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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun | Presented by |  | | | BREAKING — “Rep. Ron Wright dies after battle with COVID-19,” Dallas Morning News: “U.S. Rep Ron Wright of Arlington died Sunday night after a battle with COVID-19. He was 67. His family and spokesperson confirmed Wright’s death Monday morning. The congressman, who was reelected in November, had been battling cancer. Wright is the first [sitting] member of Congress to die of COVID-19.” — “Shelby announces retirement, opening Senate seat in Alabama,” by Caitlin Emma and James Arkin: “The 86-year-old Republican is the fourth most senior member of the upper chamber and the longest-serving senator from Alabama. … The Alabama Republican — known for his folksy demeanor and proclivity for meandering conversations with reporters in the hallways of the Capitol building — has helped steer billions of dollars in resources to his home state.” Early replacement possibilities: Rep. Mo Brooks … Katie Boyd Britt … Secretary of State John Merrill … Rep. Gary Palmer … Lynda Blanchard THE POWER OF THE CBO — BARACK OBAMA grew so frustrated with the impact of Congressional Budget Office analyses of his health care plan in 2009 that he once banned his senior staffers from mentioning the CBO in meetings. Instead they called it “banana.” We’re entering banana season again, a period when the CBO “scores” JOE BIDEN legislative proposals and the administration has to respond to the good and bad news in those forecasts. The new CBO score of the $15-an-hour minimum wage was released just before JEN PSAKI’S press briefing, so she didn’t have a substantive response. But there are both warning signs in the report and reasons for the White House to be optimistic. The good news for supporters of the proposal is that CBO says the national wage increase would increase the deficit by $54 billion. The reconciliation process is supposed to be used for provisions that affect the federal deficit, and proposals that are largely regulatory can be struck by the Senate parliamentarian. Changes in taxes and spending are easy to do through the process. The minimum wage is a tougher call, but now supporters can point to the CBO score as evidence it should survive. Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) opposes the $15 an hour minimum wage, as do many Republicans, so some White House officials have been OK with the proposal being split from the larger Covid relief bill. Biden seemed eager to do that when he said Friday that he wanted to pass a minimum wage increase through a “separate negotiation.” The bad news for Biden is that the CBO contradicts other research and declares that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would reduce employment “by 1.4 million workers, or 0.9 percent.” (The report also predicts that the number of Americans in poverty will be reduced by 900,000.) The jobs analysis plays directly into the arguments that Republicans (and some Democrats) have made about a federally mandated wage hike being a “jobs killer.” Despite the better argument that CBO has handed Democrats for passing the minimum wage through reconciliation, the CBO’s employment prediction may make it even more likely that the policy gets dropped from the stimulus bill. Expect progressives to make a strong effort this week to embrace the CBO’s deficit score, and reject its employment score, in order to save the policy. | | A message from Amazon: Amazon has stepped up our testing, safety measures, vaccination efforts, and economic relief to ensure the safety and well-being of our workers.
Now, we’re supporting the national effort to vaccinate 100 million people in the first 100 days of his presidency. Our recent pop-up clinic in Seattle has already vaccinated thousands.
Amazon is working to help vaccinate front-line workers and community members providing essential services during the pandemic. | | | IMPEACHMENT LATEST — “Senate Leaders Near Deal on Impeachment Trial Schedule,” WSJ: “That resolution likely will include up to four hours of debate on the constitutionality of the trial, which starts Tuesday, followed by a vote at simple majority threshold. Starting on Wednesday, there would be up to 16 hours per side for presentations by Mr. Trump’s defense and the House managers, acting as prosecutors. “Also included, at the request of the House impeachment managers, is the option for a debate and vote on calling witnesses.” Rachael notes: Under this timeline, we’re looking at a trial that lasts about a week without witnesses. If managers decide to call witnesses, the timeline becomes less predictable. — “Trump lawyers rip impeachment case as ‘political theater,’” by Kyle Cheney and Andrew Desiderio: “In a 78-page legal brief ahead of the Senate’s impeachment trial, Trump’s attorneys argued the House’s effort is constitutionally deficient and cannot result in his conviction … Trump’s lawyers also argued that the Senate cannot convict a former president, and that the House’s impeachment charge is flawed because it groups multiple alleged offenses into a single article.” Other nuggets from the Trump defense: — His attorneys argue that Trump, even if convicted and barred from office, would challenge the results in court should he run again. — Trump’s attorneys refute Democrats’ assertion that the ex-president allowed the riot to continue, arguing that he was “horrified” and sought to act immediately to stop the violence. This could up the pressure on the managers to call witnesses from the White House who could testify otherwise. — And, true to form, the brief cites discredited The Gateway Pundit to suggest rioters were actually anti-Trump forces. As our colleagues noted in their