RTP's Fourth Branch Podcast

Mar 03 2025 413 ep. 52 mins 113

RTP's Fourth Branch Podcast artwork

The Regulatory Transparency Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort dedicated to fostering discussion and a better understanding of regulatory policies.

On RTP’s Fourth Branch Podcast, leading experts discuss the pros and cons of government regulations and explain how they affect everyday life for Americans.

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Explainer Episode 87 - Child Welfare Funding & State Use of Foster Youth Benefits

Mar 03 2025 34 mins

An estimated 5% of foster youth qualify for Social Security benefits, but in many states, child welfare agencies use these funds to help cover the cost of care. In 2018 alone, agencies in 49 states and Washington, D.C., received at least $165 million in benefits intended for foster youth.In this episode, Shoshana Weissmann interviews Maureen Flatley, subject matter expert in child

Explainer Episode 86 - Regulation & Red Tape: Lessons from Lahaina Fire Recovery & the Path Ahead

Feb 26 2025 44 mins

Hawaii leads the nation in high housing prices. Experts Ted Kefalas and Jonathan Helton from Grassroot Institute explain the regulatory obstacles to building sufficient housing for Hawaiians, and regulatory reform efforts that could increase the housing supply. It has been over 18 months since the fires that nearly destroyed the town of Lahaina in Maui County, Hawaii. Since that ti

Tech Roundup Episode 24 - DOGEing Barriers? Legal Challenges to AI in Government

Feb 18 2025 44 mins

Artificial Intelligence has been rapidly brought to the forefront of the public conversation in recent months. President Trump has pledged to support AI innovation, while the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been working to streamline government processes through AI. Join our panel of experts, including Dhruva Krishna, Dr. Megan Ma, and Kevin Fraizer

Explainer Episode 85 - Rebuilding California: Lessons from the Pacific Palisades Fire

Feb 14 2025 47 mins

The 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire has underscored the challenges of building in California’s complex regulatory landscape. In response, Governor Newsom issued an executive order suspending CEQA and Coastal Act requirements to expedite reconstruction, raising important questions about the future of development in the state. In this podcast, experts Jeremy Talcott and Donald

Deep Dive 305 - Does President Trump Have the Authority to Pause and Modify the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program?

Feb 12 2025 59 mins

Since its inception, the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program has been contentiously debated. For example, several pharmaceutical manufacturers filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging the program’s constitutionality. This webinar will discuss whether the Biden Administration&am

Deep Dive 304: Stargate and DeepSeek: The International and Technological Implications of the AI "Arms Race"

Feb 11 2025 56 mins

On January 22, 2025, newly-elected President Trump announced a widespread project to invest $500 billion in American AI development, known as “Stargate.” A few days later, a new Chinese AI chatbot program “DeepSeek” was launched to the shock of US tech investors.What do these new developments mean for the AI dominance race? What will the changing global and

Explainer Episode 84 - How Far Do the Executive Orders Go Towards Ending DEI?

Feb 06 2025 47 mins

Linda Chavez, Chairman for the Center for Equal Opportunity, moderates a discussion between the Heritage Foundation’s Senior Legal Fellow, GianCarlo Canaparo and Dan Morenoff, Executive Director of the American Civil Rights Project. They discuss President Trump’s orders relating to civil rights enforcement and discrimination (including discrimination touted as serving &

Tech Roundup Episode 23 - Privacy and Safety: Key Arguments of the Age Verification Debate

Jan 29 2025 43 mins

On January 15, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, a case involving Texas H.B. 1181, which is a law that imposes an age-verification requirement for adult sexual content websites. While content filtering has been used in the past by parents to regulate their children’s access to adult websites, the rapid advancement of technol

Explainer Episode 83 - The Failed JetBlue-Spirit Merger: The Past and Present Approach to Mergers

Jan 10 2025 27 mins

In November 2024, Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy after a federal judge blocked their proposed merger with JetBlue Airlines earlier that year. Far from simply impacting travel plans, however, the failed merger shows the Federal Trade Commission's recent focus on efficiency. Former FTC General Counsel Alden Abbott joins the podcast to discuss the antitrust background of the cas

Deep Dive Episode 302 - Department of Government Efficiency: Opportunities and Challenges (Part I)

Jan 09 2025 58 mins

President-elect Trump has announced that entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency “to cut the federal government down to size.” In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month, Musk and Ramaswamy promised DOGE would yield “a drastic reduction in federal regulations” that would pave the way for “mass head