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Presented by Google: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | | | FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS — We don’t need to remind you how hectic the next few weeks will be in Washington. House Majority Leader STENY HOYER this morning laid out House Democratic leadership’s plans for the jam-packed list of big-ticket items to address: — The debt limit and CR: The House will move next week to suspend the debt limit. That means the looming standoff with the GOP — with neither side blinking (yet) — is coming to a head very soon. Also next week, they’ll seek to avert a government shutdown by taking up a continuing resolution linked to supplemental funding for storm disaster relief and Afghan evacuee resettlement. No word on whether Dems will link the two bills, though, or on how long they’d suspend the debt limit. Caitlin Emma has more — The bipartisan infrastructure bill: The chamber will take up the Senate-passed bill Sept. 27, sticking to Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s promise to moderate Dems that she’d hold a vote by then. — The reconciliation bill: Hoyer didn’t lay out a specific date for movement on Democrats’ massive spending bill, which progressives have said must pass in order to win their votes on the BIF. But Hoyer said it would happen “this work period.” — If that wasn’t enough: Next week, the House will also consider the National Defense Authorization Act, the Women’s Health Protection Act (which would enshrine a right to abortion) and a cost-of-living adjustment for veterans. LOOKING DOWN THE LINE — Getting the bipartisan infrastructure deal and massive reconciliation bill passed wouldn’t be the whole ballgame for the Biden administration. Next comes the long and complicated process of actually implementing the changes. From Chicago, WSJ’s Andrew Restuccia explores one example : replacing lead pipes. It’s hard to know the extent of the problem (and thus of the necessary money), he writes. Municipalities would have to find the pipes, land enough workers and persuade the public to take advantage of programs. In the end, removing all the pipes could take decades. — On the other side of the coin, WaPo’s Brady Dennis and Brittany Greeson go deep on the Flint, Mich., program that has replaced 10,000 lead pipes. The multi-year effort after the city’s water was poisoned has resulted in some real success — but hasn’t yet managed to rebuild residents’ trust. NEW — MICHAEL SUSSMAN, the former HILLARY CLINTON attorney whom JOHN DURHAM charged earlier this week, pleaded not guilty today. More from The Hill FRIDAY AFTERNOON READ — NYT’s Michael Grynbaum just published a profile of White House press secretary JEN PSAKI. Fun nuggets: — “As a child, Ms. Psaki admired BARBARA WALTERS, although her parents throttled her television time, offering up episodes of ‘20/20’ as rewards for good behavior.” — Her office wall has a framed copy of “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus,” the classic article in the New York Sun. (Notably absent from her office: “the traditional flak jacket passed down cheekily among White House press secretaries; it apparently went missing in January.”) — President JOE BIDEN once chided her for saying “R&D” at a briefing — too much technical jargon, he felt. — RAHM EMANUEL takes credit for getting her now-husband to ask her out. Good Friday afternoon. | | A message from Google: Google is committing $10 billion to advance cybersecurity. Widespread cyberattacks continue to threaten the private information of people, organizations, and governments around the world. That’s why Google is investing $10 billion to expand zero-trust programs, help secure the software supply chain, and enhance open-source security. Learn more. | | | THE PANDEMIC THE BOOSTER BATTLE — The FDA’s vaccine expert panel is meeting today to debate and vote on whether the agency should approve Pfizer’s application for vaccine booster shots. It’s a big moment in a hotly contested medical (and political) decision. “The opening moments of FDA advisory committee meetings are usually not filled with drama. But today’s were soaked with it,” Stat reports. The biggest fireworks are likely to come later this afternoon. MARK YOUR CALENDARS — The White House will convene a virtual vaccine summit Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. THE VACCINATION CAMPAIGN — Eighty-nine percent of active-duty troops have received at least their first shot, JEFF ZIENTS announced at this morning’s pandemic briefing — a big jump from 76% three weeks ago, when Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN announced a new requirement for the military. THE WHITE HOUSE CLIMATE FILES — Speaking this morning at the virtual Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, Biden said that we’re at “a code red for humanity” on climate change and emphasized that he’s aiming to muscle through a “historic investment to modernize our climate resilient infrastructure.” Biden also urged other countries to sign on to the U.S.