CQ Roll Call Policy and Politics

An ideological fight over food stamp benefits threatens to derail the five-year farm bill reauthorization. CQ Roll Call agriculture reporter Olivia Bridges and host David Lerman discuss the partisan divide over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and other major sticking points in farm bill negotiations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forget Hollywood blockbusters: This summer will be all about the politics. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, we'll be witness to a criminal trial for a U.S. senator (oh, and a former president too), make-or-break Senate primaries, the political conventions, Supreme Court opinions on abortion and presidential immunity and much, much more. Inside Elections Deputy Editor Jacob Rubashkin drops by to help get us into the summer state of mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House appropriators kick off their annual markups this week while the House Armed Services Committee marks up its defense authorization bill. But a tight cap on defense spending has left defense hawks frustrated, and proposed cuts to nondefense spending have Democrats gearing up for a protracted battle. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and John M. Donnelly assess the fiscal 2025 House spending allocations and what they may mean for the appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The races that will shape November's election continue to take shape now that we have primary results in Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska, with consequences at the House, Senate and even presidential level. Roll Call elections analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses those races and his latest Inside Elections ratings changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration decision to hold up a shipment of weapons to Israel has triggered an outcry from Republicans, as the House pushes a new bill to lift the freeze and hold some spending hostage. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn assess the latest on the Gaza war, House appropriations, the FAA bill and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Roll Call, we periodically update our list of most vulnerable senators and members of the House as we get closer to the election. It's a shifting list, and reflects a snapshot in political dynamics. So how does one land on the list? Roll Call campaign staff writers Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire join the Political Theater podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is scrambling to complete work this week on the Federal Aviation Administration bill before key authorities expire on May 10. But a push for amendments, including some with hefty price tags, is threatening to gum up the works. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Valerie Yurk outline the major obstacles to the five-year FAA bill and assess its prospects for passage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no way to spin being beaten and bloodied and scared. The history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is still being written, which is an important and massive undertaking. Not everyone wants to talk about the bear spray and broken windows. But the new documentary “The Sixth” by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine gives a fresh voice to some of the people on the ground and in the line of fire that day: police officers, a journalist, a congressional staffer, and a member of Congress. The film is from their perspectives; it’s a sense of what it felt like to be there.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Republicans are imposing new restrictions on earmarks as a partisan divide over cultural issues widens. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley explain the latest battle over congressionally directed funding and what the changes mean for the appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House finally broke a logjam that held up Ukraine aid for months, but a majority of Republicans voted against the aid and Speaker Mike Johnson's job is on the line as a result. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and John M. Donnelly assess the shifting politics over Ukraine and foreign policy in the Republican Party of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This has been a momentous week for politics. Jury selection started in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. The Senate dispensed with impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. And the House considers a foreign aid package that has made Speaker Mike Johnson a target of his unhappy colleagues. But beyond those headlines: FEC filings show us who raised how much for 2024's election; runoffs in Alabama and another trial that could affect New Jersey races. Roll Call campaigns editor Herb Jackson walks joins the podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faces pressure from all sides after promising to take up an aid bill for Israel this week that may or may not include money for Ukraine. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn assess the embattled speaker's options on a national security supplemental spending package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If it’s an election year, expect crime to be an issue. Candidates and parties draw conclusions with every headline, and exchange rhetoric that sheds more heat than light. But the history and reality of America’s criminal justice system is more complicated than a “tough on crime” slogan would indicate. The just published “Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration” offers essays by scholars, advocates, those who have experienced incarceration and former law enforcement who make the case that public safety, justice, and fairness are not only compatible as goals, but they can and must be achieved together. Lauren-Brooke Eisen, the book’s editor, is the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, where she leads the organization’s work to reduce America’s reliance on incarceration, is the author of Inside Private Prisons (Columbia, 2017) and a former prosecutor. She joins Equal Time to talk about why the book is especially timely in the present political climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People feel so passionately about food that perhaps it is not a surprise it has yielded that rarest of things: A sequel to a documentary. The makers of 2008’s “Food, Inc.,” are, as the new movie’s tagline goes, back for seconds with “Food, Inc. 2,” a multi-layered look at the food industry, its farmers, workers, scientists, journalists and more. Co-directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo are here to talk about it, from soup to nuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Final fiscal 2024 appropriations came nearly six months late, left Republicans divided and bitter, triggered the ouster of a House speaker, and put a new speaker on notice that his own ouster could come next. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley recap the drama of the just-completed appropriations cycle and assess what it means politically for a Ukraine aid package and fiscal 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden's fiscal 2025 budget request offers up election-year domestic initiatives from child care to affordable housing while promising to reduce deficits from projected levels over the coming decade. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley, Caitlin Reilly and Paul M. Krawzak dissect the budget request and its prospects in Congress in a webinar presentation for CQ subscribers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean when both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and former President Donald Trump agree on the same candidate? Because that happened in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary. That was not the only win for the establishment, such as it is, during Tuesday’s elections. Roll Call campaign staff writer Daniela Altimari spent some quality time in Ohio recently, and she and Campaigns Editor Herb Jackson join the podcast to discuss the results in Ohio, Illinois and California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Covering the White House is one of the most high-profile beats in politics. Covering the Trump, then the Biden White House, and starting during a pandemic and an election year makes it even more high profile. Roll Call Chief Correspondent Niels Lesniewski has been at the helm for a little over four years and shares his experiences as he prepares for a new assignment in the newsroom: The highlights, the lowlights and the weirdlights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lost in this year’s highly competitive presidential nominating contest (sarcasm detector!) is the coming-at-you primaries for House and Senate that kicked off with a bang on Super Tuesday. We got some clarity about fall matchups in some high-profile races on that most special of Tuesdays, and some of that clarity came from folks who were not even facing the voters. With us to discuss is Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both parties claimed victories in the six-bill appropriations package unveiled Sunday for the current fiscal year. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Peter Cohn outline some of the winners and losers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuesdays can get a bad rap. Sometimes the best that can be said about them are that they're the day that's the furthest from next Monday. But not Super Tuesday! More than a quarter of the House of Representatives faces a primary race on March 5, and there are two high-profile Senate races as well. And while not all of Super Tuesday's races are competitive, there are major implications for November’s general election, especially in California, Texas, North Carolina and Alabama. We’ll discuss the major races and stories shaping up for Super Tuesday with Roll Call campaign reporters Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is barreling toward a March 1 funding deadline with all signs pointing to gridlock on appropriations bills. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Paul M. Krawzak dissect the latest setback and potential next steps on both appropriations and a stalled war funding package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite record-low Black unemployment and a higher labor force participation rate than Whites, major barriers impede homeownership among African Americans, a fact that contributes to a yawning racial wealth gap. The gap is so expansive that the 400 wealthiest Americans control the same amount of wealth as the 48 million Blacks living in the United States. Importantly, however, there are solutions. Dr. Courtney Johnson Rose serves as President of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), the premier network of Black real estate professionals and one of the oldest minority trade associations in the country with more than 100 chapters nationwide. The organization is sponsoring a Black Wealth Tour in cities around the country, with Dr. Rose and NAREB representatives leading classes, workshops, and one-on-one counseling to advise families on home buying, investing, and careers in real estate.  