Members of Congress and state legislatures are taking aim at online platforms’ ability to set and enforce content-moderation guidelines as private entities. Several proposals in Congress would scrap or amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content. At the state level, “anti-censorship” laws seek to prevent online platforms from taking down certain content — potentially violating the First Amendment.Online platforms are also struggling to produce content-moderation strategies that satisfy increasingly polarized users. How can Congress, state officials, and social media firms address users’ content-moderation concerns while preserving the free and open internet?Join AEI’s Shane Tews for a fireside chat with former Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), who coauthored Section 230.You can watch the event here.

The Future of Online Speech Regulation: Section 230 and Beyond

The war in Ukraine has raged for more than a month, yet predictions of a rapid Russian victory have proved wrong. Indeed, it now appears that by the definitions Vladimir Putin putatively set — to oust the “Nazi” regime of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and save ethnic Russians under the Ukrainian yoke — Russia is losing the war.What is the state of play on the ground? Can Ukraine win and Russia lose, or vice versa? What is the state of the information war? And what does it all mean for NATO and the United States?Event MaterialsUkraine invasion updates and mapsIf you enjoy this episode, check out Dany's podcast, What the Hell is Going On? wherever you get your podcasts.

War in Ukraine: Russian losses, Ukrainian victory, and the information war

In “The Poor Side of Town: And Why We Need It” (Encounter Books, 2021), AEI’s Howard Husock combines a critique of more than a century of housing reform policies with the idea that simple low-cost housing — a poor side of town — helps those of modest means build financial assets and join in the local democratic process.Mr. Husock shares the powerful stories of housing reformers, critiques the legacy of urban renewal policies and exclusionary zoning, and shows where American cities went wrong. More importantly, he offers solutions as to how urban planners, state and local policymakers, and concerned citizens can help their communities make housing more affordable and accessible for those of modest means.Watch the full event here.

‘The Poor Side of Town: And Why We Need It’: A book talk with Howard Husock

As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to shift from an acute crisis to an endemic pathogen, AEI’s Scott Gottlieb — physician, medical policy expert, public health advocate, and former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner — is releasing a book, “Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic” (HarperCollins, September 2021), to help leaders and policymakers understand how COVID-19 was able to trounce America’s pandemic preparations.Dr. Gottlieb identifies why the United States was caught unprepared and outlines essential policies and investments to protect the United States and the world from future threats. He outlines specific steps that must be taken to protect against the next outbreak.Please join Dr. Gottlieb and AEI President Robert Doar for a discussion of the issues raised in “Uncontrolled Spread.”Purchase your copy here.Watch the full event here.

Uncontrolled spread: A book event with Scott Gottlieb

Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, the Joe Biden administration has ended the “forever war” in Afghanistan, replacing US boots on the ground with an over-the-horizon counterterrorism capability. Africa, not the Middle East, has become the next frontier for groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State. What lessons should we take from past counterterrorism efforts to address today’s and tomorrow’s threats?AEI and the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point host a discussion exploring the trajectory of the transnational terrorism threat and the successes and failures of the past two decades of counterterrorism operations.Watch the full event here.

20 years after 9/11: Counterterrorism lessons for future frontiers

The majority of the world’s central banks are exploring digital currency. Most proposals for a central bank digital currency could function like US dollars. It could be widely accepted, an alternative to cash in an increasingly cashless society. In the US, a digital currency could give access to the financial system to the unbanked and may increase the efficiency of financial transactions.Should the Fed launch a digital currency? Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller will give a speech on this issue, followed by a conversation with AEI’s Michael R. Strain.Watch the full event here.

Should the Fed launch a digital currency? A speech by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller

The Joe Biden administration’s announcement in early May that it would support suspending intellectual property (IP) rights at the World Trade Organization for COVID-19-related vaccines and treatments provoked controversy in the US and abroad.Advocates argue that waiving Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) — as South Africa and India proposed late last year — will enable fast, safe, and cheap vaccine manufacturing and distribution to the developing countries suffering most from the pandemic. Opponents contend the waiver will harm future innovation and damage the global IP regime without actually helping those most in need.Join AEI’s Michael Rosen for a panel discussion on the TRIPS waiver from multiple perspectives, focusing on IP, global public health, supply chains, vaccine diplomacy, and other pressing topics.Watch the full event here.

