Americans have a pretty dismal view of Congress. Lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate are seen as ineffective and a much diminished power under President Trump. Last year, for example, Congress passed a record low number of laws while President Trump issued the most executive orders in modern history.

Paul Kane, a veteran Capitol Hill reporter and one of its smartest chroniclers recently wrote a column for the Washington Post in which he argued that “Congress needs a major course correction or else it will slide into a permanent state of weakness that further empowers the presidency.”

To find out whether Congress is indeed headed for irrelevance, Amy checked in with Molly Reynolds, vice president and director of governance studies at Brookings. Her work focuses on Congress and how congressional rules and procedure affect policymaking.

Molly has a more nuanced opinion about the state of the modern Congress and helps put its dysfunction into context. Amy and Molly also talk about what a potential flip in congressional control in 2027 would mean for President Trump and for legislating overall.

We recorded this conversation on Tuesday, April 7.

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Amy has long been an admirer of this week’s guest, The Wall Street Journal's chief economics commentator Greg Ip. She finds his insights into how our economy functions to be thoughtful as well as approachable. It’s also why she thought he'd be the perfect person to talk with about the central disconnect we've seen in perceptions of our economy over the last few years - namely that the markets and Wall Street suggest everything is going great. Meanwhile American consumers are saying the economy is not great, at all.

They also talk about AI, why Greg thinks it's not likely to have a huge impact on our jobs, but why it's potentially contributing to Americans' generally pessimistic views of their economic futures.

Of course, the war with Iran is adding its own economic uncertainty to the mix. So they start the conversation there.

We recorded this on Wednesday, March 11th.

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The Odd Years is back with our first episode of this midterm year!

Political news and events seem to be breaking faster than the human brain can process, so we wanted to take a step back and talk to people with experience, insight, and perspective who can help us make sense of it all.

That is why we kicked off the inaugural 2026 episode with two political reporters who embody those traits: The Wall Street Journal's Annie Linskey and Puck's Peter Hamby. They are known for their smarts and scoops, but also their level headedness and ability to separate the buzzy from the newsworthy.

In this episode, Annie discusses Trump's rare backtrack on immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Peter's been doing a lot of great reporting and survey research on young voters and gives us a timely update on their views of Trump and how they see the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates.

Plus, we talk about what we should make of Trump's talk of “nationalizing elections” and whether the Republicans proposed voter ID law could actually make it harder for their own supporters to cast a ballot.

We recorded this conversation on Tuesday, February 10.

You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreport

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It's a consequential week in the Supreme Court as justices hear a case that could reorient the bounds of executive authority and overturn a ninety year precedent that insulates independent government agencies from political interference from the president.

President Trump has tested those bounds of his executive power on everything from tariffs and trade to immigration to government spending.

It's now up to the Supreme Court to determine just how far that authority can stretch, and that's why Amy wanted to talk to our guest today, Josh Gerstein, a reporter at Politico, who covers the intersection of law and politics -- which these days feels like just about everything under the sun.

Amy and Josh talked about the dynamics in this Supreme Court, how they may rule on these upcoming cases, including ones like the Voting Rights Act.

We recorded this conversation on Thursday, December 4th, right before the court announced they were taking up the birthright citizenship case and before they issued their stay on Texas' redistricting map.

You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreport

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In Amy’s opinion, Astead Herndon is one of the sharpest and most thoughtful political journalists out there. His New York Times podcast, The Run-Up, did an amazing job pulling back the cover on how national politics is done and showing the gulf that exists between the parties, the insiders and actual voters.

It’s this kind of journalism that has set Astead apart from the pack. He picks apart conventional wisdom and elevates the complexities and gray areas that are critical in understanding this political moment.

He's also been skeptical of the idea that traditional forms of political journalism can keep up with the significant changes we've seen in the way Americans receive and process the fire hose of digital media coming at them every single day.

It's one reason why he made the decision to leave the New York Times for a role at Vox. There, he’ll take on the position of host and editorial director and create a new weekly video podcast about, of course, politics starting next year.

This was a really interesting conversation that covered everything from the media to the midterms to the World Cup.

We recorded it on Wednesday, November 19th.

Californians often like to think of themselves as the center of the universe. But when it comes to politics, this deep blue state is rarely in the spotlight - until now. The passage of Prop 50 in last Tuesday's election was the most consequential development to date in the redistricting wars. The new Democratic drawn map will cost Republicans three to five seats in 2026 and also shores up five vulnerable Democratic incumbents.

