Research Library

The House recently passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (TRAFWA) of 2024, which aims to provide tax relief to businesses and families with children in a fiscally responsible manner. But, as fellow John W. Diamond’s new commentary explains, if the bill succeeds, it would instead deliver more reckless tax giveaways while further delaying a real effort to deal with the consequences of poor fiscal policy.

America is facing a serious labor shortage. Expanding the TN visa — a pivotal pathway for Canadian and Mexican professionals originally created through NAFTA — can help the country close its growing workforce gaps, writes Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico.

Legislative action on the ballooning federal deficit is long overdue. Fellow John W. Diamond proposes a new nonpartisan fiscal commission to bypass congressional inaction on reform.

At least a dozen countries, including the U.S., have suspended funding to the United Nations agency that delivers aid to Palestinian refugees. The cuts fit a long-time pattern of the politicization of refugee aid, write Nicholas R. Micinski and Kelsey Norman.

Will Biden’s strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen prove effective? Fellow Joe Barnes lays out challenges facing the president as the Israel-Hamas war escalates.

For research involving human embryos and other controversial subjects, science journals should require ethics statements from researchers detailing research oversight, what embryos were used, how many and for how long. This will help increase transparency and improve communication with the public, writes Science and Technology Policy Fellow Kirstin R.W. Matthews.

“Nearly one billion travelers pass through U.S. airports each year,” writes Alicia L. Johnson, civic science postdoctoral associate. In a new commentary, she outlines how the CDC’s genomic surveillance program, which monitors airport wastewater for traces of infectious disease, must balance public health and privacy concerns.

The surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas has raised a number of critical questions related to geopolitics, aid, energy, and other global affairs. Baker Institute fellows and scholars are continuing to provide expert analysis on the conflict.

Federal marijuana legalization is on the horizon — and it’s time for the DEA to get behind the policy changes and move on to fighting more dangerous drugs, writes nonresident fellow Gary Hale.