Zerlina chats with author of the new book The Presidents and the People Corey Brettschneider, Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado's 1st Congressional District, and Montgomery, Alabama Mayor Steven Reed to preview the first Biden v. Trump debate of the 2024 election.

Guests

Corey Brettschneider

Corey Brettschneider is a professor at Brown University, where he teaches constitutional law and politics. He has written for the New York Times, Politico, the Washington Post, and Time, and is the author of the books The Presidents and the People and The Oath and the Office. He lives in New York.

Rep. Diana DeGette

Rep. Diana DeGette is a fourth-generation Coloradoan who has dedicated her life to serving the people of Colorado's First Congressional District.

Now in her fourteenth term, DeGette is recognized as a leading voice in the nation's health care debate. As a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, DeGette has played a leading role in overseeing the nation's health care agencies and the nation’s overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s also led numerous efforts to ensure the nation's environmental laws are being properly enforced, lower the cost of insulin for millions of Americans and take on the climate crisis.

Fighting to protect reproductive rights and health care…

As co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, DeGette has been leading the fight to restore the protections we had under Roe v. Wade.

DeGette was instrumental in getting the House to pass a historic piece of legislation – known as the Women’s Health Protection Act – to enshrine into federal law the right of every American to access abortion care in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. A move that would, in essence, negate the Supreme Court’s ruling and, once again, ensure all Americans can access the full range of reproductive health care services – regardless of where they live.

DeGette is also the co-author of the EACH Act, legislation that seeks to overturn the so-called Hyde Amendment, which continues to prevent millions of low-income women on Medicaid from accessing abortion care. In 2021, she led the fight to successfully exclude the Hyde Amendment from the government's annual spending bill in House for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Fighting to protect the environment…

A lifelong Coloradan, DeGette is guided by her traditional Western values and has a unique appreciation for our nation's natural resources and public lands. In 2019, DeGette sponsored legislation that was signed into law to make all national parks and public lands free for fourth grade students and their families to visit. She also authored a historic piece of legislation, known as the Colorado Wilderness Act, to protect and preserve 660,000 acres of wilderness across Colorado.

In 2007, DeGette successfully brokered a deal to enact tough new standards to protect Americans from lead in drinking water. She also played a key role in the effort to ban phthalates, a dangerous chemical which is harmful to children. And, as the top Democrat on the subcommittee that's responsible for overseeing the nation’s energy policies, she’s leading an effort to expedite the nation’s clean-energy transition to lower our emissions and put us on track to meet our climate-related goals.

Fighting to protect civil rights…

DeGette's passion for protecting people's rights is what led her to pursue public office. Prior to being elected to Congress, DeGette was an attorney in the Denver area where she focused on workers' rights. While in office, DeGette has worked tirelessly to protect the rights of women, immigrants and minorities in Colorado and across the country.

In 2019, DeGette convened the first House oversight hearing on the Trump administration's controversial policy of separating families at the border and continues to fight for the better treatment of immigrants and their families.

Mayor Steven L. Reed

In November 2019, Steven L. Reed made history as the first African American to be sworn in as Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. A native of Montgomery, Mayor Reed is committed to realizing his vision of a more equitable, progressive, and compassionate city. In his first year in office, Mayor Reed successfully led a transformational ballot initiative to increase investment in Montgomery’s school system for the first time in over 30 years. Amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Reed restructured city government to increase efficiency and effectiveness, increased municipal reserves to record levels and avoided employee furloughs and layoffs – all while maintaining a balanced budget and retiring millions of dollars in debt.