Playbook PM: Pelosi’s debt ceiling warning to McConnell

From: POLITICO Playbook - Wednesday Sep 08,2021 05:04 pm

Sep 08, 2021

By Rachael Bade, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun

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FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Democratic campaign committees — the DCCC, DSCC and DNC — will be teaming up with Planned Parenthood Action Fund on a release today arguing that the Supreme Court’s refusal to block Texas’ six-week abortion ban raises the sakes for 2022. It's just the first of many efforts to use the Texas law — and lack of high court action — to turn out the Democratic base. The statements

READ HER LIPS — Speaker NANCY PELOSI didn’t mince words while talking about the debt ceiling at her press conference this morning: “We won’t be putting it in reconciliation,” she said.

Her words were simple — they have a sort of “read my lips” clarity — but represent an escalation in the ongoing game of chicken over raising the nation’s $28 trillion borrowing cap, which will need to be addressed in the coming weeks.

Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL says his members won’t support raising or suspending the debt ceiling, and that Democrats should just use the wonky budget fast-tracking procedure to do it on their own — circumventing the chamber’s 60-vote threshold by tacking a an increase onto the reconciliation package. Dems have no plans to do that, as our colleagues have reported. And Pelosi just doubled down by saying — on the record — that it won’t happen.

JARGON WATCH: One phrase Pelosi used that you can expect to hear again: “the Trump credit card.”

— The background: McConnell argues that raising the debt ceiling effectively enables a massive Democratic spending spree — and that’s why the GOP can’t support it. Pelosi directly responded to that talking point today by arguing that in raising the debt ceiling, Congress is simply paying the bill for the trillions in new spending that a GOP Congress approved under former President DONALD TRUMP — who, Pelosi reminded reporters, “amassed $7 trillion in debt.”

— The context: “People say, ‘Oh, you just want to spend money.’ No! We’re paying the Trump credit card with what we would do to lift the debt ceiling,” Pelosi said before going on to remind everyone that Democrats approved raising the debt ceiling three times while Trump was in office “because it is the responsible thing to do.”

MEANWHILE … Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN sounded the alarm over the debt limit fight this morning, sending a letter to congressional leaders warning that any delay in raising the ceiling “would likely cause irreparable damage to the U.S. economy and global financial markets,” and could “cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States.” More from Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma … The letter

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AND ON RECONCILIATION — “Schumer rejects Manchin’s ‘strategic pause’ on $3.5T megabill,” by Burgess Everett: “‘We’re moving full speed ahead,’ [Senate Majority Leader CHUCK] SCHUMER told reporters on Wednesday morning. ‘We want to keep going forward. We think getting this done is so important for the American people.’”

HEADS UP — Heather Caygle (@heatherscope): “NEWS: Speaker Pelosi has invited Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, and Leader [KEVIN] MCCARTHY to a security briefing by USCP Chief TOM MANGER on Monday at 11:15 a.m. in her office. The briefing will be on security prep ahead of the planned Sept 18 rally on Capitol Hill.”

TOP OP-ED: Rep. RON KIND, a moderate Wisconsin Democrat and Ways and Means committee member who is retiring this Congress, issued a dire warning to his colleagues over the ACA vs. Medicare debate that’s tearing apart Democrats right now. From The Hill: “Congress must implement fiscally responsible, long-term policies that will lift up our nation and give working families a fair shot — and the reconciliation process gives us the opportunity to do just that.

“Unfortunately, like so many other things in Washington, the process has become far too political. We have a responsibility to set partisanship aside and come together to have tough conversations about what policies will — and won’t — serve the best interests of our nation. This means passing legislation that establishes a long-term plan for funding critical programs.”

Good Wednesday afternoon.

TALIBAN TAKEOVER

— Afghan women protested the new Taliban government for a second consecutive day, while Taliban troops violently broke up the demonstrations and detained and beat a number of Afghan journalists, WSJ’s Yaroslav Trofimov reports.

— Aid workers who chose to stay behind in Afghanistan are navigating fraught negotiations with the Taliban with “18 million people dependent on humanitarian assistance in a country of about 38 million,” NYT’s Carlotta Gall reports.

— Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and German Foreign Minister HEIKO MAAS are set to meet today to discuss Afghanistan at the Ramstein U.S. Air Base, per the AP.

— The NYT spoke to nine veterans about what it was like serving in Afghanistan over the last two decades.

— The last members of the Jewish community in Afghanistan appear to have left the country. “ZEBULON SIMENTOV, who lived in a dilapidated synagogue in Kabul, kept kosher and prayed in Hebrew, endured decades of war as the country’s centuries-old Jewish community rapidly dwindled,” report AP’s Muhammad Farooq and Joseph Krauss . “But the Taliban takeover last month seems to have been the last straw.”

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.

THE PANDEMIC

— In-person arguments for the Supreme Court will return in October, though they will remain closed to the public for the time being, reports AP’s Jessica Gresko.

— The Delta surge may be peaking in Florida, but cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in states like Kentucky and North Carolina — and cold weather and the coming holiday seasons have health experts worried about the potential for further spread, WSJ’s Jon Kamp, Brianna Abbott and Anthony DeBarros write.

— Meanwhile, FEMA is on the brink. “Four senior administration officials told POLITICO they are concerned about the agency’s capacity to respond if — as feared — the current Covid surge spreads to more states this fall while the federal government is responding to natural disasters,” Erin Banco reports.

POLICY CORNER

— The Biden administration rolled out an ambitious climate-focused plan “to use solar energy to produce nearly half the nation’s electricity” by 2050, WaPo’s Darryl Fears writes. “Energy Secretary JENNIFER GRANHOLM said in a statement that the nation could achieve such a rapid shift, citing a new department study that projects solar energy could provide 40 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2035 and employ as many as 1.5 million people without boosting electricity prices. That analysis, however, assumes that Congress would fund several of the clean energy investments and policies that Biden has proposed but that have yet to be enacted.”

POLITICS ROUNDUP

— AP’s Alexandra Jaffe writes that the California recall vote will provide a big gauge for Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS’ political clout on the heels of a turbulent month and ahead of the 2022 midterms as the two jump into the effort to save Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM.

— “The growing success of Black candidates in racially diverse communities across the U.S. is spurring a push to distribute Black voters more evenly across newly drawn House districts,” WSJ’s Aaron Zitner writes . “Black leaders are approaching this process with a different mind-set than a decade ago, with more arguing that Black political representation no longer rests on a need to pack Black voters into highly concentrated districts.”

THE ECONOMY

— Employers set a new record for job openings in July: 10.9 million — topping June’s 10.2 million, per the AP.

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BEYOND THE BELTWAY

— Nearly 10 days after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana, roughly 80% of U.S. oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remains offline, making it the “most damaging storm for offshore production in more than 15 years,” WSJ’s Christopher Matthews reports.

— The debate over critical race theory’s place in public schools has turned “once-sleepy school board elections into hyperlocal skirmishes with the power to polarize how a new generation learns about U.S. history — and grow the ranks of Republican politicians,” Daniel Payne writes.

— State officials in South Carolina want to expand a highway in the booming North Charleston region. The problem? “94 percent of people and structures that would be displaced live in environmental justice communities mostly composed of Black and Brown residents” — a swath that Biden vowed to protect during his campaign, WaPo’s Darryl Fears and John Muyskens write.

9/11 ANNIVERSARY

— As the country marks 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, NYT’s David Berry explores a question: What does it mean to “Never Forget”?

— Pentagon officials reflect on the first 9/11 anniversary without troops in Afghanistan for WSJ. “‘I would very much like for us as a nation to have a healthy, if emotional, conversation about how to fight such conflicts in the future; to redefine what victory looks like; to refine what we are willing to sacrifice,’ said ROBERT D. HOGUE, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, one of the few Sept. 11 attack survivors who still works in the Pentagon.”

PLAYBOOKERS

WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Elaine Ho is now deputy COS for workforce and senior adviser for science and society at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She most recently was deputy associate administrator for NASA's office of STEM engagement.

TRUMP ALUMNI — Cody Sanders is now director in public affairs at PLUS Communications. He most recently was a senior principal at Northrop Grumman and is an NSC and Trump White House alum. … David Byrd is now a senior principal at Korn Ferry. He most recently was national director of the Minority Business Development Agency at the Commerce Department and is also a Trump HUD alum. … Camille Solberg is now government affairs director for Intercessors for America. She most recently was special adviser for USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation.

TRANSITIONS — Retired Army Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski is joining J.A. Green & Company as executive VP of defense programs. He previously was the seniormost civilian for HHS’ Operation Warp Speed. … Jon Corley, Sue Perez and Chancè Hindir-Lane are joining the Aerospace Industries Association. Corley will be senior director of comms and previously was comms director at the American Chemistry Council. Perez will be manager of digital assets and previously was program coordinator for workforce development at the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. Hindir-Lane will be coordinator for comms and legislative affairs and previously was assessor program coordinator at the American Association of Blood Banks.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Rachel Pavlick, senior manager of talent acquisition at Cerner, and Steve Pavlick, head of policy at Renaissance Macro, welcomed Stephen Patrick Pavlick on Aug. 17, which was also Rachel and Steve’s two-year wedding anniversary. He is named after both of his grandfathers and is the fifth Stephen Pavlick. Pic

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