“Combining head and heart in the work” —with Kathleen Romig

OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas

For this week’s episode, Rebecca sat down with Kathleen Romig, a dear friend and colleague who today serves as the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, one of the nation’s leading organizations that focuses on economic and budget policy for low-income families. To mark the eighty-eighth anniversary of Social Security, they had a far-ranging conversation about the history behind the program, who’s helped by Social Security today, and why there’s no room for cuts; the importance of moving beyond technocratic, budget-focused narratives to put people at the center of policy; the human consequences of bureaucratic disentitlement; Kathleen’s own path to combining heart and head in her work and how that’s made her a more effective policy advocate; and more.

Links from this episode:

• Follow Kathleen on Twitter @kathleenromig and learn more about her work at CBPP

• Here are the prior Off-Kilter episodes we mentioned about SSI and bureaucratic disentitlement

• Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at [email protected]