The NPR Politics Podcast

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Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters are there to explain the big news coming out of Washington and the campaign trail. They don't just tell you what happened. They tell you why it matters. Every afternoon.

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McCarthy Fails To Unite GOP...

10.02.2023

Speaker McCarthy, unable to marshal his conference, relied on Democrats to fund the federal government for another 45 days. The deal puts his job in jeopardy and kicks the can down the road as House Republicans will still need to ...

The NPR Politics Podcast episodes:

10.02.2023 McCarthy Fails To Unite GOP, Turns To Dems To Keep Government Open Speaker McCarthy, unable to marshal his conference, relied on Democrats to fund the federal government for another 45 days. The deal puts his job in jeopardy and kicks the can down the road as House Republicans will still need to ...
09.29.2023 Roundup: Feinstein's Legacy, Shutdown, Biden And Democracy Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, is dead at 90. The government is about to shutdown over intra-GOP disagreements. And Biden gave a speech warning about the continuing threats to American Democracy. This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, White ...
09.28.2023 House Republicans, In Search Of A Crime, Launch Biden Impeachment The hearing focused on the business practices of his son's efforts and insinuations that, while serving as vice president, Biden used his office to enrich himself or his family. So far, the Republicans have no substantive evidence to support that ...
09.28.2023 Candidates Debated. But They Probably Still Can't Beat Trump Seven Republican primary candidates not named Donald Trump debated Wednesday night in the Reagan Library in California. There were some interesting policy questions, plenty of infighting and basically no signs that any of these folks can surge to overtake the ...
09.26.2023 Growing Public Support For Unions Helped Push Biden To Picket Line In what is likely a first, the sitting president of the United States joined a picket line. Biden made a brief stop in Michigan wearing a ball cap and quarter-zip to address picketing auto workers through a megaphone. Trump will ...
09.25.2023 What Counts As An Official Act? Why Corruption Is Hard To Convict Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is facing federal bribery charges. Federal agents found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold at his home. Menendez is remaining defiant and says he will not resign. The senator has ...
09.22.2023 Weekly Roundup: Shutdown Likely Because Of GOP Infighting Congress has left town as House Republicans infighting appears doomed to shutdown the government next week. And both Donald Trump and President Biden appear to have turned their attention toward the general election race — even though the first primary ...
09.21.2023 Our Changing Democracy: Non-Partisan Primaries, Internet Voting Closed primaries — where only members of that political party can vote — are effectively the final say in the vast majority of House of Representatives elections. Can open primary elections help incentive candidates to work toward consensus? And 300,000 ...
09.20.2023 Trump Will Visit Striking Auto Workers, Reception Could Be Mixed The former president is evidently trying to shore up support with working class voters in Michigan. He narrowly lost the state in 2020. The autoworkers' union blasted Trump in a statement — though its relationship with the Biden White House ...
09.19.2023 Can Gov. Doug Burgum Introduce Himself In Time To Win The GOP Primary? The governor of North Dakota is running to be the Republican nominee for president after a long career in business and two elections to the governor's mansion. In an interview with The NPR Politics Podcast, Burgum, who has languished in ...
09.18.2023 Divisions Grow Over Sending More Aid To Ukraine The country's wartime president heads to the United Nations and to Capitol Hill this week to make the case for more support. But the topic of further funding Ukraine's war efforts is increasingly dividing the American public, with Republicans in ...
09.15.2023 How Mapmaking Can Tilt The Balance In Congress Congressional redistricting in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and New York may give Democrats a chance to win more seats in the House of Representatives & improve their chances to take back the chamber in the 2024 elections. We explore why. ...
09.14.2023 Hunter Biden Indicted On Gun Charges The president's son faces three felony charges related to a weapon he purchased in 2018. The charges come after a plea deal fell apart earlier in the summer, and may cause headaches for the Biden campaign — not to mention ...
09.13.2023 The Summer Of Labor Public opinion toward organized labor is at recent highs. As a potential strike by the United Auto Workers looms, we look at what UAW workers are looking for in a new contract, and how the Biden administration & Republicans alike ...
09.12.2023 McCarthy Calls For Impeachment Inquiry Into Biden The speaker of the House cited "allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption" in his reasoning to direct House committees to begin the proceedings, which will start at a date to be determined. The White House called it a ...
09.11.2023 Meet The New Bosses — Younger Than The Old Bosses The chair of North Carolina's Democratic party is just 25. Her Republican counterpart in Alabama is 37. Together, they represent a younger generation making inroads in political leadership. How do their perspectives inform their parties' plans in 2024? This episode: ...