With her background – both personal and professional – in the field, Dr. Rose is prepared to tackle this challenge. And she is my guest on this episode of Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S. Leo Chiang’s documentary films explore lives across continents and culture, from the first Vietnamese-American congressman to the first LGBT political party in the Philippines to a legendary Hawaiian ukulele player. His latest film, the documentary short “Island in Between,” has been nominated for an Academy Award. Its subject, Taiwan’s Kinmen Island and Chiang’s own relationship to his native Taiwan, couldn’t be more timely, in the wake of Taiwan’s recent presidential election and as Congress considers a foreign aid package with billions of dollars at stake for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s not to like about political stories that encompass not only New York City, Queens specifically, but reach into Long Island’s northern shore in Nassau County. The special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos is over, with Democrat Tom Suozzi defeating Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip for the honor of representing the birthplace of Walt Whitman and the one-time home of F. Scott Fitzgerald when he was gathering string for “The Great Gatsby.” Roll Call Campaigns Staff Writer Mary Ellen McIntire and Inside Elections Deputy Editor Jacob Rubashkin take us on a tour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate appeared on a glide path toward passing a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of stalemate over efforts to better secure the U.S. southern border. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn assess the prospects for the long-stalled aid package and the obstacles that still lie ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The current congress started off last year with an historic show of dysfunction, taking 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker. Things did not get better. And then this week we saw the House and the Senate devolve into what some observers dubbed “failure theater.” One senator, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, asked simply, “What the Hell just happened?” Helping us answer that question is Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A $118 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and border security now faces tough sledding in the Senate and even longer odds in the House. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Mark Satter and Caitlin Reilly assess the prospects for the long-stalled emergency spending measure and two tax bills waiting in the wings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are not a lot of resumes that read like Bill Bradley’s. Gold medal Olympian. Rhodes Scholar. Pro basketball player. Author. Senator. Presidential candidate. Radio host. And now a documentary film storyteller. His latest project, "Rolling Along," premiered last June at the Tribeca Film Festival, appropriate for the iconic New York Knick, and started streaming on Max on Feb. 1. He joins the podcast to discuss the story of his life.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation" might have been published in 2007, but its message is as relevant as ever, especially as campaign 2024 ramps up. Author Drew Westen, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University, has for 20 years explored the role of emotions in how the brain processes information. That’s true in life – and in politics. And that explains why Westen has advised or worked as a political consultant for Democratic candidates, progressive and labor organizations and Fortune 500 companies for 20 years. Equal Time speaks to Westen on how a better understanding of the mind and brain translates into more compelling political messaging. Who is doing it right – and who could most use his help right now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Top appropriators reached a deal on fiscal 2024 spending allocations, while a bipartisan tax package faces a backlash. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Caitlin Reilly assess the state of play on appropriations, taxes, and the Senate's war funding and border security package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re off and running in a pivotal election year, but beyond the horse race coverage and hot takes, there are always big stories that will help define what is going on. Herb Jackson, Roll Call’s politics editor, and Political Theater host Jason Dick trade big ideas about what the big stories are for 2024.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House tax writers approved a package of tax breaks for businesses and low-income families, while Senate leaders appeared increasingly optimistic about reaching a border security compromise that would clear the way for aid to Ukraine and Israel. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Caitlin Reilly and John M. Donnelly assess the prospects for both measures and outline the challenges they face for passage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats are voicing concerns that the Biden re-election campaign needs to start getting on the road, but the question is, which direction? And who's driving? Dispatches from a fretting Capitol Hill, courtesy of Roll Call editor-at-large John Bennett, who joins the podcast to discuss his reporting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is scrambling to pass another stopgap funding bill this week to avoid a partial government shutdown. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Paul M. Krawzak outline the political and logistical obstacles lawmakers face while they also try to make headway on final appropriations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s January 2024. It’s cold, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first stops on the presidential campaign voting calendar. We kick off this year by discussing the early contests, as well as setting the stage for the rest of this election year, particularly House and Senate races, with Roll Call’s elections analyst, Nathan Gonzales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressional leaders reached a new accord on topline discretionary spending levels that looks a lot like the agreement struck in last year's debt limit law. But there's little time left to complete final appropriations bills before current stopgap funding runs dry. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Paul M. Krawzak assess the politics surrounding the new deal and what it may mean for the long-delayed appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate is staying in town in hopes of passing a war funding and border security package by Christmas, but the politics of immigration pose a major stumbling block. