Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

As we move into the new year, we wanted to check in on a persistent economic condition that's likely to impact the U.S. and the globe: inflation. On Today's Show: Neil Irwin, chief economic correspondent at Axios, discusses how Reagan era Fed chairman Paul Volcker reduced high inflation 40 years ago by jacking up interest rates and muddling through a recession. With an almost opposite economic landscape leading into 2022, current Fed chair Jerome Powell might need to pull off a tricky reverse of that strategy.

What can we look forward to in the political realm in 2022, and what do trends in the parties' directions say about the future of governing the U.S.? On Today's Show:Amber Phillips, Washington Post political reporter and author for The 5-Minute Fix, takes listeners through her burning political questions in the new year like whether the Jan. 6 committee focuses too much on Trump, how voters will likely approach the 2022 midterm elections and how redrawn congressional maps could define political power for the next 10 years.

As we close out 2021, we wanted to check in on how closely our listeners have been listening to the news. On Today's Show:Kai Wright, host of The United States of Anxiety, joins Brian to test your 2021 knowledge. NOTE: This segment was taken from Brian's 12/29 live show, and will be our last Daily Politics Podcast of the year. See you in 2022!

One way to look back on a year is by taking a close look at the words that were called to occasion by, this year, an attempt to overturn an election, and a pandemic. On Today's Show:Ben Zimmer, linguist, a lexicographer, the language columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a contributing writer for The Atlantic, co-host of the Slate podcast ‘Spectacular Vernacular,’ and chair of the American Dialect Society New Words Committee and oversees their word-of-the-year selection process, talks about some of the words with special significance in 2021. Merriam-Webster picked “Vaccine”, Oxford Languages picked “Vax” and dictionary.com went with “Allyship." NOTE: This segment was taken from Brian's 12/28 live show. As part of our year-end coverage, we're approaching politics from some fun angles, including tomorrow's 'New Quiz.'

The CDC recently issued new guidance about how long to isolate following a close COVID contact or positive test. What does the science say, and how should risk factor into our behaviors now? On Today's Show:Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, infectious disease clinician and researcher at Columbia, ProHEALTH chief of the division of Infectious Disease, senior fellow for Infectious Disease at UHG Research and Development, and president of Parasites Without Borders, discusses the latest on the Omicron surge, isolation, and quarantine protocols.

President Biden has the ability to set pandemic-related policies related to air travel. What is he weighing as the omicron variant surges, just in time for the holidays? On Today's Show:Jonathan Lemire, White House Bureau Chief at Politico, host of Way Too Early on MSNBC and an NBCNews analyst, discusses the latest national political developments and listeners report back on the holiday impacted by omicron.

This has been a big year for misinformation, disinformation, and all-around wrong information. On Today's Show:Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of The Fact Checker for The Washington Post, takes listeners through the biggest lies told this year by politicians and figures in authority.

Are there any configurations of the policies in the Build Back Better agenda that could pass the Senate? On Today's Show:U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) talks about the torpedoed Build Back Better bill, the Biden Administration's shifting focus to voting rights, and where the progressive agenda goes from here.

With the future of Biden's Build Back Better bill in question, how are progressive politicians responding to Joe Manchin break with the rest of Democratic party? On Today's Show:Anita Kumar, Senior Editor, Standards & Ethics at Politico, talks about the latest national political news, including Biden's response to the surging omicron variant of COVID-19, and the future of the initiatives in the Build Back Better bill.

The rapid surge in COVID cases over just the past few days presents new challenges in navigating another pandemic holiday season. On Today's Show:Ed Yong, staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers science, joins to discuss the news on the Omicron variant and why he believes it "poses a far graver threat" to American society than previous variants.