In today's PPS Programme on Spectrum on Air, I took a look at scrutiny in the US Congress - (a term which includes both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate). The previous week, I did a piece on scrutiny in the British House of Commons - and there was a lot of 'compare and contrast' in the pieces.
The Best guides to procedure are available at
House of Representatives - Rules Committee: Rules & Resources
Senate - Resources
At midnight (UK time), a new online radio station will start broadcasting - and my first broadcast will be at noon - just 12 hours later. The programme will be called "PPS" - and it will deal with the process and the people who make decisions and laws which affect all of us.
But it won't be anything like your usual "politics" or "current affairs" affairs
- so I won't be gossiping about Dom & Boris,
(or Biden, Pelosi, AOC, Drakeford, Macron, Merkel, Xi Jinping, Putin - YES I WILL COVER THE WORLD!)
or attacking (or defending) policies - just giving you the information about who is making and how they are making decisions and law which can impact upon your life.
The final letter of the programme's name is "Sources" - I won't be reading long reports on air (how boring!) or giving lectures on process and procedure - but I will be highlighting and giving links key information.
....oh, and playing lots of music between pieces.
Do give the station, and myself a listen.
Spectrum On Air can be accessed - from anywhere in the world (as long as there is access to the internet) at -
....and you miss a programme it will be made available at
https://www.spreaker.com/show/process-people-sources
A fantastic range of programmes and presenters has been lined up - so listen live on https://spectrumonair.com
or scroll through all our programmes at https://www.spreaker.com/user/spectrumonair
Did you watch the first day of the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump? It was compelling viewing - and was interesting on so many levels. The contrast in style and substance of argument between the two legal teams was stark.
I was busily taking notes - but I don't (can't, to be honest) do shorthand. As both a semi-retired academic and about to return to radio on my new programme "PPS" on Elite Live Radio - the conduct of the Trial is of direct interest to me and my work. Thankfully, I don't need to rely on my notes or memory - a transcript is available - and it is available to everyone - for free.
The Congressional Record is the equivalent of the British "Hansard" (there are some significant differences, but I'll tackle those in a future post). If you want to review, or just read, what was said - you can download that one or more sections of that day's Congressional Record.
The pdf of the Congressional Record for Day 1 of the Trial of Donald Trump can be found here.
The Trial Memorandum of the House of Representatives is available here. It sets out the case against the former President.
Trump's defence Memorandum can be accessed here.
There are a number of Congressional Research Papers about the Impeachment of a President - these include -
Impeachment and the Constitution
The Impeachment & Trial of a Former President
The Impeachment Process in the Senate
Obtaining Witnesses in an Impeachment Trial
Click on the relevant name of the paper - and this will give you access to the CRS Papers.
When the trial is in progress, I'm sure that the major news channels such as CNN and BBC News, and of course C-SPAN will give lots of live coverage. Again, just click on the relevant link to take you there. Or if you want the live feed from the Senate itself press here.
As a former lecturer in Constitutional Law, with a deep and specific interest in what happens in the US Congress (scroll through previous posts on Washminster - I can't guarantee that the law and practice remain the same (the blog covered 2007 to 2017 - and much has happened since)) - I'm sure that the next couple of weeks will be filled with reading and watching.
There's a new impetus for me to keep abreast of the news - I start broadcasting on a new internet radio station which launches a fortnight on Friday. It's called Elite Live Radio. My programme is to be called PPS (I'll explain why on air - and later write a post for Washminster) - and is due to air for the first time on Monday February 22nd at Noon, GMT. I hope you'll listen in - the web address is https://www.eliteliveradio.com. We are currently broadcasting a trial service for the next couple of weeks. Do listen in - and let me know what you think.
