Eye on Congress:The Big Story

“The Final Year,” director Greg Barker’s documentary about a year in the life of the Obama administration’s foreign policy team, opens this Friday in theaters. For this week’s Political Theater podcast, the filmmaker and President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes recount the story they tell through a human lens. “I wanted to give a sense that these complicated policy issues are, in fact, being grappled with and decided on by ordinary people,” Barker says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Story Podcast is now Political Theater, in which we examine the spectacle of politics and how it fits, or doesn’t, into the nation’s culture.  Brandon Wetherbee, managing editor of the arts and cultural website Brightest Young Things, and co-author of “The Donald: How Trump Turned Presidential Politics into Pro Wrestling,” discusses the president’s approach to sports and how it relates to politics and the pursuit of power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest tax overhaul in three decades, a record roster of judicial confirmations, strikes at Obamacare and a regulatory rollback: White House correspondent John T. Bennett reviews how the president ended up winning much of what he campaigned for, but remains at record low approval ratings. Can he sell his agenda to midterm voters? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roll Call politics reporter Bridget Bowman, who is on the ground in Alabama, discusses how Democrat Doug Jones’ win is reverberating in the political sphere and how it could affect Congress in the coming year as lawmakers prepare for the 2018 midterm elections.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A week before Alabama's special election, Roll Call election analyst Nathan Gonzales  describes how he unearthed  an obscure political action committee supporting Roy Moore — just one more twist in a campaign where his alleged preying on teenage girls is the main issue, and has created a deep rift among his fellow Republicans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even though Democratic leaders snubbed President Donald Trump's invitation to the White House this week, it doesn't mean they don't want to negotiate with him. Roll Call's White House reporter John T. Bennett explains.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Allegations against current lawmakers, plus revelations of many taxpayer-funded settlements, are forcing leaders of both parties to confront the Hill’s backward culture before the election year, Roll Call columnist Patricia Murphy and reporter Simone Pathé explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roll Call columnist Walter Shapiro and Leadership Editor Jason Dick discuss the political morass Congress finds itself in with the debate over state and local tax deductions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the Democratic surge in the off-year voting gives the party reason to smile, the midterm election is a long way off. Roll Call reporters Simone Pathé and Bridget Bowman detail what the results in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere mean for the Democrats' quest to take back the House.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ lobbying reporter Kate Ackley explains how K Street and the business community are shaping the much-anticipated GOP tax overhaul. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump's presidency has encouraged women to make campaign contributions in unprecedented numbers. Will more women run for Congress, too? CQ lobbying reporter Kate Ackley and Roll Call political reporter Simone Pathé explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do lawmakers read or understand the legislation they pass? They are about to pass a budget resolution they say isn't about the budget and passed legislation last year that defanged the DEA during an opioid epidemic. Roll Call Senior Senate Reporter Niels Lesniewski walks through what's going on.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roll Call political reporters Simone Pathé and Bridget Bowman explain how the primaries are shaping up ahead of the 2018 midterm elections amid a Republican Party civil war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Louisiana's Sen. Bill Cassidy, a key architect of the Graham/Cassidy health care overhaul proposal, tells CQ Roll Call that with some adjustments and time he believes he can gain enough support to pass the measure and end Obamacare. He talks to Roll Call leadership editor Jason Dick, political reporter Joseph William and CQ health reporter Mary Ellen McIntire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CQ Roll Call lobbying reporter Kate Ackley and executive talent-hunter Julian Ha discuss the job market for lawmakers and staff members in the Age of Trump. "I think the system is constipated,'' says Ha. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alabama's Senate contest Tuesday is the first election skirmish in this year’s Republican civil war. Appointed Sen. Luther Strange is the candidate of the party establishment yet has the backing of the outsider president, Donald Trump. But former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s controversial conservatism has the ear of many Trump diehards. A preview from reporters who’ve seen the contest up close, Roll Call's Bridget Bowman and The Economist’s James Astill​. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent spate of lawmakers have announced they're retiring from Congress, and they are likely to be followed by others, says Roll Call elections analyst Nathan Gonzales. Senior political writer Bridget Bowman and leadership editor Jason Dick discuss who else might retire, and how will that affect Capitol Hill? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hill Republicans lambasted President Barack Obama’s deportation protections for 800,000 young people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, but now they sound willing to heed President Donald Trump’s invitation to turn the DACA program into law. What’s changed? CQ Roll Call immigration reporter Dean DeChiaro and education reporter Emily Wilkins explain.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Philadelphia's suburbs have long been political bellwethers, and any road to a House majority will likely run through them. Democrats are targeting three Republican House members in Philly's suburban districts. Roll Call Senior Political Reporter Bridget Bowman discusses the races with CQ Roll Call Leadership Editor Jason Dick on The Big Story Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Jeff Flake's path to re-election is complicated. The Arizona Republican was potentially vulnerable even before President Donald Trump touched down in Phoenix to criticize him at a campaign style rally. Now Flake, who has argued for more civility in politics, finds himself in a big fight in both the GOP primary and, if he gets past that, a compressed general election. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses the 2018 Senate race in Arizona with Roll Call Leadership Editor Jason Dick on the Big Story Podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices