On today’s episode of American Wonk, Avik Roy talks to Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee and author of a pathbreaking health care reform bill called the Hospital Competition Act. Should the GOP shed it’s big business reputation to help kitchen table voters? More on the Hospital Competition Act here. After 11 Years of Obamacare, Republicans Need to Become Party of Health Care, Rep. Jim Banks, The Daily Signal

American Wonk

Rep. Jim Banks on a New Vision for Health Care Reform

The American Jobs Plan has been touted by Vice President Kamala Harris as the biggest jobs investment since World War II. But how exactly will we pay for $2 trillion in new spending on infrastructure, green energy, housing, and education reform? Do the benefits of increased spending outweigh the proposal’s impact on deficits and tax rates? Last week, Avik Roy held a panel discussion to dive in to the details with FREOPP scholars: Energy Scholar Robert Bryce, Health Care Scholar Gregg Girvan, Housing Scholar Roger Valdez, Education Scholar Dan Lips, Education Scholar Preston Cooper, and Financial Services Scholar Jon Hartley.

E69. What’s in the Biden Spending Plan?

On May 1st, Texas will hold a special election to fill the seat of late U.S. Congressman Ron Wright, who passed away in February from COVID-19. The contentious, all-party election has 23 candidates vying for the seat, including Rep. Wright’s widow Susan. One of the Republican candidates, Michael Wood, joins Avik Roy, President of FREOPP, to discuss his platform and why he describes this election as “the first battle in this war to take back [the Republican] Party.” In Woods’ words, “It’s time for us to move past [Trump] now before we lose to Democrats in the midterms next year and in the presidential election after that.” Can Texas’s 6th congressional seat—once a reliably red district that turned purple in the Trump era—be claimed by an anti-Trump Republican like Wood? What does next week’s special election tell us about the changing politics of the state of Texas and the country at large? Will we see more GOP candidates emerging from the corner of the Republican Party that has been turned off by Trump’s tone and rhetoric?

E68. Michael Wood & the Future of the GOP

On today’s episode of Covid in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy talk about a new FREOPP report that ranks the pandemic performance of 31 countries, including the U.S. Which countries have moved up and down in the rankings, which country is number 1, and why is Europe having such a tough time? All that and more starting now. Measuring the COVID-19 Policy Response Around the World, April 5, 2021, FREOPP

COVID in 19: Which Countries Have Fared Best in Pandemic Response?

Can conservative principles adapt to appeal to younger generations and minorities? What are realistic conservative policy goals for the 21st century? Is there a future for an inclusive, equal opportunity-oriented conservative movement? Patrick Ruffini from Echelon Insights, a next-generation polling, analytics, and intelligence firm, joins American Wonk to discuss. Patrick has a background as a […]

66. Patrick Ruffini on What’s Next for the GOP

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity talk about why the vaccines are not a vindication of Big Pharma, but of small, innovative biotech startups. Also, who’s first in line to get the vaccine? And what about the people who […]Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-whos-to-thank-for-the-coronavirus-vaccine/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

65. COVID in 19: Who’s to Thank for the Coronavirus Vaccine?

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity talk about this week’s vaccine news from Pfizer and Biontech. How good is the data? Are more vaccines on the horizon? Will Joe Biden strive to distribute vaccines around the world or prioritize […]Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-vaccine/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

64. COVID in 19: Everything You Need to Know About the New Vaccine

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of FREOPP talk about the World Health Organization’s new guidance that lockdowns are bad. What took them so long? And with the holidays coming up, Avik explains why his kids will be trick or treating and why he’s even looking forward […]Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-world-health-organization-acknowledges-consequences-to-lockdowns/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

63. COVID in 19: World Health Organization Acknowledges Consequences to Lockdowns

On today’s episode of American Wonk, FREOPP’s Avik Roy talks with Ilya Shapiro, author of “Supreme Disorder,” a new book on the politics of the Supreme Court. They talk about Amy Coney Barrett and ask: what have conservatives gotten right and wrong in their quest to change how the Supreme Court thinks about the Constitution? […]Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/ilya-shapiro-on-the-politics-of-the-supreme-court/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

62. Ilya Shapiro on the Politics of the Supreme Court

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of FREOPP talk about President Trump’s recovery from the virus. What really happened, and what do we need to know about the new treatments that Trump has taken?Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-president-trump-recovers-from-the-virus/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

61. COVID in 19: President Trump Recovers from the Virus

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of FREOPP talk about Avik’s congressional testimony on data and COVID-19. Why haven’t we been better at measuring deaths in nursing homes? Why are so many lab tests coming back with false positive results, and what can we do about it?Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-the-mismanagement-of-data/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

60. COVID in 19: The Mismanagement of Data

On today’s episode of Power Hungry, FREOPP Visiting Fellow Robert Bryce talks to California Assemblyman Jim Cooper, a Democrat, about a letter he wrote accusing the Sierra Club of fueling environmental racism. What’s going wrong with energy policy in California?Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/robert-bryce-and-jim-cooper-the-sierra-club-and-environmental-racism/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

59. Robert Bryce and Jim Cooper: The Sierra Club and Environmental Racism

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of FREOPP talk about Joe Biden’s claim that Trump is responsible for all 200,000 COVID deaths in America. Also, how should we think about COVID’s impact on different ethnic groups? And how would the rollout of a vaccine actually work? The […]Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-biden-claims-that-trump-is-responsible-for-200000-deaths/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

58. COVID in 19: Biden Claims that Trump is Responsible for 200,000 Deaths

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Scott Immergut of Ricochet and Avik Roy of FREOPP talk about Atlas-gate, the decision of Youtube to censor an interview that Trump coronavirus advisor and Stanford professor Scott Atlas did with the Hoover Institution. What was Youtube thinking?Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/covid-in-19-youtube-takes-down-interview-with-trump-advisor-scott-atlas/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

74. COVID in 19: YouTube Takes Down Interview with Trump Advisor Scott Atlas

On today’s episode of Power Hungry, FREOPP Visiting Fellow Robert Bryce talks to Michael Shellenberger, founder of Environmental Progress, about his new book Apocalypse Never. Is nuclear power our best hope for reducing carbon emissions? They discuss that and more! http://robertbryce.com/ https://environmentalprogress.org/ https://freopp.org/Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/american-wonk/robert-bryce-and-michael-shellenberger-on-why-nuclear-energy-is-the-path-forward-to-reducing-carbon-emissions/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to American Wonk in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

55. Robert Bryce and Michael Shellenberger: Why Nuclear Energy is the Path Forward to Reducing Carbon Emissions

American Wonk covers a wide range of topics, with a focus on domestic and foreign policy. Avik explores important ideas and policies with the experts who know them best—right or left—and ask challenging questions to all, in the spirit of Bill Buckley.