Eye on Congress

Congressional investigations, as well as the FBI's, into Russian interference in the 2016 election are ongoing, but what will happen to them now that President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey? CQ Roll Call's legal affairs writer Todd Ruger and intelligence reporter Ryan Lucas examine the dynamics on Capitol Hill and at the Justice Department. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plans to confront the nuclear threat from North Korea include building a missile defense system in Hawaii, say CQ Roll Call's defense reporters Megan Scully and Rachel Oswald. The two reporters take a deep dive into the vexing issue and the geopolitical considerations that U.S. officials are weighing, including setting aside concerns about China's trade deficit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new effort by Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare helped secure conservative votes, says CQ Roll Call health editor Rebecca Adams, but it raises new issues for moderates: Of particular concern for many lawmakers is that it could allow states to permit insurers to sock people who have pre-existing conditions with huge premium increases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump wants to invest $1 trillion into the nation’s crumbling roads, bridges, tunnels and airports, as well as into drinking water, electric and telecommunications systems, says CQ Roll Call’s transportation reporter Jacob Fischler. But the hurdle to that ambitious agenda is finding the money. Fischler and transportation editor Randy Walerius discuss what role Congress could play in the plan.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This could be the Democrats best chance, says CQ Roll Call reporters Simone Pathé and Greg Tourial, to flip Georgia's 6th District, where Republicans are scrambling to stop Democrat Jon Ossoff from winning in an April 18 all-party primary. @ossoff #FlipThe6th Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is taking his time reshaping his trade policies, says CQ Roll Call's trade reporter Ellyn Ferguson. She provides valuable insight on where things stand with the president's campaign pledges to rip up NAFTA and officially label China as a currency manipulator - neither of which has happened.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump has promised big tax cuts but as CQ Roll Call's tax editor Catalina Camia explains a tangled web of interests and Republican disunity in Congress could spoil efforts for the first major tax legislation in 30 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catch-up here on what is happening with President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown and plan to build a border wall, including its price tag. The project will involve taking private property and at least $15 billion taxpayer dollars, says CQ Roll Call’s national security reporter Gopal Ratnam. The wall was a cornerstone of Trump’s agenda, but some of his campaign promises on immigration have yet to be realized, adds immigration reporter Dean DeChiaro.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a highly anticipated hearing, the House Intelligence Committee's investigation of Russia's election meddling makes its public debut with lawmakers set to press the directors of the FBI and the NSA about the Kremlin's interference operation and potential ties with the Trump campaign, says CQ Roll Call's intelligence reporter Ryan Lucas. Listen in for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Republicans push full steam ahead with repealing and replacing Obamacare, cuts in Medicaid may become an issue that could not only further divide the party but can have severe consequences for state budgets and recipients, says CQ Roll Call's health reporter Joe P. Williams. He also takes us to the first marathon hearing on the GOP's health care bill and why it could be a dress rehearsal of what's to come.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Roll Call's privacy reporter Paul Merrion explains why the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission is moving to dismantle broadband privacy protections set up by the Obama administration. Those safeguards were designed to prevent hackers from accessing users’ data. The FCC will reconsider the broader rule that also requires internet service providers such as Comcast to get permission from customers before selling information about their online activity to advertisers. The move, some fear, could lead the agency to undo aspects of net neutrality that prevents broadband providers from treating web content differently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28 and no one knows what to expect from this most unpredictable of presidents. It’s another episode in the Washington reality show that is Trump’s presidency and representatives and senators are extras, perhaps against their will, in the drama. CQ Roll Call’s White House reporter John T. Bennett went to Capitol Hill to take their temperature.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats and liberals hoping to build a movement against the policies of President Donald Trump should take a page out of the Tea Party's 2010 movement and focus on "policies that build power," says Vanessa Williamson, the co-author of the 2012 book The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism.   Like the tea party in 2010, anti-Trump activists plan to storm lawmakers’ offices and town hall meetings during Congress’ President’s Day recess and Williamson explains what it means for politics and for governance on Capitol Hill.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a bruising Senate confirmation process, Betsy DeVos is now Education Department chief. But she still has a lot of distrust to overcome, says CQ Roll Call’s education reporter Emily Wilkins. Even so, she's poised to influence how Congress and America view one of the pillars of American life – public schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Based on federal appellate court Judge Neil Gorsuch’s previous rulings in religious cases, President Donald Trump could find himself at odds with his Supreme Court nominee over the executive order restricting refugees and immigrants from countries that are mostly Muslim, says CQ Roll Call's Legal Affairs writer Todd Ruger.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Roll Call Health reporter Joe Williams brings us up to speed on the developments of Republican efforts to decimate Obamacare, what came out of the GOP policy retreat in Philadelphia and whether President Donald Trump’s symbolic executive order makes any difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is likely to use executive orders to address Obama administration regulations and long-standing concerns about the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, says CQ Roll Call's Trade Reporter Ellyn Ferguson. Amit Narang, with the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, talks about what his group and others will do to challenge Trump's orders, particularly ones involving financial regulations.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Roll Call’s national security reporter Ryan Lucas separates fact from fiction on all the Russia-related reports that have thrown the nation’s capital into a tizzy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Roll Call's Senate leadership reporter Niels Lesniewski walks us through how the GOP-controlled Congress can roll out the Congressional Review Act to rescind some of President Barack Obama’s last-minute regulations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Roll Call's resident budget guru Paul Krawzak spells out the steps Republicans will take to achieve a repeal of Obamacare. The fast-track approach, however, is facing resistance within the GOP, says Health reporter Erin Mershon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices