The recent unrest in the Middle East has sent oil and gasoline prices up, yet another reminder of our vulnerability from imported oil. Oil and America's other persistent energy problems demand attention—reducing oil use, protecting our health by reducing air pollution, and boosting our economic competitiveness. Rather than address these challenges, however, House Republicans have substantially cut programs that safeguard public health and invest in clean technologies, and seek to strip the EPA's authority to limit mercury, smog, and carbon pollution. Their proposed disinvestments in energy efficiency and renewable technologies would wave the white flag of surrender in the international race to lead the clean-tech industry in the 21st century.

Please join the Center for American Progress Action Fund as it hosts Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) who will discuss the fight for energy security and curbing greenhouse pollutants in the larger context as a great moral issue of our time.

Please join the Center for American Progress Action Fund as it hosts Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), vice chair of the Senate Democratic Conference and chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Center, who will call for a “reset” of the ongoing budget debate and outline a potential path forward for achieving greater deficit reduction while preserving economic growth.

The United States is facing an extremely troubling long-term outlook if action is not taken in the near to medium term. Left unaddressed, annual deficits are slated to top 4 percent of GDP for the next decade. Large sustained deficits pose risks to financial markets and undermine U.S. standing in the rest of the world. Despite these risks, it is unwise to try to completely balance the budget at the same time we’re fighting our way back from the Great Recession—particularly if we try to address the deficit through spending cuts alone. Economists of all stripes know that investment is the fundamental building block of economic growth. Right now, policymakers are wrestling with how to balance both the need to show the world how we are going to get our fiscal house in order against the danger of reducing the deficit too fast and choking off our nascent economic recovery. The outcome of today's budget debates will have a powerful impact on the future of the American economy.

March 23 marks the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act being signed into law. During this year, Rep. Anthony Weiner has been leading efforts to move forward and fighting attempts to unravel the law by championing its benefits: making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors; allowing health insurance coverage for young adults; providing tax credits for small businesses to buy insurance for their employees; ending the unfair insurance company practice of denying care because of pre-existing conditions; and covering millions of Americans with health insurance.

Please join the Center for American Progress Action Fund as Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9) discusses moving forward as the Affordable Care Act turns one. Following his keynote, Rep. Weiner will take questions from the audience, moderated by Neera Tanden, Chief Operating Officer of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

To reach a goal of cutting poverty in half and moving more than 20 million individuals out of poverty and toward economic security, national and state-level agencies and organizations will have to work collaboratively and identify promising public policies that are inclusive of the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The anticipated release of newly collected poverty data in the fall of 2011 provides an opportunity for advocates, researchers, and policymakers to consider how statistical tools, such as the Supplemental Income Poverty Measure, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts nationwide. In the process of developing shared antipoverty goals, key stakeholders must also consider the role of current policies and programs in alleviating poverty and strategize ways to target those living 200 percent below the poverty line as well as those in extreme poverty.

Join national experts as they discuss the challenges of developing poverty benchmarks and indicators for progress, how the new measure can be used in tandem with other statistics to assess shared goals, and how agencies and organizations can collaborate to effectively reduce poverty in the next decade.