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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: December, 2017
Dec 27, 2017

Our final guest for 2017 is Brian Riedl, a policy expert on tax and budget issues.

He is a senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute, and served as chief economist for U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, as well as working as a fellow at the Heritage Foundation for a decade.We get narrow and deep into the newly-signed tax law, first with his overall assessment, then by discussing the corporate provisions (rate cut, repatriation, expensing and pass throughs), then the individual provisions (rate cuts, standard deduction, child tax credit, estate tax and carried interest).

We discussed when we can evaluate whether the law is working, what unfair myths were used against the bill, and finally, what the 2018 legislative agenda on Capitol Hill will be and should be.

 

Dec 22, 2017

Our guest for our 60th episode is former Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA), who served as NRCC chairman and as Oversight Committee chairman. He is Director of Federal Affairs for Deloitte and chairs the Board at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

We looked back at 2017 and evaluated how the Republican Congress and President Trump did, with special focus on tax reform and health care. Then we turned to what is possible legislatively in 2018, including a discussion about entitlement reform.

Finally, we dug deep into the midterms, as to whether a Democratic wave is building, how are the parties preparing and how will the Russia inquiry hangs over it.

Dec 15, 2017

We check in with longtime Reagan aide, Russo, Marsh & Associates president and Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo for the 59th episode.

We discussed his career, comparisons between Reagan and Trump, his assessment of how the Trump presidency is going so far, how he thinks Congress is doing, his assessment of the recent U.S. Senate special election in Alabama, how the midterms are shaping up with one year to go, and to what extent Trump should be worried about the Russia inquiry.

Dec 5, 2017

Our guest for episode 58: U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK).

We talk about several important subjects in the news: North Korea, Iran, whether he supports the President’s decision to recognize West Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel, how he thinks the Trump White House national security team is doing, and where tax reform stands. We also discussed his office’s recent “Federal Fumbles, Vol. 3” report about government waste.

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