Playbook PM: Warner wants quick infrastructure vote — with or without BBB

From: POLITICO Playbook - Monday Oct 18,2021 05:05 pm

Oct 18, 2021

By Rachael Bade, Tara Palmeri, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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WARNER PLOTS WITH MANCHIN ON INFRASTRUCTURE VOTE — Sen. MARK WARNER has started urging his colleagues to support a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the coming days — even if the Build Back Better bill isn’t ready yet. The Virginia Democrat, a TERRY MCAULIFFE ally who recently started making the case in the media for such a move, spoke with Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) about this idea over the weekend.

Manchin in the past has been open to waiting for a larger deal on reconciliation and then voting on the pair consecutively. But he is getting frustrated by the infrastructure vote getting pushed back over and over again, according to his office. Warner, meanwhile, has been warning about the lack of action in Washington blowing back on McAuliffe.

Warner’s office declined to comment on the senator’s private conversations. Manchin’s office confirmed that he wants an infrastructure vote ASAP. Warner is attending a fundraiser tonight for Manchin.

THE STEP BACK: The conversations are heating up as McAuliffe has been sounding alarms publicly. He’s been talking to Speaker NANCY PELOSI, who will make the final call about whether to hold the infrastructure vote before the end of the month. The speaker set a Halloween deadline for both bills, but it’s unclear what she will do if time runs out and the BBB is still not finalized.

A NEW RSC MEMO: A Republican Study Committee memo laying out 42 attacks on the reconciliation bill has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill and in conservative media over the past week or so. It’s just a piece of the larger effort by the party to cast the Democrats’ social spending bill as a “socialist” takeover. But the memo also shows the GOP is moving beyond panning the size of the bill; it’s now getting into the specifics.

Case in point: The party’s universal pre-K provision, the memo argues, “hurts small and in-home daycares” by requiring staff to have a college degree. The move toward affordable child care could, it argues, cripple faith-based child care providers by preventing them from receiving money from the program. The memo calls the proposed Civilian Climate Corps “a cabal of federally funded climate police” and says the larger bill “punishes red states for failing to adopt Green New Deal provisions.”

In short: It takes aim at many of the GOP’s favorite targets.

The memo has been used by Fox News in recent days, getting airtime on “Fox & Friends” and HARRIS FAULKNER’s show. Employees at outside conservative groups such as Heritage and the American First Policy Institute are helping promote the document to their followers and members. And the memo is slated to get kicked around on the Hill as members return to D.C. this week. RSC Chair JIM BANKS (R-Ind.) is hosting a special session briefing members on it Tuesday night. Read it here

SPEAKING OF RSC: Here’s the latest lineup of their guest speakers (RSC has been hearing from 2024 presidential hopefuls for months now):

•	Oct. 20: NEWT GINGRICH
•	Oct. 27: Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.)
•	Nov. 3: Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.)

IN MEMORIAM — “Colin Powell, first Black U.S. secretary of state, dies of Covid-19 complications amid cancer battle,” by CNN’s Devan Cole: “[COLIN] POWELL was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of RONALD REAGAN’s presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President GEORGE H.W. BUSH.

“His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. But his reputation would be forever stained when, as GEORGE W. BUSH’s first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a ‘blot’ on his record.”

Good Monday afternoon.

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CONGRESS

RETIREMENT ROUNDUP — House Dems are losing two longtime lawmakers as they stare down the prospect of returning to the minority in 2023:

— Rep. DAVID PRICE (D-N.C.) is hanging it up after having served all but one term since 1986, per the Carolina Journal and WRAL. Inside Elections’ @JacobRubashkin: “The Democrat is one of the more interesting House members. He has a divinity degree and PhD from Yale, taught at Duke, and wrote a textbook on Congress from the perspective of a representative.” He’s also a senior appropriator and the reason political candidates have to say “I approve this message” in ads. Price’s statement

— Rep. MIKE DOYLE (D-Pa.) will announce his retirement today, KDKA’s Jon Delano reports. He was first elected in 1994 and is the dean of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation. The Energy & Commerce telecom subcommittee chair “has taken up a number of tech-related causes … [and] maintained his roots as a western Pennsylvania labor Democrat,” per WITF.

— Ally Mutnick, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle have the political step back on the sixth and seventh House Dems to announce they won’t seek reelection: “[T]he departure of such senior Democrats does not inspire confidence in the party’s midterm prospects. Price, in particular, holds a ‘cardinal’ position on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.”

(IR)RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES — CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere and Manu Raju report this morning that in a phone call last week, President JOE BIDEN and Pelosi plotted out an end game for passing Biden’s twin mega-bills and decided “that the time has come to wrap up negotiations.” Now congressional Democrats are pushing the president to get more involved, and feeling frustrated that he hasn’t yet, even though the White House still foresees victory ahead.

— Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) met with Biden at the White House this morning, per CBS’ Kristin Brown, who reports that the president is also calling other Dems today.

PAGING AMTRAK JOE — A bad Amtrak bottleneck near Baltimore could see some relief if Congress manages to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, reports WSJ’s Scott Calvert. The railroad needs federal money for much of the estimated $4 billion to build “a new 2-mile tunnel several blocks away” from the current B&P Tunnel, where delays are frequent and fixes are untenable. Notable for commuters: “A new tunnel would speed up MARC commuter trains between Baltimore and Washington to under 30 minutes, more than 15 minutes faster than current express service.”

