In analyzing public policy, one of the most important distinctions is between opinions and facts. This brief defines these terms, using health care for the undocumented as an illustration of how they differ and why the differences matter.

The question, “is America a democracy, or is it a republic?” surfaces frequently in political discussions, social media arguments, and even classroom conversations. But framing the issue as an either-or choice misunderstands how the American political system actually works. At its core, the distinction is not about choosing one label over the other, but about understanding how different principles are operationalized in America’s political system.

On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court released its decision in Callais v. Louisiana, reinterpreting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). In this brief, we discuss the case, the Voting Rights Act, and the political implications of the Court’s decision.

In November 2026, the U.S. will hold midterm congressional elections. The potential outcomes range from a continued Republican unified government (control of the Presidency, House, and Senate) to a divided government where President Trump faces Democratic majorities in the House and or Senate.

Artificial intelligence (AI) depends on physical infrastructure. Behind every new AI chatbot, image generator, essay writer, or music maker, there are buildings full of computers that must be built, fueled, cooled, and connected to the power grid.

In previous briefs, Everything Policy has examined presidential authority and legislative authority. Here, we examine a cross-branch issue of authority, the power to impose tariffs. The Constitution explicitly grants Congress tariff authority. However, Congress has passed laws allowing the President to impose tariffs without any additional congressional consent. Is this power limited, and, if so, how?

When Americans debate “single payer” (government-run) healthcare, the option is often framed in terms of unknowns, as though no such system has ever existed in the U.S. What is generally overlooked in these debates is the pre-existing large-scale, federally run health care system operating inside the United States: the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Since February 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been without Congressionally approved funding, leading to long waits at some airport security checkpoints. What is causing the funding gap? How long are actual wait times? What will break the logjam?

The debate over rising prescription drug prices has identified one possible cause: the role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) in setting prices.

Protest has long shaped American politics. Our very revolution at the Founding was started as a protest movement. However, the right to protest is constrained by judicial decisions and federal, state, and local laws. So, what exactly are your rights? Where do they stop? And who decides?

Recent U.S. and Israeli strikes, called Operation Epic Fury, targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, military assets, and senior leadership. In this brief, we outline the main arguments offered in support of and against U.S. military action.

Healthcare reform is one of the few issues that consistently unites Americans in frustration. Nearly half of Americans report struggling to afford healthcare. Premiums continue to rise faster than wages. Navigating insurance, whether through private employer-based plans, state public plans, or Medicare and Medicaid, can be a time-consuming and confusing process. At the same time, federal, state, and local healthcare spending is increasing rapidly and now accounts for a substantial share of government budgets.

Many depictions of Congress use data to show a decline in the number of bills enacted, concluding that Congress is “broken” and increasingly incapable of getting anything done. In this brief, we take a closer look at the data.

Over the last year, some members of Congress have expressed concerns that undocumented individuals in the U.S. are receiving taxpayer-funded health care.

Over the past two months, the U.S. Department of Justice has begun releasing materials related to the legal case against the late Jeffrey Epstein. These materials are significant in their impact on the reputations of individuals named in the Epstein Files. In addition, the law's provisions mandating the release of the Epstein Files illustrate how members of Congress delegate tasks to the bureaucracy while maintaining control over its actions.

Prescription drug prices have emerged as a major issue on the national political agenda. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have drafted legislation targeting different aspects of the complex pharmacy pricing system. What policy alternatives are out there to reduce these costs?

Many Americans believe they pay far more for prescription drugs than people in other developed countries. As the 2026 midterm elections approach, proposals to reduce drug prices are high on Congress’s agenda.

In this brief, we explore how congressional language toward the opposing party has evolved. The analysis draws on DCInbox.com, a database of all official congressional e-newsletters to constituents, maintained by Everything Policy Content Lead, Dr. Lindsey Cormack.

