Although photo ID and proof of citizenship proposals are offered as necessary to prevent fraud in elections, we know that the facts do not warrant these extreme measures.
Miles Rapoport testifies on March 23, 2007, at the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services' hearing on "The Role of Public Investment in Promoting Economic Growth".
Demos Vice President of Policy and Programs Tamara Draut testifies before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension regarding higher education costs and student debt.
Basic demographic data reveal much about the need for better access to the voting process.
Studies have shown that 20% of the population of the U.S. has one or more disabilities and that approximately 10% of that number live with severe disabilities and that about 20% of U.S. adults with disabilities — more than 8 million potential voters — say they have been unable to vote in presidential or congressional elections due to barriers at or getting to the polls.
Demos Vice President of Policy and Programs Tamara Draut testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs regarding the growth of credit card debt and credit industry practices.
Health care costs are rising sharply, placing stress on employers, individuals, and families. As employers look to rein in benefit costs, they are increasingly turning towards health insurance options that feature greater employee cost sharing through higher deductibles, co-payments, and other forms of out-of-pocket expenses. Others are dropping coverage entirely. Financially stretched low- and middle-income families, however, can scarcely afford these higher medical expenses.
Although Americans of all ages have endured the economic and social changes ushered in by a shift from an industrial to a technology- and service-based economy, today’s young adults are the first to experience its full weight as they try to start their lives. But the challenges facing young adults also reflect the failure of public policy to address the changing realities of starting, and building, a career and family in 21st century America.
Most parents with children under the age of 6 are in their late 20s or early 30s, making issues of family leave, child care, and work flexibility of core concern to young adults under the age of 34.
Young families across the income spectrum are financially and emotionally stressed by the demands of work and family, yet our nation has failed to address these issues in any systematic or holistic fashion.
Over the past decade, rents and home prices in major cities across the country have escalated rapidly. As young adults transition from college into the workforce, already owing an average of $20,000 in student loan debt, securing affordable housing in the current market can pose an overwhelming challenge.
Debt has become a generation-defining characteristic for today's young adults. The problem often begins with student loan debt, which today affects both community college and university students. In addition, today's young adults are relying more on credit to cover basic living expenses, particularly during those first few years in the workplace. As starting salaries have failed to keep pace with rising student loan bills, housing costs or health care costs, for many young adults the credit line becomes a lifeline.
Job security and stability were defining characteristics of the U.S. labor market from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. A large portion of the workforce was unionized, and workplace benefits such as health insurance and pensions were standard. Today, young workers can no longer expect to work at a company with the intention of staying until retirement. Union membership has dropped to just 8.6 percent of the private-sector workforce, and benefits are becoming increasingly rare. Job instability is the new reality.
In today's knowledge-based economy, a college degree is a necessary qualification for entry to the middle class. Over the last 30 years, as real wages for workers with only a high school diploma have fallen, the life outcomes for those with college degrees have diverged from those with only high school degrees. In 1977, for example, there was only a 6 percentage-point difference in home ownership rates between those with college educations and those without. Today, there is a 20 percentage-point difference.
In recent years, citizens, the media and political experts have expressed growing concern over redistricting--the process of drawing new district lines to determine which residents will be grouped together when electing representatives. This concern has focused on the steady decline in competitiveness in congressional and legislative districts across the country and the recent efforts of several states to redraw legislative districts mid-decade to gain partisan advantage.
The United States faces major challenges in sustaining a strong middle class in the decades ahead. Rapidly changing, often volatile economic conditions are making it more difficult to enter the middle class -- and stay there. Even as the bar to a middle class life is raised higher, economic opportunity is fading. As a result, the most rapidly growing groups in the U.S. -- particularly African Americans and Latinos -- face growing obstacles to entering, and staying in, America's middle class.
The Brennan Center for Justice, Demos and the Legal Action Center call upon the New York State Board of Elections to end the systematic practice of illegally disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters. A survey of 63 local election boards conducted late last year by the Brennan Center and Demos found that more than one-third of local boards, including four in New York City, are disenfranchising former prisoners and probationers who are eligible to register and vote under state law.
Testimony on the need to restore Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act’s protections against purposeful racial discrimination in jurisdictions that are subject to the Section 5 preclearance requirement.
This new Demos report, published in collaboration with Business Ethics Magazine, explores growing efforts by state and local governments to ensure corporate accountability. It looks at the changing role of state treasurers, labor pension funds, and others working to demand more responsible business practices at a time when national reform proposals have been stalled in Congress.