News: Federal

In light of concerns about Social Security’s costs and benefit adequacy, La Follette School Professors Tim Smeeding and Pam Herd along with colleagues at The Urban Institute and Syracuse University propose an effective and relatively inexpensive targeted program to provide a minimally adequate income floor to old-age income through the Social Security system.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson answered wide-ranging questions from faculty and students at UW–Madison’s Law School and La Follette School of Public Affairs on Friday, April 20. The Law School’s Compliance Initiative and the La Follette School hosted the 90-minute discussion.
Topics included gun violence, drug use and addiction, immigration, and data privacy regulation.

Matthew Yglesias, a founder of Vox.com, will join two La Follette School faculty members for the discussion “Trump as Policymaker: A First-Year Report Card” on Monday, March 19.

La Follette School Professor Susan Yackee and Harvard University’s Daniel Carpenter received a $142,388 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to support their project on inequality in the political process and the resulting public policies – specifically, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010.

La Follette School Professor Susan Yackee and Associate Director Hilary Shager will lead two of the five panel discussions at the opening conference of the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

La Follette School Professor Pam Herd presented her winning proposal in AARP’s Policy Innovation Challenge during a forum convened by the National Academy of Social Insurance and AARP on October 19. The day-long event in Washington, D.C., explored new ideas in Social Security policy.

While in Madison for the Cap Times’ Idea Fest, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar discussed the current political climate with 16 La Follette School students. Klobuchar expressed concern about several issues, while at the same time expressing optimism because of the people she meets across the country.

Don Eggert (MPA ’15) is living out his dream of working for NASA, thanks to his Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) and La Follette School Associate Director Hilary Shager, who connected him with Jon Montgomery (MA ’93).

David Rank, the former acting U.S. ambassador to China, will discuss and answer questions about his experiences in government, his decision to resign, and the current state of the U.S. State Department on Friday, July 14 at the La Follette School of Public Affairs.

The La Follette School of Public Affairs is coordinating a day at the State Capitol for 25 young African leaders visiting the University of Wisconsin–Madison for six weeks as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship.