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Matt Mackowiak's Mack On Politics

Smart political talk every week from Austin, Texas political consultant Matt Mackowiak, who has served in senior roles for two U.S. Senators and the Bush administration.
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Matt Mackowiak's Mack On Politics
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Now displaying: September, 2017
Sep 27, 2017

Tax reform is the focus of this episode and our guest is CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow, who was an economic advisor to the Trump campaign and has been an unofficial White House advisor on economic matters.

We analyze the tax reform plan, both on the corporate side and the individual side, consider how Trump’s election has affected the stock market, discuss Kudlow’s 20+ year relationship with Trump, consider how Wall Street views Washington, and discuss several openings on the Federal Reserve. 

We ended with Kudlow’s political outlook for tax reform passing before the end of the year.

Sep 22, 2017

We grabbed a few minutes with former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) to discuss his role in developing the Graham-Cassidy health care reform bill that the U.S. Senate is considering.

We begin with comparing this bill to the model Santorum used to successfully reform welfare in the 1990s.

Then, we checked on where he thinks things stand, how engaged the White House and Senate GOP Leadership has been, what the Senate floor process will be, what the legislative prospects are in the House, what unresolved issues remain in the bill, and what he thinks is the worst mischaracterization about the bill is.

Finally, we inquired about how his precious daughter Bella is doing.

Sep 22, 2017

We take a deep dive into the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare replacement bill with Lanhee Chen, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and former Policy Directory for the Romney-Ryan presidential campaign.

We begin by discussion why Lanhee supports the bill, how states would handle receiving block grants to create their own health care systems, how repealing the individual and employer mandates would affect the system, how the bill treats those with preexisting conditions, how the Essential Health Benefits provisions are treated, why increasing contribution limits for HSAs is important, whether states can create single-payer systems, whether a full CBO score is necessary, and then how health care will change in a scenario where it passes and how Obamacare is working if the replacement bill fails.

We end with a discussion of Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for all single payer proposal and I ask Lanhee to predict whether the Graham-Cassidy bill will pass.

Sep 11, 2017

We take the pulse of the conservative movement with former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who now serves as President of the Senate Conservatives Fund.

I wanted to begin by discussing President Trump’s decision to phase out DACA over six months, with his view on what kind of deal he wants before the deadline comes in March.

Then we discussed the short-term agreement on the debt ceiling and government spending that President Trump cut with Democratic leaders.

We then talked about the 2018 cycle and his work at the Senate Conservatives Fund, including next year’s 2018 U.S. Senate race in Virginia. He also sized up this year’s Virginia Governor’s race as Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s term comes to an end.

Finally, we consider the state of the conservative movement in the Age of Trump.

Sep 10, 2017

Texas is in the middle of everything and so we wanted to talk to Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune for this episode.

We began with a discussion about Hurricane Harvey, first about the challenges it presents to a news organization, and then about the different ways the recovery is taking shape to get people back on their feet.

We then turned to discuss three national issues that affect Texas directly: DACA, the border wall, and NAFTA.

Finally, we explored why his nonprofit journalism venture, which is about to celebrate its 8th anniversary, has been successful and consider what it could tell us about the future of journalism.

Sep 2, 2017

A “500-year flood” hit Texas this week and that is the subject of this episode.

We begin with a monologue from your host about heroism in Houston.

We continue with three interviews, each about a different angle to this story.

First, we talked to State Rep. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi, who has represented the coastal bend region of Texas off and on since 1989. I began by asking him how he’s feeling, what the most pressing challenges are for his area of the state, how the state and federal response has been, what kind of heroic response he has witnessed, and finally about what is needed now.

Then, we turn to the non-profit angle with Alberto “Beto” Cardenas, who is a Board Member and Secretary of the Houston Food Bank. We started by discussing the mission of the Food Bank, the scale of its operations, and then discussed what they are doing to serve thousands of people each day, what their needs are, and how people can help. Finally, we discussed the spirit of Houston.

We end this episode with a discussion about how the energy industry has been affected with Texas Railroad Commission chairman Christi Craddick, whose regulatory agency oversees the energy industry in Texas. She updates us on where things stand with gasoline supply and refineries, gives us her assessment of how the industry has handled this crisis, and then discuss what, if anything, she’s worried about.

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