Podcasts

Find audio content featuring members of the firm in conversation about various topics of interest in relation to the current climate.

Post-Crisis Washington: How Might Politics Inform New Legislation?

A conversation with OB-C’s Bob Marsh:

The Democratic Party accomplished its goal of regaining control of the White House and Congress. Now, the hard work begins. The party will need to find a way to balance President Biden’s centrism with its more progressive factions as it looks to shape tax, infrastructure, and Covid-19-related legislation over the near term.

The Republican Party is already focusing on 2022 midterm elections – and the road to another presidential election in 2024. Former President Donald Trump and his base of supporters remain a major power center of GOP politics. In the months ahead, Republican legislators will have to balance attempts to appeal to more centrist voters with the need to appease and appeal to the Trump wing of the party.
Although Democrats control both houses of Congress, President Biden’s ambitious first term agenda will face partisan challenges – and likely be shaped by more centrist Democratic Party legislators such as Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Susan Olsen of Natixis in conversation with Eric Wagner of OB-C:

President Joe Biden brings decades of foreign policy experience to his new office – including the experience of heading up various foreign policy initiatives as vice president and three terms as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As compared to President Trump’s less predictable and more transactional approach to foreign policy, Biden is expected to return to an approach that foreign leaders are more accustomed to – measured diplomacy, cooperation, and a focus on coordination with US allies.

US-China relations – and challenges related to trade issues in particular – are expected to remain as pressing for the Biden administration as they were for the Trump administration. Requiring US companies to undertake technology transfers as a requirement of doing business in China and the theft of US intellectual property remain key points of friction. Differences regarding electoral freedoms in Hong Kong and the situation regarding the Uighur population in Xinjiang are likely to remain front and center.
The Biden administration is expected to rejoin US allies in the Iran nuclear agreement, which is likely to result in the easing of some economic sanctions currently in place. Extending weapons treaty agreements with Russia, global climate change initiatives, and a relative reset of US-Saudi relations are among the other issues that the Biden White House will have to balance in the months and years ahead.