In a previous brief, Everything Policy examined Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which expired on December 31, 2025. However, the debate over extending these subsidies, as well as the broader debate over how to address rising health care costs, continues into 2026. This brief summarizes the key issues and the legislative options under consideration.

Since June 2025, President Trump has ordered National Guard Troops to several large American cities, deploying them under national rather than state control. Where does the President’s authority come from? What is the history of federalizing the National Guard?

For nearly two decades, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has regulated greenhouse gas emissions by treating carbon dioxide (CO2) as a pollutant. The current administration is working to change this policy.

During the night of January 2, 2026, U.S. Special Forces captured Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife Cilia Adela Flores from a military base in Venezuela. They were flown to New York City and indicted for narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. This brief addresses important questions on this operation.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, the majority party (currently Republicans) controls the legislative agenda, meaning they can determine which proposals come up for debate and a vote. There is one exception: a discharge petition.

Under current law, more than 20 million Americans receive subsidies to purchase health insurance through state-administered insurance exchanges. The original legislation that established these subsidies is the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare”. A large chunk of these subsidies will expire on December 31, 2025, unless Congress extends them.

Once legislative districts are redrawn, they generally remain in place until the next Census. However, in many states, it is legal to redraw district lines between each Census. In this brief, we address common questions about mid-cycle redistricting:

While members of Congress are not subject to term limits, 16 state legislatures currently are, and another six previously were. In this brief, we explore how term limits sometimes affect behavior and outcomes in these legislatures.

Considerable news attention in recent months has focused on crime rates in major urban areas, including Washington, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Baltimore. The current administration has suggested that National Guard deployments to these cities might be an appropriate way to address this problem.

While immigration policy is set at the federal level, enforcement in many cases involves local agencies. Undocumented immigrants generally come into contact with state and local authorities first, including local police or social services agencies. This makes cooperation between different levels of government necessary for implementing immigration enforcement. In recent years, “sanctuary cities” have become central to political and policy debates.

As the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, Americans are hearing two very different stories about who is to blame and what is at stake. Official communications from members of Congress express how each side is attempting to shape public opinion on the shutdown.

Given the broad differences between Republicans and Democrats, there are many examples of strong policy disagreements. How can these disagreements be described – are they respectful of opponents or derogatory? The way that politicians talk about their opponents can shape how Americans view political opposition itself. Our analysis of polarization is based on a unique database of all official congressional e-newsletters to constituents, maintained at DCinbox.com by Everything Policy’s Board Member and Content Lead Dr. Lindsey Cormack (Associate Professor of Political Science, Stevens Institute of Technology).

In most states, politicians are responsible for the redistricting process, but in other states, independent redistricting commissions are utilized. How do independent commissions operate? What is their impact on the redistricting process?

Gerrymandering is a term derived from the name of the Founding Father and 5th U.S. Vice President, Elbridge Gerry. It is the process of drawing legislative districts in ways that benefit one political party or group of candidates over another.

With congressional approval ratings at historic lows, one proposal to improve congressional proceedings and policy outcomes is to impose term limits on congressional service. What are the advantages and disadvantages of term limits? How would term limits change congressional careers?

As of 12:01 a.m. on October 1st, 2025, the federal government is in a shutdown. Shutdowns are rare in other democracies but have become more common (and longer) in the U.S. A shutdown halts many government activities and stops pay for federal workers, creating a sense of disorder for American citizens and businesses.

In recent months, media attention has focused on international students attending U.S. universities. Questions include the number of international students, their country of origin, and the degree to which they are displacing U.S. students.

Across the world, there are more than 100 million people who are refugees - people forcibly displaced because of war, political turmoil, and other hardships. Some of these individuals will come to the United States and request refugee status, enabling them to live and work in America. This status enables individuals to skip to the front of the immigration line, thereby bypassing the complex application process that limits the number of people who can legally enter the U.S. each year.

The United States is home to more immigrants than any other country in the world. While the U.S. made up just 4 percent of the global population in 2024, it was home to 17 percent of all international migrants.

