CQ Roll Call Policy and Politics

Discharge petition: congressional procedure or great band name? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats are warning that Republicans risk a partial government shutdown next month if they don't resist President Donald Trump's plan to claw back $4.9 billion in foreign aid through a so-called pocket rescission. CQ Roll Call's Paul M. Krawzak and David Lerman explain how the White House push to cancel funding without congressional approval could derail work on a bipartisan stopgap funding exte...

It’s back to school time, with excitement mixed with uncertainty and anxiety. News from the Department of Education is primarily about cutting its budget or eliminating the department altogether. How will these and other proposed changes affect students? Will the traditionally underserved be short-changed, and fall further behind? James E. Ford, a former teacher of the year in North Carolina, is f...

Jessica Wehrman talks with David Jordan of CQ Roll Call about how energy affordability could become a sleeper issue in next year's midterm elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The effort to avert a partial government shutdown next month could be uglier than usual after Congress left town for its August recess with partisan tensions at a fever pitch. As the Trump administration seeks to claw back funding, fights over Senate confirmations and the files of convicted sex offender Jefrrey Epstein all threaten to create a toxic brew that could derail the bipartisan appropriat...

Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari discuss how a potential new congressional map in Texas could set off a race among other states to redraw their own maps, and how that might affect the 2026 midterm elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The appropriations process is under threat from a poisonous political climate as Republicans seek cooperation from Democrats while pursuing partisan reconciliation and rescissions measures. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley and David Lerman discuss the state of the appropriations process at a recent webinar conducted for CQ subscribers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Epstein, congressional chaos and the Senate races to watch with Nathan Gonzales of Inside Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Mary Ellen McIntire talk about what happens when Congress tries to do too much in too short a period of time, how Republicans and Democrats do agree on one big thing and what life is like in the basement of the Capitol. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate will take up a bill to claw back $9.4 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds that Democrats warn would blow up the bipartisan appropriations process. CQ Roll Call's Aidan Quigley, Paul M. Krawzak and David Lerman assess the political importance of the Trump administration's rescissions package, the outlook in the Senate, and what it could mean for an already shaky appropri...

In “Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back,” Miranda Spivack tells the stories of ordinary citizens who discovered that local and state governments they thought were there to protect them weren’t doing their jobs. Instead, these “accidental activists” found not only a lack of transparency but also often resistance when searc...

Jason Dick and Chris Cillizza talk about the time needed to produce quality sourcing, good work and journalism, how the news business continues to change, for better and worse, and Damon Chappie's sighs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump's new budget reconciliation law is already starting to define next year's midterm elections. CQ Roll Call's Daniela Altimari and David Lerman assess the political repercussions for both parties of the mammoth legislation and what it took to get the package across the finish line. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick talks with Joe Iconis about what led him to write "The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical," how much the world changed during that time, playing Thompson's piano at Owl Farm and taking some comfort in how things get better and worse, better and worse.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Jessica Wehrman talk about how unpopular the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in Congress is, why Republicans will likely pass it anyway and the short history of how, regardless of how hard politicians try, sometimes the public won’t go along with their public relations efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Senate parliamentarian has been busy throwing out key provisions in the GOP's reconciliation bill, ruling against measures affecting food stamps, immigration policy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and more. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley assess the latest condition of the reconciliation package and the fiscal 2026 appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choice...

The release of the biggest portion of the Senate GOP's reconciliation bill triggered internal party clashes over the scope of Medicaid cuts and the size of the state and local tax deduction known as SALT, among other disputes. CQ Roll Call's Caitlin Reilly, Sandhya Raman and David Lerman outline the sticking points in the Senate Finance Commitee's draft text and what they mean for the effort to pa...

It’s been 10 years since a 21-year-old gunman murdered nine church members who welcomed him to Bible study. The attack on Charleston, S.C.’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015, killed nine good people. They were targeted for that reason and for their race. The brother of one of the nine, Malcolm Graham, reflects on the life and legacy of his sister Cynthia Graham...

Jason Dick and Jim Saksa discuss how easy it was to be angry in 2010, tea-party infused town halls, astroturf versus paid protesters, the Koch Brothers and George Soros and the wisdom of politicians reminding constituents that we're all going to die anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate Republicans are struggling to produce text of their reconciliation package this week despite disputes over Medicaid, food stamps, tax policy, Medicare and more. CQ Roll Call's Peter Cohn, Caitlin Reilly and David Lerman outline the big fights that could tie up the bill and look ahead to the fiscal 2026 appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick talks to Sky Sitney, co-founder of DC/DOX, about this year's documentary festival, as well as how grants being canceled and studios pulling back on the genre are playing out as both challenge and opportunity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republican senators want changes to the "big, beautiful" House reconciliation bill, from Medicaid to tax cuts and more. And House appropriators begin writing their fiscal 2026 spending bills while the Trump administration tries to claw back already approved funding. CQ Roll Call's Paul M. Krawzak and David Lerman outline the fissures in the GOP reconciliation debate and the constitutional fight ov...

Jason Dick talks with former Roll Callers and current journalism professors Christina Bellantoni and Neda Semnani about the value of just talking to people, how the years change your perspective on Washington and why it's important to bear witness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House-passed reconciliation bill containing most of President Donald Trump's agenda won't clear the Senate in its current form. CQ Roll Call's Caitlin Reilly, Peter Cohn and David Lerman outline the changes that could be on the table and the competing demands among Senate Republicans that will make final passage a tough slog. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Todd Ruger discuss their (and some public officials') race times at the ACLI Capital Challenge, then delve into the Supreme Court's internal dynamics, how its workload has evolved, what big decisions are expected before the end of the term, a little about David Souter and then cap it off with an ultra-special word of the week segment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...