Government Works Weekly #41
Jobs, Events, and Wins and Losses
Welcome to your weekly roundup of opportunities, events, and information about how government works—and how government can work better—to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
If you find this newsletter useful, please consider sharing with a friend or colleague that would also benefit.
Happy 4th of July. Scroll down to the end for 17 upcoming events and 76 new jobs and opportunities to help make government work.
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
Oh, boy. Big loss this week with OBBBA, a few links on that. Then following up with some more hopeful content.
GENERATIONAL LOSS: You Down With OBBBA? This Bill is Naughty by Nature.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) looks like it will be signed into law. I previously covered it in GW#36 and GW#38, so I don't want to spend too much time whingeing now. But it is a really sad day for America, one in which I would rather be celebrating.
Quoting Don Moynihan so frequently in this space is probably as annoying for him as it is for me, but I find he often sums things up first and better than I can. (“How the reconciliation bill would change America: An assault on the poor, on freedom and the future,” Don Moynihan, Can We Still Govern?, 29 June 2025.)
So much is in the bill that it becomes bewildering to make sense of it. I cannot pretend to have a full grasp of every policy domain. But the outlines are clear enough, and will fundamentally make America a more unequal, crueler country, where the government uses unprecedented force to monitor, brutalize and detain it’s residents, and administrative burden to deny the poorest a hand up. It is a budget that seems to have given up on any long-term vision of investing in America’s people and it’s future.
For more on measuring the impact of the “Frankenstein” bill:
“Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill,” Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), 30 June 2025.
“Ten charts to explain Trump’s big, beautiful bill: The overhaul of taxation and spending spells trouble for America,” The Economist, 1 July 2025.
“A List of Nearly Everything in the G.O.P. Bill, and How Much It Would Cost or Save,” New York Times, 3 July 2025.
“How Trump’s big bill will affect you, from Medicaid cuts to tax credits,” Washington Post, 3 July 2025.
“16 Thoughts On The Republican Budget Atrocity: The pain needs to be in front of them, not behind them,” Brian Beutler, 3 July 2025.
“One "Big Beautiful Bill" and the calculated confidence of unapologetic unpopularity,” Lee Drutman, 3 July 2025.
“No President Has Ever Had Something Like Trump’s Megabill,” Ed Kilgore, 3 July 2025.
“The Disaster That Just Passed the Senate,” Ezra Klein, 1 July 2025.
“Trump’s Big Beautiful Debt Bomb: The budget bill is both devastatingly cruel and deeply irresponsible,” Paul Krugman, 3 July 2025.
“A Dark Day for Our Fiscal Future,” Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 3 July 2025.
“Republicans now own America’s broken health care system: The $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts will be felt by all Americans,” Vox, 3 July 2025.
“The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Pour Billions Into ICE’s Budget,” TIME, 2 July 2025.
NEW DEAL? Same As The Old Deal.
Trump, while sui generis, is proving once again to be a normal old Republican, whose only real goal when wielding the awesome responsibility of governing—apart from bombing countries and running up the deficit—is cutting taxes for the rich and slashing the safety net for the poor. As these deeply unpopular Republican cuts go into effect, it is worth taking some time to remember how hard-won these gains have been.
Throughline, an excellent podcast from NPR, recently had an episode on Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member in the U.S. who served as the Secretary of Labor during FDR’s New Deal. A real hero and, to my mind, one of our greatest Americans. Check it out. (“The Woman Behind The New Deal,” 5 June 2025.)
Here is a good Perkins quote—very much aligned with the Government Works mission statement—as a preview:
The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.
ZOHRAN FTW: You Heard it Here First.
