The George W. Bush Institute, a nonpartisan institution, is committed to fostering positive, meaningful, and lasting change at home and abroad rooted in the principles of freedom, opportunity, accountability, and compassion.
Our lawmakers are tackling critical challenges on a range of issues, and we’ve outlined a series of briefs to help guide their way forward. These briefs focus on ensuring opportunities for all Americans, strengthening our democracy, and advancing free societies.
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President Vladimir Putin’s wholly unjustified and unprovoked reinvasion of Ukraine marks the gravest security crisis and the greatest humanitarian catastrophe on the European continent since World War II.
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Corruption and kleptocracy have metastasized in the globalized era, infecting the health of the international financial system and weakening the integrity of rule-of-law in societies around the world.
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Women living under authoritarian regimes bear a double burden of repression. In a top-down system in which the authorities seek every available lever to maintain control over society, gender frequently becomes weaponized.
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By virtue of its political and economic might, the United States is uniquely positioned to champion the cause of freedom around the world. Doing so directly benefits Americans because free societies are more likely to engage in commerce, respect the rule of law, create pluralistic cultures that promote tolerance, and foster peaceful relations; they are less likely to go to war with each other.
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The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been extremely successful over the 20 years since the program was launched by President George W. Bush. PEPFAR has saved more than 25 million lives, including preventing more than 5.5 million babies from acquiring HIV by working directly in communities and with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and other institutions.
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Immigration law and policy in the United States have needed updates for decades. Our current legal immigration system is inadequate to support our 21st century economy. It also needlessly discriminates against many qualified immigrants with inflexible caps on everything from education to country of origin.
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Over 35% of the approximately 1.6 million migrants arriving at our southern border in 2021 were families or unaccompanied children. Almost 200,000 children came from Northern Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras), and about half of them were unaccompanied. Shifting demographics, the increase in children and family arrivals, and the increase in large caravans arriving from Northern Central America have spurred a conversation into the root causes of migration.
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It is clear that young people bore the brunt of the pandemic’s impact. Disrupted learning, sometimes stretching for two years, forced many students off track and behind academically. We now face an unprecedented need to make smart investments with federal relief funds in efforts that accelerate student learning. District leaders should move quickly and thoughtfully to effectively spend the $190 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant money to help students.
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About 3 million members of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations between the attacks on 9/11 and the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. More than 200,000 military servicemembers return to civilian life each year. Some veterans and military families face challenges during their transition. These include finding meaningful careers and the educational pathways to get there, as well as accessing help for physical and mental health problems.
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High-quality assessments help us determine which students are on track and, importantly, which ones are falling behind and need additional support. This is true in a normal school year, and it’s even more critical now because of the pandemic’s massive disruption of schooling for our Nation’s young people.
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A new Congress makes this the optimal time to take a fresh look at the strategies, policies, programs, and resources that can empower veterans and their families to successfully reenter civilian life and continue to lead for years to come. Our Nation needs them.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 18, 2023
2023 Policy Recommendations
Recommendations include supporting Ukraine, reforming immigration, combating kleptocracy, and strengthening education.
Video · Jan 18, 2023
Two-Minute Take: Ensuring economic opportunity for veterans
Col. Matthew F. Amidon, Director of Veterans and Military Families at the Bush Institute, discusses how veterans who have transitioned to civilian life are trained leaders who are ready to enter into the workforce, but states need to do better at supporting their skill-sets to welcome them into meaningful employment and education
Video · Jan 18, 2023
Two-Minute Take on Ukraine Policy Recommendations
“President Vladimir Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine marks the gravest security threat on the European continent since World War II."
Policy Recommendations · Jan 17, 2023
Countering Corruption and Kleptocracy: What can be done to uproot a global scourge?
Corruption and kleptocracy have metastasized in the globalized era, infecting the health of the international financial system and weakening the integrity of rule-of-law in societies around the world.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 17, 2023
Foreign Aid Successes: MCC and PEPFAR as models for engagement
Policy Recommendations · Jan 17, 2023
Democracy: Why America must lead to strengthen democracy worldwide
By virtue of its political and economic might, the United States is uniquely positioned to champion the cause of freedom around the world. Doing so directly benefits Americans because free societies are more likely to engage in commerce, respect the rule of law, create pluralistic cultures that promote tolerance, and foster peaceful relations; they are less likely to go to war with each other.