story, law enforcement has contested this debunked conspiracy theory. So have Hill Republicans, including Trump ally House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY. JUSTIFYING ACQUITTAL — Andrew also has a story detailing some Senate Republicans’ private musings about voting to acquit: don’t poke the bear and make Trump a martyr, in so many words. One GOP senator told Andrew: “He does a pretty good job of being a victim. If he were to be convicted, there would be an uproar among his supporters. And it would probably energize them.” JOIN US! The second impeachment trial against former Trump begins this week. Join RACHAEL BADE on Wednesday at 9 a.m. to discuss the ins and outs of the historic proceedings with NORM EISEN, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment trial. Sign up | | | | THE INDISPENSABLE GUIDE TO CONGRESS: Looking for the latest on the Schumer/McConnell dynamic or the increasing tensions in the House? What are the latest whispers coming out of the Speaker's Lobby? Just leave it to Beavers... New author Olivia Beavers delivers the scoop in Huddle, the morning Capitol Hill must-read with assists from POLITICO's deeply sourced Congress team. Subscribe to Huddle today. | | | | | 2022 WATCH … — HOLLY OTTERBEIN interviewed Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. JOHN FETTERMAN as he launches his campaign for Senate. A few highlights: … Favors killing the filibuster: “Let’s be honest here: If Mitch McConnell is for something, that should give anyone pause to be like, ‘well, then I probably should be against it.’” … Did not take a position on whether the DSCC should, unlike in 2016, stay neutral in the primary: “I haven’t truthfully given it really any thought.” He said he has not spoken with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. … Agrees with parts of the Green New Deal — he wants to create millions of union jobs to transition away from fossil fuels — and has vowed to not take money from the fossil fuel industry. But when it comes to fracking, he said, “We can’t just throw [out] all of these union jobs and all these workers’ jobs and say, ‘Well, just go learn to code and maybe you can get on at Google or someplace.’” The story — “Democrats seek a reset button in Ohio,” by James Arkin: “They are throwing out plenty of ideas, with varying degrees of difficulty: sever the local campaign from the ‘coastal’ Democratic brand; laser-focus on jobs and the economy to reclaim some lost ground with working-class whites; kindle greater excitement among Black voters to turn out in large numbers and grow the party base. … “Even if Democrats can rebuild their ravaged bench and mount a strong challenge for Portman’s seat, the national party still has to grapple with how seriously to invest in the nation’s seventh-most-populated state, which was politically closer to Montana than the neighboring swing state of Michigan in the most recent election.” — “South County Democrat Scott Sifton launches bid for U.S. Senate in 2022,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch — HERE COMES SARAH: “Tim Griffin abandons race for governor, to run for attorney general instead,” Arkansas Times READY FOR THE RECALL — “Republican Cox opens run for governor with ad hitting rival,” AP: “Republican John Cox formally opened his campaign for California governor Monday with a TV ad depicting his leading GOP rival as a political twin of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and promising to work for lower housing costs and new jobs.” The ad | | A message from Amazon: From providing COVID-19 testing to advocating for vaccinations for front-line workers, Amazon is working to protect the health and safety of our employees and their communities. We’ve also enhanced safety measures and increased paid time-off in an effort to support those who have long supported us. | | | JAN. 6 FALLOUT — “His Biz Is Shunned, She Resigned, and Everyone Is Being Sued: What Became of Trump’s Election Dead-Enders,” The Daily Beast: “In the three months since the election was called for Joe Biden, most of the lawyers and MAGA enthusiasts who decided to play a consequential role in the ex-president’s efforts to overturn the Democratic nominee’s 2020 win (efforts that led directly to the Jan. 6 mob violence), have had their jobs or businesses shredded, their personal lives shaken, or their reputations irrevocably tarnished—all while Trump’s been relaxing and playing his rounds of golf in the Sunshine State. … “Of this band of MAGA allies (which most prominently included people like Rudy Giuliani, Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, Jenna Ellis, Cleta Mitchell, John Eastman, and Peter Navarro), arguably none of them has lost more in the time since the election than Mike Lindell.” — TOP-ED: “Is this how I die?”: CNN photojournalist JOSHUA REPLOGLE recounts his experience of the resurrection: “I feel like I am finally in the shoes of any number of shooting survivors I’ve interviewed over the years. Their faces, their experiences blur in my mind. This type of fear is something I never understood as a journalist; to fully grasp it, it must be experienced.” — AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: “False claims hang over a Trump-loving county’s plans to buy Dominion voting machines,” WaPo: “Late last year, amid rampant false claims of a stolen presidential election, officials in a Trump-loving county in Ohio took a stand: They voted 4 to 0 to buy Dominion voting machines. It was a good deal for the county, years in the making … It was also a step into a firestorm — Donald Trump’s supporters were falsely accusing Dominion Voting Systems of helping to rig the 2020 results. … “Two months later, Stark County has yet to