Day One 2025
We sit on the verge of another Presidential election – and we see opportunity for meaningful, science-based policy innovations that can appeal to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. That’s why we launched “Day One 2025” – so we could collect bold policy ideas, grounded in science and evidence, that can tackle the country’s biggest challenges and bring us closer to the prosperous, equitable and safe future that we all hope for.
For this effort, FAS identified five priority areas where ideas and action are most sorely needed:
- Energy and Environment. Developing solutions to update the energy system, decarbonize the built environment, and address the risks and cascading impacts of climate change.
- Government Capacity. Helping the federal government expand its capacity to deliver by addressing barriers across talent, spending, and performance and oversight burdens.
- R&D, Innovation, and Competitiveness. Supporting a dynamic and strategic R&D enterprise, emphasizing a geographically diverse approach to innovation, embedding equity within innovation frameworks, and encouraging public participation.
- Global Security. Addressing the risks and mitigating the potential harms posed by nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, biorisks, and safeguarding against planetary threats, enhancing global stability and human safety.
- Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence. Steering technological progress and artificial intelligence to ensure socially positive, equitable outcomes and to mitigate against existing and potential harms to consumers and the public; promoting competition in evolving markets; leveraging policy frameworks, enforcement, R&D and multidisciplinary expertise.
The new Administration should announce a national talent surge to identify, scale, and recruit into innovative teacher preparation models, expand teacher leadership opportunities, and boost the profession’s prestige.
Congress should approve a new allowable use of Title I spending that specifically enables and encourages districts to use funds for activities that support and drive equity-focused innovation.
The incoming administration should work towards encouraging state health departments to develop clear and well-communicated data storage standards for newborn screening samples.
The reimagined E2T2 represents a critical opportunity to address many pressing challenges in K-12 education while preparing students for the future.
An open jobs board for political appointee positions is necessary to building a stronger and more diverse appointee workforce, and for improving government transparency.
Analyzing NEPA outcomes isn’t just an academic exercise; it’s an essential step for eliminating the biggest hurdles of the environmental review process.
Without market-shaping interventions, federal and state subsidies for energy-efficient products like heat pumps often lead to higher prices, leaving the overall market worse off when rebates end.
Changing how the program educates, funds, and assesses agencies will build internal capacity and deliver continuous improvement.
The U.S. should continue its voluntary moratorium on explosive nuclear weapons tests and implement further checks on the president’s ability to call for a resumption of nuclear testing.
To help protect U.S. critical infrastructure workers, the next presidential administration should ensure ample supplies of high-quality respiratory personal protective equipment.
As data fuels the next transformative modernization phase, the federal government has an opportunity to leverage modern practices to leap forward in scaling IT modernization.
To maximize the potential of apprenticeship programs, the federal government should develop a cohesive approach to supporting “apprenticeships of the future,” such as those in cyber, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.
To address challenges posed by increased extreme heat, USAID should mobilize finance through environmental impact bonds focused on scaling extreme heat adaptation solutions.
Congress should foster a more responsive and evidence-based ecosystem for GenAI-powered educational tools, ensuring that they are equitable, effective, and safe for all students.
Without independent research, we do not know if the AI systems that are being deployed today are safe or if they pose widespread risks that have yet to be discovered, including risks to U.S. national security.
Companies that store children’s voice recordings and use them for profit-driven applications without parental consent pose serious privacy threats to children and families.
What if the concurrent challenges of digital upskilling and teacher shortages could help solve one another?
Create a 10-year pilot AI Entrepreneur Visa program for a select group of countries to demonstrate the potential efficacy of the visa.
Urgent policy action is essential to address bias, promote diversity, increase transparency, and enforce accountability in clinical decision support AI systems.
Federal legislation would provide funding for grants and technical assistance to states and districts in planning and implementing comprehensive AI policy-to-practice plans.
Congress should assign and fund an agency office within the BIS to act as an information clearinghouse for receiving, triaging, and distributing reports on dual-use AI capabilities.
Congress should pass legislation to create a pilot program under the Department of Defense to expand access to shared commercial classified spaces and infrastructure.
Congress should establish a National Center for AI in Education to build the capacity of education agencies to undertake evidence-based continuous improvement in AI in education.
Congress should create a voluntary Artificial Intelligence Incident Reporting Hub, inspired by existing public initiatives in cybersecurity.
For decades, assistive technology, ranging from low tech to high tech, has helped students with disabilities with learning. AI tools hold promise for making lessons more accessible.
NIST should lead an interagency coalition to produce standards that enable third-party research and development on healthcare data.
To establish the NSF Teacher AI Literacy Development Program, Congress should pass a defining piece of legislation that will outline the program’s purpose, delineate its extent, and allocate necessary funding.
Congress should authorize the establishment of a NIST Foundation to unlock additional resources, expertise, and strong ethics for AI research.
By advocating for the integration of technology-focused green jobs within federal initiatives, there is an opportunity to broaden the talent pool and harness the potential of emerging technologies to tackle pressing environmental issues.
Global episodes of extreme heat intensify water shortages caused by extended drought and overpumping. Creating actionable solutions to the challenges of a warming planet requires cooperation across all water consumers.