Alice Rivlin, queen of Washington's budget wonks

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2016

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There is no budget wonk in Washington with a resume as thick as Alice Rivlin's. She was the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office. She was the director of President Bill Clinton's Office of Management and Budget. She was vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board. She was a member of the Simpson-Bowles Commission. She's co-authored policies with Paul Ryan, served as president of the American Economic Association, and, in 2008, was named as one of the greatest public servants of the last 25 years by the Council for Excellence in Government.It's a helluva career.In this podcast, I talk with her about that career, including:- Why she became an economist in the first place- How economists think about problems- How a sexist senator almost blocked her appointment to the Congressional Budget Office, and how an angry stripper saved her nomination- What the Congressional Budget Office does, and why it's so quietly powerful- What she's learned working with Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Paul Ryan- Why Washington's policy discussion has become more sophisticated in recent decades, and whether that's even a good thingAnd, as always, much more. If you're interested in how policy is really made in Washington, you should listen to this interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.9	The following podcast contains explicit language.
0:40.6	So this is an episode of The Ezra Clancho I have wanted to do with Jettemily since we
0:45.3	began the show.
0:46.6	Alice Rivlin is the, I would say, queen budget walk in Washington.
0:52.9	I think anybody who covers healthcare and budgets and tax policy and his fiscal policy
0:57.6	in general has probably spoken to Alice not just once but many times over the year and
1:03.2	really profited from that.
1:04.8	And she has just an amazingly, not just interesting history but she's really shaped how budgets
1:10.6	get done and how economic policy gets made in Washington.
1:14.0	She was the first director of the Congressional Budget Office and she tells that story in
1:19.4	this podcast.
1:20.4	An amazing story both as a look into the sexism of the time and the culture of Washington
1:25.6	at that moment.
1:26.9	But the Congressional Budget Office is one of those organizations that is not well known
1:31.6	outside Washington or outside the sort of super news junkies.
	...

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