Reports

The Institute’s 35 public scholars united behind a new strategy of building “outside” pressure among activists for key changes, supplemented by an “inside” strategy of delivering analysis and fresh ideas directly to policymakers in Congress and the new administration. By the end of the year, the Institute’s “inside/outside” strategy would lead staff into high-level meetings at the White House, the Capitol, and the Pentagon, as well as into the streets of Washington, Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Asia, and onto the editorial pages of newspapers across our country.

The radiological legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands remains to this day and will persist for many years to come.

The scene has become depressingly familiar. A governor — or a mayor or a county executive — steps to the podium and somberly intones the necessity of making "hard choices" and "living within our means." The elected leader then proceeds to announce prodigious budget cuts that will overcrowd classrooms, furlough public employees, and deny medications to poor families.

When President Obama rolled out his proposed budget to Congress for the coming year, he said it would build “on the largest investment in clean energy in history.” But Obama’s definition of “clean energy” includes a commitment to help companies garner billions of dollars in loans for nuclear reactor construction. And, unfortunately, nuclear energy isn't safe or clean and it's too costly for the nation.

After the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the Institute for Policy Studies introduced our Change Index to evaluate the policies and performance of the new president. Did the candidate who promised change deliver on his promises?