The Senate of the United States is the only legislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority is ready for action. A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.

Woodrow Wilson, March 4, 1917

Whether or not a relatively small minority of the U.S. Senate should be able to block the policies put forward by the president and majorities in both houses of Congress has been a matter of great controversy in American politics since before the Civil War. Today, however, the tactical tools available to the minority are being used more aggressively than at any time in our history and the impact on the nature and quality of American government is greater than ever. On Friday, March 12 the Center for American Progress in cooperation with the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies of American University will sponsor a symposium the modern Senate and how current practices are impacting the quality of government.

Join us as Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, discusses financial regulatory reform.

Progressivism On Tap is a lecture and discussion series from the Progressive Studies Program at the Center for American Progress, focused on the history and intellectual traditions of progressivism and liberalism.

Today nearly half of American women are unmarried. More than ever, women are the sole supporters of themselves and their families. Yet they are more economically insecure than other groups, experiencing higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and a lack of health insurance.

Unmarried women in particular face gender-based discrimination, low-wage jobs that do not offer adequate income or benefits, an uneven burden of caregiving, and outdated policies that too often do not apply to modern families. Public policy must catch up to today's America and ensure that the promise of America is available to all.

Join us for a discussion of a new report by the Center for American Progress and Women's Voices. Women Vote outlining relevant legislation in the current Congress that will advance the economic security of all Americans, focusing on unmarried women.

Copies of this report will be available at the event.

Over the years, the United States Agency for International Development has been weakened both in terms of capacity and authorities. The Obama administration came into office with a conviction that global development is a key tenet of an effective, proactive foreign policy. As a result, there are two major global development reviews being conducted at the National Security Council and the State Department that look to strengthen and modernize U.S. development policy.

Please join us for a keynote by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Howard Berman, who will discuss the committee's plans for reform of U.S. foreign assistance laws and programs. Chairman Berman's remarks will be followed by a high-level panel of experts who will focus in on the Obama administration's evolving approach to defense, diplomacy, and development.

On his first full day in office, President Obama committed his administration "to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government." To help meet that goal, the administration has issued an Open Government Directive and a new Memorandum on Freedom of Information Act and attorney general guidelines. The Administration has also launched an expansive effort to open up data to developers, advocates, and the public via Data.gov.

Join us for this three panel event to hear our panelists - transparency experts from inside and outside government - discuss these initiatives and their effect on the public.  The first panel will focus on the White House's efforts to embed transparency in the system by, in part, requiring each agency to develop an open government plan, and post open government pages. During the second panel, our panelists will discuss how recent changes to law and policy affect a citizen's ability to request and receive information from the federal government. During the last panel, developers and advocates will explain how they use government information like the data on Data.gov to make a difference for the public.