Many Americans say they would prefer to vote for candidates with centrist (moderate) preferences. Yet very few Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress run for office on moderate campaign platforms or behave as moderates in office. Why don’t more candidates respond to the public’s demands for moderate issue positions?

Although public debate often treats unauthorized immigration as strictly a border issue, millions of people without legal status live and work far from U.S. points of entry. In this brief, we examine who is living in the U.S. without authorization and where they live.

Border security has been a defining issue in American politics for decades. The 2025 Budget Reconciliation legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), implements significant changes in U.S. border policy. In this brief, we describe these new initiatives and update our data on border encounters.

Many countries in the world have several active political parties that citizens can choose from when voting. Why does the United States only have two major political parties?

Everything Policy was formed around an ambitious goal: to create nonpartisan, fact-based content that informs and inspires thoughtful conversations, driving sound policy outcomes for America’s most pressing issues. In this retrospective, the 100th policy brief, Everything Policy's Research Group reflects on three years of putting facts first.

The debate over abortion access has been shaped by the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. States now set their own policies protecting, limiting, or outright banning abortion access without any federal standard for access to abortion.

The 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill spans over 1000 pages. This legislation includes thousands of changes in government policy. In this brief, we focus on just one part of the enacted bill: Title I on Agriculture, Subtitle A: Nutrition. This single subtitle includes 7 distinct sections, each affecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In previous briefs, Everything Policy examined the financial consequences of eliminating the Department of Education (DOE). In this brief, we focus on the potential regulatory consequences of DOE’s role within local school districts, looking at what aspects of education the DOE controls.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans began to notice rising prices on everyday items, from eggs to housing costs. While inflation rates have eased in recent months, rising prices were at the top of the mind for voters in the 2024 Presidential election. What is inflation, what causes it, and what can policymakers do to counteract its negative effects?

When a person receives all their news and information from partisan sources that conform to their worldview, we say that person lives in an information silo. One of the most important questions about information silos is how many Americans are affected by them. A second question is whether partisans (Republicans or Democrats) are more likely to be siloed. A final question is whether these siloed partisans drive the policy debate at the expense of moderate voices.

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) was created in 1980 to consolidate federal education programs into a single Cabinet-level department. Today, DOE houses 17 offices responsible for maintaining education data, enforcing civil rights laws, supporting special education, distributing grants, and ensuring access to education. Some politicians, including President Trump in a 2025 executive order, have called for dismantling the Department. What would that change?

As the U.S. Congress debates whether to eliminate the Department of Education, one of the most important questions is whether federal, state, and local education policies foster positive education outcomes. One of the most important tools for measuring student achievement in the United States is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called The Nation’s Report Card. What does this data tell us about educational achievement?

In a 215-214 vote on May 22, 2025, the House of Representatives passed the 2025 Budget Reconciliation bill, also referred to as the "One Big Beautiful Bill,” sending it to the Senate. The legislation represents a major policy shift, affecting programs ranging from Medicaid work requirements to how overtime pay is taxed. But what exactly does it do? How will it affect the federal deficit?

In April 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 22, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, by a 220-208 vote. SAVE Act supporters call the bill a necessary step to prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections. Opponents say it creates significant barriers for eligible voters. What would its effects be if it became law?

Medicaid is the federal-state program that provides health care to over 75 million Americans. Republicans in the House of Representatives have proposed adding work requirements to Medicaid eligibility as part of the so-called “One Beautiful Bill" budget reconciliation measure. What are the policy implications of this measure?

Between January 20, 2025 and April 21, 2025, President Trump issued 129 executive orders, a historically high number for the start of a term. Many of these Orders are designed to implement significant policy changes. What limits a President’s authority to change policy using this procedure?

In his first 100 days in office, President Trump signed executive orders to reduce federal spending by opting not to spend budgeted funds. This process is known as an impoundment. What are the rules governing impoundments? Have past Presidents impounded funds?

