Eye on Congress

Congress is in its pre-election recess lull. The president is signing a bunch of bills people can’t remember. But the Supreme Court is running at full speed. Its last term is defined by the overturning of Roe versus Wade and the nationwide right to an abortion. The current term will likely continue redefining Americans’ participation in state and federal government and elections. Since the court convened, on the first Monday of October, it has already heard highly significant cases. With us to discuss is Todd Ruger, CQ Roll Call’s Legal Affairs Editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jo Ann Barefoot joins co-host Amias Gerety to explain the necessity of taking policy, and innovation, seriously. You can check out Jo Ann’s podcast, The Barefoot Innovation Podcast, at https://www.jsbarefoot.com/podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dante Disparte and Chris Brummer sit down to talk about the Circle's Converge conference and DC Fintech Week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden signed a short-term spending measure that staves off the risk of a partial government shutdown until mid-December. But a lame-duck session after the November elections will be a busy one. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn outline a to-do list that includes an omnibus funding package, hurricane relief, coronavirus aid, and compensation to families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell prefers to work behind the scenes. Rick Scott, chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is an outspoken, outgoing salesman for the GOP. Like with Neil Simon's "Odd Couple" -- Felix the neat freak and Oscar the slob -- we're asking: Can McConnell and Scott live together without driving each other crazy? Roll Call Editor at Large John Bennett, joins Political Theater to discuss this key duo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stu Levi, a partner at Skadden, breaks down what IP law means for NFTs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawmakers have less than a week left to pass a stopgap spending measure to avoid a partial government shutdown. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley outline the likely game plan for completing a deal and the hurdles still standing in the way.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elections always come down to a choice. Someone wins, someone loses, and Roll Call has long chronicled the path to Election Day by reporting on Congress' most vulnerable incumbents. It’s an evolving cast, and with roughly a month-and-half to go, we take measure on Political Theater with our Politics Team, Herb Jackson, Kate Ackley and Mary Ellen McIntire.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Cave, Deputy Director of the FHFA talks fintech and what the agency's new office for innovation might mean for mortgage markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Negotiations on a short-term measure to avoid a partial government shutdown next month have stalled, as disputes over environmental permitting, coronavirus aid, disaster relief and more create obstacles to a deal. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn outline the sticking points and a likely path to resolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker Sierra Pettengill’s documentary, “Riotsville, USA,” examines the history of the government’s efforts to crack down on protest movements. The title refers to the ersatz towns the military built for counter-protest training, and the film's archival approach is a chronicle and meditation on politics then and now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A short-term funding measure to head off a partial government shutdown is now caught up in fights over emergency spending requests and an effort to streamline federal permitting for energy projects. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Lindsey McPherson and Aidan Quigley outline the challenges facing Congress to pass stopgap funding by the end of this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Politics works in patterns. But we might be in one of those outlier election cycles, when politics don’t always match up with typical narratives. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan L. Gonzales joins the Political Theater podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marking its 32nd anniversary this year, the Americans with Disabilities Act has inspired the world to see disability through the lens of equity, opening opportunities for persons with disabilities to contribute to our global progress. But, from creating more consistency for academic accommodations to providing additional employment opportunities, what needs to be done in the next 32 years and beyond? “Equal Time” host Mary C. Curtis talks with Nicole Patton, the Manager of State Government Relations at the National Down Syndrome Society, and Charlotte Woodward, the Education Program Associate for NDSS. Charlotte, who was born with Down syndrome, as well as a heart condition, is one of the few people born with Down syndrome to receive a life-saving heart transplant. She went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from George Mason University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, with a concentration in inequality and social change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elementus founder Max Galka joins Julian Ha to talk ransomware and crypto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats celebrated the passage of their climate, health and tax package, but debate over the partisan measure now moves to the campaign trail. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Laura Weiss and Paul M. Krawzak examine what the new law could mean for the midterm elections and how both parties could use it to their political advantage. They also discuss the upcoming fight over a stopgap funding measure to ward off a partial government shutdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August can be a strange month, especially in a place like Washington. On one hand, things are slow. Congress goes on recess. People take vacations. On the other hand, kids head back to school. It’s peak political primary season. How different is it from other places? Brandon Wetherbee of Recommend If You Like magazine drops by to riff on the dog days, the Cubs’ microphone system, Michael Keaton, Dan Snyder and lost movies, among other topics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda Becker is a veteran political journalist. The Washington correspondent for The 19th News has covered a variety of beats here in The Swamp over the last decade-plus for her current newsroom, as well as Reuters, and, once upon a time, for Roll Call. She is about to move to the Boston area to start one of journalism’s most prestigious fellowships, the Nieman, was kind enough to discuss some of her reflections on the job of political reporting, what she hopes to get out of her fellowship and any other odds and ends at this inflection point for her career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats appear to have the votes they need to pass a revised version of their health, climate and tax package along party lines in the evenly divided Senate. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn outline the changes that led to a new agreement with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and explain the procedural hurdles that still await the package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden will soon sign legislation that will give easier access to health and disability benefits to more than 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxic substances on overseas deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and more. It wasn’t easy to get through Congress. The Senate passed that bill after weeks of delay, and not before high-profile advocacy from comedian Jon Stewart and others. But underneath those bigger headlines, folded into the bill, is a provision allowing families poisoned for decades at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune to get compensation from the federal government. Todd Ruger, legal affairs editor at CQ Roll Call discusses this story with Mike Magner, an editor at CQ Roll Call who has followed the stories of families from Camp Lejeune. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices