Eye on Congress

Lawmakers face a jam-packed agenda after the April recess that includes pandemic aid, restaurant relief, a semiconductor manufacturing measure, fiscal 2023 appropriations, and possibly a resurrected "Build Back Better" package. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Paul M. Krawzak outline the to-do list and assess the prospects for passage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're going to hear a lot about the congressional generic ballot as we get deeper into the 2022 midterm campaign. But, as Edwin Starr might ask, "What is it good for?" How much can we use it to make sense of the political path we are on? Nathan L. 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

Allison Lee sits down to talk priorities and interests as she reaches her final stretch as Commissioner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A $10 billion aid package for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics fell victim to the politics of immigration. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley examine how a bipartisan compromise came unglued and the prospects for salvaging it. They also assess competing efforts to funnel more aid to restaurants and other pandemic-battered industries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Major League Baseball is back — and it's got some cryptocurrency-sportsbook-anti-competitive-business-practice baggage. District Fray's Brandon Wetherbee joins Political Theater to discuss our new baseball order, weird public art, tobacco and booze advertising and whether the National Baseball Hall of Fame should just start over.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire joins the show to co-host and ask Chris Brummer anything and everything about his new white paper, "Disclosure, Dapps and DeFi." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden's budget request for the coming fiscal year sets the stage for a replay of the partisan struggle over defense and nondefense spending levels that delayed appropriations for months. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn outline the key elements of Biden's budget and assess the state of play on a new pandemic relief package and a response to high gas prices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to really geeking out about politics and campaigns, nothing beats redistricting. Jason Dick and Michael Macagnone break down how the pandemic-altered Census crashed into the decennial reapportionment of congressional seats, which sent the already typically crazy redistricting of House seats into a fine tizzy of gamesmanship, hard feelings, lawsuits and an out-and-out weird race against the 2022 midterm election clock.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden's fiscal 2023 budget request, due Monday, will propose new spending levels for defense and nondefense programs at a time of soaring inflation in an election year. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Paul M. Krawzak preview the major elements of a budget package that Congress will wrestle with in coming months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christina Bellantoni, a former Roll Call editor who is now professor of professional practice at the University of Southern California, is training the next generation of journalists. Part of that is showing them how to report stories from out in the field, including congressional races in Texas and Virginia. Bellantoni discusses that and more, including the value of diverse backgrounds and sourcing and how politics have helped shape her students' worldviews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending package steered clear of tax legislation, lawmakers are preparing to push for several tax measures in coming months, including breaks for charitable donations, research and development, employee retention and more. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Laura Weiss outline the congressional tax agenda and efforts to shore up funding for the IRS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stakes for Supreme Court nominations have always been high. But starting in 2016, when Senate Republicans refused to consider the nomination of Merrick B. Garland, the high court confirmation process has been defined by deep partisan rifts, accusations of unfairness and hypocrisy and hard feelings. With that kind of background, what might Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson expect in her upcoming confirmation hearing? CQ Roll Call Senior Writer Todd Ruger discusses the topic with Political Theater host Jason Dick.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It came more than five months late, but omnibus appropriations for the current fiscal year made it across the finish line this week. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Lindsey McPherson explain what took so long, how a compromise was reached, and the sacrifices made to get a deal done. They also assess a new fight over additional pandemic aid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the remaining prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention facility, “time becomes elastic,” in the words of filmmaker Alex Gibney. One long-time detainee, for instance, Abu Zubaydah, just had his petition to get information from the CIA about his torture and treatment denied by the Supreme Court. But Gibney, in his most recent documentary, “The Forever Prisoner,” does interview key figures in the saga. Political Theater recently discussed with Gibney his techniques and motivations for that project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With one week to go before current government funding runs out, lawmakers are struggling to reach a deal on fiscal 2022 appropriations while accommodating a new White House request for additional Ukraine aid and pandemic relief. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn assess the state of spending negotiations and discuss a lower-profile bill offering a major expansion of veterans' health care benefits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last 50 years, only six first-term presidents have been graced with their party in the majority in the House and Senate, and those majorities come under a lot of pressure in midterm elections. That brings us to Joe Biden, one of the six. Nathan Gonzales, publisher of Inside Elections and Roll Call’s political analyst, joins Jason Dick to talk about whether State of the Union speeches, or anything for that matter, can change current political dynamics — as well as the overall state of play in the contests for the House and Senate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Jamie Raskin was already embroiled in a political struggle of titanic proportions when tragedy struck in late 2020: the death of his son, Tommy. Madeleine Carter’s documentary “Love and the Constitution” tells that story, one of personal tragedy against the backdrop of the future of the republic. Raskin and Carter discuss the film on the latest Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ro Khanna, whose district lies at the center of Silicon Valley, talks about his book "Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us" and how to decentralize opportunity beyond Northern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big spending increases for roads and other transportation projects approved in the bipartisan infrastructure law remain on hold until Congress passes an appropriations bill. In this episode of CQ Budget, budget tracker David Lerman speaks to experts Peter Cohn and Jessica Wehrman to understand what the hold up is and the political implications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Super Bowl Sunday marks the conclusion of the one of the NFL’s mosts successful and entertaining seasons — and also one where its questionable business practices and work environment got amplified from the sports section to the halls of Congress. Jane Coaston, host of the New York Times podcast “The Argument” joins Political Theater to discuss the game she describes glowingly as beautiful, and a business that is infuriating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices