Welcome to the ticket. I'm Isaac Dauver. I haven't been on a plane since March. In fact, one of the last flights I was on, the day after Super Tuesday, was from Miami, and when I got on the plane I tweeted the end of the most

intense phase of primary campaign travel coincides quite well with the coronavirus panic

and travel restrictions.

Now was March. Over four months later the

coronavirus panic is still here. So are the travel restrictions. But in that time

Donna Shalala has been making that trip between Miami and Washington a lot.

She's a freshman member of the House, so she has votes to cast in Congress and work to do back in her Florida district.

But she's not your ordinary House freshman. She's 79 years old elected in the 2018

wave as the second oldest house freshman in history. She came to the job after an

incredible career. She was an early Peace Corps volunteer. She helped start the now enormous

Democratic fundraising group Emily's List. She had top roles at several colleges and, under

Bill Clinton, was the longest serving Health and Human Services Secretary in history.

That last job is a big part of why I wanted to talk with her for this episode.

When she's talking about what the administration can do to help with pandemic response and preparedness.

It's not just as a legislator spitballing ideas or as a Florida politician outraged at how the governor

there has handled this.

When we spoke I asked her about vaccines and she had a suggestion that

totally surprised me and is definitely born in the mindset of someone who thinks

about getting results on a big government scale. I think you'll find it

interesting. Remember the best way to support our

podcast is by subscribing to the podcast in your feed and also by going to the

Atlantic.com slash support us and please send me your thoughts and

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