Policy experts offer a roadmap toward peace and prosperity
DALLAS, Texas – The winter 2025 edition of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute focuses on policy recommendations for the Trump Administration and Congress from experts at the George W. Bush Institute. Memos to Washington: Advice for the new administration features conversations held by Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tepperman with the authors and advisors who helped form and inform these policy briefs. Among the topics they cover are Ukraine; the strengthening axis of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (CRINK); greater engagement with Latin America and Africa; immigration; housing; and education.
Memos to Washington begins with an interview with Victor Cha, Senior Fellow at the Bush Institute, on how to fight back against CRINK as these states attempt to undermine the rules-based international order and leave chaos and disorder in its place.
Next, David J. Kramer, the Bush Institute’s Executive Director, and Igor Khrestin, the Bradford M. Freeman Managing Director of Global Policy at the Bush Institute, discuss the war in Ukraine and explain why the Trump Administration should ramp up support for Kyiv and tighten sanctions against Moscow.
The spotlight then shifts to Latin America and Africa with interviews with Antonio Garza, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, and Jendayi Frazer, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. Garza argues that the United States should take a nuanced, not a one-size-fits-all, approach to Latin America and that engaging more deeply would benefit all sides. Frazer highlights Africa’s massive potential given its natural resources and growing young population and argues that the United States’ lack of involvement there has been a mistake, allowing China, Russia, and other authoritarian states to increase their influence on the continent.
Turning to domestic challenges, Cullum Clark, Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, and Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, discuss the origins of the current U.S. housing crisis and explain how to solve it. Laura Collins, Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, argues that the U.S. immigration debate should not just focus on unlawful entries; such attention, while understandable, neglects the problems with America’s legal immigration system, which she contends is badly out of date and unable to provide the number or type of workers needed for a growing, modern economy.
Finally, Carey Wright, State Superintendent of Schools for Maryland, and LeNaya Hezel, Chief Programs Officer at the Warrior-Scholar Project, take on different aspects of America’s educational systems. Wright explains the need for objective assessments and accountability mechanisms in our public schools. Hezel, meanwhile, discusses the challenges facing U.S. veterans and active-duty service members when transitioning from the military to higher education. She describes the flaws in the existing government programs aimed at helping students navigate this process, and makes several suggestions for how to improve them.
To read the full edition of The Catalyst visit https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/memos-to-washington
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About the George W. Bush Institute
The George W. Bush Institute is a solution-oriented nonpartisan policy organization focused on ensuring opportunity for all, strengthening democracy, and advancing free societies. Housed within the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the Bush Institute is rooted in compassionate conservative values and committed to creating positive, meaningful, and lasting change at home and abroad. We utilize our unique platform and convening power to advance solutions to national and global issues of the day. Learn more at bushcenter.org.