Congressional Dish Podcast: Keeping The Crooks Honest!

 Somebody has to watch the U.S. Congress! As the saying goes, "It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. In this case, that someone is Jennifer Briney."

 Congressional Dish is a podcast that, since 2012, has been aiming to draw attention to where the American people truly have power: Congress. From the perspective of a fed-up taxpayer with no allegiance to any political party, Jennifer Briney will fill you in on the must-know information about what our representatives do AFTER the elections and how their actions can and do affect our day-to-day lives.

You have to love a show that begins with an original song and lyrics that go: "I am so damn tired of being lied to, I don't think I can deny it anymore. You can stick to your stories and lies, but I'm not going to buy it anymore."

Most political podcasts spend their time discussing events that have already happened and placing their spin on them to appease their audience. It's confirmation, not information.

What I admire about Congressional Dish is that the show investigates everything the U.S. Congress does. After listening to the last ten episodes, let me assure you that it's not a pretty picture.  

 Creator/host Jennifer Briney reinforces that view: "I believe the first step toward fixing this problem is shifting attention from what politicians say to what they do. Too much coverage focuses on interviews and horse-race elections, and too little focuses on the contents of bills and laws. With Congressional Dish, I’m trying to help change that. I truly believe that if Americans were consistently exposed to reporting on congressional actions, re-election rates would look very different."

 The show's format is essentially a review of what the U.S. Congress did -- or didn't do-- in a particular month. For example, I just listened to the episode about January. Trust me. They didn't do much. 

What I enjoy and admire about the show is that Jennifer and her staff dig into the details of what's in every bill and what shady stuff Senators and representatives are engaged in. It's like I've hired a private detective to investigate Congress. 

Of course, investigative work like Congressional Dish doesn't come cheap. 

That's what Jennifer Briney explains at the beginning of each episode, "Congressional Dish is an independent, ad-free, listener-supported production. This business model essentially functions on the honor system, and so if you have found value in this podcast, please contribute to make sure Congressional Dish can continue to inform and entertain you for many Congresses to come." 

Unlike other independent shows that try to lock listeners into a monthly Patreon subscription, Congressional Dish allows listeners to make a one-time contribution or pay by check and snail mail. 

With the death of investigative journalism and the censorship intimidation from the current administration, Congressional Dish is an indispensable tool to hold government accountable. 

Here are some of the recent episodes I found notable:

CD320: One Big Beautiful Bill — a Dangerous Law

CD292: Sabotaging Palestine

CD281: Private Policing of the Organ Transplant Network

 Creator/host Jennifer Briney began paying attention to world events while studying in Germany in the spring of 2003, when the United States overthrew the Iraqi government. After experiencing the war from outside the United States, she started asking questions about her government. Every answer led to fifty more questions. This led to a thirst for information that she is still unable to quench.

After finishing her Communications degree at Loyola Marymount University, Jen started watching C-SPAN for raw, unfiltered information about how Congress was changing our laws. After watching a Congressman slip a provision protecting secret campaign contributions into an Energy and Water funding law (and bragging about it on the floor of the House of Representatives), Jen was stunned to discover that not a single television station, newspaper, or even blog covered the scandal. She wondered how often this happened and started reading the Congressional Record. It turned out that this happens all the time.

Over the years, the feeling that she was the only person paying attention to this information was making Jen insane, so in late 2012, she launched Congressional Dish in order to share the information, to have an emotional outlet for dealing with the discoveries, and to create a community of people who were interested in Congress’s effect on our lives. Congressional Dish is now her full-time career, thanks entirely to the support from our growing community of producers from all over the world.

In episode # 331-- December 2025 — Jennifer breaks down major provisions of the newly passed National Defense Authorization Act, including how Congress quietly weakened air-traffic safety rules, expanded counter-drone authorities for law enforcement, loosened protections against toxic "forever chemicals" for firefighters, and repealed outdated Iraq war authorizations while leaving broader war powers intact. It also covers new laws affecting taxes, veterans, and public lands, Trump's vetoes of bipartisan bills, and a wave of confirmations placing industry-connected figures in powerful regulatory and defense roles. 

Jennifer says: "In order to earn your trust, every episode is accompanied by detailed show notes that provide you with a list of sources including bill outlines, documents, articles, and timestamps of sound clips so you can easily find them within the hearings to listen to them in context. Proven mistakes are corrected at the beginning of the episode that airs after the mistake is discovered. Your host doesn’t enjoy eating crow so she is careful to do her homework."

Jennifer continues: "Some of the tasks done to produce the show for you include reading bills and laws to find out what is being done with our taxes to determine what return we’re getting on our government investment and what our money is paying for around the world. Congressional Dish also summarizes months-long series of Congressional hearings to understand topics being governed by the current Congress. It’s not uncommon to hear clips from multiple hearings in one episode."

Here's what makes Congressional Dish the best politics podcast in the industry. And if it doesn't win an Ambie, a Golden Globe, or an iHeart Award next year, then these award programs are simply celebrity ego-stroking. 

This show does not care if you're a Republican or a Democrat. The show assesses members of Congress based on what they do, not what they say. Forget all the grandstanding at televised committee meetings, or appearing on Fox News for softball questions. 

Congressional Dish holds members of Congress accountable. Right now, no one else is doing that job as effectively.