Playbook PM: Schumer plays hardball — and Breyer talks

From: POLITICO Playbook - Thursday Jul 15,2021 04:56 pm

Jul 15, 2021

By Rachael Bade, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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INCOMING ON INFRASTRUCTURE — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER announced this morning that he’ll file cloture Monday on the vehicle for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, setting it up for a procedural vote Wednesday. And he also set Wednesday as the deadline for Dems to agree on the framework to move forward with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Some GOP negotiators — including MITT ROMNEY (Utah) and ROB PORTMAN (Ohio) — are already saying they’ll vote against cloture next week if the bill’s not ready. More from Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett on Schumer’s hardball tactic

INTERVIEW OF THE DAY — “Stephen Breyer says he hasn’t decided his retirement plans and is happy as the Supreme Court’s top liberal,” by CNN’s Joan Biskupic in Plainfield, N.H.: “Far from Washington and the pressures of the recently completed session and chatter over his possible retirement, Breyer, a 27-year veteran of the high court, said Wednesday that two factors will be overriding in his decision. ‘Primarily, of course, health,’ said Breyer, who will turn 83 in August. ‘Second, the court.’ …

“When asked directly over coffee in rural New Hampshire whether he had decided when to step down, Breyer said simply, ‘No.’ He brushed aside questions about the timing of a decision but was willing to speak about the factors that would influence him, including regard for the court. He also elaborated on the satisfaction his leadership role on the left wing has brought. Breyer said his new seniority in the justices’ private discussion over cases ‘has made a difference to me. … It is not a fight. It is not sarcasm. It is deliberation.’” Plus details on his summer getaway

THE ART OF THE SALE — Democrats around the nation have one major job today: Make sure everyone they talk to knows that their party is responsible for hundreds of dollars that will hit the bank accounts of parents today.

The American Rescue Plan’s bolstered child tax credit starts flowing to 39 million qualified households this morning, reaching about 88% of kids in the U.S. And Democrats are trying to churn that policy victory into political points with an eye to the 2022 midterms. That means making sure voters know who exactly is responsible for the boost to their bottom line — and who voted against it.

This morning, the DCCC started pushing out a series of press releases doing just that. “GOP Rep. BRIAN FITZPATRICK fashions himself to be a moderate who seeks to solve problems -- but when he had the chance to benefit more than 100,000 children in his district, he voted no,” reads one missive against the vulnerable Pennsylvania Republican, who opposed President JOE BIDEN’S pandemic relief bill.

The credit provides $300 per month for each child under 6, and $250 per month for those ages 6 to 17.

The move comes as some allies, including pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, have warned that voters in swing districts nationwide are clueless about how the pandemic package is helping their own families, as our Natasha Korecki reported last week . That’s despite Biden officials’ pledge earlier this year not to make the same mistakes as the Obama White House, which allowed GOP adversaries to define their accomplishments — thus ushering in a GOP wave in their first midterm election. And look: BARACK OBAMA’S getting in on it today too

On average since the 1940s, the party in power loses about two dozen seats in the midterms in the House. Democrats have only a four-seat margin.

FROM THE OVAL: In remarks at the White House just now, Biden declared this a historic day and milestone in the fight against child poverty — and one of the things he and VP KAMALA HARRIS will be most proud of. Then he told Americans exactly how they could find the payments in their bank accounts. He called on Congress to extend the credit beyond its one-year expiration date. And he snuck in a dig: “You’ll probably hear from our Republican friends, all who voted against this, but they’ll tout the success as it helps working families in their states and their districts.”

In a nod to the domestic political stakes and Biden’s view of his presidency as a bulwark against authoritarianism around the world, the president added, “We’re proving that democracy can deliver for people and deliver in a timely way.”

LATER TODAY: Speaker NANCY PELOSI will join California Reps. JIMMY GOMEZ, JUDY CHU and KAREN BASS and local leaders for a similar press conference in Los Angeles.

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Good Thursday afternoon.

PAY-FOR SURPRISE IN THE BIF? — Axios’ @alaynatreene: “Senators are starting to suggest the IRS provision for tax enforcement in the bipartisan infra package— one of the biggest pay-fors— might be dropped. If it’s nixed, it’s a huge bow to conservatives, many of whom see this as the most controversial aspect.”

