After years of denial, delay, distraction and distortion, climate change is changing the political climate. Australia's John Howard recently became the first national leader voted out of office in large measure because of his failure to respond to citizens' concerns about global warming. Newly elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made global warming his first priority in office. Australia's awakening is not an isolated example. Eighty-three percent of Chinese support action on climate change. Between 2006 and 2010 China plans to improve energy efficiency by 20 percent. The dialogue in the United States is also shifting, albeit too slowly. Fifty-nine percent of Americans now endorse taking major steps soon to combat global warming, and 33 percent more think we need modest steps. Unfortunately this 92 percent of the American public is still looking to President Bush for action on this key issue.

Just last week representatives of more than 180 nations met in Bali to chart a course toward a new global agreement to control climate change that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Together - in spite of American obstruction - they produced a roadmap for the new climate negotiations that set a target date of 2009 for the next treaty. How do we avoid the missteps that plagued the Kyoto Treaty? How do we create a framework that includes industrialized nations as well as the developing world? Sen. Kerry - who attended the Bali conference and led the U.S. Senate delegation - will lay out a strategy to follow the Bali roadmap and expand the existing emissions trading market, promote an efficient and effective technology development and implementation program, launch an aggressive effort to protect the world's remaining forests, and embrace technology transfer. This will require innovative financing and investment - and, if properly implemented, will create major new opportunities for American industry to create the jobs of the future.

The Family Foreclosure Rescue Corporation (FFRC), modeled after Roosevelt's Home Owners' Loan Corporation, the successful New Deal program that stabilized the financial system and protected homeowners from foreclosure, is one in a family of policies that can protect families facing delinquency, default, and foreclosure. The FFRC would offer new fixed-rate mortgages to borrowers who are effectively precluded from refinancing because of negative home equity caused by declining prices. Designed to operate at minimal cost and risk to taxpayers, the FFRC would buy up existing non-performing mortgages at a discount and offer mortgage holders corporate bonds in their stead. The FFRC is designed to directly help at-risk borrowers, stabilize neighborhoods by preventing widespread foreclosures, and potentially restore liquidity to the capital markets from the bottom up. This program is meant to complement other programs and efforts underway to refinance borrowers into safer mortgages or otherwise prevent foreclosures.

We invite you to a panel discussion that will highlight our new white paper, "Throwing Homeowners a Lifeline: A Proposal for Direct Lending to Qualified Troubled Borrowers." Representative Joe Baca (D - CA) will provide opening remarks and introduce new legislation to create the FFRC, followed by a presentation on FFRC by Andrew Jakabovics, the Associate Director for the Economic Mobility Program at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Andrew will be joined in a panel discussion by Jef Kinney, Vice President for Innovation and Development at Fannie Mae, and Jeanne Fekade-Selassie, Homeownership Specialist at NeighborWorks America, moderated by Louis Soares, Director of the Economic Mobility Program at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Candidates confirmed include Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) and John Edwards (NC). All presidential candidates have been invited.

Registration is full, but you can still sign up to be placed on the waiting list for this important event at: www.lcvef.org/gristforum

Join us as we explore strategies for using these free tools with our panel of experts who have been in the Internet trenches.

Globalization is fueling considerable anxiety in America as workers face competition from countries in which living standards, wages, and social protection levels are lower. U.S. workers therefore have a stake in improving living standards and promoting decent work in developing countries, thereby building middle classes and boosting demand for our own goods and services. Efforts to spur job creation, safeguard core labor standards, and strengthen social safety nets and economic institutions abroad are part of the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labor Organization. What role could the ILO play in forging a new international consensus on globalization through the Decent Work Agenda? What role could the United States and other developed countries play in advancing this agenda? Keynote speaker ILO Director-General Juan Somavia will explore these themes from an international perspective. A distinguished panel will then discuss how to develop a broader domestic consensus on globalization and decent work that builds on the recent bipartisan agreement on labor standards in trade agreements.

This wise guidance still must be heeded and the hasty changes made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in August of this year have led many to question whether Congress got it right. Because the new law expires five months from now, Congress will soon have another opportunity to improve the safeguarding of both our security and our civil liberties. The Center for American Progress Action Fund will host a panel of experts including Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) to discuss what is at stake in amending FISA and explore ways to ensure that the executive branch has the authority it needs to enhance our security without unnecessarily trammeling our civil liberties.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund hosts a breakfast discussion with two leaders in Congress who visited Iraq to assess the situation in August, Senator Robert Casey and Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. Senator Casey and Congresswoman Tauscher will provide their observations from their meetings with U.S. officials and Iraqi leaders.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund hosts Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA), who will speak about Iraq and America's engagement in the world. We must bring about a responsible end to the war in Iraq. How we end it is even more important for our troops' safety, our own security, and that of the greater Middle East. We need a strategic approach that defines the "end" of the commitment which President Bush once said would not be open-ended and also secures U.S. interests in the region for the foreseeable future. The Democratic majority in Congress must define why and how such an approach is in our best interests. A stable situation in Iraq can be achieved only by a setting a date certain for withdrawal. When the consequences to our nation are as great as they are in the Middle East, Congress has a responsibility to define our return to leadership, diplomacy, and global engagement that is so desperately needed.

In August of 2005, the Center for American Progress released its education task force report "Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer," which called for universal, high-quality pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds beginning with the low-income and minority children who need it most. Almost two years later, the Center released "From Poverty to Prosperity," the final report of its poverty task force. The report also called for high-quality preschool as well as the expansion of the child care tax credit and guaranteed child care assistance to low-income families.

As advocates, educators, policy leaders, and businessmen strive to create an education infrastructure that will prepare all students for the challenges and demands of the 21st century, the expansion of early childhood learning experiences must be included.

Please join us for an event with Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) and Bob Casey (PA) as they present the highlights of their recently introduced pre-kindergarten bills. A Q&A session with the senators will follow, as will a panel session with experts from the field.

The event will begin with welcome and opening remarks from Melody Barnes, Executive Vice President for Policy at CAPAF, followed by questions from the audience.

State legislators made major progressive gains during the 2007 sessions in areas ranging from health care to the environment to gay and lesbian rights. Maryland passed the nation's first ever statewide living wage law, and Washington state passed legislation expanding health care for up to 38,000 children. In May, Washington state became only the second state to offer paid family leave and now legislators in New Jersey are pushing for the benefit. And Iowa passed legislation calling for the state to have renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel meet 25 percent of in-state fuel needs by 2020.

The recent visibility of high energy prices and global warming effects have captured the public's attention. This creates an opportunity for Americans to adopt progressive energy policies that benefit families, increase energy independence, and reduce global warming. The Center for American Progress Action Fund advocates such an energy agenda, particularly boosting investments in clean alternative energy technologies, such as wind and solar power, spurring biofuels production, and encouraging auto companies to build hybrids in return for health care costs relief.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will speak about the upcoming Senate debate on S.1419, which would increase energy efficiency, develop cleaner alternative fuels and enhance the electricity grid. It would also launch research, development and prompt deployment of carbon, capture, and storage technology to reduce global warming pollution from coal fired power plants. Sen. Reid will discuss these and other provisions that would save families money, protect consumers, create jobs, enhance energy security, and slow global warming. The adoption of such measures will reassert American leadership in energy and global warming.

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr have grown exponentially over the past two years with combined memberships exceeding 100 million. Similarly, social bookmarking sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and StumbleUpon have transformed the way readers discover new content online.

Election reform advocates will talk about the problems and release an agenda of solutions endorsed by numerous national organizations representing millions of voters.