Recently, Elon Musk, a special government employee and outspoken leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), showcased a graph displaying the issuance of millions of Social Security numbers to noncitizens since 2021. One of the primary concerns is that Social Security benefits are being given to individuals not legally entitled to them.

For most of the 2010s, U.S. energy use remained fairly flat after growing for decades. A recent spike in energy consumption since 2017 (discounting a COVID-era brief decline) has led many experts to speculate that the cause of this increase is the proliferation of powerful but energy-intensive Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing technologies. Everything Policy researchers dug in to learn more about what’s happening and what to expect in the coming decade.

Every few years, Republicans and Democrats clash over raising the national debt limit. They issue warnings about the consequences of not raising the limit—known as default—and argue over whether increases should come with spending cuts, tax hikes, or other policy adjustments. For Americans, this drama raises the question: Why does the U.S. have a national debt—and how can we manage it?

If one billion dollars is equal to a school bus filled to the brim with $100 bills, the United States’ annual budget is equal to about 6,300 school buses. These funds pay for everything from keeping parks open and building new highways to unemployment benefits, the President’s salary, and the military’s tanks, planes, ships, and soldiers. At the same time, the United States has a budget deficit, meaning that more than a thousand of those school buses are filled with money that the government borrows to pay its bills. Where did this budget deficit come from? Does it matter? What needs to happen to reduce it?

As Baby Boomers continue to live longer than previous generations, demand for long-term care for Seniors is increasing. What is long-term care, how much does it cost, and who pays for it?

On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk. DOGE’s mandate is to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Two months in, this brief asks: what is DOGE doing? What savings have their efforts produced?

It is not an accident that Congress is the topic of Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers viewed the ‘People’s Assembly’ as the core of the new American government. This brief reviews the sources, extent, and limits of legislative authority. Our focus is on the modern-day Congress, as the balance of power between Congress and the President has shifted significantly over time.

In recent weeks, thousands of government employees in federal agencies have either been financially incentified to voluntarily leave their position or have been outright terminated. At first glance, these actions contradict the widespread belief that it is nearly impossible to remove federal bureaucrats. Leaving aside whether you agree or disagree with the nature and breadth of these cuts, one question top of mind for many is how these reductions in the federal workforce were even allowed or accomplished in the first place.

Although it is essential in a healthy democracy to work across party lines, achieving bipartisan consensus is not necessary for enacting a budget this year, as Republicans control the levers of power. However, over the last generation, substantial deficit reduction has generally involved bipartisan coalitions in Congress. In our final brief on deficit reduction, we discuss the principal bipartisan effort currently underway, that of the Problem Solvers Caucus.

Because Republicans wield nearly every point of power in the current U.S. Congress, the initial moves on deficit reduction in 2025 will likely come from them. As of late February, the Senate has passed a proposal, and the House is moving towards considering its version. However, given certain divisions within the Republican Party and its narrow majorities in the House and Senate, substantial deficit reduction will likely involve a combination of Republican and Democratic support.

President Trump recently signed an Executive Order to create a United States Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). What is a SWF, and why do countries and American states form them?

Every year, federal bureaucrats implement roughly 100 major policy changes through a process known as rulemaking. At first glance, rulemaking seems like a way to bypass elected officials and make policies away from public attention. Why do bureaucrats have this power? What safeguards exist to prevent bureaucrats from misusing their authority?

As Congress navigates the task of reducing the federal budget deficit, the national debt stands at over $36 trillion, with an annual budget deficit of $711 billion. In this brief, we focus on Republican proposals for substantial deficit reduction. We also consider potential opposition within the party to these measures. Our next brief on major spending cuts will focus on proposals from Democrat legislators.

Republican legislators, now fully in control of both chambers of Congress, are set on making good on campaign promises to reign in federal spending. Over the next few months, Everything Policy will analyze deficit reduction proposals from both parties, offering a facts-first analysis of expected savings and real-world impacts. This first brief shows how the budgeting process used by Congress can work against building partisan consensus around deficit reduction.

