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Newark City Council member Ron Rice, Jr., Mayor Wayne Smith of Irvington, NJ, State Senator Nia Gill (D-34) and Donald Payne, Jr., Essex County freeholder-at-large, Newark city council president and the son of late Congressman Donald Payne Sr. of New Jersey's 10th district discuss their campaigns in the primary race to represent New Jersey's 10th district in Congress.

 

Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts -and recent head of the federal consumer protection agency - is in the middle of a nasty controversy that underscores the nefarious nature of racial politics in this country.

If Washington could attract the same talent as Silicon Valley, maybe Congress wouldn't have the lowest approval ratings in history.

It’s hard to imagine the Senate without the filibuster, but now the non-profit group Common Cause is filing a lawsuit against the Supreme Court claiming that the notorious senate procedure is, in fact, unconstitutional. The Takeaway talks with the plaintiff’s attorney Emmet Bondurant and filibuster scholar Gregory Koger to find out where the filibuster came from, what good it’s done us, and whether it’s going to stick around.        

Robert Draper, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic and GQ and the author of Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives, talks about the House of Representatives since the 2010 elections.

Presidential campaigns routinely make the rounds in New York during presidential campaigns. So do Republicans and Democrats who come to New York to make their case for donations and control in Congress. Here are the big winners of New York money in Congressional elections in 2012 and 2008. 

Last week, the cybersecurity bill CISPA passed the House of Representatives. Brooke talks to Congressman Adam Schiff about why he was initially for the bill and why he decided that in its current form it did not offer enough privacy protections to American citizens.

It’s a tough time to be a moderate Democrat in the halls of Congress. Only 24 so-called blue dog Democrats remain in Congress, and as the November elections near, several of them are looking at tough re-election campaigns. An unpopular president sharing the ticket, major redistricting, and tough conservative opponents may make the blue dog extinct. Robert “Bud” Cramer is a long-time blue dog Democrat. He's formerly the Congressman for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, and is now the Chairman of Wexler Walker Public Policy Associates.

Republican Congressional leaders are staking out their positions on the federal budget, setting up what will most likely become another series of policy fights with President Barack Obama this election year.

While it may seem like all politics is geared towards the fall election, Congress continues to debate important bills. Todd Zwillich, Takeaway Washington correspondent, fills us in.

When President Obama became the first black president in 2008, it seemed to mark a tremendous historical turning point for black representation in American political life. But four years later there has been no great renaissance in black electoral representation. If the number of office-holders was demographically proportionate, there would be at least 12 African American senators and six governors. In reality, there are currently no African-American senators and only one African-American governor in office.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the federal legislation aimed at ending violence against women and supporting victims of violence, is up for reauthorization this year. Senate Democrats plan to begin the push for reauthorization today. The original bill, passed in 1994, enjoyed strong support from both sides of the aisle. This year, Republican critics are voicing opposition, particularly to new programs included in this iteration of VAWA, including expanded programs for illegal immigrants to access visas by claiming domestic violence and support for victims in same-sex relationships. Democrats claim that this is the latest in Republicans' war on women. Republicans claim that federal money needs to be spent responsibly. What does this mean for the future of VAWA and for female voters in the 2012 election?

On today’s Backstory, ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger talks about what’s inside a jobs bill-- The Jump-Start Our Business Act --that just passed in the House of Representatives. We’ll also look at how the Federal Reserve has dealt with the country’s largest financial firms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commuters had high hopes that Congress would restore the full federal transit tax benefit, cut late last year, as part of the massive payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits bill passed today. But it didn’t happen Friday. 

If there's one thing that Republicans and Democrats traditionally agree on it's transportation legislation. Yet this is not the case for two different transportation bills that are stalled in the House and Senate. Tea Party conservatives are complaining about the cost, even thought traditional GOP members want to create jobs. Some think the problem is lack of earmarks, which bring "pork" to certain districts.

David Walker, one-time head of the Government Accountability Office, pointed out something that isn't news but still has the power to disturb when you actually take the time to mull it over: Congress has gotten in the habit of not passing spending bills on time or budget resolutions at all.

Monday morning, President Obama sends Congress his 2013 budget plan. The president’s budget includes stimulus-style spending increases on highway construction projects, schools, and other public works. It also includes increased taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations. What it doesn’t include are significant cuts, and the president already getting push-back from Republicans about his plan. They say it avoids making needed sacrifices and that it doesn’t do enough to curb the deficit or keep the rapid growth of benefit programs like Medicare in check.

At least three New York City Republicans are expressing reservations about their party's transportation bill. The legislation would stop funding mass transit through a federal gasoline tax for the first time in about three decades.

'No Budget, No Pay' proposes that Congress wouldn't get paid if they didn't pass the budget and the 13 appropriations bills on time, by Sept. 30, each year.

Nationwide confidence in our lawmakers is at an all time low. And this news isn't like to change that. More than 30 members of Congress have used over $ 300 million in earmarks and other spending to fund many public projects close to their own properties. That's the finding of an extensive investigation published in today's Washington Post. The Post also found 16 lawmakers who had sent tax dollars to places where members of their families work or serve on boards.