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Presented by Facebook: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Tara Palmeri, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun | | | British PM BORIS JOHNSON will be feted by U.K. Ambassador KAREN PIERCE at her residency in D.C. on Tuesday night. Washington bigwigs have been invited to the outdoor reception to toast his visit, but instead of staying with Pierce for dinner, Johnson is dashing to the Australian Embassy in D.C. to have dinner with Australian PM SCOTT MORRISON, sources tell Playbook. While blowing off your underling for some diplomatic facetime isn't the biggest sin, it's the reaction from France after the Brits tanked their submarine deal with Australia that could cause some soreness. It seems that French backlash to the submarine deal is only pushing the U.K./Australia/U.S. alliance even closer. We reached out to French Ambassador PHILIPPE ÉTIENNE for his take, but a French voice answered the switch line to remind us he did in fact go back to France, as promised. The French aren't saying anything, but the colorful former Ambassador to the U.S. GÉRARD ARAUD — never one to hold back — tweeted that Johnson would be having dinner with “the same Australian ambassador who, on Sept. 14th, publicly said how the partnership with France was critical.” The dinner announcement came just minutes after Johnson called the U.K.’s relationship with France “incredibly important” and “indestructible.” He also said that he will talk to allies to make sure the submarine deal with Australia is not “exclusionary.” But some might say this dinner with Morrison is a bit of diplomatic trolling. Good Monday afternoon. CONGRESS DEMS’ DEBT DANCE — House Democratic leaders are still trying to figure out exactly how they’ll avoid a government shutdown and debt default, Caitlin Emma and Sarah Ferris report. “The release of their short-term spending bill — initially slated to debut Monday — may slip by one day, according to people familiar with the discussions,” Caitlin and Sarah write. “Speaker NANCY PELOSI and her leadership team were expected to pair the two must-pass measures in an attempt to ratchet up pressure on GOP leaders, who have adamantly opposed voting to raise the debt limit. But the plan as of Monday morning remained unclear, as House lawmakers returned to Washington for the first time in roughly a month to tackle a sprawling legislative to-do list.” — Heather Caygle (@heatherscope): “On chiefs call today, Pelosi’s office said they’re still hoping to pass CR [Tuesday] or [Wednesday]. But added the caveat that things are ‘fluid.’” BACK IN BUSINESS — The Republican Main Street Caucus is making a comeback, Olivia Beavers and Anthony Adragna scoop for Congress Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform for real-time coverage of Capitol Hill, which debuted today. “More than 60 GOP lawmakers are set to be part of it. Reps. DON BACON (Neb.), PETE STAUBER (Minn.) and MIKE BOST (Ill.), who head up the new Main Street Caucus, hope to be a centrist counterweight to the far-right flank of the House GOP,” Olivia and Anthony write. More on Congress Minutes NOTHING BONDS LIKE TRAUMA — Reps. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.) and LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) had not personally interacted with each other before this year. But now that they’re leading the congressional probe into the events of Jan. 6, the two “call and text daily, often while darting between airport gates. When the select committee's work is behind him, Thompson hopes to join Cheney for an elk hunt in her home state of Wyoming,” Kyle Cheney and Olivia Beavers write. And a nugget of news from Thompson: the chair said he is ballparking “early spring” for the sprawling probe to officially wrap up, which would prevent it from leaking into the final months of midterm campaigning. ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK — The Senate Parliamentarian swatted away Dems’ effort to pack immigration reform into their spending bill, but ELIZABETH MACDONOUGH may not be done yet. Marianne LeVine, Anthony Adragna and Caitlin Emma outline four more issues to watch for parliamentarian decisions: 1) a boost for organizing efforts, 2) drug pricing, 3) a clean power program and 4) worker protections for paid leave. | | A message from Facebook: Internet regulations are as outdated as dial-up
Facebook supports updated regulations, including four areas where lawmakers can make quick progress:
– Reforming Section 230
– Preventing foreign interference of our elections
– Passing federal privacy law
– Setting rules that allow people to safely transfer data between services | | | SCOTUS WATCH ABORTION BACK ON THE DOCKET — The Supreme Court is set to hear a case regarding a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy on Dec. 1, the court announced today. “The state law has been blocked by lower courts because it directly violates [Roe vs. Wade’s] protections for pre-viability abortions,” Alice Miranda Ollstein writes. “In taking the case, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority signaled its openness to revisiting and potentially overturning the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, with a ruling expected next year.” FISA FILES — “Last month, the Justice Department led by [A.G. MERRICK] GARLAND told the Supreme Court that the public had no right of access under the First Amendment to secret decisions issued by a federal court. The justices are set to consider whether to hear that case, which was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and concerns decisions issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, at their private conference on Oct. 8,” NYT’s Adam Liptak writes. THE WHITE HOUSE NO GIMMES — As Democratic leaders wrestle with how to raise the debt limit, the White House isn’t eager to jump in to win over GOP holdouts. Administration officials told WaPo’s Jeff Stein that they have “ruled out offering policy concessions to Republican lawmakers to lure GOP votes.” Nevermind that Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL hasn’t yet brought any bargaining requests to the White House — the officials said even if he did “the White House has no intention of rewarding the GOP for trying to use the debt ceiling as leverage in other negotiations.” THE NEXT PUSH — The White House wants to take on homelessness. HUD Secretary MARCIA FUDGE, VA Secretary DENIS MCDONOUGH and other Cabinet officials are announcing a new initiative dubbed “House America,” “asking leaders of city, county, state and tribal governments across the U.S. to make a public pledge to reduce homelessness,” Bloomberg’s Kriston Capps writes. HEADS UP — VP KAMALA HARRIS is heading to “The View.” Harris will be in the studio on Friday — the second sitting vice president to appear on the ABC program, after Biden did so during his years as VP, per the AP. THE PANDEMIC GREAT NEWS — Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine “has been shown to be safe and highly effective in young children aged 5 to 11 years,” per NYT’s Apoorva Mandavilli . And it couldn’t come soon enough: “Children now account for more than one in five new cases, and the highly contagious Delta variant has sent more children into hospitals and intensive care units in the past few weeks than at any other time in the pandemic. … If the regulatory review goes as smoothly as it did for older children and adults, millions of elementary school students could be inoculated before Halloween.” OPENING UP — The Biden administration is planning to ease international travel restrictions starting in November, WSJ’s Alison Sider and Andrew Restuccia report. Foreign nationals "will be required to show proof of vaccination as well as a negative test for Covid-19 taken within three days of departure to the U.S.” under new rules that Sider and Restuccia write are "aimed in part at assuaging mounting frustration among European allies." | | | | 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 West Wing Playbook, 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 LIKE A VIRUS — California, Virginia, Nevada, Pennsylvania: These are the latest states where GOP candidates are taking DONALD TRUMP’s election lies for a spin, claiming with no evidence that their races are rigged. “It’s a fiction that’s poised to factor heavily in the midterm elections and in 2024,” David Siders and Zach Montellaro write. NORTHERN NEIGHBORS — It’s Election Day in Canada! Zi-Ann Lum has everything you need to know as it appears PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU will be sweating out the very election that he called early. “The likelihood Canadians will return the Liberal government to majority status is slim at this point, according to most public polls, but it’s not impossible. Conservatives also have a shot at ousting Trudeau in what's turned out to be a race so close that the result will depend on parties' get-out-the-vote efforts.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD TALIBAN TAKEOVER — CNN’s @kylieatwood: “[On Sunday] 21 US citizens & 48 lawful permanent residents departed Afghanistan on a Qatar airways flight, the State Dept announces. To date, 78 US citizens and 66 legal permanent residents have departed Afghanistan via Qatar Airways charter flights, per State.” U.N. CHIEF CHIDES U.S. & CHINA — U.N. Secretary-General ANTONIO GUTERRES had stern words for the U.S. and China as the assembly kicks off its gathering of world leaders this week. “Unfortunately, today we only have confrontation,” Guterres said of the two countries in an exclusive interview with AP’s Edith Lederer . Guterres said the U.S. and China should instead be working together on issues like climate, trade and technology. “We need to avoid at all cost a Cold War that would be different from the past one, and probably more dangerous and more difficult to manage.” — On climate change, Guterres stepped up his message to the entire world, telling the AP : “I’m not desperate, but I’m tremendously worried. We are on the verge of the abyss and we cannot afford a step in the wrong direction.” | | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A WOMEN RULE CONVERSATION ON ENDING SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY: Sexual assault in the military has been an issue for years, and political leaders are taking steps to address it. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) proposed bipartisan legislation to overhaul military sexual assault policies, but still face opposition. Join Women Rule for a virtual interview featuring Sens. Ernst and Gillibrand, who will discuss their legislative push and what it will take to end sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | TRUMP CARDS FOR YOUR RADAR — Trump Organization lawyers and former CFO ALLEN WEISSELBERG made their first appearance in court this morning since an arraignment in July. BRYAN SCARLATOS, a lawyer for Weisselberg, told the New York Supreme Court he has “strong reason to believe” more indictments are coming, CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Kara Scannell, Yon Pomrenze and Paula Reid report. NEW WOODWARD/COSTA BOOK DEETS — Trump allies tried to get Sens. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and MIKE LEE (R-Utah) on board with their unfounded claim that the 2020 election was stolen. “Give me some names,” Graham told RUDY GIULIANI. “You need to put it in writing. You need to show me the evidence.” But the findings did not impress. “Graham gave the arguments a withering assessment,” according to Bob Woodward and Bob Costa’s new book, “Peril” ($30) “saying they were suitable for ‘third grade.’” PLAYBOOKERS MEDIA MOVES — Eva McKend, Sean Lyngaas and Gabe Cohen are joining CNN. McKend will be a national politics reporter and previously was an on-air congressional correspondent for Spectrum News’ D.C. bureau. Lyngaas will be a cybersecurity reporter and previously was a senior reporter at CyberScoop covering DHS and Congress. Cohen will be a correspondent and previously was a national reporter and investigator for WUSA9 and TEGNA’s Verify team. TRANSITIONS — Scott Weier has rejoined Finsbury Glover Hering as a partner in the health practice. He most recently spent six years at Kaiser Permanente. … DaQuawn Bruce is now development director for College to Congress. He previously was government affairs associate and corporate PAC manager for Iron Mountain. … James Burnham is returning to Jones Day as a partner in the issues and appeals practice. He most recently was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and is a DOJ and Trump White House alum. … … John Koufos is joining Alice Marie Johnson’s nonprofit, Taking Action for Good Foundation as executive director. He previously was national director of reentry initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Right on Crime project and executive director of Safe Streets & Second Chances. … Kelli Briggs is now head of government and industry affairs at Olive AI. She most recently was a senior VP at the Washington Tax & Public Policy Group and is a Pat Tiberi alum. | | | |   | | | | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