Confronting Joe Biden’s proposed TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments

The US defense budget is at its largest in decades, yet the Air Force’s combat-coded aircraft inventory, the Navy’s battle-force ship fleet, and the Army’s number of active-duty soldiers have all shrunk. Is this trend reversible?The Pentagon’s creeping bureaucracy is plagued by slow-moving acquisition processes, the rise of numerous powerful defense agencies, and climbing overhead costs. Feasible improvements exist, but as Maj. Gen. Arnold L. Punaro (ret.) warns in his latest book, “The Ever-Shrinking Fighting Force” (Punaro Press, 2021), “Bad processes beat good people all the time.”Join AEI’s Mackenzie Eaglen as she hosts Maj. Gen. Punaro — former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee — and former Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) for a discussion of the opportunities and challenges for securing America’s military future.

America’s ever-shrinking fighting force

The enactment of the Budget and Accounting Act in June 1921 was a seminal event in the history of the federal budget process. It created two consequential American government institutions: the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) and the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office). It also strengthened the executive role in the budget process and forever changed the relationship between the president and Congress regarding spending, taxation, deficits, and debt.This event explores the history of the law’s enactment, its implementation and evolution, the state of today’s budget process, and potential reforms to the process, with AEI’s James C. Capretta and one of the nation’s leading experts on the subject, Roy T. Meyers of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.Watch the full event here.

The Budget and Accounting Act at 100: Looking back and forward

The Islamic State is gaining allies in Africa. Extremist groups linked to both the Islamic State and al Qaeda are intensifying their grip on communities across large swaths of the continent. Why do local African jihadist groups join international terror organizations, and why does it matter?Watch the full event here.

Swapping jerseys: What changes when African extremists join the Islamic State?

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 was adopted to ensure Congress counted only valid slates of electors during a presidential election. But scholars and election experts have warned that it was poorly drafted and invited confusion.The problems with this statute erupted in full view on January 6, 2021, when members of the House of Representatives and Senate challenged the electoral slates of two states. Some of these same legislators, along with President Donald Trump, asked Vice President Mike Pence not to certify these votes, which would have tipped the presidential election results from Joe Biden to Trump.Please join AEI’s Kevin R. Kosar and a panel of scholars to discuss the Electoral Count Act and whether it can be improved through amendment or should be abolished.Watch the full event here.

Should we amend or abolish the Electoral Count Act?

On May 28, the White House will release its budget request for fiscal year 2022, including for the US military. This budget will provide early indicators of the new administration’s strategic priorities and inform the defense and foreign policy debates of the 117th Congress as the National Defense Authorization Act is developed.The new team in the Pentagon must deliver a budget that is consistent with strategic challenges yet balanced with President Joe Biden’s domestic policy agenda. Hot button issues include an overhaul of the Uniform Code of Military Justice regarding sexual assault, potential changes to the Joint Strike Fighter program, and what the new shipbuilding count and type mean for the near future.Watch the full event here.

President Joe Biden’s first defense budget request

Rapid growth of secular identities and beliefs in America is transforming the religious and political landscape. “Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics” (Cambridge University Press, 2021) documents the rise of the country’s largest “religious” group and its distinctive set of beliefs and preferences. The authors investigate the political causes and consequences of this secular surge, drawing on unique survey data, including interviews with members of the American Humanist Association.After a brief presentation, AEI’s Daniel A. Cox will moderate a discussion with the book’s authors — David Campbell, Geoffrey C. Layman, and John C. Green — AEI’s Ross Douthat, and Michelle Boorstein of The Washington Post to explore what the growing secular perspective means for the future of American religion and politics.Watch the full event here.

Is America entering a new secular age?

