Flaws in the federal budget process have become self-evident over the past decade, with delayed federal funding and government shutdowns turning into an annual tradition. These concerns have escalated this fiscal year; while 5 of the federal government’s 12 appropriation bills were enacted on time, unfortunately agreement could not be reached on the remainder. This led to the partial government...

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Of the nearly 100,000 public K-12 schools in the United States, more than one in four are in poor or unsatisfactory condition. Finding additional funding for school facilities is inherently challenging. Should the federal government include schools as a part of a broader infrastructure initiative? BPC’s Jake Varn discusses this issue with Mary FIlardo of the 21st Century School Fund and BPC senior...

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Right now half a dozen wildfires are burning throughout California with devastating impacts. BPC’s Jake Varn talks with James Gore, the Co-Chair of the National Association of Counties Resilient Counties Initiative about these fires and how local officials are responding. James gives his first-hand perspective on what’s happening in California and recounts the impacts of the Tubbs Fire that took...

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In this episode of All Things Elections podcast, we speak to Tammy Patrick, Senior Advisor of Elections at the Democracy Project and former Federal Compliance Officer for Maricopa County (AZ) Elections, and Linda Lindberg, General Registrar of Arlington County (VA) Elections, about how the vote counting process works from Election Day through the certification of results. We cover absentee and...

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Americans are a very mobile society with millions of citizens moving each year both within states and to other states. Until recently, states had few formal options to compare their voter registration lists with one another and almost no mechanism to reach out to eligible but unregistered voters in their jurisdictions. The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), created in 2012 with...

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Listen in to hear former San Antonio Mayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros discussed a variety of infrastructure and economic development issues. The Secretary discusses Opportunity Zones and their potential to transform cities as well as the prognosis for infrastructure in the next Congress.

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The contours of the American electorate are constantly changing. Trends in birthrate, educational attainment, and group support for particular parties are measurable and projectable in the short- and long-term. How these factors play out at the individual state and county levels will have huge implications for both Republicans and Democrats as the country heads toward the 2018 and 2020 elections...

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BPC sits down with Chris Vieson, Staff Director for the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, to discuss Chairman Shuster’s recently released infrastructure plan, and the outlook for bipartisan progress in Congress. The new proposal wants to fix the Highway Trust Fund before it goes insolvent, but can Shuster’s gas tax ideas break the deadlock? This podcast can also be found on...

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Recently, nearly a fourth of Washington, D.C. was under a Water Boil Advisory. Each year, about 7,000 Boil Water Advisories are issues across the country. This is a stark reminder of the state of our nation’s infrastructure and how vital systems are often severely neglected. Jake Varn sits down with Nathan Ohle, the Executive Director at RCAP and John Lisle, Chief of External Affairs at DC...

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Suspected meddling during the 2016 presidential election led to a controversial Department of Homeland Security designation of elections as critical infrastructure. This federal foray into election security met with initial criticism and concerns about the appropriate role between local, state, and federal government officials in keeping the electoral process secure. In just about a year and a...

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