Highway to Hill

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill : The president threatened to destroy an entire civilization by 8 PM Eastern on Tuesday (primetime, naturally), then backed down after terrifying both Iranians and Americans alike. Charlie and SoRelle break down the Easter Sunday festivities, what actually happened with the Iran ceasefire, and why nobody seems to know what’s going on — including the White...

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill : Charlie and SoRelle are joined by Kevin R. Kosar from the American Enterprise Institute and host of the Understanding Congress podcast to talk about how Congress lost so much power to the executive branch, and what it would take to get some of it back. Is the “imperial presidency” a Trump thing or a century-long trend? What’s the Congressional Research S...

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill: Congressional Republicans are turning to reconciliation — a Senate procedural loophole that only requires 51 votes instead of 60 — to try to fund ICE and parts of the SAVE Act without Democratic support. But can they actually do that? Charlie and SoRelle explain what reconciliation is, why it can only be used three times a year, what the Byrd Rule means,...

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill : The Senate is debating the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote nationwide — but what does that actually mean? Charlie and SoRelle break down how many Americans don’t have quick access to birth certificates or passports (over 21 million); the nightmare this would cause for mail-in voters in red and blue states alike; and whether it...

In our very first bonus non-Friday episode, Charlie deep dives on the implications of an age-old question in Congress: should we expand the size of the House of Representatives? He’s joined by Anne Meeker and Aubrey Wilson of POPVOX Foundation to talk through some of the potential benefits, needs, and challenges that would come along with embiggening the People’s Chamber. It’s a conversation that...

On this week's episode of Highway to Hill : Does calling your member of Congress actually do anything? Charlie and SoRelle are joined by Anne Meeker , former House casework director and the Managing Director of PopVox Foundation , to break down what happens when you contact Congress: how offices batch and track constituent communications, why you should be nice to congressional interns answering t...

On this week's episode of Highway to Hill: The Trump administration has gone to war with Iran — but why? Three American soldiers are dead, hundreds of Iranian civilians are dead, and the justifications keep changing. Was it about nuclear weapons? Regime change? An "imminent threat" that only existed because Israel was planning to attack? Charlie and SoRelle dig into what Congress's constitutional...

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill : Texas is voting next week in tight primaries for both parties to decide who’ll compete for a U.S. Senate seat this November. Charlie and SoRelle are joined by special guest Casey Burgat to break down the Democratic race between James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett, including their campaign strategies — is it better to run up the score in Dallas and Housto...

On this week's episode of Highway to Hill : We're in a partial government shutdown, but you might not have noticed. Why does this shutdown feel so different from the one last year? Charlie and SoRelle break down how Democrats separated out DHS funding, what agencies are actually affected (TSA workers without pay, but ICE is largely funded), and whether this strategy gives Democrats any real levera...

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill: The Trump administration just gutted the EPA’s “endangerment finding” — the legal foundation for decades of federal climate regulation. How did we get to a place where a single administrative action can erase that much environmental policy? Charlie and SoRelle explain what Chevron deference is, why Congress keeps passing vague laws and letting bureaucrats...

On this week's episode of Highway to Hill: President Trump says he wants to "nationalize elections" — but what does that even mean? Who has the power to do that? (Spoiler: not him.) Charlie and SoRelle break down Trump's controversial comments; explain what the Constitution actually says about who runs elections; and dig into the SAVE Act that the White House claims Trump was really talking about....

Fallout continues from the tragic killing of Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse who was gunned down in Minneapolis by federal agents, for the apparent crime of trying to help up a woman who the agents had shoved to the ground. What does Congress have to do with what happened in Minneapolis? Are we heading towards a(nother) government shutdown over it? And what are some Congress stories we missed in the mi...

Highway to Hill is a new, pro-Congress podcast from political scientists Charlie Hunt and SoRelle Gaynor. We'll break down the week's biggest story on Capitol Hill with the power of polisci, in thirty minutes or less. Weekly episodes begin Friday, January 30th. Subscribe on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your pods. This is a public episode. If you would like to dis...