CQ Roll Call Policy and Politics CQ Roll Call

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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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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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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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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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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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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