Working the Policy Ecosystem
90-897
Units: 6
Description
The first day of the new Trump Administration will be January 20th, and as you know, a common benchmark of every new administration is a look at what they accomplish in the first 100 days. This class will work together to understand the reality of the policy ecosystem, tracking, and analyzing policy proposals and actions as they are introduced in real-time!
President Trump promises to shake things up. The Department of Government Efficiency is targeting cuts of $2 Trillion! Think tanks are producing policy papers with recommendations, nonprofits are positioning themselves to fight for their causes, and government agencies are waiting to learn the administration’s plans. Will the Department of Education be eliminated? Will the new administration consolidate all the financial regulatory agencies into one? Will all foreign assistance be deleted?
This class is being designed to provide context and a framework for analyzing the first 100 days of the new administration’s policies. We will be learning about policy, where ideas come from, who the players are, and how policies get executed. We will be producing quick turn-around policy memos exactly as if we were employed by a member of Congress, or working in a policy shop in a Federal, State, or local agency, or working in a non-profit association or private sector think tank. When the executive orders and legislative proposals are released, we will be analyzing them along with everyone else. Policy analysis in real-time!
Karl Maschino is the Distinguished Service Professor of Public Policy and Management
Mr. Maschino previously served as the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer and Co-Chief Risk Officer of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 2014 to 2024, leading agency operations, including information technology, finance, budget, human capital, training, labor relations, facility management, security, field operations and enterprise risk management for an agency of approximately 3,500 staff, with locations in Washington, D.C., and in 11 field offices around the country.
Prior to GAO, Mr. Maschino worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, starting as a Budget Analyst (Presidential Management Fellow) with the Justice Management Division, then moving to the Criminal Division, where he worked in several progressively responsible positions, before his career appointment in the Senior Executive Service as the Division’s Executive Officer. While at the Justice Department he served detail assignments as the Appropriations Liaison Officer for the Department, and as a Program Examiner at the Office of Management and Budget, International Affairs Branch. His first position in the federal government was as an intern for Representative Lee Hamilton.
Prior to government service, Mr. Maschino worked in the fields of sustainable economic development, and international higher education in university, city government, and nonprofit settings, including as a Program Officer for The Asia Foundation in San Francisco, CA before attending Heinz College.
Mr. Maschino is a graduate of the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University (M.P.M.), the McIntire School at the University of Virginia (M.S. Management of Technology), and Indiana University, Bloomington (B.A. East Asian Studies). Mr. Maschino is a Certified Government Financial Manager and was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2017.