09.08.2023 Is Chris Christie A Man Without A Party? The former governor of New Jersey is running to be the Republican nominee for president for a second time, having lost to Donald Trump in 2016. In an interview with The NPR Politics Podcast, Christie says both he and the ...
09.07.2023 Campaign Check-In: How Are The Non-Trump Candidates Making Their Pitch? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was once seen as the biggest threat to former President Donald Trump. But his campaign got off to a rocky start and is struggling to gain traction. In this episode, we look at how three non-Trump ...
09.06.2023 The National Implications Of Impeaching Texas' Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, is facing a bipartisan impeachment trial in the Texas Senate related to allegations of corruption and bribery, which Paxton denies. Despite being a state official, Paxton has had an outsized influence in national policy, especially regarding ...
09.05.2023 Remember 9/11? Most Military Recruits Don't. Most new recruits to active duty military service were either very young or not yet born when the attacks of September 11th, 2001 took place. As the U.S. nears the 22nd anniversary of the attacks, how is military recruitment changing ...
09.04.2023 It's A Politics Podcast Trivia Game! We're off for Labor Day, but we wanted to give you something a little fun to listen to. It's our Politics Podcast Trivia Game! This episode was first released as a bonus episode for NPR Politics Podcast+ listeners. We're excited ...
09.01.2023 Weekly Roundup: Trump's Televised Trial, Ramaswamy's Rap Riposte Donald Trump has pled not guilty to state charges in Georgia, as have many of his alleged co-conspirators. And, on the campaign trail, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was forced to return home to deal with a storm. Vivek Ramaswamy agreed ...
08.31.2023 Health Scares And Funding Fights Cloud Congress' Return Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, again froze suddenly during a press conference. The 81 year-old's medical incidents have raised concerns about his future in Washington. And funding the war in Ukraine, funding the government, responding to natural disasters, and ...
08.30.2023 After 30 Years, Here's Biden's Plan To Lower Drug Costs: Negotiate The government announced the first ten drugs that are the subject of price negotiations between the U.S. government and private companies. For decades, the government has been prohibited from negotiating the price it pays through Medicare for medication — until ...
08.29.2023 The US Tried To Keep ICE Abuse Reports Secret. Here's What's Inside NPR obtained secret government inspection reports, which described "negligent," "barbaric" and "filthy" conditions inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. For more than three years, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, the federal government fought NPR's efforts to ...
08.28.2023 Biden Administration, NYC Spar Over Immigration Policy In New York City, more than 90,000 migrants or people seeking asylum have sought refuge since spring 2022. The city's Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, has asked for more federal assistance, and in the meantime, has cut back on services for ...
08.25.2023 Get Ready To Be Badgered: Wisconsin Is A Presidential Battleground Wisconsin's diverse geography and intense state politics have kept it a closely-fought presidential battleground for years — but abortion politics and the GOP's slipping grasp on the state's evolving suburbs might be changing things. And a family's journey to find ...
08.25.2023 Donald Trump Processed Through Georgia Jail Former President Donald Trump was processed through a county jail in Georgia on 13 charges that he was part of an illegal conspiracy to change the 2020 election results in Georgia. He has yet to enter a plea in the ...
08.24.2023 What Happened At The First 2024 Republican Primary Debate All the candidates except former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said they would support Donald Trump if he secures the nomination — even if he is criminally convicted on any of the charges he ...
08.22.2023 Trump's Opponents Debate Tomorrow — He Says He Won't Show Up North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, former vice president Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott of South ...
08.21.2023 Biden Visits Hawaii After Deadly Fire The president's visit to the state is a fresh reminder of the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather in the United States — and of his fraught reputation among climate-conscious voters. This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, White ...
08.18.2023 Summer Camp... David: Biden Welcomes South Korea, Japan Leaders President Biden welcomed the men in an effort to foster unity as the United States works to counter China's influence in the region. And Alabama is once again in court over its congressional district maps. This episode: political correspondent Susan ...
08.17.2023 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer On Climate Law The New York Democrats discussed the landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, a year after he helped to pass the legislation. He said it will take time to for its provisions to be felt by the American public. This ...
