The Bush years were not good for the pocketbooks of ordinary Americans. Wages stayed flat and health and retirement benefits became scarce, while the cost of living rose. Addressing these fundamental economic challenges will require years of effort and significant new legislation. Yet there are also strategies that can be implemented much more quickly.

Two new reports by the Center for American Progress Action Fund's American Worker Project describe how the Obama administration can immediately improve on the Bush administration's poor track record. Please join CAPAF and the country's leading experts for a discussion of how the Obama administration can use its existing authority to best promote the interests of workers. Governor Jon Corzine (D-NJ) will discuss what New Jersey is doing to protect workers' rights and how the Obama administration can draw on state innovations.

In a little over one month, a new administration will have the opportunity to manage a significant realignment of U.S. defense and national security priorities. Today's security imperatives and budgetary realities will require the next administration to make hard decisions and difficult trade-offs on competing visions of the military and its role in implementing national security strategy. To facilitate these important decisions, the Center for American Progress is releasing "The Military Inheritance: A Call to Action for the Next Commander in Chief." The report evaluates the current state of the military; examines the current composition of the defense budget; defines the threats, challenges, and role of the U.S. military in the 21st century; and recommends which difficult trade-offs the Department of Defense should make on key weapons systems.