The Lunch Hour with Washington Signal

How can the United States strengthen manufacturing, accelerate innovation, and remain globally competitive?

On this special episode of the Washington Signal Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with three leaders from the American Chemistry Council's Competitiveness Summit for a series of conversations on the future of American manufacturing, energy, innovation, and regulatory policy. Featured guests include Chris Jahn, ...

Can the United States reduce regulation, strengthen its economy, and remain competitive while preserving free markets?

On this episode of the Washington Signal Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer welcomes Ryan Young, Senior Economist and Director of Publications at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), for a wide-ranging discussion on tariffs, regulatory reform, AI, energy policy, and the future of economic growth in Americ...

Can New York reclaim its position as the world's premier center of opportunity and economic growth?

On this episode of the Washington Signal Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Caroline Shinkle, Republican candidate for New York's 12th Congressional District. A graduate of MIT and Harvard Law School, Shinkle previously worked at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, bringing a un...

What happens when political movements abandon the principles that made them successful?

On this episode of the Washington Signal Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), for a wide-ranging conversation on free markets, limited government, federalism, taxation, trade, labor policy, and the future of the conservative movement.

Drawing on decades of e...

How can a recycled soda can become a national security issue?

On this episode of the Washington Signal's Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer is joined by Anthony Musto, North American Strategy & Growth Lead at Constellium, and Ben Carlson, Director of the Center for Strategic Industrial Materials at SAFE, for a discussion on aluminum manufacturing, recycling, supply chains, and the growing competition between the United State...

What happens when parents finally get a firsthand look at what their children are being taught in school?

On this episode of the Washington Signal Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Nicole Neily, President and Founder of Defending Education, a national organization focused on parental rights, academic transparency, and accountability in K-12 and higher education. Prior to founding Defending Education, Neily also f...

How does a tariff on steel end up affecting the price of canned food at the grocery store?

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Scott Breen, President of the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), to discuss the intersection of trade policy, food security, manufacturing, and consumer prices.

Breen explains how steel tariffs are impacting the American food can supply chain, why dome...

How can America reduce waste, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and rebuild its recycling infrastructure at the same time?

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Heidi Sanborn, founding director and CEO of the National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC) and the National Stewardship Action Foundation.

Sanborn discusses the growing crisis facing America’s recycling and waste ...

Why does religion remain at the center of so many global conflicts — and why do policymakers often ignore it?

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer is joined by Sarah Makin, religious freedom advocate and producer of Faith Under Siege, to explore the role of faith in global conflict, diplomacy, and human rights.

Drawing on her experience in government and international advocacy, Makin ar...

As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves, so does the debate over how — and whether — it should be regulated.

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer is joined by Zach Lilly, Director of Government Affairs at NetChoice, to break down the growing policy battle over AI, free markets, and government oversight.

Lilly explains why public fear around AI has surged in recent years —...

Why does healthcare keep getting more expensive — and are policymakers making the problem worse?

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Isabelle Marchese, Director of Health Policy at Americans for Tax Reform, to break down the real drivers behind rising healthcare costs and the policy decisions shaping the system.

Marchese explains how government intervention has distorted...

Naval power has shaped global dominance for centuries — and today, it may determine the outcome of America’s strategic competition with China.

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Brent Sadler, Senior Research Fellow for Naval Warfare and Advanced Technology at The Heritage Foundation, to examine how maritime strategy, industrial capacity, and global trade are conv...

Prescription drug prices dominate the headlines — but most Americans rely on medicines that rarely get discussed.

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with John Murphy, President and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines, to unpack the critical — and often overlooked — role that generic drugs and biosimilars play in the U.S. healthcare system.

Murphy expl...

In this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer speaks with Kevin Kong, founder and CEO of Everstar, about why America’s energy future depends on nuclear power — and why the time to move is now.

Kong explains Everstar’s mission to use AI to accelerate nuclear deployment by tackling one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks: the permitting, compliance, and regulatory process. He ...

Regulation shapes nearly every part of the U.S. economy — but what happens when decades of rules pile up without being revisited?

On this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer sits down with Patrick McLaughlin, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, to examine how regulation, deregulation, and emerging technologies like AI are reshaping the relationship between government and the economy.

Mc...

Andrew Langer interviews Dr. Brian Blase, President and Founder of Paragon Health Institute, a leading conservative healthcare think tank focused on market-based reforms. 

They dive into America’s healthcare crisis: massive fraud in Medicaid ($200B+ annual waste via provider taxes and accounting gimmicks) and Obamacare subsidies ($30B+ in improper payments from zero-premium plans, ghost enrollees, broker incentives). Bria...

What led to the latest military operations involving Iran — and what could happen next?

In this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour Podcast, host Andrew Langer speaks with Paul Teller, President of Taylor Strategies, about the escalating tensions in the Middle East and the broader geopolitical implications of U.S. policy toward Iran.

Paul Teller breaks down the strategic developments surrounding Iran, how...

What is the war in Ukraine really like on the ground—and how much of what Americans hear is shaped by misinformation?

In this episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour podcast, Andrew Langer speaks with Steven Moore, founder of the Ukraine Freedom Project, who has been working inside Ukraine since just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Moore shares firsthand experiences from Kyiv and...

In this episode, former Ukrainian parliamentarian Pavlo Unguryan joins Andrew Langer from inside Ukraine—where repeated drone and missile attacks have disrupted power, heat, water, and internet access—to describe what daily life looks like nearly four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion. Unguryan explains how strikes on energy infrastructure create cascading challenges for entire cities, and why Ukraine’...