Eye on Congress

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

A surprise change of heart from the West Virginia Democrat put a revamped "Build Back Better" plan back on the table. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Lindsey McPherson and Laura Weiss examine the twist of fate and the challenges awaiting Democrats in trying to pass the measure.They also discuss microchip and veterans benefits legislation and the latest on appropriations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Kerstens and Eva Kaili join the podcast to discuss the EU's new rules for crypto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before their August recess, lawmakers hope to pass a major funding package to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing and a measure designed to lower the cost of many prescription drugs. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Aidan Quigley and Lauren Clason outline the challenges awaiting Congress to pass those bills.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Bookstaber, author of the End of Theory and Demons of Our Own Design, Demystifies Fintech Market Volatility Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are at a pause in the congressional primary season, with several major states having selected their nominees for November’s general election, including Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In August, things ramp back up, with more than a dozen states holding primaries and in battlegrounds like Arizona, Michigan and Florida. So what have we learned so far from the elections that have taken place? And what might we expect as the general election match-ups become clearer? CQ Roll Call Politics Editor Herb Jackson joins Political Theater to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade raised many questions on the future of abortion rights in the United States. With search histories and health apps possibly used for tracking, how can data be protected and kept private? Will the health-care outcomes of African-American women, already three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, worsen? In this month’s episode of Equal Time, to shed some light on life in a post-Roe world, host Mary C. Curtis talks with Amie Stepanovich, Vice President for U.S. Policy at the Future of Privacy Forum, and a nationally recognized expert in domestic surveillance, cybersecurity and privacy law, and Kwajelyn Jackson, Executive Director at Feminist Women's Health Center in Atlanta, Georgia, an independent, non-profit, multi-generational, multi-racial reproductive health, rights, and justice organization.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III told fellow Democrats he could no longer support climate provisions or higher taxes as part of any budget reconciliation package that comes to a vote before the August recess. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Lindsey McPherson and Laura Weiss examine how Democratic negotiations unraveled, what can still be salvaged, and what it means for their broader legislative agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new documentary from filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” comes out amid a nationwide debate about gun safety, the animating crusade of the former congresswoman, and as her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, runs for re-election in a race that will be key in this year's midterms. It also tells a good story and has a rockin' soundtrack. West and Cohen talk about their film on the latest Political Theater podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robby Greenfield shares how Umoja Labs are leveraging blockchain-based tools to deliver financial inclusion in Africa and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate Democrats want to pass a downsized "Build Back Better" reconciliation package before the August recess despite a threat from the Republican leader to hold up a bipartisan chip manufacturing and economic competitiveness bill in retaliation. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn examine the legislative options for what could be a chaotic and unpredictable July work session on Capitol Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supreme Court justices have it made: Not only do they get to remake American society with a few opinions, they get to take three months off afterward! Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. has joked that ”only Supreme Court justices and schoolchildren are expected to and do take the entire summer off.” So what do they do during that quarter-year break, and is it changing now that the high court has stepped into a more prominent political role? CQ Roll Call Legal Affairs Editor Todd Ruger joins the Political Theater podcast to talk about the life jurisprudence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author of “The Field Guide to Global Payments, Sophia Goldberg, joins Amias Gerety to answer the age old question: Are payments companies getting paid too much (or too little) for the value they provide?   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The walls sure are thin in the West Wing. That is just one takeaway from the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. CQ Roll Call Editor at Large John T. Bennett covered the presidency of Donald Trump in sometimes very close quarters at the executive mansion. He joins Political Theater to discuss things you can overhear and see first hand at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Pride Month ends, celebration is tempered by setbacks across the country, from laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in school sports to efforts to remove books on the LGBTQ experience from library shelves. And with a Supreme Court willing to overturn precedent, many wonder if LGBTQ rights will be next. What is needed, culturally and legally, to insure forward movement on the path to equality for all Americans? What can organizations and corporations do to be more intentional in supporting the LGBTQ community? Equal Time host Mary C. Curtis explores what comes next with guests Sasha Buchert, a Senior Attorney in the Washington D.C. office of Lambda Legal, and Kendra R. Johnson, Executive Director at Equality North Carolina. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hyun Song Shin, the BIS economic advisor, joins the show to talk about recent disruptions in crypto markets, and the advantages of CBDCs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington's professional football team has a long history of controversy, and Congress and local governments spend a lot of time picking apart its foibles. Would this happen in Jacksonville, though? With us to discuss in Brandon Wetherbee, managing editor of District Fray. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two major congressional committees have now spoken on the fiscal 2023 Pentagon budget. Peter Cohn and John M. Donnelly discuss how the Armed Services panels will keep the pressure on appropriators to add tens of billions of dollars more to President Joe Biden's defense proposals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices