Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Episode: A Government Built to Stall—and What That Means for Democracy
Guest: Hannah Garden-Monheit (Roosevelt Institute, Former Biden Administration Official)
Date: February 3, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode explores why the U.S. federal government often struggles to deliver on promises and make real improvements in people’s lives, even when the intent and effort are there. Guest Hannah Garden-Monheit, author of "Building a More Effective Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden Harris Administration" (for the Roosevelt Institute), dives into the entrenched structural barriers—legal, procedural, and political—that constrain government action. The discussion is timely, given ongoing battles around shrinking trust in government, the legacy of neoliberal “trickle-down” policy, and the challenges and opportunities generated by a new political era.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Can't Government Get Things Done?

[04:01–05:12]

• Origin of the Report: Hannah explains she wrote the report after witnessing dedicated public servants struggle to deliver for working people despite good intentions and hard work.
• Core Problem: U.S. institutions are not built to deliver quick, effective outcomes, especially for ordinary people. Destruction, as seen in the Trump years, is easy; building and delivering is hard.

  “Our institutions are not built for a focus on delivering outcomes, much less doing so quickly... Using the levers of power to build things and to shift economic power in our economy is a very hard and challenging thing to do.”
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [05:12]

2. Decades of Disinvestment and Outsourcing

[07:07–13:53]

• Intentional Undermining of Government: Over 40 years, there has been an organized effort—led by corporate interests and neoliberal politicians—to strip government of resources and capacity:
  • Systematic underfunding.
  • Outsourcing expertise to private contractors, then lacking enough in-house know-how to supervise them.
  • Layering excessive process, not for better outcomes, but for risk aversion and delay.
• Weaponized Procedures:
  • The Paperwork Reduction Act: Ostensibly to reduce bureaucracy, it actually creates months of procedural gridlock.
  • Unfunded Mandates Reform Act + OIRA: Originally about transparency, but expanded by the Reagan administration (and maintained by Democrats) to serve as a skeptical gatekeeper ideologically opposed to government intervention.
  • Administrative Procedure Act: Designed as democratic input, now a litigation tool for corporate interests to stall progress.

  "The public interest, like, has a teaspoon in a gunfight, that there are folks who have the time and resources and money and financial incentives to navigate and influence the federal government. And then normal people don’t."
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [12:56]

• On Public Participation: The machinery for public input (formal comment periods, etc.) is inaccessible to normal working people.

3. Bipartisan Complicity and Missed Reform

[14:13–15:50]

• Rules designed to slow or stymie government, often initiated by Republican administrations, have been kept or even reinforced by Democrats. This self-imposed limitation has hamstrung their own agendas.

  "...these were often Republican ideas to install these things, but they have been equally supported by Democrats over the years...they reinforced the legitimacy of these programs, which is really problematic."
  — Zach Silk [15:08]

4. Destruction vs. Rebuilding—A Moment of Crisis

[15:51–18:18]

• The Trump administration’s aggressive dismantling presents a paradoxical opportunity: a chance for future reformers to start with a “blank slate” if democracy survives.

  “Let’s not let a good crisis go to waste. Right. It is a wake-up moment to realize that our governing institutions were not serving us… But there’s an imperative necessity, because if we want to save our democracy, we will have the onus on us to prove…that a democracy can deliver.”
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [17:00]

5. Government Culture: Risk Aversion and Fear of Mistakes

[18:18–20:43]

• Government’s aversion to mistakes—haunted by past failures (healthcare.gov, Solyndra)—can fuel paralysis.
• Ironically, the Trump administration shows you can make mistakes and simply move on ("throw a Hail Mary and when it doesn’t work, they just throw another one").
• However, the media and information ecosystem also makes it hard to publicize and celebrate wins.

6. Pick Your Fights and Communicate Clearly

[22:04–24:39]

• Successful recent officials (Buttigieg, Khan, Chopra) chose battles that average people understood (airline fees, junk fees)—even if they didn’t always prevail in court.

  “Sometimes fights are worth picking just to show whose side you’re on, even if you think that it may ultimately not succeed.”
  — Zach Silk [23:20]

• Not all victories must be policy wins; symbolic battles and clear messaging build public trust.

7. Designing for Speed, Visibility, and Tangible Impact

[24:39–31:13]

• Policy Should Start With Listening: Build priorities based on real needs—a proactive listening process.
• Come Prepared: Policy implementation needs to be quick—prepare legislative priorities before taking office.
• Policy Design for Visibility: Policies must be simple, tangible, and deliver visible results within electoral cycles ("$35 cap on insulin," "free buses").

