New America Foundation
Director of the Federal Education Budget Project at the New America Foundation; informal higher education advisor to Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign; former senior analyst on the Republican staff of the US Senate Budget Committee
How will Clinton and Trump deal with college debt? With the presidential campaign now focused on personalities and family histories, how is a voter to know how either candidate might actually govern? This is the first of a five-part series exploring issues that could be critical for people trying to make up their minds. Hillary Clinton is a known “policy wonk” with detailed plans for “college affordability” and how to pay for it. That invites both support and criticism. Donald Trump has just made a few statements — leaving supporters and critics to speculate about what he might try to do.
Student Loans: Does Public Money Need Private Administration? The big news on Sunday was House passage of healthcare reform and the so-called " reconciliation " bill that now goes to the Senate. Hardly noticed was that "reconciliation" also included the biggest change in the student loan program since 1965.
Student Loans: Does Public Money Need Private Administration? The scenario is all too familiar: increased demand and rising costs; diminishing revenues during a major recession. It's not healthcare, it's higher education. Yet -- almost without notice -- the two were packaged together in the reconciliation bill passed by the House on Sunday. The biggest student-loan change in 45 years would eliminate private middlemen in favor of government lending directly to struggling students. Some, but not all, of $61 billion in savings would go to Pell Grants for the neediest. Not one Republican voted for it. We hear the pros and cons.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.