In our past briefs, we have explored unauthorized immigration, its recent increases, and where migrants tend to settle in the United States. We've also analyzed the relationship between migrant populations within specific communities and violent crime rates. While our research wasn’t intended to suggest that migrants don’t commit crimes, available data does suggest there is no direct connection between overall crime rates within communities with higher numbers of migrants. This brief extends our analysis to consider a less serious but more common crime: car theft.

Housing affordability has been at the forefront of national discussions, as average home prices have risen significantly across the U.S. in recent years. Many stories have highlighted sharp price increases in large cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. However, less data is readily available to determine whether prices have increased nationwide or only in some areas. It is also unclear to what degree, if any, incomes have kept pace with higher home prices. In this brief, we examine trends in home prices and incomes across a range of urban and rural communities. What areas of the country are experiencing the greatest impact from rising home prices? Are there communities where increased incomes have kept pace with home prices?

Ballot harvesting involves collecting absentee ballots from voters and delivering them to a collection spot. Critics argue that unethical harvesters could change votes on ballots, substitute new ones for the ones they collect, or only deliver ballots supporting their preferred candidates. More subtly, ballot harvesting might also allow a supervisor, professor, or other individual of authority to pressure underlings to vote as that particular individual wishes by watching them fill out ballots and then collecting them.

Since the COVID pandemic, official reports show strong job growth in America. However, jobs data released in mid-2024 led some financial analysts to argue that much of the increase was due to hiring by the federal government. If this is true, then the apparent strength of the American economy does not reflect actual business conditions. Rather, it is the result of federal government actions that artificially create the illusion of economic strength.

Since the end of the COVID pandemic in 2021, migrants have entered the United States in unprecedented numbers. Several well-publicized cases of violent crimes committed by recent migrants raise the question of whether the migration spike has led to overall higher crime rates in the communities where these individuals live. This brief explores this question.

This brief focuses on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) efforts to increase the number of female and minority air traffic controllers and the potential impact the initiative may have had on air travel safety. The FAA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative is the subject of a lawsuit filed by individuals who claim they would have been hired if the FAA had not changed its hiring criteria. These individuals also claim that the FAA’s initiative made air travel less safe. Everything Policy’s analysis focuses primarily on the second claim: did emphasizing DEI compromise air safety?

Millions of migrants have entered the United States across its southern border since 2021. Some reports describe these entrants as overwhelming communities throughout the country because of increased crime or demands for bilingual education, medical care, housing, or other social services. Where in other regions, such as those which employ a higher number of lesser-skilled farm, non-credentialed home healthcare, and hospitality-related labor, migrants are filling otherwise less desirable or unwanted jobs with lower wages that are satisfying the needs of local employers. For all the media attention, we know very little about where these migrants actually live. Are they settling in high-population urban areas, near the southwestern border, or throughout the country? Which communities might be finding it difficult to deal with larger migrant populations, either in absolute terms or relative to their population?

An enormous sum of money is spent on America’s healthcare system: 4.5 trillion dollars in 2023 (nearly 14 thousand dollars per person). This per-capita cost is almost double the average in other industrialized nations. At first glance, these costs suggest that healthcare in America is beset by waste and inefficiency. However, it is also possible that these higher costs reflect decisions about the kinds of care that will be made available, both to people with private health insurance and those who receive care through a government program. This brief begins to address these complex questions. We focus on the Medicaid program, a partnership between the federal and state governments that provides health care to over 70 million Americans. Medicaid has an annual budget of over 800 billion dollars in 2024 (1 out of every 6 dollars spent on healthcare in America). We ask two questions: what is this money spent on, and are the program’s per-recipient costs in line with private-sector health insurance providers?

America’s elections are administered locally by tens of thousands of government employees and citizen-volunteers. This decentralized process sometimes makes people worry about the possibility of fraud. If there is so much leeway for state and local election boards to select people, and administer rules and procedures, to what degree can Americans trust the process?

