Duke Law Professor Elisabeth de Fontenay and LSTA General Counsel Elliot Ganz join the program to talk about the breakdown in loan market norms. They discuss the role of norms in commercial settings, why norms are declining in the loan market, and what, if anything, can be done about it.

Washington consultant Chris Matthiesen joins the program to talk about the status and prospects of a bipartisan infrastructure bill and for a voting rights bill. It is an in-depth look at the politics surrounding both of these issues. Elliot Ganz joins a second segment to talk about loan market policy developments in the first half of 2021.

Phillip is joined by Chad Taylor, Head of Strategic Planning at Sagac Public Affairs, to discuss Sagac's biennial survey on trends in the political action committee community. After discussing high-level findings, Chad and Phillip discuss particular items of interest, including the response of PACs to the events of January 6 and the future of PACs in light of the decisions by many candidates to eschew receiving PAC funds. 

Peter Phelan joins the program to discuss his work as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Capital Markets at the Treasury Department under the Trump Administration. In particular, he discusses his teams investigation into whether leveraged loans and CLOs posed systemic risk to the financial system. He discusses why loans and CLOs were a target in the first place, his team's analysis and conclusions, the differences between systemic risk and macroeconomic risk, and much more. Toward the end, Phelan talks about what the early days of the pandemic were like at Treasury.

Brady King, a long-time chief of staff on Capitol Hill, joins Phillip for a wide-ranging discussion on the day-to-day life of a member of Congress and congressional staff. Toward the end he discusses the origins of the partisanship in Washington and what could possibly be done about it.

Phillip is joined by Elliot Ganz and Zach Warmbrodt, a financial services reporter from Politico, to discuss the GameStop saga and potential legislative and regulatory fallout that could come from it. 

Nick Manetto joins Phillip to discuss the budget reconciliation process and the Congressional Review Act. Both are tools likely to be used by the Democrats in Congress to pass important parts of their legislative agenda.

Nick's recent article on historical use of the budget reconciliation process can be found here.

Lee Shaiman joins Phillip to discuss the loan market economic impact study that the LSTA commissioned last year. In a wide-ranging conversation, Shaiman also touches on his experiences in handling the LSTA's advocacy portfolio and top items to watch in Washington this year.

LSTA General Counsel joins Phillip to discuss the top advocacy issues for the loan market heading into 2021. They discuss potential legislation and important prospective developments at the regulatory agencies.

Phillip is joined by Lauren Rahill, Director of Marketing for Sagac Public Affairs. Lauren and Phillip discuss myths and facts around political action committees (PACs).