-EU effort to slash methane emissions by about a third in the next nine years. FUN STORY — McClatchy’s Bryan Lowry explores Biden’s love of the W.B. YEATS poem “Easter, 1916,” which he’s quoted seven times since June — specifically the line “All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.” VALLEY TALK THE HITS KEEP COMING — The latest installment of the WSJ’s damning “Facebook Files” series explores how the fundamental nature of MARK ZUCKERBERG’s platform undermined his own desire to promote vaccines and allowed misinformation to spread. Sam Schechner, Jeff Horwitz and Emily Glazer report that comments on factual posts flooded fact-based pages with anti-vaxx rhetoric. “Users were seeing comments on vaccine-related posts 775 million times a day, [an internal] memo said, and Facebook researchers worried the large proportion of negative comments could influence perceptions of the vaccines’ safety.” CONGRESS MUCK READ — It’s becoming a semi-regular feature at this point: Insider dives into congressional records and finds a member of Congress who failed to disclose stock trades quickly enough to comply with the law. The latest, via Dave Levinthal, is Rep. SUSIE LEE, a swing-seat Nevada Democrat whose more than 200 transactions total somewhere between $267,000 and $3.3 million. Her spokesperson said she wasn’t involved in the trades. POLICY CORNER ATTACKING BACK ON HACKS — The Treasury Department could impose fresh sanctions as soon as next week aimed at deterring ransomware attacks by cutting off illegal cryptocurrency transactions, scoop WSJ’s Ian Talley and Dustin Volz . “The actions collectively would represent the most significant attempt yet by the Biden administration to undercut the digital finance ecosystem of traders, exchanges and other elements” undergirding such attacks, they write. CHOPPY WATERS — The White House is considering replacing acting Federal Housing Finance Agency Director SANDRA THOMPSON, but House Financial Services Chair MAXINE WATERS (D-Calif.) made an unusual jump into the process and urged Biden to retain Thompson, Katy O’Donnell reports. AMERICA AND THE WORLD PULLOUT FALLOUT — Democrats in Congress are walking a tricky tightrope as they figure out how to conduct tough oversight of the Biden administration’s Afghanistan decisions without damaging him — or themselves — politically, Andrew Desiderio reports. One of their plans: making sure the scope of investigation encompasses past administrations of both parties. But “the focus of the Afghanistan oversight effort will remain on the Biden administration’s missteps for the time being.” — 170 people, including U.S. citizens, made it out of Kabul on a chartered flight on its way to Qatar this morning, Reuters reports. ETHIOPIA LATEST — Biden this morning authorized (though did not yet impose) sanctions on those responsible for the atrocities in the Tigray region. A senior administration official told reporters that they expect changes within “weeks, not months,” per CNN, with Ethiopian leaders otherwise facing the threat of imminent sanctions. | | | | 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. | | | | | POLITICS ROUNDUP 2024 WATCH — Former VP MIKE PENCE is making more moves with an eye on 2024, hiring for his new Washington office. His allies told CNN’s Michael Warren that he won’t wait for DONALD TRUMP to make a decision about running for the presidency, and the last time the men spoke was in April. 2021 WATCH — It’s the first day of voting in the Virginia gubernatorial race, and Zach Montellaro is in Alexandria watching for clues not only about the political landscape, but about how the very nature of voting will change in the post-pandemic era. FILIBUSTER LITMUS TEST — “Supporting filibuster reform is now a must-have position in a Democratic primary,” reports HuffPost’s Paul Blumenthal, who surveys 2022’s Dem Senate hopefuls and finds that across the ideological spectrum, they are all united in believing that the filibuster should be reformed or eliminated. ANOTHER DEADLOCK — The FEC this morning deadlocked 3-3 along partisan lines, thereby dismissing an illegal political donations case against GEO Corrections Holdings. Axios’ Lachlan Markay writes that it was “what good government groups call an open-and-shut case of illicit politicking.” — The FEC also tossed out Rep. MATT GAETZ’s (R-Fla.) complaint against Twitter. JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH HEADS UP — Austin this morning approved the deployment of 100 unarmed D.C. National Guard members to provide support for law enforcement at the D.C. Armory during Saturday’s “Justice for J6” rally. WaPo’s Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis scoop that Capitol Police had initially asked for them to be armed MILLEY BITES BACK — Following a wave of conservative outrage over his reported actions in the final months of the Trump administration, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. MARK MILLEY defended himself today. He described the calls to his Chinese counterpart as “routine” and “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his position, AP’s Lolita Baldor reports from Athens, Greece. But he told reporters he wouldn’t go into more detail until he testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee later this month. — But the brouhaha runs the risk of politicizing the military even further, WaPo’s Missy Ryan reports. SELECT COMMITTEE MAKING MOVES — Trump’s team has a 30-day period to review hundreds of pages of documents requested by the Jan. 6 select committee, and any attempts to block information from going public will force the Biden administration into a tough spot. Betsy Woodruff Swan breaks it