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 To kick off our Republican National Convention coverage, CQ Roll Call’s Adriel Bettelheim and CQ Magazine Senior Editor Shawn Zeller consider where Donald Trump could pick up white-voter support to clinch the presidency. If Trump is able to increase the GOP share of the white vote by five percentage points more than Mitt Romney […]
  Controversy hung over the opening night of the Republican National Convention as parts of Melania Trump’s speech were nearly identical to one Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. Anti-Trump delegates also unsuccessfully challenged convention rules. CQ News Director, Steve Komarow, gives us a preview of what’s ahead on Day Two of the RNC with […]
Welcome to Political Theater, Roll Call’s podcast and newsletter on the spectacle of politics and how it fits, or doesn’t, into the nation’s culture. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Football Has Been Good to Me President Donald Trump loves football. He played in high school. He owned a USFL team, the New Jersey Generals. […]
CQ budget reporter Paul M. Krawzak explains the negotiations to lift the budget caps by as much as $250 billion over two years. RollCall Show Notes: Spending, Immigration Talks Entangled Subscribe: Apple Podcasts  Stitcher Â
 The 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement has become a thorny issue for presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her Democratic Party, says CQ Roll Call’s trade reporter Ellyn Ferguson, who explains in detail what’s at stake. Donald Trump’s and Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign rhetoric has emboldened anti-TPP activists, who have turned a usually wonky debate to a national […]
 Congress is going on a seven-week summer break without resolving critical issues from funding the government beyond Sept. 30 to paying for a response to the Zika virus. "There is no agreement yet on a fiscal 2017 plan,’’ says CQ Roll Call’s Budget & Economy Editor Jane Norman. Along with Managing Editor Adriel Bettelheim, […]
 Working on Capitol Hill may sound glamorous, but for many congressional staffers their salaries don’t match the importance of their jobs. A Roll Call analysis shows stagnant salaries — starting at around $35,000 a year – lag far behind living costs in the nation’s capital — a phenomenon that could lead to brain drain on the […]
 Though Congress and the Obama administration are still fighting over how to respond to the Zika virus outbreak, the gridlock hasn’t kept government scientists from trying to develop an effective vaccine. CQ Roll Call’s managing editor Adriel Bettelheim talks to senior Senate reporter Niels Lesniewski to learn more. Show Notes: Despite Spending Feud, NIH […]
  With fewer than two weeks left to fund the government past the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, deal-making in Congress is in overdrive, says CQ Roll Call’s Budget reporter Jennifer Shutt. Lawmakers will have to overcome a slew of sticking points to provide money to combat the Zika virus. They’ll also […]
CQ’s Paul M. Krawzak spells out the progress lawmakers are making on reaching a two-year budget deal that would most likely lift the 2011 budget caps.  Show Notes:  Senate Adopts Budget With House-Backed Changes .@TomColeOK04 on fiscal 2018 spending level: They think they are close and I think they are. I think we’ll probably […]
Courts are weighing in as never before on whether gerrymandering can be too political. If red and blue can no longer constitutionally dominate the mapmakers’ work, what are they to do? As Roll Call election analyst Nathan Gonzales explains, it’s very difficult to draw districts that are at once competitive, compact and fair to minority voters. […]
 China has sent shockwaves through the global financial system announcing that its central bank would soon introduce a digital version of its domestic currency, the yuan. Fintech Beat sits down with key IMF officials to learn about what a state-backed ‘cryptocurrency’ means for the yuan as a potential rival to the dollar. Â
roll call Hot topics? The Supreme Court’s got ’em this term. LGBTQ rights. Guns. Immigration. Abortion. The first Monday in October marks the start of the high court’s term each year, providing the titles of a 1981 Walter Matthau-Jill Clayburgh feature film — "First Monday in October" — and a short-lived CBS television drama with James […]
 One year out from Election Day 2020 and Senate Republicans and House Democrats find themselves in parallel universes. The GOP is on defense in Senate races, where more Republicans are on the ballot, and it’s the opposite in the House, where many Democrats who won in hostile territory last year find themselves in tough races. CQ […]
 CQ on Congress looks ahead at the fall congressional session with CQ Roll Call reporters Katherine Tully-McManus and Niels Lesniewski. Spoiler alert: The prospects for major legislation aren’t bright. Then, Scot Schraufnagel, the chair of the political science department at Northern Illinois University and an expert on congressional productivity, explains why this Congress isn’t […]
roll call Lobbying firms on K Street and trade associations used to be a sure bet for retiring members of Congress. Not anymore. Julian Ha, a recruiter on K Street and an adviser to FiscalNote, the company that owns CQ Roll Call, joins the podcast along with CQ Roll Call senior writer Kate Ackley to talk […]
 Around 400 people are suffering from respiratory illnesses and six have died after using electronic cigarettes, sparking a rare bipartisan response in Washington. After President Donald Trump announced that the FDA would ban the sale of flavorings for the devices, the spotlight is now on lawmakers of both parties who are considering legislation. Three […]
 After months of delay, Senate appropriators finally got to work on their spending bills for the new fiscal year, which begins in just two weeks. But it was a slower start than lawmakers had hoped for, and unlike last year’s effort, it was deeply partisan. The Appropriations Committee approved its overall spending limits for […]
  Cryptocurrencies are increasingly the tool of choice for drug dealers and corrupt actors. Prosecutors say they have seized nearly $1 billion worth of digital coins in busts around the world. But how is crypto treated as a matter of U.S. law — and what does the IRS do with its seizures? To find out, Fintech Beat sits […]
roll call The conventional wisdom is that impeaching President Donald Trump could imperil Democrats in 2020. But beware the conventional wisdom, and relying on dated data and small sample sets, like the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton. "Make no mistake about it: Backing impeachment will cost the Democrats their majority in 2020," Rep. Tom […]