FOR YOUR RADAR — Members of Congress from both parties are considering asking DOJ for a criminal investigation into whether Amazon executives lied under oath about their business practices in 2019 and 2020 testimony. WSJ’s Dana Mattioli scooped that several members sent a letter to Amazon asking for “exculpatory evidence” to prove they weren’t misled by JEFF BEZOS and others regarding “accusations that it uses the data of third-party sellers on its site when creating private-label products,” Mattioli writes.

INTRODUCING CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. GET A FIRST LOOK AT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.

THE WHITE HOUSE

SCRANTON JOE RETURNS — Biden will head to his childhood stomping grounds on Wednesday to tout his legislative agenda, The Times-Tribune’s Borys Krawczeniuk reports.

POLITICS ROUNDUP

RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT — As Texas Republicans weigh whether and how much to dilute largely Democratic racial minority power in their redistricting process, the state is emerging as a key battleground for the voting clout of rapidly growing populations of color, report WSJ’s Aaron Zitner and Elizabeth Findell. “The outcome will depend on decisions by lawmakers and, in some states, by independent commissions, as well as the legal challenges that follow every cycle of redistricting.”

HOT ON THE RIGHT — Republicans are planning to hammer the Biden administration on supply chain and inflation issues as the holiday season approaches, banking on a pocketbook approach to build a narrative ahead of next year’s midterms, write WSJ’s Gabriel Rubin and Catherine Lucey. The White House, on the other hand, is hoping that Christmas spent with family will remind Americans how much better the pandemic has gotten from a year prior.

2022 WATCH — The Florida Democratic gubernatorial primary got shaken up this morning with the entrance of state Sen. ANNETTE TADDEO, who will take on Rep. CHARLIE CRIST and state Agriculture Commissioner NIKKI FRIED. Taddeo would be the state’s first Latina governor, and in an interview with the Miami Herald’s Bianca Padró Ocasio, she said she plans to focus her campaign on helping parents, expanding Medicaid and addressing climate change.

(RECENT) HISTORY LESSON — Former Sen. JOE LIEBERMAN is revealing for the first time the details of KARL ROVE and ELIZABETH DOLE secretly helping him beat NED LAMONT in the 2006 Connecticut Senate race, reports the Hartford Courant’s Christopher Keating . “It all started on the afternoon of the August 2006 primary when Lieberman was sitting with his family in the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford — just hours before Lieberman lost to Lamont. The phone rang, and the family was stunned to learn that Rove was on the line.” Lieberman shares all the details in the interview and his new book, “The Centrist Solution.”

JUDICIARY SQUARE

SCOTUS WATCH — NYT’s Adam Liptak has a fascinating tale of how a typo in a 1928 Supreme Court opinion — accidentally writing “property” instead of “properly” — has affected jurisprudence in the century since, including a citation in a high court ruling just last year. That’s according to a new study appropriately titled “A Reign of Error.”

TOP-ED — Jennifer Taub writes in Washington Monthly that little-noticed remarks from a top DOJ official last week “announced a sea change in policy at Main Justice,” urging prosecutors to get much more aggressive on white-collar crime.

BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now.

THE PANDEMIC

WARNING SIGN — By now you’ve read many articles about how the pandemic — and the vitriolic response from some to public health guidance — has exhausted and hollowed out public health departments around the country. But this conclusion from a sweeping new NYT story by Mike Baker and Danielle Ivory still might surprise you: “[L]ocal public health across the country is less equipped to confront a pandemic now than it was at the beginning of 2020.” More than 100 new state laws have limited health officials’ powers; 130 of 300 departments contacted by the Times said they don’t have enough staff to contact trace. And the effects for communities nationwide could stretch far beyond the pandemic.

IN NEED OF HELP — The Biden administration had a plan as the Delta variant took hold this summer to deploy federal pandemic response teams to states that needed help. A season later, it’s clear those resources weren’t sufficient to stack up against the magnitude of the surge or the broader systemic issues with medical staffing shortages, reports Erin Banco.

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION

WHAT A WMATA DISASTER — The National Transportation Safety Board said today that inspectors found nearly two dozen Metro rail cars with unsafe wheel assemblies after one derailed last week. The 7000 series cars — which make up a whopping 60% of the fleet — are now out of service, with a timeline for return unclear. “This could have resulted in a catastrophic event,” NTSB Chair JENNIFER HOMENDY said. More from WaPo

PLAYBOOKERS

MEDIA MOVE — Meredith Lee will be a food and agriculture policy reporter at POLITICO. She most recently was a White House reporter and producer at PBS NewsHour.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Thu Nguyen will move up to become the next executive director of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates. Ken Lee will transition to CEO emeritus.

TRANSITIONS — Mike Schmuhl is joining LangleyCyber as principal. He previously was national campaign manager of Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. … Madeleine Pike is now VP at Tai, Ginsberg & Associates. She previously was director of outreach and member services for the House Transportation Dems. … Daniel Kaufman is now a partner in BakerHostetler’s digital assets and data management practice group. He most recently was acting director for the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC. …

… Tim McBride will be president of ST Engineering North America. He previously was SVP of global government relations at Raytheon Technologies. … Rebecca Osmolski is now digital director for Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). She most recently was digital comms assistant for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. … Hanna Pritchett is now Eastern regional coordinator for the American Conservation Coalition. She previously was a legislative aide for Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.).

WEEKEND WEDDING — Greg Lewis, a managing director at FTI Consulting, and Augusta Reilly, who works in event production and logistics management and runs her own personal training business, got married Saturday in Buck Hill Falls, Pa., where they’re both from. They met there in 2013 at a mutual friend’s party. Pic … Another pic

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