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Podcast: A deep dive into the administrative state

Podcast: A deep dive into the administrative state

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act shines a light on the administrative state. How will the billions of dollars for Medicaid, green energy, and other provisions be spent and turned into policy? With the help of people whose jobs are largely nonpartisan and non-political. Complaints about government bureaucracy are nothing new but have recently moved beyond rhetoric to a concerted attack on policy implementation.

Don Moynihan, the McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown, writes about the administrative state in his newsletter, Can We Still Govern? He joins the “Democracy Works” podcast to discuss the promise of the Inflation Reduction Act, the looming peril of Schedule F, and whether a bipartisan, policy-focused coalition can emerge in 2022 and beyond.


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Texas secretary of state raised concerns about the federal tool used to flag potential noncitizen voters

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson presides over the House during the opening ceremony of the 89th Texas Legislative Session at the capitol in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. Records show Nelson raised concerns about the accuracy of a federal data tool her office used to flag potential noncitizen voters.

(Eddie Gaspar / The Texas Tribune)

Texas secretary of state raised concerns about the federal tool used to flag potential noncitizen voters

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office used a controversial federal data tool to flag more than 2,000 potential noncitizens on the state’s voter roll last year. But in an April letter to federal immigration officials, Secretary of State Jane Nelson raised concerns about its accuracy.

In that letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials, obtained as part of a public records request by Democracy Forward — a nonprofit legal organization advocating for democracy through litigation and public policy — and shared with Votebeat, Nelson said her office wanted “to make sure that you are using the most accurate data,” and asked agency officials to notify her office if they are able to “confirm the citizenship of any individuals previously identified as non-citizens” in the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system.

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As Cruelty Normalizes, America’s Authoritarian Drift Deepens

Josh Hokit on April 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida.

(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

As Cruelty Normalizes, America’s Authoritarian Drift Deepens

It happened in a moment so small that many viewers may have missed it. After a UFC fight, athlete Josh Hokit used his victory speech not to celebrate his win but to demean former First Lady Michelle Obama, repeating a long‑running racist and sexist trope by calling her a man. Standing beside him, the President of the United States did not correct him. He did not defend a woman who served this country with dignity. He did not reject the bigotry embedded in the remark. Instead, he offered a smirk — a half‑smile of approval that traveled farther than any microphone could carry.

That smirk mattered. It was a signal. And millions recognized it for exactly what it was.

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The Roots We Planted: How U.S. Foreign Policy Shaped the Immigration Crisis

Supporters of Nicolas Maduro burn a United States flag during a gathering near Miraflores palace after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in the early hours on January 03, 2026 in Caracas, Venezuela.

(Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

The Roots We Planted: How U.S. Foreign Policy Shaped the Immigration Crisis

“Right now, we have more workers than at any time in the history of our country…And people want to come in, and in some cases, they want to take advantage of that, and that’s okay,” President Donald Trump said in a 2018 statement. “And we want them to come in, but they have to come in through merit.”

These narratives paint a vivid picture of America’s struggle with immigration: a "city on a hill" slowly becoming overrun by foreign nationals, purportedly due to open-border policies. The rhetoric suggests the United States suffers from its own success, attracting immigrants who arrive in search of "government handouts" or to evade criminal charges.

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