— @marianne_levine: “One Senate Democrat said that the IRS provision may be out of the package but could go into Democrats’ 3.5 trillion spending package.”

JOCKEYING FOR THE RECONCILIATION BILL — “High-Speed Rail Gets Boost From New Coalition,” by WSJ’s Ted Mann: “Led by a bipartisan group of three former transportation secretaries, the U.S. High Speed Rail Coalition is trying to mobilize support for a $205 billion infusion of funding for new high-speed rail projects around the country. The group, with backing from labor unions, construction and passenger rail companies and progressive activists, is launching a campaign Thursday aimed at getting Congress to include the funding.”

TEA LEAF READING — Sen. JON TESTER (D-Mont.), who’s part of the bipartisan working group, sounded relatively upbeat on both bills on Hallie Jackson’s MSNBC show this morning: “The hang-ups now are pretty small, to be quite frank with you,” he said of the bipartisan bill. “There are still some issues on pay-fors, but … we’ve worked on harder things than this. And so we’ll get it done. And hopefully, it’ll be out tomorrow.” As for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation spending bill? “There’s a lot of needs out there, so $3.5 trillion is not unreasonable.”

TWO PRESIDENTS IN ONE DAY — Former President DONALD TRUMP announced that House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY will meet with him in Bedminster, N.J., this afternoon: “Much to discuss!”

McCarthy will then attend tonight’s dinner with Biden, Harris and German Chancellor ANGELA MERKEL, as will Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL.

NOMINATION TROUBLES, PART I — “Biden’s BLM pick hit with new allegations from former investigator in tree-spiking case,” by Ben Lefebvre, Anthony Adragna and Burgess Everett: “A retired federal investigator involved with the case came forward Wednesday to allege that TRACY STONE-MANNING engaged in ‘vulgar, antagonistic, and extremely anti-government’ behavior during the 1989 investigation.

“Stone-Manning has repeatedly distanced herself from the tree-spiking, which she was connected to indirectly when she was a graduate student involved with the environmental group Earth First! But the political heat surrounding her nomination is likely to grow following a letter sent to the Senate Energy Committee by retired U.S. Forest Service criminal investigator MICHAEL MERKLEY, who said Stone-Manning knew she was under criminal investigation at the time.”

NOMINATION TROUBLES, PART II — “Biden’s nominees to lead ICE and the Border Patrol are a sharp departure from the Trump era,” by NYT’s Eileen Sullivan: “Sheriff [ED] GONZALEZ’S confirmation hearing, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, began Thursday morning. A hearing for Chief [CHRIS] MAGNUS has not yet been scheduled.

“But in a reminder of how charged the immigration issue has already become for Mr. Biden, Senator JAMES LANKFORD, an Oklahoma Republican, said Tuesday that he had placed a hold on both nominations until ‘we can actually get the Biden administration to lay out what their policy is going to be, and what they’re going to do to be able to actually enforce the law’ regarding immigration.”

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

AD WARS — “Democratic group pledges $10 million in ads to support Biden agenda, as outside support grows,” by WaPo’s Michael Scherer: “The effort by House Majority Forward, the nonprofit arm of House Majority PAC, the Democrats’ biggest outside congressional effort, joins several other recent commitments by Democratic-leaning groups for upbeat promotion of Biden’s agenda. …

“Starting immediately, [ABBY CURRAN] HORRELL’S group plans to spend hundreds of thousands on digital ads about the child tax credit in 17 districts across the country with vulnerable Democratic incumbents.” Plus: New joint DNC/DSCC/DCCC digital ad touting the child tax credit

YOU KNOW WHO ELSE IS SPENDING $10 MILLION? — “The Curious Case of the Quirky Mortgage Ads Boosting Biden Online,” by NYT’s Shane Goldmacher: “The single biggest advertiser in Facebook’s political advertising database in recent months is not President Biden, the Democratic or Republican parties or even any of the hundreds of candidates angling for advantage in the 2022 midterms. Instead, it is an obscure mortgage-related firm, Lower My Bills, which in an earlier internet era was best known for its omnipresent — if ostentatious — banner ads featuring dogs in goggles, dancing cowboys and strange green aliens that had little to do with interest rates.