The win is also a feather in the cap of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom who hopes to ride the momentum from the Prop 50 landslide win all the way to the White House.

And if that news wasn't enough last week, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco icon who led House Democrats through multiple wars, economic crises, and impeachments, announced she would retire after nearly four decades in Congress. Her decision unleashes pent up political floodgates and kicks off a fierce primary fight for the chance to fill her district.

To talk through all of this, we've invited Cook Political Report U.S. House Editor Erin Covey, who's covering the redistricting wars as closely as anyone in the country. And also joining us is Mark Barabak, an LA Times columnist and expert in all things political in California.

We recorded this conversation on Thursday, November 6th.

Follow all our Redistricting coverage: https://www.cookpolitical.com/redistricting

Check out our interactive Redistricting Map (in front of the paywall!): https://www.cookpolitical.com/redistricting/2025-26-mid-decade-map

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One week from today, voters in New Jersey and Virginia will go to the polls. These are state and not federal elections. But they can serve as bellwethers for the upcoming midterm election next year.

Topics that resonate in a purple state like Virginia this year, for example, are likely to be issues that are significant in swing states and districts in 2026.

Next Tuesday, we’ll also look closely at voter turnout for some early clues as to which party is more excited to show up and vote next year.

Even as our politics has become more and more nationalized, these contests in Virginia and New Jersey are also impacted by unique state and local issues and trends. And that's why we wanted to discuss these contests with two people who really understand the issues, the electorate, and parts of the state will be most important to watch on November 4th.

Amy is joined by Joey Fox of the New Jersey Globe and Chaz Nuttycombe, founder and executive director of State Navigate, who's following the Virginia contests.

We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, October 22nd.

You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel.

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It's safe to say Democrats are going through something of an identity crisis at the moment. They have no clear leaders, no driving issues, and no real power in Washington. And that makes the current government shutdown an interesting test case for Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer over what they think their voters want and how best to fight Donald Trump.

Our guest today, Democratic strategist Lis Smith, has not minced words when it comes to perceptions of her party.

She told the New York Times that the Democratic brand was “in the toilet” and recently called for Democrats to “burn the party establishment down.”

Smith, however, is not some upstart campaign disruptor. She's a veteran of twenty political campaigns, most recently as a senior adviser to Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign.

This makes her critique of the party and the work she's doing this cycle to try and fix it worth understanding and exploring more deeply.

We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, October 7th.

You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreport

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We're about eight months into Donald Trump's second term, a victory driven in large part due to voter frustration with the economy and their belief that he would help get inflation down. So what does the economic picture look like today? That's not as easy a question to answer as you would think.

Stock market set record highs, but consumers remain pessimistic about inflation. The tariffs implemented by the Trump administration haven't caused the kinds of economic damage many economists predicted they would, yet it's also clear that tariffs are impacting economic decision making in ways that aren't altogether obvious. And then there's AI. If you work for or invested in a company making AI, you're doing great.

But what about those folks, especially new graduates entering the workforce who are being displaced by the new technology?

Thankfully, we found someone to help us better understand this moment. Heather Long is chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. She's not only super smart, but she can make very confusing and complicated subject like this one understandable and approachable.

We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, September 24th.

Check out our CPR 2025-2026 Redistricting Tracker: https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/redistricting/2025-2026-redistricting-tracker-how-many-seats-could-flip-0

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We took a late summer break, but we're back with a new slate of really great interviews!

When we started this year, redistricting was not something we thought would be driving our politics this cycle.

But, of course, that's no longer the case with Texas unleashing a domino effect of redistricting efforts across the country.

Thankfully, we know someone really well who can help us understand what's happening: The Cook Political Report's very own David Wasserman.

If you follow Dave on X, you know him as Redistrict.

Redistricting itself is a topic Dave's been fascinated with for a very long time. He was pouring over maps and congressional data as a kid, which we talk about in this conversation. (It's pretty adorable.)

Now as one of the most trusted sources in the country on congressional maps, we literally can't think of anyone better to help us navigate this complicated and unprecedented mid-cycle redrawing of districts.

We recorded this conversation on Thursday, September 11th.

Check out our CPR 2025-2026 Redistricting Tracker: https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/redistricting/2025-2026-redistricting-tracker-how-many-seats-could-flip-0

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