CQ on Congress

CQ, formerly Congressional Quarterly, is the gold standard for authoritative, nonpartisan congressional news. Every week, CQ on Congress hosted by Shawn Zeller brings you inside the halls of the House and Senate for an insightful, smart discussion into pressing policy and political debates.

  • 34 minutes 16 seconds
    Political Theater: Primary colors: Breaking down the latest congressional contests

    The races that will shape November's election continue to take shape now that we have primary results in Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska, with consequences at the House, Senate and even presidential level. Roll Call elections analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses those races and his latest Inside Elections ratings changes.

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    16 May 2024, 1:15 am
  • 30 minutes 6 seconds
    CQ Budget: Weapons freeze backlash

    The Biden administration decision to hold up a shipment of weapons to Israel has triggered an outcry from Republicans, as the House pushes a new bill to lift the freeze and hold some spending hostage. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn assess the latest on the Gaza war, House appropriations, the FAA bill and more.

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    13 May 2024, 6:08 pm
  • 32 minutes 55 seconds
    Political Theater: How to get yourself on Roll Call's Most Vulnerable Incumbents list

    At Roll Call, we periodically update our list of most vulnerable senators and members of the House as we get closer to the election. It's a shifting list, and reflects a snapshot in political dynamics. So how does one land on the list? Roll Call campaign staff writers Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire join the Political Theater podcast to discuss.

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    8 May 2024, 5:28 pm
  • 26 minutes 18 seconds
    CQ Budget: Aviation bill dogfight

    Congress is scrambling to complete work this week on the Federal Aviation Administration bill before key authorities expire on May 10. But a push for amendments, including some with hefty price tags, is threatening to gum up the works. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Valerie Yurk outline the major obstacles to the five-year FAA bill and assess its prospects for passage.

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    6 May 2024, 6:40 pm
  • 39 minutes 5 seconds
    Political Theater: Jan. 6, 2021 and the people who will never forget

    There is no way to spin being beaten and bloodied and scared. The history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is still being written, which is an important and massive undertaking. Not everyone wants to talk about the bear spray and broken windows. But the new documentary “The Sixth” by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine gives a fresh voice to some of the people on the ground and in the line of fire that day: police officers, a journalist, a congressional staffer, and a member of Congress. The film is from their perspectives; it’s a sense of what it felt like to be there. 

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    2 May 2024, 3:39 pm
  • 22 minutes 29 seconds
    CQ Budget: Earmarks culture war

    House Republicans are imposing new restrictions on earmarks as a partisan divide over cultural issues widens. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Aidan Quigley explain the latest battle over congressionally directed funding and what the changes mean for the appropriations process.

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    29 April 2024, 5:10 pm
  • 33 minutes 30 seconds
    CQ Budget: Politics of Ukraine aid

    The House finally broke a logjam that held up Ukraine aid for months, but a majority of Republicans voted against the aid and Speaker Mike Johnson's job is on the line as a result. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and John M. Donnelly assess the shifting politics over Ukraine and foreign policy in the Republican Party of Donald Trump.

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    22 April 2024, 6:09 pm
  • 42 minutes 2 seconds
    Political Theater: Meanwhile, in non-Trump, non-impeachment and non-speaker news

    This has been a momentous week for politics. Jury selection started in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. The Senate dispensed with impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. And the House considers a foreign aid package that has made Speaker Mike Johnson a target of his unhappy colleagues. But beyond those headlines: FEC filings show us who raised how much for 2024's election; runoffs in Alabama and another trial that could affect New Jersey races. Roll Call campaigns editor Herb Jackson walks joins the podcast to discuss.

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    19 April 2024, 9:00 am
  • 22 minutes 54 seconds
    CQ Budget: Johnson's conundrum

    Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faces pressure from all sides after promising to take up an aid bill for Israel this week that may or may not include money for Ukraine. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman and Peter Cohn assess the embattled speaker's options on a national security supplemental spending package.


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    15 April 2024, 5:57 pm
  • 37 minutes 51 seconds
    Equal Time: A reality check on crime and justice

    If it’s an election year, expect crime to be an issue. Candidates and parties draw conclusions with every headline, and exchange rhetoric that sheds more heat than light. But the history and reality of America’s criminal justice system is more complicated than a “tough on crime” slogan would indicate. The just published “Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration” offers essays by scholars, advocates, those who have experienced incarceration and former law enforcement who make the case that public safety, justice, and fairness are not only compatible as goals, but they can and must be achieved together. Lauren-Brooke Eisen, the book’s editor, is the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, where she leads the organization’s work to reduce America’s reliance on incarceration, is the author of Inside Private Prisons (Columbia, 2017) and a former prosecutor. She joins Equal Time to talk about why the book is especially timely in the present political climate.

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    15 April 2024, 10:10 am
  • 28 minutes 39 seconds
    Political Theater: ‘Food, Inc. 2’ filmmakers provide plenty to chew on

    People feel so passionately about food that perhaps it is not a surprise it has yielded that rarest of things: A sequel to a documentary. The makers of 2008’s “Food, Inc.,” are, as the new movie’s tagline goes, back for seconds with “Food, Inc. 2,” a multi-layered look at the food industry, its farmers, workers, scientists, journalists and more. Co-directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo are here to talk about it, from soup to nuts.

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    11 April 2024, 4:49 pm
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