A Look at Covid-19 Vaccine Incentives: Will They Work? There's a long history of using incentives to promote public health.   Some Republican-led States Plan to End Enhanced Unemployment Benefits Early A look at the growing number of red states opting out of the pandemic era unemployment program.     New Deal-Inspired Program Would Pay Writers to Document the Pandemic Earlier this month, Congressman Ted Lieu of California introduced a bill that would create a 21st Century Federal...

Democratic Bill Seeks to Combat Voting Restriction Legislation. But Will Congress Pass It? We speak with Senator Jeff Merkley about the For The People Act. New Data Indicates Homelessness Declined in Washington, D.C., But Long-term Issues Persist According to recent data, Washington, D.C.'s unhoused population fell by around 20 percent last year. But there were also increases in individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.  What's the Future of the GOP Under the Biden...

President Joe Biden's First 100 Days President Biden has used his first hundred days in office to drive the largest expansion of government seen in decades. Newsom Opponents Have Gathered Enough Signatures to Trigger a Recall—Now What? California is facing its first gubernatorial recall in nearly two decades. Should We Be Optimistic About the U.S. Economy? The unemployment rate is steadily dropping, and stocks have been on the rise, as the country has ramped up its aggressive vaccination...

Following Derek Chauvin's Conviction, Renewed Calls for Police Reform in Congress While many breathed a sigh of relief following the verdict, the days since have been a reminder of just how rampant police violence is in the country.  How Advocates Are Pushing President Biden to Confront Environmental Racism Although he’s already taking more steps than his predecessor, some advocates are pushing President Biden to go much further to address environmental racism. Statehood for Washington,...

Biden Administration Announces New Sanctions Against Russia The actions against Russia represent one of the first major tests for the new administration on the international level.  Biden Administration Emphasizes Commitment to Israel at a Chaotic Moment in Israeli Politics A visit to Israel from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is once again fighting for his political future.  What Withdrawing from Afghanistan Means for Veterans and Active...

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Aging Infrastructure, Vaccine Appointments, And More Governor Murphy joins the Takeaway for a conversation about the state’s pandemic response, school reopenings, and election reform in the state. Divisions Emerge Over Biden's Proposal to Raise the Corporate Tax Rate One of the biggest debates emerging around President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure proposal is how to pay for it. Kentucky Passes Law to Expand Voting Access This Wednesday, Kentucky...

Georgia's Newest Voting Law Aims to Reduce Access to the Polls Lawmakers in Georgia are part of a national trend in which legislators across the country have introduced more than 250 bills that aim to restrict voting.   In Texas, Lawmakers Advance Legislation for New Restrictions on Voting SB7 would do everything from limit early voting hours to prohibit drive-thru voting in the state.

A Look Back at Colorado's History of Mass Shootings This week, a gunman in Boulder, Colorado killed ten people while they were shopping in a local grocery store. Vice President Harris to Lead the White House Response at the Southern Border This week, President Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the United States’ response to the growing number of migrants arriving at the southern border. Biden Proposes Gun Reform in Light of Atlanta, Boulder Shootings In the wake of the...

A Message from The Takeaway.

From Statehood to Self-Determination: The Political Future of Puerto Rico This month, two different bills aiming to redefine Puerto Rico's relationship to the mainland U.S. have been introduced in Congress.  What You Need to Know About Foreign Interference in the 2020 Election A recently declassified national intelligence report outlines efforts authorized by foreign leaders to influence public opinion about the 2020 presidential race.

After four tumultuous years of the Trump presidency, President Joe Biden promised to put the chaos behind him and return the country to normalcy. While dysfunction and partisan gridlock in Washington were amplified during Trump’s tenure, it existed long before he arrived. Even so, it’s clear that the political divide has become deeper and democracy is more vulnerable than ever. On the final episode of Politics with Amy Walter, Astead Herndon, national political reporter for The New York...

Over the past 25 years, the makeup of newsrooms—and the people covering politics—has changed significantly. As more women and people of color joined the media, newsrooms began to reflect the diversity of America. While newsrooms today are still overwhelmingly white, the lens through which we view politics has evolved largely due to the diversity of opinions. But there's still a long way to go. Amy Walter spoke with Errin Haines, co-founder and editor-at-large for the 19th*, Toluse...