“Now, the firm is spending millions of dollars on ads featuring headlines like ‘Biden is on a roll’ as it pursues clicks it can convert into new customers. Some of the ads feature an animated likeness of Mr. Biden in a suit; others have the president in flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt while hula hooping on the beach. … Over the past 90 days, Lower My Bills has spent more than $10 million … After being contacted by The New York Times, Lower My Bills began running at least two new Trump-related ads this week on Facebook.” And yes, they have a pic of the hula-hooping Biden ad

FOLLOWING THE MONEY — “American Dental Association Pressured to Extract Itself From Paul Gosar,” by Vice’s Tess Owen: “Gosar’s open fraternization with known white nationalists is giving the self-described ‘Tooth Party’ a bit of a toothache. The American Dental Association has donated over $75,000 to the Republican [congressman] from Arizona, a former dentist, since he was elected to Congress in 2010, making them his top donor. … [T]he American Dental Association wrote that the issue of its ongoing support for Gosar was currently pending before the Board of Trustees and declined to comment any further.”

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HAITI LATEST — “U.S. military once trained Colombians implicated in Haiti assassination plot, Pentagon says,” by WaPo’s Alex Horton: “It is common for Colombian troops and other security personnel across Latin America to receive U.S. training and education. Colombia, in particular, has been a significant U.S. military partner for decades.”

AND THE STEP BACK — “Biden urged to focus on long-neglected Latin America as chaos erupts,” by Lara Seligman: “The Pentagon has made clear it has no appetite for a new military entanglement in Latin America … Yet lawmakers, former officials and experts are calling on President Joe Biden to devote more resources to a region they say has been long neglected by the United States. …

“Washington’s neglect of the Western Hemisphere has allowed Moscow and Beijing to prop up antidemocratic regimes that foment disorder and unrest across the region, experts said. … A top concern is the possibility that an uncontrolled civil conflict in Haiti could lead to a new refugee crisis, [MICHAEL] SHIFTER said. … But repeated calls for additional resources have not yielded significant results over the years.”

THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE — “U.S. unemployment claims drop to new pandemic low of 360,000,” MarketWatch

MEGATREND — “The future of work has arrived, and it’s messy,” by Ben White and Eleanor Mueller: “Covid smashed the fast-forward button on transformations already under way in the nature of white-collar work. The ‘Future of Work’ is already here. But it’s a deeply confused picture. …

“Now, as many big employers target the end of summer as the time to figure out exactly how they will structure work in the post-Covid era, there is little consensus. And remote work itself has already become a bargaining tool as a tight labor market affords employees more leverage and limits bosses’ ability to demand their workers get back to the office.”

— Read more from the new edition of POLITICO’s Recovery Lab, focused on work: “Policy Hackathon: How to get more Americans back to work,” by Katherine Landergan … “Fewer jobs, more robots and lots of women at home: 4 charts that show how Covid-19 changed America’s workforce,” by Annette Choi

ANTITRUST THE PROCESS — “U.S. Competition Policy Is Aligning With Europe, and Deeper Cooperation Could Follow,” by WSJ’s Daniel Michaels in Brussels and Brent Kendall: “The European Union’s top antitrust regulator foresees greater alignment with the U.S. on competition enforcement, particularly in the tech sector, amid a broader policy reorientation under the Biden administration. EU Executive Vice President MARGRETHE VESTAGER, the bloc’s competition commissioner, said she expects ‘much more intense work when it comes to technology and the digitized market’ between her team and Washington.”

MEDIA MOVES — “‘Faster, Harder, Louder’: Rolling Stone Hires Daily Beast Editor,” by NYT’s Marc Tracy: “Rolling Stone has chosen Noah Shachtman, a veteran of the news site The Daily Beast, as its next editor in chief, the magazine announced on Thursday, calling on him to continue the transformation of the 54-year-old pop music bible into a digital-first publication. Mr. Shachtman, 50, said in an interview that he plans to bring along The Daily Beast’s newsy approach and web metabolism when he starts his new job in September.”

— J. Freedom du Lac is joining CNN as executive editor of the national digital team. He most recently was director of global live news at WaPo.

TRANSITION — Ibn A. Salaam is now director of federal legislative affairs at Waste Management. He most recently was director of government affairs and FLIRPAC at FLIR Systems, and is a GM alum.

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