Who says hard things can't be fun? Well, I don't fully know if home buying is hard, but I do know the next incredible duo of Lindsay sitkoff And Matt Windsor, licensed real estate agents in the DMV, make home buying fun. They're kind, talented and walk their clients through every step from the first inkling of wanting to purchase to signing on the dotted line and everything in between. Lindsey And Matt, listen to your every need and help you find that perfect next home. For listeners of the your good news podcast. They'd love to help you. Head to Lindsay and matt.com. That's LYNDSI and M A. T t.com. To learn more about this duo, head to the shownotes to reach out and mention my name Catherine from New York, good news podcast when you do. Hi, and welcome to the your good news podcast with me your host, Katherine Getty. Each Thursday, I'll give you the scoop on the good news coming out of Washington, and how you can get involved with this thing called democracy. Welcome back to another episode of The your good news podcast. Congress has returned to Washington this week and heads for the third month of the year with a lot on the horizon. But before we go any further in the year, I want to take a quick look back to understand the past will help paint the picture of what or maybe or even how Congress will address what's left for the year. So for this special look back what has been happening, what has been the good news coming out of Washington. First, a new Congress with the onset of a new year that 118 Congress kicked off and Republicans gained a slim majority in the House and Democrats maintained control in the Senate by a one seat majority. The new Congress is important because it brings with it fresh faces to Washington, fresh faces to roles in Congress. So new committee new committee assignments, fresh rolls are returning roles for staff. It's an overall fresh energy. These changes can bring optimism for new legislation, and an equal dose of pessimism because these changes can bring oversight of programs or looking to create the new good policy and how does that impact the old policy. This new Congress has a ton of expiring programs, including some mental health legislation, pandemic preparedness legislation, the Federal Aviation authorized administration reauthorization, lots on the docket. Meanwhile, they also need to fund the government and debt ceiling. I'll talk more about that in a little bit. A new Congress definitely can bring a new perspective, but it also causes hiccups. And I think how the next couple months shake out, will impact how those bills or if those bills get across the line. Second, what has been happening in Washington has been obviously the Biden administration and state leaders have been coming to Washington, the start of a new year means that there will be either an inaugural address or a State of the Union address. And this year was no different. President Biden offered up his vision of our union, and how his administration will continue to work for the American people. He discussed support for for Ukraine as we and we've just passed the year mark of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He talked about addressing gun violence given the myriad of gun gun shootings that have happened and deaths that have happened this year alone, and mental health challenges. Additionally, state leaders have come to Washington last week's episode, Episode 82 talks about governors coming to Washington for their national winter meeting. The National Governors Association is a way to bring leaders together, Republicans Democrats to talk about shared challenges to discuss best practices to try to create new ways to impact their people. Third, when we think about what's been happening, the last couple of months has been oversight. House Republicans made oversight a key priority. When you thought about last fall, you saw any Republican running, it was being a check on the administration, as they have gotten the gavels in the house. That has not changed. And it was really in February, the middle to end of February, that this oversight has become more of a of a center point. House Republicans have looked at the southern border and immigration COVID origin to how the pandemic was him handled by the Biden administration among a myriad of other issues. And don't think that House Republicans are the only ones doing oversight. Senator Bernie Sanders, who's an independent of Vermont that caucuses with Senate Democrats so caucus he means he He's meeting with Senate Democrats. When you think about the majority, he is a part of that number, that 51. He is considered a part of that 51. He was recently named as the chair of the very important Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. This committee has jurisdiction over you may have guessed it, health matters. And with that, and also how Senator Sanders views drug pricing as a critical issue, he is bringing the Maderna CEO up to Congress because they he's accusing them of pandemic profiteering. Senator Sanders, who, like I said, cares a lot about drug pricing, and say what you want about how he handles if he handles the way you like, or if he doesn't, he does care about it. And I think this will continue to be an issue of oversight in that health sphere over the remaining year. Last kind of in my thinking about what has been the last couple months for Congress in Washington and all the things for our elected leaders is the debt limit. The debt limit translates to the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow. I have likened this I don't think that I created this idea, I think I got this from somewhere else. I likened it to our nation's credit card. It is currently set at $31.4 trillion. And Congress has to pass a law to adjust it. As of when I'm recording this. In the February, the US has hit the ceiling. Treasury Department is now doing extraordinary measures. So it's moving kind of money around to continue to pay our debt. When you think about okay, feels like a pretty cut and dry issue, we probably should raise it. Well, it kind of falls on party lines. I'm sure you're not surprised. House Republicans view the spending under the last Congress. So when Democrats were in control of both house Senate, and then also the administration is really adding to the debt. And they think that if there's going to be a raise and spending a debt limit ceiling, and there also needs to be some cuts, Democrats, both congressional and within the administration, and obviously the President view that the spending has happened. We have agreed to these spending as a country and the debts need to be paid. I think that all of the issues, a new Congress, new personalities, new viewpoints, new oversight, I think it's all going to play into how the debt ceiling is going to be addressed. How and when that's going to be addressed. Time will tell. I know that's not really comforting. But thank you for joining today's episode, that is really important to talk about what has happened over the last couple of months to set the stage as we look towards the rest of this year. You know, we think about a new Congress, new ideas, we think about an administration who's laying out that's laying out their view of the year and how they want to continue to serve the American people. You think about governors coming to Washington and sharing ideas. You also think about the oversight that's happening in both chambers House and Senate. You think about the debt ceiling. There is a lot that has happened in the last couple of months. Thank you for joining today's episode of The York good news podcast. If you haven't already, go ahead hit subscribe so weekly and episode will be where you stream podcasts lever of you share with someone you know. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining today's episode of The your good news podcast. And as always, tune in next week to another episode.