The cost of college makes for frightening headlines. The outstanding balance of student loans is more than $1.5 trillion nationally, while tuitions continue to rise. And after a pandemic that nearly dismantled the traditional “college experience,” many wonder if college is really worth it.Join the University of North Carolina System’s Andrew P. Kelly, The Wall Street Journal’s Josh Mitchell, and Braven’s Vince Marigna for a discussion with AEI’s Beth Akers about her new book, “Making College Pay: An Economist Explains How to Make a Smart Bet on Higher Education” (Penguin Random House, 2021). The conversation will address how aspiring students can make strategic rather than romantic decisions about college, how parents can be practical when assisting their children in this process, and how higher education can remain an engine for opportunity, upward mobility, and prosperity.Watch the full event here.

Making college pay: An economist explains how to make a smart bet on higher education

President Joe Biden’s first 100 days have included major legislative action, millions of COVID-19 vaccinations, and an announced withdrawal from Afghanistan. What are the domestic and foreign policy implications of these 100 days? More importantly, what template do these past few months lay for the next three and a half years?At the heart of Biden’s policy goals is the American Jobs Plan, a proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill. Although the bill presumably addresses America’s aging roads and bridges, a closer look reveals a more complicated story. AEI experts discuss the many issues the bill will affect, including corporate tax policy, family policy, regulations, and the separation of powers.Watch the full event here.

Part 1: Convergence or divergence? Assessing Biden’s 100 days

President Joe Biden’s first 100 days have included major legislative action, millions of COVID-19 vaccinations, and an announced withdrawal from Afghanistan. What are the domestic and foreign policy implications of these 100 days? More importantly, what template do these past few months lay for the next three and a half years?AEI’s foreign policy team assesses what the president’s decisions portend for the future of conservative foreign policy and for managing an increasingly aggressive China, fostering cooperation and burden-sharing among allies, and preventing terrorism.Watch the full event here.

Part 2: Convergence or divergence? Assessing Biden’s 100 days

Nobel Prize–winning University of Chicago economist James J. Heckman is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking research on early childhood, which is frequently highlighted in support of expanding early care and education programs to improve children’s outcomes. His well-known “Heckman Curve” is widely cited as showing a high return on public investment in those programs.What is Dr. Heckman’s assessment of current proposals for providing publicly funded childcare and pre-K to all children from birth to kindergarten entry? And how does he view the role of families in children’s development? Do they, too, fit into the Heckman Curve? If so, how?Watch the full event here.

The role of families in human flourishing: A conversation with James Heckman

Anti-Muslim attitudes and policies have played a prominent role in American politics in recent years, especially since then-candidate Trump’s call for a Muslim ban in 2015. In her recent book “Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia” (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Nazita Lajevardi uses a range of data and social science methods to assess how and why Islamophobia manifests itself and what its consequences are for Muslim Americans.In this web event, Dr. Lajevardi and AEI’s Daniel Cox and Stan Veuger analyze these questions and related developments in policy and public opinion.Watch the full event here.

The politics of Islamophobia

The Constitution gives Congress alone the authority to raise government revenues and decide how to spend those dollars. James Madison described this power as “the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people.”However, today’s Congress is losing its grip on the power of the purse. Legislators have gradually delegated their power to the executive branch, which already flouts and usurps Congress’ spending authority with increasing impunity. The budget process has devolved into leadership rushing immense spending bills to avoid shutdowns with little consideration for individual members’ needs.Please join AEI for a discussion cohosted with Claremont McKenna College’s Salvatori Center on how Congress can regain control over the nation’s finances and thus fortify representative government.Watch the full event here.

Does Congress still control the power of the purse?

Nearly all American schoolchildren have experienced home-based learning in the past year, leaving some families wondering whether they could enjoy the benefits of both at-home learning and traditional brick-and-mortar schools at the same time. Such an option does exist: hybrid homeschooling.But what is hybrid homeschooling, whom is it for, and how does it look when done well? EdChoice’s Michael Q. McShane, joined by practitioners and researchers Kathaleena Edward Monds, Allison L. Morgan, and Antonio Parés, will draw from his upcoming book, “Hybrid Homeschooling: A Guide to the Future of Education” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), to answer these questions and explore why hybrid homeschooling might be the future of education.Watch the full event here.

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