March will mark one year since students began learning from home. Today, about half the students in the United States are still learning remotely. While Zoom classrooms filled the gap at the beginning of the pandemic, it’s not a sustainable measure. Many parents have grown exasperated trying to help their kids through online classes as their children deal with the lack of socialization and in-person interaction. Others fear that sending their child back to school could compromise the health...

According to a recent Marist/NPR/PBS NewsHour poll, the proportion of Americans who think the nation is on track is at its lowest point in twenty years. A mob descended on the U.S. Capitol in a literal attempt to overthrow an election. And, thousands of Americans took to the streets this summer to protest longstanding police violence against Black and brown Americans. But, skepticism of the government didn’t start with President Trump’s attacks on the Deep State or his claims of voter...

President Biden’s campaign message of unity is being tested in Washington during his first full week in office, particularly because Republicans and Democrats don’t seem to agree on what unity means. The scars from the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol are still fresh, a second impeachment trial is looming in the Senate, and Republicans and Democrats are seemingly miles apart from agreeing on a new COVID-19 aid package. Meanwhile, disharmony is evident among members of the GOP as...

Joe Biden takes the helm as the 46th president of the United States during an unprecedented crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 400,000 Americans, nearly 16 million remain unemployed, and the peaceful transfer of power was disrupted by a violent mob unleashed by the former president. Unity was the centerpiece of President Biden’s inaugural address, but he also acknowledged that unity cannot be achieved without addressing the division and anger that defined the last four...

President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives just one week after encouraging his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol and disrupt Congress as they tallied Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. He is the first president to be impeached twice. Privately, many Republican members said that while they supported impeachment, they were worried about their physical safety and the political fallout from denouncing a president who remains popular among the base. Only ten Republicans...

This week, a violent mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The insurrectionists were seeking to overturn the results of the general election during a joint session of Congress as members tallied the Electoral College votes. President Trump has routinely and falsely claimed that the presidential election was rigged and encouraged his supporters to reject the result. As Donald Trump prepares to leave the White House, politicians that will remain in Washington will have...

Individual reactions to the coronavirus pandemic and the public health restrictions that have accompanied it have underscored how powerful negative partisanship can be in the formation of political opinions. In past crises, national shocks have urged partisans to put aside their personal grievances in pursuit of the greater good, but today, that doesn't seem to be the case. Jonathan Haidt, psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business,...

Since Georgia flipped blue for President-elect Joe Biden, the gulf between the Old South and the New South has come into focus.  Come January, the state’s closely watched runoff elections will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. In one race, Republican Senator David Perdue will face Democrat Jon Ossoff. In the other race, Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to her seat last year by Governor Brian Kemp, faces Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at...

Cliff Bentz was elected to represent Oregon's 2nd Congressional District this fall. He will fill the seat left open by retiring Congressman Greg Walden who served the district for more than 20 years. Oregon's 2nd encompasses a wide swath of eastern Oregon covering about 70,000 square miles it ranks among the largest congressional districts in the nation. Here Representative-Elect Bentz talks with host Amy Walter about climate change, how COVID-19 has affected the people of his district, and...

During the 2016 election, President Trump spent a considerable amount of time talking about immigration. On the campaign trail, he made racist comments about Mexicans and one of his first acts in office was to institute a Muslim ban. During the 2018 midterms, he directed his attention to migrant caravans headed towards the U.S. border in the hopes that the issue would animate his base ahead of Election Day. The child separation policy instituted by the Trump administration is among the...

Nicole Malliotakis is one of a record number of Republican women who were elected to Congress this fall. She defeated first-term Democratic Congressman Max Rose in New York’s 11th Congressional District, which includes Staten Island and parts of South Brooklyn. In recent weeks, Staten Island has seen an increase in the number of COVID-19 infections and the COVID-19 death rate is now higher there than any other borough in New York City. Here Representative-elect Malliotakis speaks with...

This week marked the so-called safe harbor deadline when states have certified their results for the U.S. presidential election. Typically, by the safe harbor deadline, election-related challenges at the state level are wrapped up.  But, President Trump is continuing to claim - without proof - that the results in many of the states that voted for Joe Biden are fraudulent and should be tossed out. So, how can the election be both certified - and contested? Helping us to make sense of it all...

In the nine months that the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the U.S., the most vulnerable Americans have struggled to keep up with monthly expenses. Eight million Americans have fallen into poverty since May and today there are 10 million fewer employed people than there were before the pandemic. By quickly passing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, Congress was able to stave off some of the initial impacts of the virus. Americans received one-time cash payments, businesses were offered a...