Eye on Congress

CQ legal affairs reporter Todd Ruger says House Democrats now have plenty of leads from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report to investigate, especially as to whether Trump sought to obstruct justice.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taxes are due on April 15 and Americans are finding out how the 2017 law affected them. Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, and Peter Cohn, CQ's tax editor, discuss how the law has played out for both individuals and corporations and find that it's given some a windfall, and rationalized the code for others, but hasn't done as much as Republicans expected to juice economic growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under pressure from a bipartisan group of senators, the Homeland Security Department last month increased the number of visas available for foreign guest workers seeking to toil in America's seasonal industries, from seafood processing to resort housekeeping. Two critics of the decision, Daniel Costa of the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that supports pro-labor policies, and Preston Huennekens of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates more restrictive immigration policies, come at the issue from different perspectives but agree that it's bad for American workers and, in some cases, for the foreign ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2010 health care law has left tens of millions uninsured, leading to a groundswell of support from the left for a single-payer system, or "Medicare for All." CQ health care reporter Mary Ellen McIntire explains why progressives are ready to move on, what it would take to get there, politically, and how they would transform American health care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, but especially Democrats, are saying that the government should intervene to rein in, or even break up, tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook. CQ technology reporter Dean DeChiaro says an antitrust action would require a novel legal approach focused less on pricing power and more on market dominance, while Patrick Pexton, CQ's tech editor, says the tech industry, long aligned with the Democratic Party, could shift its political loyalties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the U.S. Navy, buying warships that are defective, unfinished or both has become the norm. The habit is expensive, dangerous and leaves overworked sailors to deal with faulty ships in need of repair from day one. Yet, the practice has escaped sufficient scrutiny in Washington even though taxpayers are on the hook for repeated repairs, reports CQ's senior writer John M. Donnelly. Most new ships, he says, go to sea with one or more major defects — even after months of repair work and testing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Janeen Rashmawi of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Logan Bayroff of the pro-Israel group J Street worry that Congress is losing sight of the bigger issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amidst the debate over Rep. Ilhan Omar's comments on Israel. Both offer support for the March 7 House resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats have ramped up oversight of President Donald Trump and his administration with hearings on Trump's finances, the Russia inquiry, the immigrant child separation policy and more. But holding hearings and asking questions is only the first step in successful oversight, says Justin Rood, director of the Congressional Oversight Initiative at the Project on Government Oversight and a former staff investigator for Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn. Congressional overseers must then grapple with their targets to make sure they cooperate, or cultivate whistleblowers who will provide information outside the standard channels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest edition of CQ's study of congressional voting comes out in CQ Magazine on Feb. 25 and the authors, CQ reporters John Bennett and Jonathan Miller, explain that Congress voted as Trump wanted at record levels in 2017 and 2018, while representatives and senators who crossed party lines more than their peers paid at the ballot box. Laura Weiss, who profiled Larry Hogan for the magazine, discusses what is prompting the Maryland governor to consider challenging Trump in the 2020 GOP primaries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tax season has begun and upper middle income taxpayers with incomes between $120,000 and $200,000 who live in states with high local taxes are the most likely to be among the five percent of taxpayers who paid more last year because of the 2017 law, says Kyle Pomerleau, director of the Center for Quantitative Analysis at the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. Doug Sword, CQ's tax reporter, explains how congressional Democrats, and those running for president, are attacking the law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patricia Hamill calls herself a feminist and a liberal Democrat, but as a defense attorney for students accused of sexual assault and harassment on college and university campuses she backs the Education Department's controversial proposal to require schools to change the way they handle these cases. The department is now considering the more-than-100,000 comments it received about its proposal, most of them opposed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressional negotiators are working to reach bipartisan agreement on a Homeland Security spending bill that can fend off another shutdown and thwart President Donald Trump's threat of declaring a national emergency, CQ appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich tells co-host Jennifer Shutt.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ senior defense writer John M. Donnelly and Michael Rubin, a former Middle East adviser in George W. Bush's administration who's now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, discuss the implications of President Donald Trump's moves to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan and Syria and the Republican-led backlash in Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Homeland Security Editor Patrick B. Pexton discusses the details of the deal between President Donald Trump and lawmakers to end the shutdown. Max Stier, president of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, says it has done lasting damage to the civil service and that Congress must never allow it to happen again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tens of thousands of government contractors are out of work and their employers are losing millions in revenue because of the partial government shutdown. Alan Chvotkin of the Professional Services Council,  a contractor trade association, says his group is lobbying Congress to pay contractors for their missed work, as it has already agreed to do for furloughed civil servants. And Roll Call Senior Senate Reporter Niels Lesniewski says that the impasse on Capitol Hill over government funding is showing no signs of resolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

European officials are expected to fire the first shot in the regulation of cryptocurrencies, with recommendations on what should be done to protect investors and preserve the integrity of financial markets.  Georgetown University Law Professor Chris Brummer, one of the world’s leading experts in global technology, finance and governance, explains the EU's moves and how they will affect the regulatory landscape in the United States. Brummer is partnering with CQ, Roll Call and FiscalNote on coverage of fintech, an emerging industry. FiscalNote, a technology and media company, is the parent of CQ and Roll Call.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls climate change "an existential threat" and has established a committee to look for solutions. CQ reporter Elvina Nawaguna explains what's likely to come from the Democratic House, while Brad Johnson, a board member with the group End Climate Silence, says that activists will look for increased regulation while also pushing for an end to the use of fossil fuels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats plan to make so-called "good government" laws to tighten campaign finance and lobbying rules a priority in the new Congress. Democrat Jon Tester, who is featured in a documentary about outside campaign money in his state of Montana, tells host Shawn Zeller and lobbying reporter Kate Ackley why he is leading his party's efforts in the Senate, even if he faces a skeptical GOP majority.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We take a deep dive into the criminal sentencing and prison programming overhaul Congress is expected to pass this year, which is shaping up to be a major bipartisan achievement. Credit goes to Republicans, like Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, sponsor of the bill, who says it's a matter of money and morals to try to help the incarcerated. And to activists, like Kevin Ring, a former federal prisoner, who explains why he is lobbying for a reduction in mandatory minimum sentences. CQ reporter Todd Ruger credits Jared Kushner with persuading his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, to put aside his reservations and agree to sign it.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In seeking to solidify her bid for House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi promised members of the Problem Solvers Caucus she'd guarantee floor time for bills with broad, bipartisan support. Problem Solvers Co-Chairman Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, says it will change the balance of power between House leadership and the rank and file.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices