EPI redefines what is possible and urgent

When you donate to EPI, you help redefine the conventional wisdom around what we can and should be doing to help workers and their families.

reaDER,   Did you see the message from Heidi below about how EPI's message is breaking through? Part of what makes working at EPI so inspiring is knowing that millions of people will be helped by the policy proposals our team of experts is advancing. Another source of inspiration is knowing we have an institute full of colleagues like Heidi Shierholz and the entire Policy Team who work day and night to help advance those policy recommendations to make a real difference in the lives of working people and their families. Read the message from Heidi below about how momentum is growing behind EPI's message. Then, if you are able, will you consider a donation to support EPI's research, resources and policy solutions? Right now we are $3,762 away from our end of May fundraising goal. We are looking for 75 donors who can make a donation of $25. Will you be one of them? Thank you for all your support. We appreciate having you as an active reader and partner and hope you continue to find our resources helpful and share them with your networks. Sincerely James Tatum Senior Development Officer Economic Policy Institute reaDER,   For 35 years, EPI has released our research, data, and resources to help policymakers best meet the needs of workers at any given moment. But while a lot of think tanks focus on what can be achieved in the moment, EPI has always also had an eye towards challenging the conventional wisdom around what is possible—and urgent—to truly help all workers benefit during periods of economic prosperity and be more financially secure during economic downturns. Many labor market dynamics that EPI has been highlighting since our founding are now becoming more "mainstream." For example, when President Biden looked at EPI's productivity chart, showing that since 1970 worker hourly compensation has not kept paced with increased worker productivity, he said, "This is what I want to work on. I want middle class people to get a fair shake." Here is a recent tweet reporting on that 2008 conversation between President Biden and his top economic advisor: reaDER, will you join EPI to help us make sure all workers can benefit from the post-COVID economy and that we can continue to advise policymakers on how to target policies to help working people gain financial security by making a donation today? EPI has a long history of helping to re-frame conversations around how we can use economic policy to help everyone prosper. In 2007 EPI scholar Jacob Hacker released a plan for a public option in health care. At the time the proposal was considered too extreme by some lawmakers to make it into what became the Affordable Care Act. Today, the public option is a baseline in debates around improving health care while many progressives have moved on to more ambitious proposals like Medicare for All. In the early days of the Obama administration, while many "experts" criticized the administration for being too big and ambitious with their recovery plans for the Great Recession, EPI was one of the few voices saying the recovery plan was not big enough for the scale of challenges we faced. Today, most experts agree that a bigger recovery package would have been more effective at turning the economy around more quickly in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Indeed, the current Biden administration learned this lesson and has gone for much more ambitious packages to help us recover from the COVID recession. Time and again, EPI has helped change the conversation around what we need to do to strengthen worker power, raise worker's wages, and provide a strong safety net to ensure everyone can benefit from a strong economy and that no one is left behind. Donate to EPI today to help us continue changing the conversation around what is possible and necessary to ensure all workers and their families can prosper. Sincerely, Heidi Shierholz Senior Economist and Director of Policy Economic Policy Institute   DONATE Facebook Twitter epi.org View this email in your browser | Unsubscribe from this list