down: If Biden rejects Trump’s efforts to invoke executive privilege and sends the documents to Congress, he’d be in “unprecedented legal territory about the treatment of former presidents.” But the political fallout from shielding Trump could be significant. KNOWING STEWART RHODES — WaPo’s Hannah Allam and Spencer Hsu examine the curious case of the Oath Keepers founder. Federal prosecutors claim he helped coordinate the deadly Capitol insurrection, but he hasn’t faced any charges. Is an indictment yet to come? Did he manage to avoid doing anything illegal? Is there a nefarious conspiracy afoot? Or has Rhodes himself inflated his own role and power in the militia movement? On most of these questions, the jury’s still out. TRUMP CARDS TRUMP INC. — Joe Rubin has a deep dive for The New Republic and Type Investigations into DONALD TRUMP JR.’s business dealings in South Carolina. He finds that Trump Jr. and his business partners “made enticing promises” to North Charleston in a real estate deal that fell apart, but their company managed to emerge with $2 million in profit paid for by the county’s taxpayers. “After all the false and broken promises, after leaving critical social service agencies in the lurch as they had planned to move into a renovated building that was instead stripped for scrap metal,” he writes, “Don Jr. personally pocketed at least $250,000.” SPEAKING OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS — WaPo’s David Fahrenthold and Carol Leonnig tallied up the total cost of Trump’s unusual decision to keep six more months of Secret Service protection for his children and three top officials: $1.7 million. | | | | Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today . | | | | | MEDIAWATCH NEW AT THE TOP — Axios is tapping SARA KEHAULANI GOO as editor-in-chief and AJA WHITAKER-MOORE as executive editor, per Insider’s Steven Perlberg. Previous EIC NICHOLAS JOHNSTON will become publisher. It’s part of a strategy shift after chatter about a potential sale ended with nothing: The outlet is planning to launch three paid “Axios Pro” newsletters (sound familiar?) and expand further into local news in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, D.C., Nashville and Philadelphia. THE NEW NEW YORK TIMES — The NYT’s big “The Morning” newsletter, now rocking a cool *5 million* daily readers, is growing from a six- to eight-person team and adding weekend additions, Perlberg reports. (He also explores how the newsletter’s pandemic coverage has been the subject of some internal controversy.) National security editor AMY FISCUS will newly help lead the team. Announcement MISCELLANY WHAT ROBERT GATES IS UP TO — The former Defense secretary and CIA director is heading a committee tasked with rewriting the NCAA’s constitution. NYT’s Alan Blinder takes a look at how “Gates could help save or condemn” the college sports association. PLAYBOOKERS HOLLYWOODLAND — “Mayor Pete,” the forthcoming documentary about Transportation Secretary Pete and Chasten Buttigieg, has a release date. The film from the co-director of “Boys State” will debut on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 12. OUT AND ABOUT IN NYC — Bloomberg Businessweek hosted a party for Max Chafkin’s new book, “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power” ( $28), at the Campbell Terrace on Thursday evening. SPOTTED: Reto Gregori, Joel Weber, Jackie Simmons, Kristin Powers, Laura Zelenko, Christine Lagorio-Chafkin, David Kirkpatrick, Shawna Thomas, Sarah Ellison, Nathan Heller, Sheelah Kolhatkar, Patrick Garrigan, Stephanie Clifford, Bruce Headlam, Alexis Gay, Felix Salmon, Sam Ro, Jason Del Rey, Kelly Jane Torrance, Nick Summers, Rebecca Greenfield, Kerri Chyka, Felix Gillette, Gerry Smith and Cristina Alesci. SPOTTED at breakfast this morning outside the Four Seasons: Kris Coratti hosting MSNBC President Rashida Jones to talk about the network’s Washington shows and new documentary series, with DeDe Lea, Stephanie Cutter, Kim Sajet, Shani George, Terri Fariello, Yamiche Alcindor, Jen Howard, Jen Stout, Juleanna Glover, Julissa Marenco and Kelley McCormick. MEDIA MOVE — Cate Cadell will be a national security correspondent at WaPo, focusing on the U.S.-China relationship. She previously reported in China for eight years, including five at Reuters. Announcement TRANSITIONS — Alvin Chan is now senior director for public policy at Samsung Electronics America. He most recently was director of government relations at HP. … Preston Mizell is now deputy press secretary for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). He most recently was press assistant for Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.). … … Adam Wilczewski is now a principal at Resolute-DC. He most recently was global business development manager for Lennar International, and is a Commerce alum. … Nick Pacilio will join Andreessen Horowitz crypto to head media relations. He currently is on the Twitter comms team. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Jonathan Lipe, legislative assistant for Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), and Kelli Dunlap, a clinical psychologist, welcomed Connor Donovan Lipe on Sept. 4. Pic BIRTHWEEK (was Tuesday): DNC’s Roger Lau | | | | A message from Google:   Cyberattacks are endangering people and governments around the world. 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