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Roosevelt Institute
@rooseveltinstitute.org
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Advancing ideas that rebalance power in our economy and democracy. www.rooseveltinstitute.org
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rooseveltinstitute.org
Housing + Private Equity = A recipe for profit over people.

As urgency grows around housing and affordability, we peel back the curtain on an issue impacting hundreds of Detroit residents: housing as a digital investment asset.
https://bit.ly/4o1ISIg
November 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
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NEW: The pandemic response showed that, when the next recession hits, we don’t have to repeat the mistakes of 2009 and 2001.

Zehra Khan urges progressives to treat recessions as opportunities for bold, transformational policymaking.

https://bit.ly/47RhjLN
Roosevelt Institute quote graphic reads “The federal government should view recession responses as opportunities to innovate with economic policy.”
November 18, 2025 at 12:52 PM
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Affordability is becoming more elusive as the prices for many everyday goods continue to rise.

As @mikemadowitz.bsky.social explains in @businessinsider.com, a “low-hire, low-fire” job market isn’t making up for it.

The gap between wages and the cost of living is only growing. bit.ly/3LIpBy2
"The most visible part of this low-hire, low-fire job market is entry level workers being like, 'Oh my God, I've done 5,000 interviews and all I got is this lousy T-shirt,' but the other, smaller violin is people who were job-hopping to get raises for the last few years who just can't do that," says Michael Madowitz, the principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank. "That's actually neither great for them nor for their employers."
November 17, 2025 at 4:48 PM
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5️⃣ Current rulemaking processes can be too slow to deliver real relief within a single presidential term, leaving progressive policy vulnerable to rollback in a new administration.

Optimize for speed with clear priorities and decision-makers.
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Relentlessly prioritize key rules and finalize them in Year One: Agencies should arrive on Day One with priority rules already drafted or heavily scaffolded, so that they can launch immediately and be finalized within a year. One agency’s former chief of staff added that agencies should resist the political pressure to extend comment deadlines to accommodate stakeholders, which adds delays beyond the 60-day comment period generally required by Executive Order 12866. Additionally, agencies should avoid lengthy compliance periods and be prepared to expedite litigation to defend a rule as needed. Deploy collaborative, cross-disciplinary teams with direct access to an empowered decision-maker: Policymaking teams should be staffed from the outset as cross-disciplinary, hybrid teams—treating policy staff, offices of general counsel, economists, engagement officials, and the litigators who will eventually defend the rule as one team pursuing a shared mission. These hybrid teams should have a designated project manager, and they should have ready access to an empowered decision-maker. As explained in Chapters 2 and 3, they should also work with engagement teams from the outset—for example, pairing a proposed rule with model legislation for states and working with organizing, communications, and digital personnel to build a base of support for the policy.
November 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
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4️⃣ As the judicial and legislative branches increasingly slow implementation, there should be more tools for the executive branch to meet people’s needs
Use “all the tools” and wage a public campaign: Administrations should treat their highest-impact priorities not as isolated regulatory tasks or as projects for Congress alone, but rather as full-scale public campaigns that deploy multiple levers in tandem across federal and state policymaking channels. And they should launch early in an administration’s tenure, not as a last resort after other approaches fail. This approach necessitates different staffing and public engagement models, including using more collaborative, cross-disciplinary teams that proactively seek to build people-powered momentum across policymaking channels, as described in Chapter 2. This strategy is especially important in the absence of legislative reforms to the courts (or reforms that create a more functional, speedy federal legislative process), though it should not be thought of as a substitute for such reforms.
November 13, 2025 at 9:58 PM
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Today, the CFPB proposed a rule that rolls back fair lending protections.

@bradlipton.bsky.social, our director of Corporate Power and former CFPB official, spoke with @bloomberglaw.com about how this will make enforcement harder and enable discriminatory lending in mortgages and other markets.
The Trump administration’s proposal is a “radical departure from the way even Republican administrations have looked at fair lending issues,” said Brad Lipton, the director of the corporate power and financial regulation program at the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank, and a former top CFPB official. Because the CFPB under acting Director Russell Vought has already stopped nearly all enforcement and supervisory activities, the proposal would make private lending discrimination lawsuits and even cases from state attorneys general potentially more difficult, he said. “It seems like its intent is to severely limit that as well,” Lipton said.
November 13, 2025 at 3:36 PM
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For the second month in a row, there’s no jobs report.

Private data only partly fill the gap—painting a conflicting picture that may point to a “low-hire, low-fire” economy.

