Politics and Government

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

The John F. Kennedy Library gave an award to the first President Bush. Kennedy wrote a book called "Profiles in Courage," about politicians who made unpopular decisions they believed to be right. George HW Bush now gets the Profiles in Courage Award. In 1990, he broke his own read-my-lips-no-new-taxes pledge and accepted higher taxes to cut the federal deficit. It may have caused Bush's job but for many reasons the deficit went down.

The Senate is expected to vote soon on the controversial pipeline. Supporters introduced the bill after the White House put its approval process on hold indefinitely because of a legal dispute.

There's a fight in Washington over the future of homeownership in America. At issue is a bipartisan bill to dramatically reshape the housing finance industry — the industry that was at the heart of the financial crisis. It's also an industry that's at the heart of the American dream — and the bill before Congress may affect who can afford to buy a house.

The Obama administration supports the bill. But civil rights groups and housing advocates say it would weaken rules that push banks to lend to low- and moderate-income homebuyers.

In a midterm election that's expected to hinge on the demographic composition of the electorate, single women could be the key to Democratic chances to hold on to the Senate in November.

While Republicans have a longstanding problem with female voters, this year it's Democrats who have the more urgent problem: how to get their most reliable female supporters to become more reliable voters.

Here are five things to know about single female voters.

They're Not Up For Grabs

Recent polls have President Obama's approval ratings hovering around 40 percent. That's a new career low. NPR's Arun Rath talks with correspondent Mara Liasson about what that means for Democrats in November's midterm elections.

House Speaker John Boehner is almost certain to win re-election in his suburban Cincinnati district, but that will only get him back to Congress.

To get another term as speaker, he'll need to win a floor vote that doesn't happen until January — and Boehner's prospects in that contest are far less clear.

As part of our "She Votes" series about women and politics in this mid-term election year, we posted a question on Instagram and Twitter.

"What or who first got you interested in politics? Share your memories and show us the person, thing, or event that made you pay attention or become active, using the hashtag #shevotes."

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. We are six months away from this year's midterm elections, and Democrats and Republicans are ramping up campaign messaging. Both parties agree women could hold the key to victory in November. And many of the most endangered incumbents and high-profile challengers are also women.