New Blog Posts

  • Uncapping the SALT Deduction Won’t Help Working Class Families

    Uncapping the SALT Deduction Won’t Help Working Class Families

    David Trimmer is a staff writer and a second-year MPA student. Introduction On February 8, 2023, Congress’s Bipartisan SALT Caucus relaunched with the hope of repealing the cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. The SALT deduction allows taxpayers to deduct the money they paid in state and local taxes from their federal taxable…

  • Sexism and the City

    Sexism and the City

    Julia Vanella is a contributing writer. She graduated from Trachtenberg with an MPP in December 2022. Women’s Unaccounted for Needs in Urban Design Cities and corresponding infrastructure have historically been built, designed and planned by men — making their perspective the primary one dictating how cities should function. As a result, urban design and infrastructure often…

  • Op-ed: It’s Time to Expand the House of Representatives

    Op-ed: It’s Time to Expand the House of Representatives

    David Trimmer is a staff writer and a second-year MPA student. Introduction Since 1913, the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives has remained at 435. In that time, the average number of constituents each seat represents has more than tripled, going from 223,505 in 1913 to around 760,000 today. The U.S. has a…

  • Op-ed: Recycling our cities: How policymakers can capitalize on the remote work revolution

    Op-ed: Recycling our cities: How policymakers can capitalize on the remote work revolution

    Nathan Varnell is a staff writer and first-year MPA student. Going on three years since the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, remote work is quickly rendering the 9-to-5 office model obsolete. Although the unemployment rate has returned to healthy pre-pandemic levels, Gallup estimates approximately 56 million Americans are working partially or fully from home. This shift has shocked…

  • Medicare Price Negotiation: Next Steps for Healthcare Reform

    Medicare Price Negotiation: Next Steps for Healthcare Reform

    Patrick Carr is a staff writer and second-year MPP student. Signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) updated Medicare drug purchasing policies to bring down costs without cutting benefits or reducing funding. Medicare will now limit out-of-pocket drug expenses to $2,000 per year, require drug manufacturers to pay…