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and John M. Donnelly assess the chances of a bipartisan deal and the obstacles that lie ahead for passage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How big a deal is the pandas leaving the National Zoo? Or the sale of the Commanders? Or the Wizards and Capitals possibly leaving downtown DC? Or all the retail vacancies piling up? Recommend If You Like Editor Brandon Wetherbee gets local with the Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a hectic time of preparation for the holidays, it’s important to remember those who may be struggling, a message elevated by United Way. Alice Archabal brings more than 20 years of experience driving results for mission- driven organizations to her work as executive vice president and chief development officer for United Way Worldwide. There, she provides leadership to drive the organization’s revenue strategy, including its collaborative outreach to local voices across the globe. She joins Equal Time to talk about the role of nonprofits in identifying solutions to today’s most pressing problems, such as food and housing insecurity, climate change, and economic mobility. And she shares her thoughts about how we all benefit when folks give back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Republicans are digging in for a fight over fiscal 2024 spending levels that Democrats in both chambers and many GOP senators thought were settled months ago, while an emergency war funding package remains in limbo. CQ Roll Call's Peter Cohn and Aidan Quigley discuss the stakes for lawmakers as they prepare to head for the exits as the holiday season approaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As political journalists, it is easy to get wrapped up in the story of the day. Elections and court decisions. Wars and strikes. Retirements and deaths. But what news events will endure and mark this year as unique? Fifty years ago, in 1973, we had the Watergate, Roe v. Wade and more. Nathan Gonzales joins the podcast to consider what political stories will stand out in half a century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Negotiations over both emergency war funds and fiscal 2024 appropriations are proceeding at a snail's pace with little time left before the scheduled Christmas recess. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and John M. Donnelly discuss the state of play, as well as how much defense money is appropriated without any request from the Pentagon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recent elevation of Rep. Mike Johnson to be Speaker of the House has brought up questions about the Louisiana Republican’s record and positions in several areas, particularly his opposition to equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. Filmmakers Melinda Maerker and David Miller have a new documentary for Hulu, “We Live Here: The Midwest,” which gives voice to the LGBTQ+ community in places that are not hospitable to them, and they join the podcast to discuss their project and its message. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Beverly Wright has been a leading voice on the impact of the global climate crisis for decades, spreading awareness, working on solutions and educating the next generations. As executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, an organization she founded 30 years ago, and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, she is the heart of the environmental justice movement. With the Biden administration’s rollout of billions to help communities combat the effects of climate change, and the United Nations Climate Change Conference convening in the United Arab Emirates through Dec. 12, the spotlight is on the issue and efforts to help vulnerable countries cope with the crisis. At COP28, Dr. Wright is sharing her organization’s work, and amplifying the voices of those most impacted — communities of color and indigenous people, particularly those in the Global South. She joins Equal Time to discuss her mission and her message. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawmakers averted a shutdown as they left town for Thanksgiving but left a mountain of unfinished business. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Peter Cohn outline what is needed to salvage fiscal 2024 appropriations and an emergency spending package for Israel, Ukraine and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressional leaders have until Friday to shepherd a short-term funding extension through both chambers to avoid a partial government shutdown. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Paul M. Krawzak outline the challenges ahead and what to watch for as the final votes near. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you know anyone who clings to antiquated notions that documentary films are dry affairs, kindly refer them to “Beyond Utopia,” Madeleine Gavin’s movie about the perilous paths North Korean defectors and their allies take to get them safely out of one of the world’s most repressive and cloistered countries. In addition to addressing the important issues about a geopolitical hot-spot, the filmmaking here makes for a compelling adventure. Director Madeleine Gavin and Producer Sue Mi Terry join the Political Theater podcast to discuss their project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress has yet to agree on a stopgap bill to head off a Nov. 17 government shutdown while lawmakers fight over emergency spending for Israel, Ukraine and more. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Caitlin Reilly and John M. Donnelly outline the fiscal challenges for the next two weeks as the House also tries to pass full-year appropriations bills.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re feeling cranky about politics, you’re not alone. Public polling shows a remarkably wide swath of Americans with historically poor views of politics and politicians. Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s campaign analyst and publisher of Inside Elections, joins the podcast to discuss why and the campaign ramifications.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., takes office with a hefty fiscal agenda only three weeks before the government runs out of money. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Peter Cohn outline the challenges Johnson faces to keep the government open, handle emergency spending requests and get the appropriations process back on track. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington is a city rooted in politics and history. It is also the home of one of the most iconic horror stories of all time, “The Exorcist.” The novel and movie, set in Georgetown, have been freaking people out for more than a half-century. Louis Bayard, author of "The Pale Blue Eye" and other novels, has written about growing up with "The Exorcist." He comes on the podcast to talk about that and why horror resonates, especially in places like D.C.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Republicans headed back to the drawing boards this week in search of a speaker nominee who could win a majority vote. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Laura Weiss and Paul M. Krawzak dissect the new crop of candidates and how the race might unfold. They also assess the White House request for $106 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine, Israel and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A speaker is deposed. Members of Congress gets indicted. A former president stands trial. Things feel unsteady, even dangerous. Has it ever been like this before? And will it change? Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, discusses what’s going on in Congress.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Divisions among the Republican conference have left the House without a speaker for two weeks. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Laura Weiss and Aidan Quigley dissect the battle for the speaker's gavel and what it means for the appropriations process and tax policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The instability of the House of Representatives is on full display, with this week seeing the first-ever ouster of a speaker, which led to the first-ever use of continuity of government rules to install a speaker pro tempore to preside over the institution until the chamber can elect its next speaker. And, if you remember how that went in January, it is uncertain how long that will take. Political Theater podcast host pro tempore Herb Jackson and Roll Call editor at large John Bennett walk us through what has happened and what we'll be watching as the leadership race for a person in the presidential line of succession unfolds in an uncertain time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the franchise to all Americans, Alabama has often been at the center of voting debates. This year is no exception. New maps ordered by and approved by the courts after a contentious yearslong battle, could give the state’s Black voters a greater voice, and affect the balance of power in Congress after the 2024 elections. But it all depends on turnout. Formerly a candidate, Dr. Adia Winfrey is now focused on voter mobilization and education through her organization, Transform Alabama, and sometimes uses some of the “hip-hop” strategies that energized her campaign. Student ambassador Maurice Gray is a believer, and has joined the cause to urge young people to care – and to vote. Both join this episode of Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress avoided a partial government shutdown after an abrupt change of course by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., that triggered a threat to his leadership. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn outline the surprising turn of events, the coming fight over Ukraine aid, and the challenge of reaching a deal for full-year appropriations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Bob Menendez is a New Jersey institution, and in a familiar place, running for election while fighting federal corruption charges. He has always come out on top before, but times have changed, and his Democratic colleagues are pressuring him to resign. How did Menendez get to where he is, and what are his options? Roll Call Politics Editor Herb Jackson, a man of New Jersey, walks us through it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a week to go before federal funding runs dry, a fight over Ukraine aid could stymie efforts to pass a short-term spending extension to head off a partial government shutdown. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and John M. Donnelly outline the battle and explain why efforts to pass full-year spending bills have faltered in both the House and Senate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker Dawn Porter’s documentaries run the spectrum of the political world and process, including Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, the Tulsa massacre, Civil War spies, abortion and more. Her latest project, the mini-series “Deadlocked,” is a history of the modern Supreme Court, from the Warren Court to the present, and how politics have changed the court, and how the court has changed politics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate's first fiscal 2024 spending package stalled on the floor as hard-line conservatives rebelled, while House leaders had to abandon plans to take up their Defense spending bill. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Paul M. Krawzak discuss the challenge to get appropriations back on track and House GOP efforts to reach an intraparty deal on a stopgap funding measure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September is always stressful around Washington. Congress rarely even tries to pass its spending bills in time for the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Throw in the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, and you have even more stress. Both topics, along with another developing wild card, redistricting, are likely to help define the 2024 campaign. We discuss with Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s campaign analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Known for his work in the courtroom and the classroom, Harvard Law School's Charles J. Ogletree Jr. is being memorialized by the many he mentored, including former President Barack and first lady Michelle Obama. One of his students, civil rights attorney Areva Martin, was particularly inspired by his work to restore the justice historically denied to so many, including the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Martin represents more than 700 survivors and descendants of Palm Springs Section 14 in their quest for reparations after their community was racially targeted, burned out and bulldozed by the city of Palm Springs in the 1950s and 60s. In this episode of "Equal Time," author, activist, attorney and media personality Areva Martin joins Mary C. Curtis in a conversation some Americans would rather avoid. Is resolving America's unpaid debt to many of its citizens necessary before the country can move forward? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House and Senate may be on a collision course over an emergency spending package for Ukraine aid, disaster relief and border resources. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Paul M. Krawzak outline the fight and the politics behind it, as the first fiscal 2024 appropriations bills head to the House and Senate floors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With “Golda,” director Guy Nattiv depicts the story of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s leadership during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, bringing his affection for the paranoid thrillers of the 1970s to the screen during a time of heightened political tensions in Israel and the rest of the democratic world.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress set the stage for a chaotic September session, with the House and Senate on a collision course over appropriations and the risk of a partial government shutdown already being assessed. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley sum up the state of the appropriations process to date and the challenges awaiting lawmakers this fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve James is a documentary filmmaker whose body of work has taken him from "Hoop Dreams" to the 2008 financial crisis and more. His latest film, "A Compassionate Spy," is about Ted Hall, a physicist who worked at Los Alamos during World War II and helped develop the atomic bomb. You may have heard something or other about the bomb lately, with Christopher Nolan’s "Oppenheimer" in theaters now and creating buzz by the gallons. Hall’s story is just as important. He took what he learned at Los Alamos and shared it with the Soviet Union, an action that continues to reverberate.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House and Senate are moving in opposite directions on fiscal 2024 spending, as House Republicans seek deeper cuts than senators of both parties favor. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Paul M. Krawzak and Aidan Quigley assess the state of play as appropriators try to make headway before the long August recess. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Executive Order 9981. President Harry Truman signed it on July 26, 1948, creating the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, mandating the desegregation of the U.S. military. As the Truman Library Institute in Washington hosts a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the landmark decision with a civil rights symposium, there are questions, as well. Some of today’s elected officials have even derided the merit of diversity in the military and as an American value, making it a part of the so-called “culture war.” Yet the order changed the country – and lives. In a ground-breaking 35-year-career, Adm. Michelle Howard (Retired) was the first woman to become a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy, the first Black woman to captain a U.S. naval ship and the first woman graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy to become an admiral. In this episode of “Equal Time,” she speaks with host Mary C. Curtis about not only history and her story, but also the importance of diversity in building today's military -- and the way forward.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House and Senate appear to be on a collision course over fiscal 2024 spending, while pressure builds in the Senate for an emergency supplemental bill for defense, disaster relief and more. In a special hour-long webinar, CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Paul M. Krawzak discuss the state of the appropriations process, prospects for avoiding a partial government shutdown, and the coming battle over emergency spending. A chart showing House and Senate spending allocations that is discussed in the webinar can be found here: https://plus.cq.com/doc/news-7776770?3&srcpage=home&srcsec=ina Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the difference between launching a political campaign on June 30 and July 10? Does it really matter? Here to explain why it does is Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s Election Analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections. We also talk about sharks, ditches and an unlikely double feature of "The Skulls" and "Back to School." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even with a bipartisan defense spending cap in place, the size and shape of a fiscal 2024 defense budget is still a wild card. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and John M. Donnelly outline the factors that could make defense spending much larger -- or smaller -- than the budget caps deal envisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate appropriators approved spending allocations for their 12 annual bills in a party-line vote, setting up a clash with their House counterparts. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley, and Paul M. Krawzak assess the state of the appropriations process and a new push by Donald Trump to claim more executive authority over spending. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 24 marks the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade and the federal right to an abortion. Amanda Becker, a former Roll Caller who writes about politics for the 19th and just completed a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, is writing a book about the immediate fallout of the decision. She joins the podcast to talk about her work and reporting.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Republicans approved lower fiscal 2024 spending levels than provided in a bipartisan debt limit deal, while Senate appropriators pledged to stick to the higher deal-backed levels. And House GOP tax writers approved a package of tax cuts that Democrats said would increase deficits. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Laura Weiss dissect the partisan battles over appropriations and tax cuts that show no sign of easing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington is a film capital, home to a diverse slate of festivals to match a diverse slate of interests and people. This week, the DC/DOX festival gets under way with dozens of documentary features on topics ranging from the war in Ukraine, the Supreme Court, Joan Baez, Steph Curry and more. DC/DOX co-founder Sky Sitney joins the podcast to talk about movies, creating a community and even Kim's Video. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A group of hardcore conservatives staged a protest that brought House business to a halt, partly over spending levels approved in a bipartisan debt limit package. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Aidan Quigley examine the protest and what it means for an already divisive appropriations process that is sending the House and Senate off in different directions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good documentaries tell stories that work on multiple levels. Filmmaker Ondi Timoner’s “Last Flight Home” does this by portraying a family as it prepares for the loss of its patriarch, who has chosen to end his life, and documenting a very specific time in our history, when the most personal medical and health care choices are the sources of monumental political debate. The fact that the family is Timoner’s gives the movie an extra resonance, and she is sharing not just the movie but her perspective on the politics surrounding it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bipartisan deal to suspend the debt limit into 2025 ended months of partisan wrangling, heated rhetoric and some contentious rounds of negotiating. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Lindsey McPherson dissect the deal's political ramifications and what it means for the appropriations process this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bipartisan deal to suspend the debt limit until 2025 is more complicated than advertised, with side deals constructed to let both parties describe the measure to their own advantage. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Paul M. Krawzak and Aidan Quigley explain the deal and its prospects for passage in the House and Senate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Yellowstone" and its related series are a cultural phenomenon, and have provided Native Americans a voice and platform that breaks boundaries. Two of the actors in the series, Mo Brings Plenty and Michael Spears, discuss their recent visit to Capitol Hill, Native representation in movies and pop culture and what makes "Yellowstone" different.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has described mental health as “the defining public health crisis of our time.” He has used his position and megaphone to highlight how the country is doing and where it falls short, particularly in the treatment of young people who are suffering. It’s a complex topic worthy of discussion, and not just in May -- Mental Health Awareness Month. How can the mental health of young people in America be protected from influences that could harm? Legislators are taking note; but is it enough? Equal Time host Mary C. Curtis speaks with Julie Scelfo, executive director of Get Media Savvy, a nonprofit initiative devoted to fighting media chaos and fostering media literacy, about what is needed from policymakers and the public to tackle the youth mental health crisis and rebuild “our civic fabric.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bipartisan deal on a debt limit increase hinges mostly on resolving a fight over how to scale back discretionary spending. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley explain what the fight is about and what it means for this year's appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The annual Capital Challenge foot race is a unique gathering of the three branches of government and the journalists who cover them: a three-mile, mid-week, morning race of about 600 people that raises money for youth financial literacy. But there is more going on beyond folks pounding the pavement. CQ Roll Call's Health Team Editor Jessica Wehrman, a long-time runner of the race herself, coordinated our many teams this year and lets us know how it all went. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pressure for a deal to raise the debt limit is building as President Joe Biden meets with congressional leaders for a second time this week. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Laura Weiss and Ellyn Ferguson outline the latest on debt limit negotiations and where things stand on the effort to produce a new farm bill by September. