A continuing resolution to head off a partial government shutdown is caught in the political crossfire of federal employee layoffs, funding freezes and a partisan dispute over the power of the purse. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley, Caitlin Reilly and David Lerman assess the political pressures for passing a stopgap funding extension, and the state of negotiations for a budget reconciliation package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 03, 2025•24 min
In recent days, the Senate and House have both passed versions of their own budget resolution, one of the key steps in constructing a so-called reconciliation bill that will cut spending and taxes and enact GOP legislative priorities without having to deal with the usual Senate roadblocks. But there is a long way to go until something heads to the president’s desk, so we are going to talk about what’s been happening and what is going on with CQ Roll Call’s illustrious Budget Tracker, David Lerma...
Feb 27, 2025•25 min
In recent days, the Senate and House have both passed versions of their own budget resolution, one of the key steps in constructing a so-called reconciliation bill that will cut spending and taxes and enact GOP legislative priorities without having to deal with the usual Senate roadblocks. But there is a long way to go until something heads to the president’s desk, so we are going to talk about what’s been happening and what is going on with CQ Roll Call’s illustrious Budget Tracker, David Lerma...
Feb 27, 2025•25 min
A House vote this week will test the unity of Republicans for a budget blueprint that would pave the way for a sweeping package of tax cuts, border security, defense funding, spending cuts and more. CQ Roll Call's Paul M. Krawzak and David Lerman outline the competing pressures between GOP centrists and hardcore conservatives over a budget resolution critical to President Donald Trump's agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 24, 2025•22 min
For someone who has dominated politics for going on a decade, Donald Trump still controls the narrative in a way that leaves his opponents flat-footed. Trump's connection to professional wrestling offers lessons on how he is able to do this and how to connect in the political arena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 19, 2025•40 min
The Senate's plan for a slim budget blueprint focused on border security and defense could be upended by President Donald Trump's new endorsement of the House push for "one big, beautiful" reconciliation package enacting much of his agenda all at once. But the House plan faces political pressures of its own, as GOP moderates shy away from steep spending cuts to critical safety-net programs. CQ Roll Call's Caitlin Reilly and David Lerman discuss the latest state of play on the competing strategie...
Feb 19, 2025•24 min
In 2025, you don’t have to reach very far to reach those dark corners of the internet where fringe conspiracy theories and racist memes once hid. In award-winning journalist Elle Reeve’s book, “Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics,” the CNN correspondent takes readers on a journey that leads to the violence of Charlottesville and January 6. You could say the Equal Time guest saw it coming; that doesn’t mean so...
Feb 18, 2025•49 min
Is it possible to find beauty amid the horror of the Ukraine-Russia war? The Academy Award-nominated documentary "Porcelain War" argues that it is not only possible, it is essential. Co-director Slava Leontyev discusses how ordinary people keep their culture, art and themselves alive, and how even in a time of fear "it's hard to forbid people to live." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 11, 2025•30 min
House leaders had to punt on plans for a Budget Committee markup early this week as Republicans continue to squabble over the size of a budget reconciliation package and how to pay for it. CQ Roll Call's Caitlin Reilly and David Lerman assess the status of budget negotiations, the timing for action, and how far Senate Republicans may get in their own alternative, slimmer reconciliation package that omits tax cuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 10, 2025•28 min
The early days of the 119th Congress and the second Trump administration have been a whirlwind, but here is one observation for those looking to make sense of things: Having a plan beats not having a plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 06, 2025•26 min
Republicans are struggling to come together on a budget resolution that would pave the way for a mammoth reconciliation bill encompassing much of President Donald Trump's agenda, but there's no sign of a deal that would unite the conference. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley and David Lerman discuss the latest on a budget resolution, the fight over spending cuts, and whether leadership's timeline for action is becoming a pipe dream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 03, 2025•24 min
The early days of the second Trump administration have brought us an intense debate over constitutional authority and the role of government, which has been folded into the unstable and chaotic political era we are in. Is this destabilization something that will endure, or is it one of many similar, rough times in our history, say the 1960s, when politics and the government were tested and evolved, but overall held? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 30, 2025•36 min
A Trump administration directive to freeze spending on federal grants and loans pending a policy review outraged Democrats and reignited a debate over who controls the power of the purse. CQ Roll Call's Paul M. Krawzak and David Lerman outline the battle over presidential "impoundment" authority and what it may mean for appropriations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 28, 2025•26 min
Presidential pardons are all over the place, thanks to outgoing President Joe Biden and newly sworn in President Donald Trump. Presidents’ power to pardon is pretty comprehensive, and has been used to pardon the likes of Confederates, Jimmy Hoffa, Richard Nixon, Defense secretaries, family members and dirty tricksters, and most recently the Jan. 6 crowd and even the founder of the black market drug marketplace Silk Road. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 22, 2025•31 min
