The 80th UN General Assembly is underway in New York City, in session from just after Labor Day into December. The annual High-Level Week, when world leaders gather, ended in September. To share their takeaways from the 80th General Assembly thus far and to look ahead at the UN's role in global security and development, experts Jeff Feltman and John McArthur join The Current. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
On this episode — a look at the shifting landscape of media regulation, consolidation, and the ongoing debate over free speech in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from his late-night talk show and subsequent reinstatement. To talk about these developments, including the role of the FCC in regulating U.S. media in an era of media consolidation, Tom Wheeler, a visiting fellow in Governance Studies and former chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017, joins The Current. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
The credibility of U.S. federal government data may seem an arcane topic, but it is critical for a well-functioning economy. To explore the importance of reliable economic data and potential challenges to that reliability, and why it matters to businesses and the public, Ben Harris, vice president and director of Economic Studies at Brookings, joins the Current. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
On August 11, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that put the federal government in charge of the local police force. A second executive order directed members of the D.C. National Guard into active federal service. Today, over 2,000 National Guard members from D.C. and other states are mobilized in the nation’s capital. To talk about the constitutional and legal basis of these actions and what this expansion of federal military power by the Trump administration could mean for other U.S. cities, Scott Anderson, a fellow in Governance Studies, plus general counsel and senior editor for Lawfare, joins the Current. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
20 years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast, researchers from New Orleans, Brookings, and The Data Center are examining how the city has recovered and the challenges it still faces. Manann Donoghoe joins The Current to talk about the extensive new analysis, the many factors that make a city resilient, and the areas policymakers should be investing in to ensure communities can adapt to extreme weather events and other shocks. Transcript and show notes: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-resilient-is-new-orleans-today Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu
Mara Karlin, a visiting fellow at Brookings and former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, discusses the recent U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Israeli-Iran conflict, and what might come next. A key question is how to assess the impact of the military strikes on Iran's nuclear capabilities. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
Molly Kinder, fellow in Brookings Metro, reflects on the moral and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence, work, and workers, as she lays out in her recent paper, “The unexpected visionary: Pope Francis on AI, humanity, and the future of work.” Kinder addresses the late Pope Francis’s leadership on this issue, and look ahead to how Pope Leo XIV will continue the Church’s attention to this fundamental challenge. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
House Republicans are currently negotiating a budget reconciliation bill that packages extensive tax breaks with deep spending cuts to anti-poverty programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Robert Greenstein explains how the U.S. safety net has cut the poverty rate nearly in half in recent decades and the impacts of the cuts now being considered. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-medicaid-safety-net-cuts-could-mean-for-us-poverty Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
Historically, Black Americans’ quest for power has been seen as an attempt to gain equal protection under the law, but power in America requires more than basic democratic freedoms. It’s linked with economic influence and ownership of one’s own self, home, business, and creations. In his new book, "Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It," published by McMillan, Brookings Senior Fellow Andre Perry quantifies how much power Black Americans really have and calculates how that translates into the longevity of Back communities. On this episode of The Current, which was taped in front of a live audience, Perry, who also directs the Center for Community Uplift at Brookings, is interviewed by senior fellow David Wessel, who directs the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/closing-the-racial-gap-in-economic-and-social-power Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
In its first two months, the Trump administration has not only laid off thousands of federal workers and shuttered agencies, but it has also purged taxpayer-funded data sets from a swathe of government websites, including data on crime, sexual orientation, gender, education, climate, and global development. Caren Grown, senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, joins The Current to explain why the loss of data and the expertise behind its collection will harm good policymaking. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-government-data-purge-is-a-loss-for-policymaking-and-research/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
Democracy Playbook 2025, published by the Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security project at Brookings, identifies seven pillars that are essential to safeguard democracy worldwide and offers actionable steps to strengthen democratic institutions in the U.S. and globally. To talk about the new report, Governance Studies Senior Fellow Norm Eisen, co-editor of the Playbook, joins The Current. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-might-us-rural-policy-look-like-in-the-trump-administration/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
This week, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ordered a freeze of funding across a broad array of federal programs, leading to mass confusion around the country from local governments, nonprofits, and individuals. While that particular order appears to have been rescinded, Molly Reynolds explains how it touches on foundational questions of Congress’ spending power and constitutional authorities, and how it’s just one of the Trump administration’s first steps to try to dramatically remake the size and scope of the federal government. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-the-trump-administration-freeze-federal-spending Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
As the Trump administration prepares to take power in Washington, Senior Fellow Tony Pipa, host of the Reimagine Rural podcast, looks at what has happened in rural policy under the Biden administration and what shifts in federal policy and emphasis might ensue under President Trump. No matter what changes come, Pipa notes, local communities will continue to solve problems locally. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-might-us-rural-policy-look-like-in-the-trump-administration/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
On December 8, Syrian rebels took control of Damascus, the nation’s capital. Deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, marking the end of a long civil war and his 24-year-long brutal reign, which followed his father’s nearly 30-year rule. Syrians are rightfully celebrating, even as they’re freeing people from notorious regime prisons and looking to transition away from decades of repression. Steven Heydemann, a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy here at Brookings and the Ketcham Chair of Middle East studies at Smith College, talks about the implications of Assad’s fall for the region and the world. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/whats-next-for-syria-and-the-region-after-assads-fall/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
As the U.S. heads into the final days of the 2024 elections, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas reviews the health of American democracy, the lack of guardrails against mis- and disinformation, and ways to restore public trust. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/election-2024-and-the-health-of-american-democracy Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
The economy is one of the quadrennial top issues for American voters, and related to economic performance are concerns about the national debt, taxes, and government spending, especially on popular entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. On this episode, Ben Harris, vice president and director of Economic Studies at Brookings, talks with host Fred Dews about how these issues are seen by American voters during election season and beyond. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/government-spending-debt-and-taxes-in-the-2024-election/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
The high cost of housing is a significant economic pressure for many Americans, even as inflation has eased. Homeowners and renters alike pay increasingly higher percentages of their income on housing, and homelessness reached a record high in 2023. Recorded in front of a live audience, this episode of The Current features Brookings Senior Fellow Jenny Schuetz and San Francisco Chronicle Washington Correspondent Shira Stein discussing how the Harris and Trump campaigns are talking about the housing crisis, and what federal and local lawmakers can do to incentivize homebuilding and make rent and homebuying costs more affordable. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/making-housing-more-affordable/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
The 79th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations opened this week in New York City. To address some of the main issues on the agenda, with a focus on sustainable development and the Summit of the Future, is John McArthur, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/as-joe-biden-exits-the-presidential-race-whats-next-for-kamala-harris/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
As part of the Brookings Election '24 initiative, Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at Brookings, talks about the energy and climate policy issues in the U.S. presidential election as voters think about how either a Harris administration or a second Trump administration would approach these matters. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/competing-energy-and-climate-visions-in-the-2024-presidential-election/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.
On Sunday, July 21st, President Joe Biden announced that he would no longer seek the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the election against Donald Trump this November. He then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination. To talk about this momentous development in the 2024 presidential election, E.J. Dionne joins The Current. He is the W. Averell Harriman Chair and senior fellow in Governance Studies here at Brookings. He's also a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and university professor in the foundations of democracy and culture at Georgetown University. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/as-joe-biden-exits-the-presidential-race-whats-next-for-kamala-harris/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.