08.16.2023 If The Economy Is So Good, Why Are People So Mad? Inflation is way down, the U.S. is faring better than other major economies, and people broadly say their own personal financial situation is good. So why are people so down on the economy? This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, White ...
08.15.2023 Trump Charged In Georgia, Alongside Election Subversion Allies The indictment alleges a sweeping scheme to overturn the state's election results. Unlike the federal charges brought by the special counsel Jack Smith, Trump — should he win reelection — would have no legal authority to pardon himself of any ...
08.14.2023 Cattle Call: Republican Hopefuls Flock To Iowa State Fair The Iowa State Fair regularly draws more than a million people to Des Moines to revel in fried delights and livestock shows — that includes presidential hopefuls. But the mood this year is different than it has been in past ...
08.11.2023 Special Counsel Named To Investigate President's Son Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that prosecutor David Weiss will be appointed special counsel in the ongoing probe of Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. Weiss, a Trump appointee, was already overseeing the investigation in his capacity as ...
08.10.2023 Young Voters, Young Politicians Turnout among voters under 30 has been high in recent elections, but there are still major impediments — both systemic issues and cultural ones — that keep younger people from casting ballots. And there are similar roadblocks when those folks ...
08.09.2023 Ohio Voters Reject GOP Effort To Limit Direct Democracy Ohio voters have decisively rejected a proposal that, if passed, would have made it much harder for future ballot measures to add amendments to the state constitution. The Republican-led effort was scheduled to come before a November ballot measure that ...
08.08.2023 Old Politicians President Biden is the oldest U.S. president ever at 80. Donald Trump is 77. Congress is as old as it has ever been. How did we get here and how does it shape our politics? This episode: voting correspondent Miles ...
08.07.2023 Why Some State Republican Parties Are Struggling to Raise Money Some state Republican parties are struggling. In Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota, the parties' organizations have suffered heavy election losses and are experiencing deep disagreements about the future of the GOP. This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, political correspondent Susan Davis, ...
08.04.2023 As Abortion Vote Looms, Ohio GOP Hopes To Rein In Ballot Measures Trump's latest charges may further fracture House Republicans — with some in the party motivated to undermine President Biden with investigations and others worried about holding on to split-ticket seats that Biden carried in 2020. And, ahead of a November ...
08.03.2023 Trump Enters Not Guilty Plea In 2020 Election Subversion Case Former President Donald Trump, appearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., said he was not guilty of federal charges alleging he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results. The judge has set Aug. 28 as the first hearing in the ...
08.02.2023 Why Does Biden Stay Quiet On Trump's Legal Woes? Donald Trump continues to raise money and consolidate support on the back of his mounting criminal indictments — obstacles that would probably sink any other campaign. Meanwhile, President Biden has stayed nearly silent on the charges against Trump, despite Biden's ...
08.02.2023 Trump's New Charges Stem From His Attempt To Subvert The Election Former President Trump has been indicted for his role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, an effort that reached a bloody crescendo on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump faces four federal criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud ...
07.31.2023 Our Interview With GOP Presidential Hopeful Will Hurd Will Hurd is a 45 year-old former CIA agent who served six years representing western Texas in the House. He told us that he's running because he sees generational challenges facing America's "fragile democracy." This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, ...
07.28.2023 Trump Ordered Security Footage Deleted, DOJ Alleges In New Charges Donald Trump and two aides face new obstruction counts based on allegations that they instructed an unnamed, fourth worker to delete surveillance video footage at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence last summer "to prevent the footage from being provided to a federal ...
07.27.2023 House GOP Delights As Hunter Biden Plea Agreement Stalls The judge in the Hunter Biden case said Wednesday she is not ready to accept the plea deal struck between the president's son and the Justice Department. Judge Maryellen Noreika demanded that the lawyers from both sides make clear that ...
07.26.2023 The Tiny Liberal Arts College At The Heart Of The Culture War New College of Florida is a public college on the state's west coast with fewer than a thousand students known for its focus on sustainability and lack of traditional grading. Lately, it has become the primary target of Governor Ron ...
07.25.2023 Man Wounded in US Raid On ISIS Head Says His Future Was Destroyed The U.S. Defense Department said troops spared civilians during a celebrated 2019 raid against the leader of ISIS, but NPR has uncovered new details that challenge the U.S. claims. Read the full investigation. This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, ...

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