Torn over strategy for passing Donald Trump's agenda, the House and Senate are on a collision course over how to use the budget reconciliation process to pass tax cuts, border security, defense funding and more. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley and David Lerman outline the dispute, the political dynamics involved, and whether a leadership timeline for action is realistic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 17, 2025•28 min
Appointed senators: They're a thing. Of the 206 individuals appointed to the Senate since 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment codified direct election of senators and how to fill vacant seats, 11 of them are currently serving. Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales go through the highlights, lowlights and weirdlights of this category of senators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 15, 2025•42 min
It's the most wonderful time of the year: When Washington says it will cut the federal deficit. Easier said than done! Just ask the 2011 super committee, which had a mandate and bipartisan support, and failed spectacularly. For this podcast, we combine the powers of the Political Theater podcast with sister podcast CQ Budget and its illustrious host, the Budget Tracker, as well as his long-suffering editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 08, 2025•34 min
The election of Speaker Mike Johnson for another term underscored how difficult it will be for Republicans to govern with a razor-thin majority. CQ Roll Call's Jim Saksa and David Lerman recount what it took for Johnson to win the gavel and explain what it may mean for the legislative battles to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 06, 2025•28 min
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Dec 23, 2024•43 min
A funding package that averted a partial government shutdown left Republicans bitterly divided and chastened. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley and David Lerman examine the political fallout from a week of GOP infighting and what it means for President-elect Donald Trump's ambitious agenda next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 23, 2024•27 min
What's an "off year" in politics? There is no such thing, according to Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call's campaigns analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections. We run through the top developing political stories of 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 18, 2024•42 min
Is the United States Senate The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body, or is it the world's most inefficient waiting room, where senators kill time before a flurry of inefficient activity? Part 2 of our discussion with Brookings' Molly Reynolds about ways Congress could function better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 11, 2024•50 min
Republicans are preparing to use the budget reconciliation process to push border security, tax cuts and more on party-line votes next year. CQ Roll Call's Caitlin Reilly, Aidan Quigley and David Lerman outline what GOP leaders have in mind and the challenges they face. They also have the latest on plans for a stopgap funding and disaster relief measure needed by next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 09, 2024•22 min
With a recently concluded global climate summit with challenging takeaways, an incoming president who vows to again remove the U.S. from international climate agreements, and increasing weather disasters that defy what went before, a look at what is being called an existential crisis could be grim. But that’s not the kind of book Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has written. “What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate Futures” is a provocative mix of essays, interviews, data, poetry, and art, as Joh...
Dec 06, 2024•44 min
It happens every December: We ask ourselves, is this the best Congress can do? And the answer is no. They can do better. And there are a number of ways the legislative branch can function better by implementing some very simple, common-sense proposals. Molly Reynolds of the Brookings Institution joins the podcast for the first part of a two-part series on Congress and how it works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 04, 2024•45 min
President-elect Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency isn't really a federal department, but it promises to take a meat ax to federal spending and regulations. CQ Roll Call's Peter Cohn and David Lerman assess what the outside agency can and can't do and what to expect from the new DOGE effort. We also look at President Joe Biden's push for new Ukraine aid and disaster relief as Congress prepares for a stopgap funding measure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...
Dec 02, 2024•29 min
Lawmakers are torn over the size and shape of a disaster relief package headed for a vote next month. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley and David Lerman discuss the latest on disaster aid, overdue appropriations, a new Senate defense budget writer, and a House firebrand's new role in curbing government spending. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 22, 2024•28 min
If you're paying attention to the Senate, you know they're voting on a lot of judges, as happens during lame duck congresses. There are also a lot of partisan broadsides being fired about it all. How did we get to this point and why? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 21, 2024•26 min
President-elect Donald Trump has picked several current and former members of Congress for his Cabinet and senior staff. Here’s a quick and dirty on the roster, which includes former Democrats, former critics and one avowed dog killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 14, 2024•40 min
Congress returns for a lame-duck session with a major decision to make on fiscal 2025 spending: whether to pass an omnibus package by Christmas or punt spending bills into the new year. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley, Caitlin Reilly and David Lerman assess the political ramifications of the choice, the crowded lame-duck agenda, and the challenge for Republicans in their quest for tax cuts next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 12, 2024•26 min