replace its aging voting equipment while May primaries loom. The all-GOP board of commissioners has fielded an unprecedented deluge of upset callers and spent a recent meeting peppering election staff with doubts and questions. … Trump has left office, but the baseless election fraud theories that he fomented still hold sway nationwide.” CLIMATE FILES — “Big Business squirms as Biden tightens climate regulations,” by Zachary Warmbrodt: “Democrats are vowing to go through the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose sweeping financial disclosure rules on climate risk that would force thousands of businesses including banks, manufacturers and energy producers to divulge information to investors. Lenders are set to get even more scrutiny from their own regulators like the Federal Reserve, including potential stress tests to measure their resiliency to rising sea levels and extreme weather. “Now, the backlash is beginning. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who has been hailed by some as a corporate leader in fighting climate change, is putting his weight behind a call for companies to abide by a voluntary global standard instead and is warning against the potential shortfalls of government intervention. And Republican lawmakers are emerging as allies to businesses resistant to the looming transparency rules.” HEADS UP — “House chair wants to know who’s financing Parler,” by The Verge’s Makena Kelly: “Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, is demanding documents from the free speech social network Parler related to its financing after last month’s deadly attack on the Capitol.” The letter | | | | TRACK THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: President Biden's cabinet is getting confirmed, bringing change to agencies and departments across the Executive Branch. From the West Wing to Foggy Bottom, track the first 100 days of the Biden administration with Transition Playbook, our scoop-filled newsletter that chronicles the policies, people, and emerging power centers of the new administration. Subscribe today. | | | | | WHAT JOE MANCHIN IS READING — “West Virginia Has Everyone’s Attention. What Does It Really Need?” NYT: “The state’s residents have ideas. They dream of broadband, vast brownfield cleanup efforts, greater aid to community lenders who operate where traditional banks won’t, more resources for high-quality housing and health clinics — investment on a scale that would return to the region all the wealth that was taken out of it by resource extraction. … “[M]uch of the country prospered as West Virginia remained poor. Changing that picture now may require rethinking what it means for this part of the country to get its fair share from Washington.” PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Confusion and chaos: Inside the vaccine rollout in D.C., Maryland and Virginia,” WaPo: “The story of how the region’s governments left millions of residents confused and fearful as officials took on the most important public health challenge in decades is a tale of a complicated and faltering chain of command, in which [Larry] Hogan (R), [Muriel] Bowser (D) and [Ralph] Northam (D) acted on bad information and changing directives from the federal government, and local leaders scrambled to respond to late-arriving and shifting guidance from the states.” MEDIAWATCH — The Atlantic is adding Tim Alberta and Jennifer Senior as staff writers. Alberta is currently chief political correspondent at POLITICO, and Senior is a NYT columnist. STAFFING UP — USTR announced a suite of several top new staffers, including Nora Todd as chief of staff, Ginna Lance as deputy chief of staff, Jamila Thompson and Mark Wu as senior advisers, Greta Peisch as general counsel, Sirat Attapit, Jan Beukelman and Adam Hodge as assistant USTRs, and Samuel Negatu as director of congressional affairs. More FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Mike Abboud is now national press secretary for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He most recently was a senior adviser in the bureau of global public affairs at State. TRANSITIONS — Stacey Rolland is joining Forbes Tate Partners as an SVP in the government affairs practice. She most recently was a principal at Polestar Principle and is a Treasury Department, Xavier Beccera and Nancy Pelosi alum. … Ian Rayder is joining the Klein/Johnson Group as a principal. He most recently was Colorado deputy secretary of state and is a Debbie Wasserman Schultz alum. … Carrie Annand, Dustin Brighton, Gaurav Parikh and Maureen Walsh have launched SMART Policy Group. The four will serve as partners and Markus Videnieks will be VP. BONJOUR — POLITICO Playbook Paris has launched. Pauline de Saint Remy will cover all the latest from the French capital every day en français. Read the first edition and subscribe | | A message from Amazon: Amazon is stepping up to help ensure that our employees and their communities have access to COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. We’ve helped vaccinate thousands through pop-up clinics, and quickly ramped-up onsite COVID-19 testing for employees thanks to the ingenuity of our fast-moving response team.
We’re also heavily invested in supporting our employees, customers, and communities during the pandemic—from enhancing safety measures to increasing paid time-off. We provided more than $2.5 billion in bonuses and incentives for our teams globally in 2020.
Since the beginning of this crisis, we have worked hard to keep our employees safe. We are committed to vaccination efforts as we work together to protect our employees and continue to provide essential services during the pandemic. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