  "[Trump] clearly gets this right, like no tax on tips, right? He understands this principle. Not a 16-point bullet plan...but something that they understand what they’re getting for the bargain."
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [26:43]

• Implementation Details: Use existing delivery infrastructure, maintain direct relationships with beneficiaries, and set clear, legible goals.

8. Internal Consensus and Points of Disagreement

[31:13–33:41]

• Although many interviewed for the report were in “violent agreement” on the basics (need for prioritization, less process), Democratic differences persist, especially on dealing with corporate interests.
• Now, with the report out, more granular debates have emerged, illustrating the challenge of consensus in reform.

9. Top Three Fixes for Government Effectiveness

[34:01–35:40]

1. Court Reform: End the role of courts as a de facto veto on policy judgments that should be political, not judicial.
2. Personnel: Attract and support top talent; current hiring systems are outdated and ill-suited for modern needs.
3. Resourcing: Enforcement and regulatory agencies need much more resource, not just for effectiveness but to counter corporate power.

   “Personnel is everything. The town, the government is made of humans and having really top talent. You can’t do anything without that.”
   — Hannah Garden-Monheit [35:05]

10. Why Do This Work?

[35:40–35:55]

• Hannah’s motivation is personal and generational—she wants a better country for her children.

  “I have two little kids and I think about...what do I want our country to look like in the future for them? And I can sure as hell tell you I don’t want it to look like this.”
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [35:44]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the reality of government’s limits:

  "Our institutions are not built for a focus on delivering outcomes, much less doing so quickly."
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [05:12]

• On process and powerlessness:

  "...the public interest has a teaspoon in a gunfight."
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [12:56]

• On the political origins of bureaucratic sludge:

  "A self-own in which Democrats have kept in place a set of procedures that were designed to hobble the administrative state and their values and goals instead of repealing it and saying, we're going to adhere to the law, but we're not going to go further in hamstringing ourselves."
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [11:52]

• On crisis as opportunity:

  "Let's not let a good crisis go to waste...If we want to save our democracy, we will have the onus on us to prove to people that a democracy can deliver."
  — Hannah Garden-Monheit [17:00]

• On communication wins:

  "They recognize that this is now...the attention economy, which means picking fights that are easy to package, easy to digest, and clarifying rather than confusing and arcane."
  — Zach Silk [41:28]

• On rebuilding after destruction:

  "When we have a government that believes in government...they will start from a much clearer blank slate than we've had maybe in a hundred years."
  — Zach Silk [43:16]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:02–02:14: Introduction/context for the episode.
• 04:01–05:12: Why the report was written; struggles inside government even with 'good guys.'
• 07:07–13:53: Main structural barriers—underfunding, process, corporate influence.
• 14:13–15:50: Bipartisan maintenance of structural obstacles.
• 15:51–18:18: Trump years as destructive reset; possibility for future rebuilding.
• 18:18–20:43: Culture of risk aversion, learning from failure, moving on.
• 22:04–24:39: Communication: picking fights, being visible, symbolic wins.
• 24:39–31:13: Policy design for effectiveness, speed, and visibility.
• 31:13–33:41: (Dis)agreement among Biden team officials; role of consensus.
• 34:01–35:40: Hannah’s top 3 reforms: court, personnel, resources.
• 35:40–35:55: Why Hannah does this work.
• 35:56–44:17: Reflection by hosts—what the report reveals, communication lessons, need for constant reform.

Summary Takeaways

• The government’s struggle to enact change is not due to incompetence or a lack of will among its public servants, but to a deliberate, decades-long design of procedural roadblocks, underfunding, and the weaponization of bureaucracy for delay rather than results.
• Both major political parties are complicit—Republicans established the hurdles, Democratic administrations left or even embraced them.
• The Trump era’s “scorched-earth” approach presents opportunity: a chance to rebuild from scratch if reformers act boldly.
• New strategies require clear priorities, strong political will, and tangible, quick wins that people can see and understand.
• Communication—especially in the modern “attention economy”—is central to political efficacy and public trust.
• The most salient reforms needed: modern personnel systems, properly resourced enforcement, and court reform to restore real democratic decision-making.

Recommended Next Step:
Read the full report: Building a More Effective Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden Harris Administration (Roosevelt Institute).