You’re not the only one squinting to understand what’s happening on Capitol Hill

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. The duck is officially lame with apologies to our real life feathered friends, the 117th Congress. At least the House will be back in session this week and casting votes. For a look at what remains before the arrival of the 118th Congress, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin  turned to Bloomberg Government Deputy News Director Loren Duggan. Interview transcript: Tom Temin: And this really is one of those kind of special…

Read More...

What Democrats Don’t Understand About Ron Johnson

APPLETON, Wisconsin—Senator Ron Johnson was midway through a rambling speech on all that’s wrong with America—his villains included runaway debt, the porous southern border, gender-affirming medical treatment, and FDR’s New Deal—when he paused for a moment of self-reflection. “It’s a huge mess,” Johnson said of the country. “I really ought to have the people who introduce me warn audiences: I’m not the most uplifting character.” A few people in the not-quite-packed crowd at the FreedomProject Academy, a drab, low-slung private school, chuckled. The 67-year-old Republican, stumping for a third term…

Read More...

Want to Understand the Red-State Onslaught? Look at Florida.

The red-state drive to roll back civil rights is entering a new phase, perhaps best symbolized by Florida’s passage this week of the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill censoring how schools discuss sexual orientation. President Joe Biden’s administration is leaning more heavily into the fight, even as business leaders are retreating from the battlefield. In multiple states, prominent companies that regularly tout their commitment to diversity and inclusion have largely stood aside as GOP-controlled legislatures and governors have approved laws that restrict voting access, curtail abortion rights and LGBTQ freedoms, and…

Read More...