Not to toot my own horn, but this blog was early on Zohran Mamdani, writing back in October in Government Works Weekly #21:
Just wanted to share something that I saw recently on Twitter that made me smile, which is less and less common on that platform these days. I don’t really want to comment on local New York politics since I don’t live there, and I don’t really endorse all of the policy positions this guy is taking in the video. But I was super happy to see a candidate for public office use this framing: “A government that makes our lives better.” Will be curious to hear what else Assemblymember Mamdani has to say as he runs for Mayor…
Here is some more Mamdani content from recent days that made me smile:
[LISTEN / WATCH] “Mamdani, Trump and the End of the Old Politics,” The Ezra Klein Show
[READ] “10 Ways of Making Sense of Zohran Mamdani’s Win,” David Wallace-Wells
[READ] “Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign Logo Looked Nothing Like a Campaign Logo: The bodega-influenced visual language of an outsider campaign,” Curbed
[LISTEN / WATCH] “Zohran Mamdani on affordability, billionaires, and fighting hate,” Morning Edition, NPR
[READ] “Six Notes on the Zohran Mamdani Miracle,” Micah Sifry
[READ] “Zohran delivered the Democratic establishment the thrashing it deserved,” Nate Silver
[READ] “What Zohran can teach Democrats,” Anand Giridharadas
[READ] “Who's Afraid of Zohran Mamdani?,” Don Moynihan
[LISTEN / WATCH] “Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Is Just What The Left Needed,” Current Affairs
And don’t forget to sign up here to hear about other politicians before they are cool…
EVENTS – webinars, conferences, and other human things
WEEK OF 7-11 JULY
7 JULY: Celebrating Five Years of J-PAL Middle East and North Africa [J-PAL MENA]
8 JULY: Is U.S. Democracy Really at Risk? A Framework for Assessing Threats [Democratic Erosion Consortium]
8 JULY: ACLU People Power Series: Organizing to Protect Democracy [ACLU]
9 JULY: Still in the DOGEhouse? The bureaucracy after Elon [Niskanen Center]
9 JULY: How cities successfully innovate: learning from North American stories [Centre for Public Impact]
9 JULY: Presidential Appeasement and the Supreme Court: The State of the Court in 2025 [CAP]
9 JULY: Global Action with Global Governance: Building coalitions for climate transition and nature restoration [CEPR]
9-10 JULY: OECD Local Development Forum 2025 [OECD]
10 JULY: Due Process Denied: How the Trump Administration’s Immigration Policies Threaten Our Civil Rights [Congressional Progressive Caucus Center]
10 JULY: Class of 2025 Forum: Student Perspectives on Public Education’s Value and Impact [CAP]
LATER THIS MONTH
16 JULY: Katrina’s America: 20 Years Since the Storm [New America]
18 JULY: Syllabus Webinar [Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age]
21-25 JULY: Learning Days 17: Latin America Regional Hub Workshop & Doctoral Dissertation Camp 2025 [EGAP – Evidence in Governance and Politics]
22 JULY: 14th annual Municipal Finance Conference [Brookings]
24 JULY: Career Expo for Current and Former Feds [Partnership for Public Service]
22-25 JULY: Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2025 Development in the Age of Populism [Center for Global Development + The World Bank]
27-31 JULY: Democratic Innovations in Latin America: Social Movements, Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities [Participedia]
APPLY YOURSELF – jobs, internships, and other ways to get involved
POLICY + PROGRAM
Director, Workforce Development (and more), Results for America [Flexible]
Associate Director of Research (and more), Popular Democracy [Remote]
Associate Director of Democracy, Demos [NYC]
Policy Analyst, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom [deadline 16 July]
Assistant Director of Public Programs, Smithsonian Institution [deadline 10 July]
Program Manager, New Voters [Remote]
Research Associate, Fund for States [Remote]
Senior Director of Partnerships, Democracy Alliance [D.C.]
Program Officer, Democracy, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation [Atlanta]
Program Officer, Restorative Economies Fund, Kataly Foundation [Remote CA]
Co-Executive Director, New Pluralists [Remote]
Senior Research Program Manager, Hoover Institution’s Technology Policy Accelerator [Stanford, California]
Government Affairs Policy Counsel/Advocate, Public Knowledge [Washington, D.C.]
Research Manager, DevLab@Penn [University of Pennsylvania]
Communications and Research Manager, Penn Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy [University of Pennsylvania]
Program Associate, Reiss Center on Law and Security [NYU]
Managing Director, SNF Agora Institute [Johns Hopkins University]
Miller Center Director & Social Media and Democracy Research Hub, Rutgers Democracy Lab [NJ]
Executive Assistant, Office of the CEO, Renew Democracy Initiative [D.C.]
Manager, Legislative Affairs, Feeding America [D.C.]
Policy and Communications Analyst, Children’s Aid [NYC]
Policy Associate, Children & Families, National Conference of State Legislatures [Denver]
Maternal and Reproductive Health Policy Associate, The Century Foundation [Hybrid D.C.]
Research Assistant, Institute for Women’s Policy Research [D.C.]
STATE + LOCAL
State Campaign Strategist, Protect Democracy [Remote]
State Policy Advocate (North Carolina), Protect Democracy [Remote]
Campaign Policy Specialist, State and Local, AFL-CIO [D.C.]
Massachusetts State Director, Working Families Party [MA]
SNAP Director, State of Connecticut [Hartford, CT]
Vice President of State Federal Affairs, National Conference of State Legislatures [D.C.]
Policy Analyst II, Council of State Governments [D.C.]
Associate Program Director, Environment and Land Use, National Association of Counties [D.C.]
Choose How You Move (CHYM) Project Delivery & Acceleration Director, Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County [deadline 17 July]
Officer, Energy Modernization, State Campaigns, Pew Charitable Trusts [D.C.]
State Energy and Climate Policy Manager, Montgomery County [MD / deadline 7 July]
Sr. Manager, State Water Policy, National Wildlife Federation [D.C.]
Special Projects and Policy Manager - California (and more), Trust for Public Land [Los Angeles, CA]
California Policy Sr Coordinator, Surfrider Foundation [Hybrid / San Clemente, CA]
Data Analyst (Labor), California Policy Lab [Berkeley]
Civic Engagement Manager, TIRRC Votes [Davidson, Montgomery or Shelby County, TN]
Executive Director (and more), Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation [Johns Hopkins University]
Director of the Office of the Future of Work, Department of Labor and Employment [State of Colorado]
Assistant to the Mayor, City of Sheboygan [WI / deadline 6 July]
COMMS + OPS
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Code for America [Remote]
Finance Manager, Protect Democracy [Remote]
Senior Director of Finance (and more), Popular Democracy [Remote]
Operations Director, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment [Berkeley]
Director, People and Operations, American Oversight [Remote]
Deputy Communications Manager, European Endowment for Democracy [Brussels]
Director of Content, Office of Innovation & Technology [City of Philadelphia]
TECH + DATA + DESIGN
Senior Security Engineer (and more), ActBlue [Remote]
Staff Service Designer (and more), Code for America [Remote]
Joint Agency Interoperability Head of Product, Colorado Department of Human Services [deadline 9 July]
Full Stack Engineer, Polimorphic [NYC]
Deputy Director, DPI Emerging Innovations and Functional Team, Gates Foundation [Seattle]
Director, Engineering, DataKind [Remote]
Associate I, OutcomesAI, Project Evident [Boston]
AI Policy Research Associate, RAND [Various Locations]
Senior Director, Chief Economist - AI for Good Lab and Principal Product Manager, AI for Global Challenges, Microsoft [Redmond, WA]
Civic Engagement and Voter Protection Technology and Data Director, DNC [D.C.]
Senior Data & Policy Analyst / Data & Policy Analyst, Democracy Reform, Demos [NYC]
Data & Reporting Analyst, New York City Public School [NYC]
Data Reporter, GiveDirectly [NY / Remote]
INTERNATIONAL
Data Manager, Demscore [University of Gothenburg]
Grants Assistant (Eastern Europe), European Endowment for Democracy [Brussels]
Strategic Legal & Policy Advisor, Competence Centre for Human Rights Due Diligence [deadline 18 July]
EU Policy – Traineeship, Transparency International EU [Brussels]
Research Fellow – Strategic Economics Alliance, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose [London / deadline 16 July]
Digital Analyst, Comms Hub [Spain / Brazil / Kenya / deadline 14 July]
Sector Principal Specialist - Institutions for Development Sector, IDB Group [D.C.]
INTERNSHIPS + FELLOWSHIPS + OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Interns, Innovative, Digital and Open Government Division (INDIGO), OECD [deadline 6 July]
AI Governance and Policy Intern, United Nations [deadline 9 July]
AI Governance Fellow, Center for Democracy & Technology [D.C.]
Legal Fellowship Placement Opportunities, American Oversight [Remote]
Fund Advisory Committee Members, Democracy at Work Fund, FORGE: Funders Organized for Rights in the Global Economy [deadline 10 July]
Consultant, Ban the Scan, Amnesty International [deadline 7 July]
And lots more opportunities in the last newsletter: Government Works Weekly #40.