Posts Tagged: Congress
Opinion
A groundwater monitoring well used for environmental groundwater sampling. Image by actualreece. by
EMMA MANETTA, DANI DEL ROSAL, SARAH LUMMUS, and AMIRA ZHANAT posted 12.10.2025
OPINION – Across California, regulators maintain extensive records on contaminated bodies of water and hazardous remediation sites, especially in the Bay Area, Los Angeles Basin, and San Diego. Current policy allows polluted sites to be closed once they are deemed stable and pose minimal risk. But groundwater levels are climbing, and contamination that was once submerged is now at risk of being mobilized.
Analysis
The race to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress, once the nation’s most powerful political woman, has scrambled the future of a proposal to create a $23 billion California version of the National Institutes of Health. However, the situation may augur well for the $12 billion California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), whose fate will also be tied to the Golden State’s ballot box a few years down the road.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: After a lightning speed rollout and campaign, Proposition 50 passed decisively last week, with voters approving a partisan temporary gerrymander of the state’s congressional districts – and handing California Democrats a major win. The new maps will shift district lines and upend the seats of five Republican members of Congress, throwing them into distinctly less friendly territory – if Prop. 50 survives the GOP legal challenge filed the day after the election. Our guests today are two of the state’s foremost redistricting experts, Matt Rexroad and Paul Mitchell. Rexroad is a former Yolo County Supervisor and longtime GOP consultant. Mitchell, a lifelong Democrat, is the state’s best-known political data expert, and led the team that created Prop. 50’s maps.
Opinion
OPINION – More than half of California’s $161 billion Medi-Cal budget is paid for with federal funds; the proposed cuts would gut the program.
CA120
In just 90 minutes last week, the storied bromance between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk imploded in a barrage of X posts, Truth Social rants, and public jabs, shattering their so-called Co-Presidency into a bitter feud.
Analysis
This weekend Democrats are meeting at their annual convention in Orange County. With just over a year before the 2026 Primary, and short of 18 months before the General Election, we wanted to take the temperature of California Democrats.
Opinion
OPINION – While there is extreme uncertainty about where the economy is headed, we know this much: Gutting Medicaid does not create prosperity. It pulls loved ones out of the workforce, it lowers consumer spending, increases personal debt and weakens the economy for everyone.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: We have reached the end of the road – Election Day. After a years-long presidential campaign filled with twists, turns and surprises, we are at the deciding point: will the next president be former president Donald Trump, or Vice President Kamala Harris? And, which party will control congress? Does the path to control of the House run through Orange County? What does all of this mean for California’s 2026 gubernatorial race? Political data guru Paul Mitchell joins us to read the tea leaves and tell us what to expect on Election Night.
CA120
According to recent USC polling, and the election buzz among national prognosticators, voters could be on the verge of electing the first Latino in the House of Representatives from the state’s Central Valley. Yes, you read that right.
Analysis
ANALYSIS – During this week’s back and forth about the future of the Biden nomination, California Congressman Mark Takano cited low Biden polling in his Inland Empire district as a reason for Democrats to find an alternative presidential nominee for November. While using the Takano poll as a benchmark could be causing California members of congress, and Democratic nominees, some considerable headaches, this poll may not be a perfect benchmark.