What is clear is that losing federal data makes it harder to see where the job market is headed.
https://nyti.ms/4hNZj9D
Bar graph titled "12-month change in private-sector employment," showing monthly data from January 2023 to October 2025. The bars decrease in height over time, representing a declining trend in employment change. Data sources include the Bureau of Labor Statistics and ADP by The New York Times.
November 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
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At our convening on the future of government on Monday, @pkryan.bsky.social shared how he pushed for accountability—and won—after a massive utility’s billing errors cost residents in his district millions of dollars.
November 6, 2025 at 9:58 PM
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We closed with our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social and Yohannes Abraham discussing how to prepare for future governing moments—how future leaders can deliver on promises and tackle longer-term challenges that never make the debate stage.
Yohannes Abraham and Elizabeth Wilkins are on stage, engaging in a discussion. The person on the left is holding a microphone. They are both dressed in professional attire.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
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Jennifer Abruzzo, @awhf.bsky.social, Tara McGuiness, @melissa-in-dc.bsky.social, and @mbmaxwell.bsky.social explored how to move from insider influence → people power—and build meaningful public engagement into how government operates.
Jennifer Abruzzo and MB Maxwell are engaged in a discussion on stage; Jennifer is seated with a microphone, wearing a black and white blazer and glasses. MB, in a black suit, listens attentively.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
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Then Nell Abernathy, @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social, Clarence Wardell, @jmargetta.bsky.social and Ben Bain of @niskanencenter.bsky.social tackled how to “fix the plumbing”—the overlooked operational mechanics that determine whether policy truly serves the public.

Policy lives or dies on execution.
A panel at a Roosevelt Institute event, titled "From Crisis to Confidence: Building a Government for Working Families." The central panelist is speaking into a microphone, while the others listen attentively
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
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Jason Miller and @bharatramamurti.bsky.social used the example of student debt relief to explain how government can shift its default, from caution → boldness.
Jason Miller and Bharat Ramamurti are seated on stage at a Roosevelt Institute event.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
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Our first panel featured @linamkhan.bsky.social, @pkryan.bsky.social, and Hannah Garden-Monheit who discussed how to make government deliver despite hostile courts and congressional dysfunction—including by combating regulatory capture, risk aversion, and bureaucratic inertia.
Rep Pat Ryan and Lina Kahn are seated on stage during a discussion at a public event. The person on the left is wearing a suit, and the person on the right, holding a microphone, is wearing a plaid blazer. There is a blank projector screen in the background and water bottles on a small table beside them.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
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Our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social opened by reminding us this isn’t an academic exercise—the report has 161 actionable recommendations for immediately making government more modern, nimble, and democratic.

Everyone in the room shared her commitment—and determination—to make that vision real.
Elizabeth Wilkins presenting at a Roosevelt Institute event, standing at a podium and gesturing with one arm extended.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
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The Supreme Court’s landmark tariffs case is underway—and our @toddntucker.com is breaking it down.

One takeaway already: under a broad reading of presidential power in IEEPA, future administrations could use “emergency” powers not just for tariffs, but for climate action.
https://reut.rs/4qME5Nn
Under questioning from Gorsuch, Sauer made some concessions that undermined the administration's case, according to Todd N. Tucker, a political scientist at the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank. "Gorsuch correctly noted, and the DOJ (Department of Justice) agreed, that the president's interpretation of IEEPA powers would allow a future president to declare a climate emergency and heavily tax gas-powered cars," Tucker said.
November 6, 2025 at 6:09 PM
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There has been a long-held hostility toward the SNAP program, which has the convenience of being hidden beneath the shutdown.

That government would let anyone go hungry when we have the funds to ensure families can receive food assistance is lawless and cruel.
Quote " They’ve never hidden their hostility toward this program [SNAP], and now they’re using the shutdown as an excuse to let people go hungry. We shouldn’t be deciding who ‘deserves’ to eat. Everyone deserves basic nutrition and dignity—and no political stunt should stand in the way of that" by Stephen Nunez, Director at the Roosevelt Institute
November 5, 2025 at 7:41 PM
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How do we manage the economy in a way that ensures everyone gets a fair shot at a #GoodLife?

President and CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social shares some of the factors that contributed to the success of FDR's New Deal with @aprilbaerradio.bsky.social.
November 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
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One of many insights from our “From Crisis to Confidence” event, which builds on our recent report.

