A new analysis from the Center for American Progress demonstrates the benefits of passing health care reform on the American economy. Passing reform, say the authors, could increase the number of jobs in the United States by about 250,000 to 400,000 per year over the coming decade.

Skeptics of health care reform argue that it will do little to control health care spending in the long run. Yet even the skeptics agree that successful health reform will reduce uninsurance by expanding private nongroup, private small group, and public insurance coverage. This expansion in insurance coverage will likely increase health care jobs since the newly insured will need doctors, nurses, and other health care personnel to meet their medical needs. So even those with doubts about reform would have to recognize that it will likely create jobs and also improve the well-being of the currently uninsured, many of whom are unemployed.

A more optimistic view of health reform recognizes its potential to improve the efficiency of the U.S. health care system. More efficient health care will lower the burden of health insurance premiums for firms, and in turn allow them to hire more workers. This will also increase the number of jobs and at the same time reduce the financial woes of those struggling with uninsurance and a depressed labor market.

A recent poll conducted by the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, found that 62% of Minnesota voters support health care reform that includes a public option.

The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy does not make sense practically, it does not make sense financially, and by acting in a discriminatory fashion, it certainly does not make sense morally.

Our friends over at the Center for American Progress have put together 11 reasons why Don't Ask Don't Tell should be repealed:

• Nearly 14,000 gay and lesbian service men and women have been discharged from military service since 1993.

• More than 33,000 gay and lesbian service men and women have been discharged from military service since 1980.

• A survey of 545 service members who served in Afghanistan and Iraq found that 73 percent are comfortable in the presence of gay men and lesbians.

• This policy may have cost the U.S. government more than $1.3 billion since 1980.

Find the rest of the reasons here.

Despite recent advances, a new report published by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual same-sex couples are at least as likely--and ten times more likely--to be poor than married heterosexual couples. The report also found that denying LGBT people equal access to the institution of marriage, protection from employment discrimination, and other civil rights and family benefits may be contributing to higher poverty rates in the LGBT community than in the general population overall.

In its latest issue brief, the Center for American Progress examined the latest data on poverty in the LlGBT community and outlines how the continued expansion of civil rights will help to reduce it.

Read more and download the issue brief at the Center for American Progress.

In a new web video, Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress, explains why we need paid family and medical leave, what a program would look like, and how we could pay for it.

Watch the video below and read more about Heather's proposals for paid family and medical leave in Helping Breadwinners When It Can't Wait: A Progressive Program for Family Leave Insurance.