Voter ID laws are described by their supporters as a way to ensure that only eligible citizens cast votes. Opponents see these laws as a barrier to voting. This brief answers several questions, including: Which states have ID laws? What kinds of people lack a photo ID? Do states without voter ID laws have higher documented rates of voter fraud?

Voting by mail used to be considered a practice mostly for the elderly, disabled, or military members. In the post-pandemic era, many Americans vote by mail or by placing their ballot in a drop box. However, the rules governing these practices vary widely across America’s states.

States routinely purge voter rolls in order to maintain accuracy in who is eligible to vote. Researchers from Everything Policy dug into the data to see who is purged, why they were purged, and how frequently purges happen. Are there differences across states based on the political affiliation of election officials?

In October 2024’s news coverage of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and their catastrophic damage, some stories argued that climate change has increased the severity of such storms. This brief evaluates this hypothesis: are severe storms becoming more common?

Every election season, Americans are inundated with pre-election polls. Many times, polls offer different predictions of which candidates are ahead and who will win. And in recent elections, polls have significantly underestimated support for some presidential candidates. Do these outcomes indicate that polls are contaminated by partisan bias? Which polls should we pay attention to – if any?

Throughout the U.S., there is a huge backlog of immigration cases. Some involve individuals who were detained at the border. Other cases are individuals who failed to appear for immigration hearings after being allowed to enter the U.S.. Why can’t the undocumented be deported as soon as their status is determined? Why are new arrivals allowed to leave custody in the first place?

Over the last decade, the number of migrants entering America’s southern border has increased dramatically, from about 500 thousand per year pre-pandemic to nearly 4 million on an annualized basis in 2024. What factors are behind this massive increase?

As of September 2024, the National Debt of the United States surpassed $35.3 trillion. For many Americans, the national debt is an abstract concept that has no impact on their daily lives. How much of a problem is the national debt? Some economists have argued that a high national debt would disrupt the American economy, producing high inflation, high unemployment, high interest rates, sharply negative economic growth, and a collapsing stock market. However, the debt has been increasing for over a generation without an economic collapse. While the absence of disaster might suggest that the national debt doesn’t matter, research by Everything Policy identifies a looming short-term problem: the rise in interest payments on the debt is about to trigger major spending reductions across a wide range of federal programs.

Are recent policy changes designed to reduce asylum claims and unauthorized entries at America’s southern border? Border crossings were at unprecedentedly high levels in 2022, 2023, and early 2024. In recent months, the U.S. government implemented new policies to reduce asylum claims and illegal entries. Are these new policies working?

One of the major impediments to getting more electric vehicles (EVs) on the road is the need for wide-scale charging infrastructure. Charging stations are needed so that people can use EVs for longer periods of driving and to allow urban residents (who may lack garages and parking spaces where they can install a charging port) to charge their EVs for everyday use. While the number of charging stations is steadily increasing, it lags far behind the number required to support widespread EV adoption and government mandates. In this brief, our analysts calculate the number of charging stations needed and where they must be located.

The administration of justice in the United States is primarily handled at the state and local levels. State and local governments employ two‐thirds of all criminal justice workers and pay a much larger share of criminal justice costs than the federal government. Elected officials, like mayors, can choose who leads a police department and influence how law enforcement responds to crime within a particular jurisdiction. While America’s police hold the power to enforce our laws, how they do, the official rules within a police department, and how members of law enforcement conduct themselves is also influenced by the communities they serve and the current social and political landscape. In recent years, there have been several highly publicized incidents involving the deaths of individuals while in police custody and well-documented complaints about the unwarranted use of force by police officers. These incidents raise a fundamental question: how much police misconduct occurs? How many officers are committing misconduct?

As of mid-2024, many Americans list rising crime rates as one of their top concerns. At the same time, national crime statistics show that rates of violent crime and property crime have been declining for decades. What is driving worries about crime?

