Eye on Congress

The GOP is against President Biden's plan to universally raise the nation's minimum wage to $15 an hour. CQ Roll Call's Shawn Zeller reports on the economic implications of not lifting the current rate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even before President Joe Biden nominates someone to lead the federal Medicare and Medicaid agency, the administration and Congress are taking steps to unwind former President Donald Trump's Medicaid legacy. CQ Roll Call's Sandhya Raman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 20 percent of those rioters who turned out on January 6 had some affiliation with the military. CQ Roll Call's John Donnelly reports on how Congress and the Pentagon is trying to root out violent extremism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House votes on final budget adoption as Democrats meet with President Biden ahead of frenetic markup schedule next week. CQ Roll Call's Paul Krawzak reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration places the pause button on H1B visas via lottery. CQ Roll Call's Suzanne Monyak reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rethinking America's policies toward China is one area that has bipartisan support in Washington these days. China's emergence as an economic superpower on the world stage — coupled with its aggressive stance toward Hong Kong, Taiwan and anything resembling human rights — has Asia experts examining how tough the U.S. should be. A new administration provides a window of opportunity to change directions. Michael Beckley, author of "Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World's Sole Superpower," talks with CQ Roll Call's Shawn Zeller on this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid a pandemic, an impeachment trial, an economic crisis and the fallout over the Jan. 6 armed attack on the Capitol, Congress is trying to figure out how much enhanced security, and in what form, is necessary to protect lawmakers, staff and eventually the public, who at some point will be let back onto the complex. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks to us about balancing the needs of security and access. And Katherine Tully McManus talks about her discussions with House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro about how to fund what Congress needs to stay safe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Penn Wharton Budget Model says Biden’s $1.9T plan will expand the economy this year but the big $1,400 rebate checks will have limited impact. CQ Roll Call's Doug Sword reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The vaccine rollout has been fractured and botched. CQ Roll Call's Emily Kopp reports on how the absence of a national strategy has hampered the vaccine distribution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pete Buttigieg was confirmed as Transportation secretary on Tuesday as transportation industries are demanding $130 billion in COVID-19 aid to help keep them afloat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden has wasted no time in undoing former President Trump's policies on immigration and migrants. CQ Roll Call's Suzanne Monyak reports on the latest round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ten Republican senators released a $618 billion COVID-19 relief plan before meeting with President Joe Biden on Monday. Their alternative package cuts many Democratic priorities. Meanwhile, Democrats released a budget resolution to fast-track their COVID-19 relief bill through the budget reconciliation process — a move House Republicans are expected to reject. CQ Roll Call’s Jennifer Shutt and David Lerman discuss how these recent moves will affect the chances of bipartisan cooperation on COVID-19 relief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fintech Beat talks with Zest AI's top executives to learn about the role of machine learning software in credit underwriting and whether better math can lead to better outcomes when it comes to tackling racial bias in lending. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Johnson & Johnson released good news about its single injection vaccine and expects to produce 100 million doses by July. CQ Roll Call's Ariel Cohen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House Appropriations Committee announced that Rep. Chellie Pingree will be taking over the subcommittee responsible for Interior and Environment appropriations, bringing a focus on climate change and reversing Trump-era policies to the appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Racial equity is front and center for the Biden administration. That said, how does the nation begin to dismantle centuries of ingrained policies? Mary C. Curtis talks to award-winning social change agent Dr. Gail C. Christopher in this episode. Christopher has some compelling ideas and is working with Congress to try to change policies that enable racism and inequity to flourish, and transform a belief system that values some lives over others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Martha Fudge is President Biden's pick to lead the nation's housing agency. It was not her first choice and she once called the agency second tier. CQ Roll Call's Jim Saksa reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris discusses his latest movie, "My Psychedelic Love Story," history as chaos, whether Donald Trump believes his own lies, the power of first person narrative and whether any of us can ever be reliable narrators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden's executive order on Wednesday is an attempt to re-install scientific integrity to governing by taking politics out of the census, climate change and other policy issues. CQ Roll Call's Michael Macagnone reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 100 advocacy groups urged Biden and Congress not to revoke Section 230 to punish Big Tech for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. CQ Roll Call's Dean DeChiaro reports on how these groups said removing this law would place free expression and marginalized communities in peril. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices