Jeff Norris, President, Equal Employment Advisory Council[.]

Health Care Reform Could Boost Employment by 250,000 to 400,000 a Year this Decade (PDF)

Excerpt: This paper will demonstrate the potential impact of health care reform on employment growth in the new decade, examining two recent studies and then combing their estimates of potential employment growth.