The Lobby Shop

It's our most popular episode of the year- catching up with our PRG Summer interns! Paul, Caitlin, and Josh, chat with our five amazing interns Anum, Emma, Margaret, Maxim, and Rio about their experiences in the PRG offices this summer. Great insights and tips about how to maximize Washington, DC internships and we also learn what the group really talked about in the internal intern chat 😮. Tune in now!

The Lobby Shop team is joined by guest David Lynch, Global Economics Correspondent for the Washington Post, who is just back from China where he covered US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin’s meetings with China’s new economic leaders.  The team first discusses with David his reporting on new indicators about the state of the global economy and then turn to Yellin’s meetings in Beijing and if the visit met even the modest goals set by the Biden Administration.  The conversation then turns to the view from Capitol Hill on US-China relations and the state of President Biden’s efforts to secure supply chains and boost domestic manufacturing.  Plus, the team couldn’t let David get away without his take on baseball’s new pitch clock.

Paul and Caitlin are joined by friend of the podcast and third time guest, Alexander Kravtsov, a strategic communications consultant and founder of the public affairs firm Nexus Eurasia.  Alexander, a Russian native now residing in Europe and the United States, gives his perspective on the 24-hour coup led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his private military company, the Wagner Group. The team discusses Prigozhin’s past, the reasons he rebelled and why it was resolved quickly, and the implications for Russia… and Ukraine. 

Josh, Caitlin, Paul, and Liam discuss the latest on the high stakes negotiations on raising the debt ceiling.  We then replay our earlier conversation with Rep. McCarthy's new Chief of Staff, Machalagh Carr.

The Lobby Shop team is joined by special guest Machalagh Carr, General Counsel to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Bracewell guest host Joseph Brazauskas joins as we discuss with Machalagh the Speaker's views of, and priorities for, congressional oversight and changes on how investigations are conducted under the new House leadership, the role and purpose of new House committees and other topics (including Joe's collection of Wendell Wilkie pins!).

The Lobby Shop team is joined by friend the pod Haley Byrd Wilt from The Dispatch who helps break down what to expect from the newly organized 118th Congress. The gang discusses Haley’s reporting on the powerful Rules Committee, the new Select Committee on China Competition, and Liam and Haley’s conversation with the New York Times’ Ross Douthat on the simmering debt limit fight.

We welcome back to the podcast Myron Wasylyk, a Ukraine-based energy advisor and communication expert who we last interviewed just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  On the first day of the war, Myron, a Ukrainian-American who has lived in Kyiv for three decades, evacuated his family to Western Ukraine.  Myron and his family recently moved back to Kyiv.  We spoke to him about what it’s like living in a city under attack by drones and missiles, the resilience of the Ukrainian people, Ukraine perception of the Beltway debates on continued US military aid, the energy supply situation in Ukraine and the prospects for an end of the war in the coming year.

Josh and Liam break down the ongoing stalemate over the election of the next Speaker of the House, and the delayed start to the 118th Congress.

Now that the mid-terms are officially over with the Georgia run-off, The Lobby Shop team gathers to get inside Liam Donovan’s brain.  We discuss with the Professor of Punditry why there was no red wave, the implications of a GOP-controlled House and the Dems controlling the Senate, the impact of a certain former President, and how the results impact the current lame duck session of Congress and the Biden agenda.

A special Election Day edition of The Lobby Shop!  Host Liam Donovan brings you one final PRG Pulse Check for the midterms, as he breaks down the state of play as Americans head to the polls. Liam explores the GOP leaning House, the Senate teetering on a knife's edge, and the bellwethers to watch in what is sure to be a drawn out aftermath. Finally, make sure to tune into PRG's post-election webinar tomorrow at 1130am ET to see what it all means for the policy landscape.