From the moment the minimum wage was established in 1938, Americans have debated the concept. Should there be a minimum wage – and why or why not? If we have one, what factors should determine its level?

Labor unions bargain with employers to improve employee pay, benefits, and working conditions as well as conduct legislative lobbying. However, unions are often criticized for blocking corporate innovation and forcing workers to pay membership dues regardless of whether they agree with the union’s bargaining strategy, and, in some cases, what a union’s legislative lobbying may entail. Why do unions exist, and what difference do they make for workers and employers?

Suppose you are reading this brief on an iPad. Apple is an American company, so your tablet must have been produced in the United States. Maybe not. Today, many corporations are headquartered in one country but manufacture in others and buy supplies from many more. This practice is called offshoring. Offshoring allows companies to lower their costs. However, offshoring also moves jobs from the United States to other countries. Is offshoring a good thing or a bad thing for Americans?

For most people, being unemployed is a simple question: Do you have a job or not? Even so, measuring the unemployment rate for the entire nation is not simple. There are different ways to determine who is employed and who is not, and these measures can produce very different conclusions about the unemployment rate and the state of the U.S. economy.

As discussed in our brief on Decarbonization (linked in Further Reading), reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a key strategy for reducing global temperature increases. There are many ways to achieve this goal with new technologies, such as requiring Americans to use electric vehicles instead of those powered by gasoline. Cap and trade offers another strategy, one that leaves it up to individual decision-makers to decide when and how they will reduce greenhouse gasses. Is cap and trade a good alternative or complement to government regulations?

Production and use of electric vehicles (EVs) has increased dramatically over the last decade. In addition to an increase in overall popularity, this trend is also due to government incentives to drive costs down for both manufacturers and consumers. A widespread move to EVs could help address climate change because actual driving of EVs does not produce greenhouse gasses like traditional gas and diesel vehicles. However, while internal combustion engines have around 200 parts that need to be maintained and possibly repaired as compared to EVs which utilize only around 20 parts, current EVs have unique environmental problems related to sourcing, disposal and other aspects of these parts, and require nationwide installation of appropriate charging infrastructure and a significant increase in demand of the power grid. So, do these problems outweigh the benefits of a transition to EVs? Note: this brief is a general introduction to the issues surrounding EV infrastructure. For our analysis of how many EV charging stations are needed and where they would be located, see https://tinyurl.com/28fcn2ts.

In the past two decades, U.S. natural gas and oil production has increased to the point that America is now a net exporter of these commodities. This change is due to a new technology, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. How does fracking fit into the debate over climate change?

As discussed in our brief on decarbonization, most strategies for reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere involve switching to power generation and transportation technologies that produce less CO2. An alternate strategy is to extract and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, referred to as sequestration. At first glance, sequestration could be an attractive option for achieving the “net zero” goal, where the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would remain constant instead of increasing. Instead of building costly new renewable energy sources, retrofitting buildings, and switching to electric vehicles, sequestration offers a way for society to continue producing and using energy largely as we do now. The primary difference is that we would have to implement enough sequestration measures to offset global CO2 emissions. The question is, is sequestration on the levels required to achieve this outcome even possible? What would it cost?

One potential strategy for mitigating climate change is shifting how Americans generate and use energy. Federal tax credits are intended to incentivize individuals and businesses to make these changes. Energy tax credits are expensive, but how much of an effect do they have? Are there other drawbacks to these programs?

Over the last 30 years, renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines have become major electricity sources for the United States. One mitigation strategy for climate change would involve vastly increasing renewable systems over the next two to three decades to the point that the United States could sharply reduce the amount of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) used to produce electricity and for transportation. Reducing fossil fuel use is one of the ways that Americans could limit and reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released into the environment. This brief aims to lay out the feasibility of increasing our reliance on renewable energy and describe what such a transition would involve in terms of infrastructure changes, benefits and costs.