
Relief at last for America’s long-suffering banks
Sarah, Ezra, and Matt talk about a bipartisan bank deregulation bill, Medicaid work requirements, and constitutional hardball. References: Mark Tushner’s original constitutional hardball article Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses Grant Why there are two Dakotas Dylan Scott’s “Trump’s Hidden War on Medicaid” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
6 Mars 20181h 7min

Guns, Weeds, and Steel
Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston joins Dara and Matt to talk about a week of extremely erratic policymaking from an increasingly chaotic Trump White House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2 Mars 201851min

Medicare for Many More
Dylan Scott joins Sarah and Matt to talk about a new universal health care plan — plus some exciting administrative data from the good-old USA! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
27 Feb 201852min

The stupidest fucking idea I’ve ever heard
There are also some good ideas discussed. All of them are about guns. German Lopez joins Dara and Matt to talk about gun control in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
23 Feb 201855min

It's finally infrastructure week
Sarah, Ezra, and Matt talk about what’s really wrong with American infrastructure, the massacre in Parkland, FL, and new research on legislators’ irrational decision-making. Whitepaper! Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion Among American Political Elites by David E. Broockman, Christopher Skovron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
20 Feb 20181h 3min

DACApocalypse in the Senate
Matt, Dara, and Andrew Prokop talk about the Senate's failed immigration push, and they parse through the many-layered Rob Porter scandal. DACA/Immigration ReferencesThe 8 Republican senators who voted for the bipartisan compromiseMoran, Thune, and Portman’s new DACA proposal statementTara Golshan’s piece about Grassley’s Secure and Succeed Act Rob Porter ReferencesThe ever-shifting White House story on Rob PorterThe Rob Porter scandal, explainedJane Coaston’s piece: The White House had to protect Rob Porter to save Donald Trump Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
16 Feb 20181h 8min

The gender pay gap is mostly about children
Matt, Ezra, Sarah, and Dylan Matthews try to explain Trump’s budget and Disability Insurance. For today's white paper: Move over Swedish administrative data, it’s Denmark’s turn. Trump’s budget references:Dylan's explainer on Trump's proposed budgetAirports Council International report on the ownership of European airportsCongressional Research Service report on airport privatizationMatt’s explainer on Trump’s infrastructure planDisability Insurance references:Dylan's defense of SSDITerrance McCoy’s pieces on SSDI for The Washington Post: 597 days. And still waiting & After the check is gonePlanet Money / This American Life report on SSDI A Fiscal Crisis UnfoldingStephen Goss’ perspective on SSDI: The Financing Challenges Facing the Social Security Disability Insurance Program Recessions only modestly increase actual awards of disability insuranceExpiring unemployment benefits don’t lead to an increase in disability applicationsWhat it’s like to apply for disability insuranceDemographics explain most of the rise in disability incidence, and it’s not in fiscal troubleDisability insurance explains at most 0.1 percentage points of the decline in male workGender pay gap references:Today’s white paper: Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from DenmarkClaudia Goldin studyMarianne Bertrand studySarah’s illustrated version of the Claudia Goldin study Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
13 Feb 20181h 9min

The six-hour shutdown, explained
Matt, Dara, and Tara Golshan, all weary from lack of sleep, try to make sense of the few hours on Thursday night/Friday morning when the government was shut down. Referenced Works Republicans laughing in Tara's face about addressing immigration: Immigration anxiety got Trump elected. Congress isn’t touching it. Further Reading House Democrats’ confusing, high-risk DACA government shutdown gamble, explained Congress just funded CHIP for a full decade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
9 Feb 201854min