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a Roll Call tradition: identifying the most vulnerable House and Senate incumbents each election cycle. And for our first look at the franchise for 2024, we will discuss the 20 on the hot seat whom we have put on the list with Herb Jackson, Roll Call’s politics editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After months of stalemate, President Joe Biden will sit down with the top four congressional leaders Tuesday to talk about how to raise the debt limit to avoid economic calamity next month when the government's borrowing authority is expected to run dry. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Aidan Quigley assess the chances for a bipartisan deal, how long it might take, and what the standoff means for fiscal 2024 appropriations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House Correspondents Dinner, the crown jewel of Washington’s spring prom season, roared back this past week, freed from many of the physical and psychological restraints of the COVID pandemic. But the pandemic is but one of the many turning points in the dinner’s long history — which includes the Mummers. George Condon, the White House Correspondents Association historian and White House correspondent for National Journal, joins the podcast in the latest in our occasional series on D.C. institutions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House narrowly passed a Republican-backed bill to raise the debt limit into next year and force spending cuts. But Congress appeared no closer to a bipartisan deal needed by summer to extend the government's borrowing authority. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Lindsey McPherson and Laura Weiss assess what may come next in the search for a compromise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden made it official this week: He is running for re-election. The 2024 presidential race will be determined largely in the same battlegrounds it did the last few elections. In some cases, that means the presidential race could have a down-ballot effect on competitive House and Senate races. Nathan Gonzales, publisher of Inside Elections and Roll Call’s elections analyst, joins the podcast to discuss.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican-controlled House plans to vote next week on GOP legislation to raise the debt limit and force spending cuts, in a major test of unity for the new House majority. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Laura Weiss outline the new debt limit bill and assess its chances for passage on the House floor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political Theater: Nothing is simple in the Senate Nothing is simple in the Senate Ah, the Senate. Anything you think should be simple never really is. Democrats there are trying to figure out what to do about the extended absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein from committee work. But they cannot just replace her on committees temporarily, as they sought to do this week. Why? Because the Senate is a continuing body subject to organizing resolutions that the chamber has to pass. And it is very easy to grind things to a halt in the Senate, even on something that seems routine.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barney Reynolds walks through UK approaches to crypto, and how they diverge from the EU. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Republicans are drafting legislation offering Democrats a debt limit increase combined with discretionary spending caps, tougher work requirements for food stamps, rescinding unspent pandemic aid, and more. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Lindsey McPherson outline the GOP game plan and assess how the battle over the debt ceiling may play out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Press Club is part of the fabric of Washington politics and news. It is a professional and social gathering place for people in the news, or people looking to make news, from Charlie Chaplin to Barack Obama. It’s got a complicated history, but it is also a key part of the battle for press freedoms across the globe. On this episode we’re dipping back into our series of explaining some of the institutions around Washington, this time with Herb Jackson, politics editor at Roll Call and vice chairman of the National Press Club’s board of governors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Black women rising to prominence in politics, the arts and every field in between, it could be said that it is their moment in history. But dig deeper and the picture is far more nuanced. When expectations are high and mothers still counsel daughters to “work twice as hard” to succeed, what is the cost? Is there enough attention paid to the concerns of Black women all day, every day, and not just when they are called on to “save the world”? And does the current, sometimes toxic political climate create additional stress? In this episode of Equal Time, host Mary C. Curtis talks with Dr. Inger E. Burnett-Zeigler, associate professor of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University, whose clinical interests include stress management and wellness. Based on her own experience, extensive work and research, she offers advice on resources and services that can help everyone, especially Black women, show up for community and family, while paying attention to their own needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS unveiled a 10-year spending plan designed to crack down on wealthy tax dodgers and improve customer service, but Republicans warned against an 'army" of auditors descending on middle-class workers. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Laura Weiss outline the partisan battle over IRS funding and what it means for the appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Hinkley, founder of the Growth Equity Interview Guide and formerly of Airbnb, joins the podcast to take a deep dive into the problems and opportunities of embedded finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices