ACCF-CPR Annual Report

POLITICAL AND MARKET VOLATILITY IN 2018: CREDIBILITY AND BIPARTISANSHIP KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL ECONOMIC POLICYMAKING

From beginning to end, 2018 was a tumultuous year politically, finishing with a volatile stock market ride, electoral upheaval in Congress, and a government shutdown.

Credibility and bipartisanship, both in politics and public policy, are the most important assets in today’s highly partisan and polarized climate. They are what make the American Council for Capital Formation an effective third party in policymaking, which we are proud to highlight in our 2018 Annual Report.

We hosted four of our renowned bipartisan Economic Policy Evenings, also known as “Washington’s Last Salon.” White House Regulatory Czar Neomi Rao was the special guest at a Salon on “Deregulation under President Trump” and Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette led a conversation about “Modernizing our Energy Innovation Infrastructure.” “The Challenges of Retirement Policy” was attended by retirement policy leaders on Capitol Hill, including Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ron Johnson (R- WI) and David Perdue (R-GA) and Representatives Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Richard Neal (D-MA) Tom Reed (R-NY), and Phil Roe (R-TN).

True to our bipartisan mission, we hosted Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member on Committee on Finance and the 11th most senior member in the U.S. Senate, for a March forum on “Principled Bipartisanship.” We also proudly welcomed renowned trade economist Chad Brown to our ACCF-CPR Board of Scholars.

In recognition of the growing importance of climate change policy, we launched the ACCF Center for Energy Security and Climate Economics. Trade policy was a top issue in 2018. The ACCF published more than 15 op-eds on issues ranging from the impact of the administration’s tariff policies to NAFTA 2.0. The ACCF also ran a national television ad urging President Trump to defend American energy dominance by upholding the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the renegotiated trade agreement.

The ACCF-CPR also published a paper analyzing the array of financing options that could be on the table for infrastructure modernization.

Looking ahead, our reputation for authoritative research, bipartisan advocacy and media credibility built over the last four decades strongly positions us for the challenges facing the administration and the new divided Congress.

Our experienced policy experts are both well-connected to the decision makers and armed with innovative solutions to the broad array of issues facing our country today—climate change policy, trade policy, tax reform, retirement policy, corporate governance, energy innovation, regulatory improvement, and infrastructure modernization.
We rise to the challenge.

Sincerely,

 

Mark Bloomfield
President & CEO
American Council for Capital Formation Center for Policy Research
January 2019

View 2018 ACCF-CPR Annual Report