The goal: Establishing a policymaking system that prioritizes the economic well-being of working people and avoids regulatory capture, risk aversion, or bureaucratic inertia.
From left to right: Hannah Garden-Monheit, Rep. Pat Ryan, Lina Khan.
November 3, 2025 at 9:16 PM
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3️⃣ Learn what solutions actually work in local economies and talk to people about those solutions where they give their attention.
Expand expert capacity for proactive engagement tools like surveys, user research, and user testing: The federal government should expand its expert capacity to use proactive engagement tools like surveys, focus groups, user research, and user testing. One option is to retool the “Information” component of OIRA to provide expertise and capacity support to agencies to conduct such public engagement. (As recommended below, repealing the Paperwork Reduction Act would also make it easier to use such tools.) ● Adequately staff and resource new media engagement: Much discussion has emphasized the failure to look beyond elite national media and the need to instead engage authentically and reach people where they are—through social media, podcasts, local outlets, influencers and other trusted messengers, and venues or platforms that don’t traditionally cover politics.31 This was wholly uncontroversial among interviewees, but they stressed that administrations need to actually allocate resources for this—including staff, equipment, and training.
November 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
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President and CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social joined Stateside with @aprilbaerradio.bsky.social during her trip to Michigan last week to discuss how we can build a more effective government.

As she states, “ we cannot build back what we had before.”
October 31, 2025 at 6:33 PM
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The legal battle over Trump's tariffs arrives at the Supreme Court next week. Whatever the outcome, the lesson is clear: Congressional responsibilities are being left to the courts.

@toddntucker.com walks through the implications of potential rulings: https://bit.ly/4nxawg4
Image showing a stack of colorful shipping containers with a quote from The Todd Tucker "If the Court kicks the matter back to Congress, it is imperative that all members engage in some soul-searching as to how to rightsize emergency powers to better ensure all branches of government have the capacity to deliver fair international trade and sustainable and equitable economies," from the Brief: As the Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Trump’s "Emergency" Tariffs, Few Good Outcomes Await.
October 31, 2025 at 4:08 PM
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2️⃣ Create avenues for, and sustain two-way engagement with the public.

Inputs for policy cannot solely come from lobbyists, insiders, and individuals with corporate interests.
Foster sustained, two-way engagement: The federal government should make sustained, two-way public engagement a core part of its mission, instead of merely delivering top-down talking points or press releases. Interviewees offered many strategies for doing so: ● Invite unscripted engagement: Political appointees should regularly create opportunities for unscripted input from the public, such as public listening sessions—including virtual options and options outside of business hours—and open-ended public comment dockets or complaint portals that help surface economic challenges and trends on the ground to inform policy and enforcement priorities. Additionally, several interviewees noted that—counter to many political appointees’ instincts—it can be quite valuable for a senior official to simply show up and listen, making traveling beyond DC worthwhile even without a perfectly crafted message or new policy announcement prepared. Moreover, doing such listening tours with members of Congress can better connect the executive and legislative branches in understanding and solving policy problems.
October 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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1️⃣ First Up: Be bolder, take risks, and meet people's needs quickly.

It's time to reject incrementalism. 2/
Prioritize crisp, resonant, and timely policies: Both Congress and executive branch leaders should choose—and relentlessly prioritize—some broadly resonant big swings whose results will be felt concretely on the ground within the term. Interviewees identified several design features that can help, including ● on-the-ground execution timelines that match the timelines of elected mandates; ● simple, crisp designs that are memorable, easy to communicate, and well-suited to reaching and mobilizing the public via the bully pulpit; ● universal designs, rather than means-tested or discretionary programs that have narrower constituencies and/or bury the win in paperwork; ● directly administered programs that don’t rely on intermediaries who can add delay, increase costs, and obscure credit; ● policies with identifiable outside champions and beneficiaries ready and willing to mobilize and fight for them; and ● hooks for direct outreach and on-the-ground organizing that help beneficiaries understand the policy and take civic action based on their experience with it.
October 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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Our President and CEO, @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social, joined the panel on Corporate Power and People-Centered Populism.

Instead of deferring to markets, this moment requires treating the lived experience of the many as an essential aspect of our economic models and policy.
Two panelists (Elizabeth Wilkins, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, and Faiz Shaki) are engaged in a discussion on stage at a Fair Share America event, with one speaking into a microphone. The backdrop features a logo with the text "CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges."
October 29, 2025 at 7:54 PM
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NEW 📰: Building a more effective government that moves beyond the status quo requires honest reflection.

Drawing on interviews with more than 45 former senior Biden officials, our latest report offers 161 practical recommendations for better governance.
https://bit.ly/4312Zid
Image featuring a classical architecture building with columns, overlaid with a text quote from Elizabeth Wilkins of the Roosevelt Institute, "In Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration, former Biden-Harris senior officials Hannah Garden-Monheit and Tresa Joseph draw from the insights, recommendations, and candor of more than 45 former public servants and tell a broader story we can’t forget: The problems with these institutions did not start with Donald Trump or Elon Musk, worse as they now are. These problems are, in part, what results from decades of bipartisan neglect, disinvestment, and deference to markets."
October 28, 2025 at 1:02 PM