CENTER FOR COLLABORATIVE DEMOCRACY

Grand Bargain Project Framework Agreement

Last revised February 16th, 2026

To help overcome Americans' deep divisions, and to deliver to Congress a more productive pathway forward, we have identified the seven key aspirations that virtually all Americans share:

Greater economic opportunity & growth
Schools that enable our kids to reach their potential
Effective & affordable healthcare
Prudent spending to lower the national debt
Dependable, clean & affordable energy
A fairer, simpler tax code
Congress redirected to resolving problems

To support these universally shared aspirations, we sought the very best ideas from former federal officials, think tank leaders, stakeholders, political activists, and experts with a range of social, economic and political perspectives. We distilled their ideas into practical reforms that would benefit far more Americans, and at lower costs.

In a recent YouGov survey, 83% of citizens-- including 83% of Republicans, 83% of independents and 87% of Democrats -- wanted members of Congress from both parties to make the Grand Bargain package of reforms a priority.

Our message to political leaders: "This represents the voice and will of the American people. If you want them to believe you’re acting in their interests, this is the roadmap you need to follow.”

The current 39 proposals and rationales are:

THE PROBLEM: The average American has steadily lost economic ground compared to those at the top. In the next decade, artificial intelligence may displace workers in over 30% of current jobs. So, public discontent will likely grow above the 77% of citizens who now tell pollsters that the economy benefits the powerful at their expense

THE OVERALL PROPOSAL: Provide all workers with the incentives and skills to steadily move up the economic ladder. Promote basic research and entrepreneurship. End obstacles to building affordable housing

The individual proposals to meet these needs are:

Create incentives for community colleges, employers, unions and other providers to keep improving their programs for training workers for higher paying jobs, particularly in fast-growing industries
Reduce regulations that restrict construction of new affordable housing and infrastructure
Support rural and low-income urban areas with education, training, universal broadband access, and investment incentives to promote entrepreneurship and job creation
Establish an independent agency to evaluate how each Artificial Intelligence initiative is promoting overall progress for ordinary Americans, such as improvements in skills, health, jobs and job quality
Expand earning subsidies for low-wage workers with children
Support workers’ rights to form, join and contribute to unions – and their rights not to
Boost federal spending on basic research, and improve the pipeline from publicly funded research to commercialization

THE PROBLEM: American educational performance, long among the worst in the developed world, has grown worse since Covid.

THE OVERALL PROPOSAL: Provide teachers with the training and resources to significantly boost their students’ learning. Hold teachers and schools to account for producing results. Incentivize parents to support their children’s education.

The individual proposals are to:

Revise educational goals and standards to include both academic and life skills, such as teamwork and resilience
Reform teacher training and professional development to boost teachers’ performance
Hold teachers and schools to account for students’ progress
Significantly increase pay for more effective teachers
Promote more instruction time, high expectations, frequent teacher feedback, tailoring instruction to students’ performance; and tutoring as needed
Develop programs to increase lower income parents’ support for their children’s learning
Expand families’ opportunities to choose among public and charter schools
Increase per-student support for under-resourced schools
Help state and local education agencies build up their evaluation and research capabilities

THE PROBLEM: The US spends 18% of GDP on healthcare. Other developed countries spend 10%. Yet our health is the worst in the developed world.

We thereby squander at least $2.3 trillion each year - which boosts the national debt; and shortchanges long-term investments in education, skills training and economic opportunity.

THE OVERALL PROPOSAL: Stop paying doctors and other providers for the volume of tests and procedures they perform and, instead, pay for improving health outcomes at lower cost. Incentivize Americans to eat healthy foods.

The individual proposals are:

Expand support for overall community health, especially in areas where providers lack incentives to go – rural and distressed communities
Coordinate public education and increase funding for healthier lifestyles, nutrition and prevention, especially about obesity.
Require each Medicare and Medicaid plan to - measurably - reduce costs and improve their patients’ health outcomes. And stop paying providers for each test and procedure they perform
Support public and private providers that focus on producing the best health outcomes at the lowest cost (such as Kaiser Permanente)
Expand free meals to low-income schools year round to ensure that poor children have access to nutritious foods
Prevent any business from buying up a monopoly of health care providers in any region
Expand federal price negotiations to manage the cost of pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs

THE PROBLEM: The federal government subsidizes both fossil fuels and renewables, which wastes hundreds of billions of dollars annually. America thereby fritters away valuable resources, while allowing extreme weather to injure millions of families by harming their environment and weakening the economy.

THE OVERALL PROPOSAL: End wasteful subsidies, mandates and regulations. Encourage businesses, families, state governments and other countries to use energy efficiently. Reduce extreme droughts, floods, hurricanes, blizzards and wildfires by placing a market-based fee on carbon emissions. Transmit energy in ways that minimize the costs to consumers.

