CQ Roll Call Policy and Politics

The Biden administration on Friday released its wish list for discretionary spending for fiscal 2022. The proposal would boost non-defense spending by 16 percent and defense spending by 1.7 percent over current funding levels. CQ Roll Call’s Jennifer Shutt and David Lerman discuss the details of the plan, the winners and the losers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a heated and contentious presidential election in 2020, voting rights are under attack. Georgia just passed a law that makes it harder for those who may be disenfranchised to cast their ballots. Other states are following suit. Mary C. Curtis speaks to Rashad Robinson, president of the social justice organization Color of Change, on what is at stake and what is being done to curtail the roll...

Rep. Mike Johnson is emblematic of the Republican Party of which he is now, in his third House term, and a leading member. He joined fellow Republicans in January in backing the former president's campaign to overturn state election results. More than 60 percent of voters in his northwest Louisiana district voted for Trump and Johnson views Trump as the party’s most important voice. He sits down t...

Frederik Mijnhardt, CEO of Secfi, joins Fintech Beat to explain why 80 percent of startup employees don’t exercise their stock options — and what that means for drivers of wealth in the innovation economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration says its $2 trillion infrastructure plan would boost the economy, fight climate change and address racial inequity. But Republicans are already pushing back, arguing that an increase in taxes to pay for the measure would slow down the economy. CQ Roll Call’s Jennifer Shutt and David Lerman discuss the ins and outs of the bill and the likelihood of it being a bipartisan eff...

President Donald Trump is ensconced at Mar-a-Lago and everyone — on all sides of the aisle — is curious to know what his influence will be on the GOP. We turn to Rep. Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, who has risen fast in the party ranks since his 2016 election. He is a former lawyer, defends religious liberty and opposes same-sex marriage. He is vice chair of the House Republican Conference...

The president is on a spending spree and is asking for an additional $85 billion for surface transit. CQ Roll Call's Jessica Wehrman has details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan includes money to repair roads, bridges and beef up transit, but what it doesn't do is mention the gas tax. Not everyone is happy. CQ Jessica Wehrman has more on what's in the plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unified control of the White House and Congress does not happen all that often. We are in one of those periods now, with President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats in the majority in the House and Senate. And they are pursuing policy like they know they know their time is limited. Political Theater host Jason Dick discusses why unified control is so rare and what are the political consequences w...

Tax season is upon us, so Fintech Beat wanted to take the opportunity to look back at an episode with one of the IRS’s top crypto cops to discuss how the agency views crypto and what it does with crypto seizures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Semiconductors are necessary for our economy and our national security and the pandemic has reemphasized a pre-existing issue in the U.S. supply. CQ Roll Call's John Donnelly reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration has reached out to key lawmakers and the criminal justice community for guidance on a slate of appointments to revive the sentencing commission, a move that also could influence congressional efforts to further change the nation’s criminal justice system. Todd Ruger reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats are working to build support around a set of proposals, some legislative, that would order a series of structural changes to the State Department with the goal of increasing diversity. CQ Roll Call's Rachel Oswald reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration announced today that J&J, Moderna and Pfizer are on target to meet first quarter goals. And half of the states will open eligibility to all adults by mid April. CQ Roll Call's Sandhya Raman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Secretary Tom Vilsack and a Black former Agriculture Department official he once forced out of her job testify on the department’s treatment of Black farmers. CQ Roll Call's Ellyn Ferguson reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, is spearheading a package of tax proposals designed to raise $1.5 trillion from multinational corporations and large estates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate will extend the paycheck protection program another two months. CQ Roll Call's Caitlin Reilly reports on what this means. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Equal Rights Amendment known as ERA — yes that ERA — is back. The House passed a bill last week that would extend the deadline to ratify the amendment to the Constitution prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. But is this five-decade-old amendment up to this moment? A moment that includes #MeToo, rising hate crimes against women of color and a pandemic that has battered women more tha...

Military families stationed overseas say they are not getting vaccines. They are beginning to reach out to Congress for help. CQ Roll Call's Mark Satter reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks the 11th anniversary of Barack Obama’s signing of the Affordable Care Act, something Joe Biden, then the vice president, now the president, famously described as a “Big F-ing Deal.” He was right. It is one of the signature moments in American health care policy, along with the passage of Medicare and Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Medicare prescription dr...

Nic Carter and Amy Luo explain how NFTs work, and what their meteoric rise means for the mainstreaming of blockchain technology and securities law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House Republican Conference will allow its members to submit earmark requests, ending a decade-old prohibition. CQ Roll Call’s Jennifer Shutt and David Lerman discuss whether Senate Republicans will follow suit and what earmarks mean for the appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The EU is considering requiring citizens to get a vaccine passport to move freely around Europe. After more than a year of lockdowns, some may embrace the idea. The U.S. is also weighing its options. But could a vaccine passport be a vehicle for discrimination? CQ Roll Call's Shawn Zeller speaks with Bryan Del Monte, a former director at the Department of Defense and now president of The Aviation...

Johnson & Johnson is under pressure to deliver its promised 20 million vaccine doses by the end of the month, as several state public health officials indicate the manufacturer is falling behind. Emily Kopp has more on the uncertainty ahead as demand for vaccines continues to overwhelm supplies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Native Americans have long had a contentious relationship with the Interior Department. Now one of their own is at the helm of it, Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna. It was only in 2018 that the New Mexico Democrat made history as one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress. Now she is the first Native American to head a Cabinet department. Carla Fredericks...