Nathan Benefield
Chief Policy Officer
An Ohio native, Nate holds an undergraduate degree in political science and economics and a master’s degree in public service management from DePaul University in Chicago. He also completed his doctoral studies (ABD) in political science at Loyola University, also in Chicago.
Nate joined the Commonwealth Foundation in 2005. Now as Chief Policy Officer , he provides strategic leadership as well as operational oversight spanning policy analysis, government relations, marketing, and communications.
Nate has researched and written extensively on public policy issues including the state budget, public sector labor reform, government spending and taxes, liquor privatization, education, and economic development. Under Nate’s policy leadership, the Commonwealth Foundation’s work on public sector pension law helped drive the bipartisan pension reform of 2017, heralded by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post as an example for other states to follow.
Nate has testified numerous times before state legislative committees and is often called upon by legislators and members of the media to provide expertise. He is a frequent commentator on both television and radio, and his writings have appeared across the state and nationally in outlets including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Patriot-News, and Weekly Standard.
Nate’s favorite rock song and personal motto are both “Don’t Stop Believin.”
Government Accountability
CF Blog Roundup
Here are some of the most recent Commonwealth Foundation citations from Pennsylvania blogs: Capitol Ideas gives us some linkage on health care reform and on flying cars. GrassrootsPA…
Media
Read More: CF Blog RoundupGovernment Accountability
Follow PA Lawmakers and Politics on Twitter
I recenlty learned of a tool – not sure if it is new or not – to compile lists of Twitter users that anyone can follow with a single click. …
Media
Read More: Follow PA Lawmakers and Politics on TwitterEducation
The Right Direction
A colleague of mine suggests that the budget deal (see our grade of the budget agreement) is better than we say it is,…
Media
Read More: The Right DirectionState Budget
Which New Taxes are Coming for Pennsylvania?
The new Pennsylvania state budget “deal”, which House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats have agreed to – but which House Republicans have disavowed and Gov. Rendell has not signed…
Media
Read More: Which New Taxes are Coming for Pennsylvania?State Budget
PA Senate GOP Caving on Tax Hikes?
John Micek reports that there may be a compromise coming in the Pennsylvania state budget, but surprisingly (to me) it is not the $27.5 billion plan outlined by…
Media
Read More: PA Senate GOP Caving on Tax Hikes?Taxes & Economy
A Failure of Government
The Institute of Economic Affairs in Britain has a new paper on the role of government in economic contractions in the United States, noting the interventions policies of Hoover…
Media
Read More: A Failure of GovernmentHealth Care
More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care Speech
Here are some poignant comments on Obama’s latest health care speech: Greg Scandlen notes that in Obama’s “29th speech devoted exclusively to health care since he became president” he…
Media
Read More: More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care SpeechGovernment Accountability
Legislative Staff and Term Limits
Following up on our blog post and Brad Bumsted’s article about Pennsylvania having the most legislative staff, I took another look at the…
Media
Read More: Legislative Staff and Term LimitsHealth Care
Obama’s Pants are on Fire
Obama’s health care speech, in which he denounces misinformation and scare tactics, he offered quite a bit of misinformation and scare tactics (e.g “more will die as a result”). The…
Media
Read More: Obama’s Pants are on FireTaxes & Economy
Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & Trade
ALEC has compiled data from the Heritage Foundation to produce rankings of which states have the most to lose from Cap and Trade, i.e. the Waxman-Markey bill.
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & TradeEducation
What the Public Thinks of Public Schools
Paul Peterson has a good column in today’s Wall Street Journal about the public’s perception of public schools — they are (correctly in Peterson’s judgment) unerwhelmed by school’s performance,…
Media
Read More: What the Public Thinks of Public SchoolsHealth Care
Whoops, We Were Wrong…
One of our goals at the Commonwealth Foundation is to predict the effect of proposed public policies. Most of the time, we are proven correct, and humbly announce, "We told…
Commentary
Read More: Whoops, We Were Wrong…
Let’s Just Buy Everyone Flying Cars
The Patriot News reports on an insanely bad idea – taxpayer funded buses, then trains, from Lebanon to Hershey to Harrisburg. First the study, funded by the transportation industry…
Media
Read More: Let’s Just Buy Everyone Flying CarsGovernment Accountability
Pennsylvania Has Most Legislative Staff
Brad Bumsted had an article over the weekend on Pennsylvania’s largest in the nation legislative staff and, of course, the high cost of keeping that staff. The number of…
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania Has Most Legislative StaffRegulation
Making a Bad Bill Worse
Following protests by policy and firefighter unions, the Pennsylvania House will delay a vote on HB 1828, the so-called municipal pension reform bill, likely until Thursday. House…
Media
Read More: Making a Bad Bill Worse
Tea Party Express Coming to Pennsylvania
The Tea Party Express will be hitting several cities in Pennsylvania this week, before heading to DC on September 12. The bus tour will be holding events in the…
Media
Read More: Tea Party Express Coming to PennsylvaniaRegulation
Economic Development Subsidies Fail
Today’s Wall Street Journal writes on the failure of taxpayer-funded “economic development” grants – i.e. corporate welfare – in the state of Michigan. The article relies heavily on…
Media
Read More: Economic Development Subsidies FailEducation
No Correlation Between PA School District Spending and Performance
Tracie Mauriello of the Post-Gazette raises a source of dispute, via Twitter, on education spending vs. performance: pgPoliTweets: Rendell: Ed achievement is correlated to ed spending.
Media
Read More: No Correlation Between PA School District Spending and PerformanceEducation
What Does This Blog Post Inspire You to Do?
When I first heard of President Obama’s planned speech to all students, I didn’t think much of it. I imagined he’d say things like “Don’t do drugs! Stay in school!”…
Media
Read More: What Does This Blog Post Inspire You to Do?Regulation
Counting All Pennsylvania State Employees
A state lawmaker sent along a Patriot New article, in which Gov. Rendell cites the relatively low number of Pennsylvania state employees compared to other states, to find out…
Media
Read More: Counting All Pennsylvania State EmployeesState Budget
Pennsylvania August Revenues Come in a Bit Short
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue released the preliminary collections report for August – the state collected just over $1.6 billion, $19 million (or 1%) below estimate. The consensus…
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania August Revenues Come in a Bit Short