The individual proposals are:

Repeal energy subsidies, regulations and legislation whose costs exceed the benefits
Place a price on carbon emissions of at least $51 per ton. And cut income taxes accordingly on low-income and rural families
To level the playing field with countries that do not put a price on carbon emissions, create a $51 per ton tariff on their products
To reduce methane emissions, support reuse technologies and hold current and former owners of abandoned fossil fuel wells liable for capping those wells
To move energy across state lines efficiently, increase Federal agencies’ authority to plan and issue permits for energy infrastructure, including transmission lines

THE PROBLEM: The US government spends $6 per senior for every $1 on a child under 18; favors consumption over investing in the future; and gives tax breaks to favored interests. These policies will drive the federal debt to 120% of GDP by 2035, send interest rates soaring and hobble our economy.

PARTIAL SOLUTION: To push the debt below 100% of GDP by 2035 -- while also paying for improvements in economic mobility, health and education - the following ideas from earlier sections would, overall, yield $1 trillion annually in savings and revenue:

The Healthcare productivity reforms
Ending fossil fuel subsidies and putting a price on carbon
Slashing tax deductions for the well-off
The value-added tax

ADDITIONAL PROPOSAL: To potentially save another $100 billion a year, invite former Secretaries of Defense from both parties to develop a plan for simultaneously increasing defense preparedness while cutting costs – and require Congress to vote the plan up-or-down

THE PROBLEM: Politicians from both parties routinely provide their strongest supporters with tax breaks, which boost the national debt and reward wasteful investments.

THE OVERALL PROPOSAL: Simplify the tax code by closing loopholes and broadening the base so we can lower rates and reduce distortions.

Reward businesses for investing in assets that will increase productivity and future income.

To pay for the benefits in health, education and economic opportunity described in earlier sections, raise taxes on those who can most afford it – and make entitlement spending more efficient.

The individual proposals are:

Sharply reduce deductions, exclusions and credits that mostly help high-income families
To encourage investment, allow businesses to deduct all expenses, including capital assets, but excluding interest, in the year paid
To reduce evasion and promote exports, place a 6% value added tax (VAT) on goods and services at each point in the supply chain -- and rebate the amount to low-income consumers
Boost Social Security’s cost-effectiveness by raising benefits for low earners, while slowing growth of benefits for high earners, and raise the retirement age for those who can still work
End taxation distinctions between corporate and non-corporate businesses
Tax the gains on capital assets when they are inherited, ending the ability to avoid such taxes
Lower the size of estates exempt from tax (currently $27 million per couple)

We keep looking for a total package that Americans from all walks of life will strongly support.

So far, in YouGov polls, 85% of citizens preferred the Grand Bargain package of economic proposals over the country’s current direction. We have since added three congressional reforms that may slightly reduce the total approval.

If you have suggestions for making the package more appealing, please use the link below to complete the WebApp, and let us know.

Nearly all the Grand Bargain proposals have been around for years, yet Congress has enacted none.

The reason: Most lawmakers blame the other party for our country’s ills and offer sound bites as remedies, instead of hashing out genuine solutions.

So, do you want the Senate and House to make this Grand Bargain a priority – now - or leave your future in their hands?

THE PROBLEM: To keep members of Congress from holding office for decades while our country’s problems grow worse, over 80% of Americans want term limits. This would require a constitutional amendment that 38 states would need to ratify. Yet just 16 state legislatures have term limits themselves. So, getting 38 states to move forward on federal term limits seems unlikely.

OVERALL PROPOSAL: Enact rules and laws that significantly lower lawmakers’ odds of winning reelection – unless they work out practical solutions for critical problems.

The individual proposals are:

Enact legislation to prohibit either party from drawing congressional districts to boost its odds winning elections
Enact legislation to open up primaries, so that every voter has a voice, and candidates across the spectrum compete on a level playing field
Replace congressional committees divided along partisan lines with task forces designed to resolve problems by:

- Asking each group of lawmakers who share priorities on the task force's topic to choose a spokesperson

- Any spokesperson who wanted to advance their group's priorities would need to hash out differences with the others

- If the spokespeople reach an agreement, each could pitch it to their colleagues

Reforms

Rate the Framework For Yourself Using The

Grand Bargain Launchpad

In 10 minutes, you can:

Evaluate each reform: Critical to Me and Others - Good Idea - Not Sure - Dislike It - Hate It
Decide: Is the total package good enough for me to want Congress to make it “a priority”
If Yes, send the Launchpad to everyone you know
Then press two buttons to email your congressperson & senators:

“Make these 39 reforms a priority, or we will elect someone who will.”

CLICK HERE TO ACTIVATE THE GRAND BARGAIN LAUNCHPAD

Join us today

JOIN US

Support the process of refining the Grand Bargain to reflect the will of the American people to spur the administration and Congress to embrace the Grand Bargain as the roadmap for our future.

Grand Bargain Project Framework Agreement

Rate the Framework For Yourself Using The

Grand Bargain Launchpad

In 10 minutes, you can:

Evaluate each reform: Critical to Me and Others - Good Idea - Not Sure - Dislike It - Hate It

Decide: Is the total package good enough for me to want Congress to make it “a priority”

If Yes, send the Launchpad to everyone you know

Then press two buttons to email your congressperson & senators:

“Make these 39 reforms a priority, or we will elect someone who will.”

Join us today

Support the process of refining the Grand Bargain to reflect the will of the American people to spur the administration and Congress to embrace the Grand Bargain as the roadmap for our future.