|
Presented by Mastercard: The unofficial guide to official Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | MANCHIN MEETS THE DEM CAUCUS — Senate Democrats held a virtual meeting Tuesday night, their first get-together since the Sunday meltdown. And yes, JOE MANCHIN logged on. Manchin and Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER essentially repeated what they’ve been saying in other venues this week: The West Virginian has concerns about inflation and the debt and wants higher taxes on the rich, while Schumer outlined his new road map to pass Build Back Better and voting rights legislation. — BBB: Schumer said he was pressing ahead with a vote in January as a way to build pressure for a deal. In his remarks, Schumer alluded to Manchin scuttling the legislation, telling colleagues, per a Democratic source, “I know we are all frustrated at this outcome. However, we are not giving up on BBB. Period. We won’t stop working on it until we pass a bill.” He also pushed back on Manchin’s argument, in a radio interview Monday, that Democrats should start from scratch through the committee system, noting that BBB has been the subject of over 60 Senate hearings. And the Democratic leader responded to Manchin’s concerns about inflation and the national debt, citing recent reports from Goldman Sachs and Moody’s that forecast reduced growth absent passage of BBB. As for the procedural details of the way forward, here’s what Schumer said: “In the new year, we will have a vote on the motion to proceed to the House-passed bill. The House-passed bill is the legislative vehicle available to us to begin the reconciliation debate in the Senate. At this time, it is my intention to make the Senate substitute amendment the current Senate text as published and shared with your offices, unless we are able to reach an agreement on modifications acceptable to the entire caucus ahead of that vote.” — Voting rights: Schumer vowed to force votes on reforming Senate rules if the GOP blocked the legislation again in January, which is certain to happen. He said that at the state level Republicans are passing “voter suppression laws” with “only a simple majority vote” and it was unacceptable to “not allow the United States Senate to do the same.” This is all very similar to what Schumer announced in his recent Dear Colleague letter. But for the first time since Manchin blew up everything, we are hearing some notes of optimism from Democratic senators. For example, after the call, Sen. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.) told Playbook, “Feeling confident that we will find a way to move forward on a revised version of our plan to expand opportunity for every American, cut the cost of prescription drugs and child care, and tackle the climate crisis.” — President JOE BIDEN is also projecting optimism: He came away from his talk with the other Joe on Sunday night feeling good that some type of deal will come together early next year: “Some people think maybe I’m not Irish because I don’t hold a grudge. But I want to get things done,” Biden said Tuesday, adding: “Sen. Manchin and I are going to get something done.” More on Biden’s optimism from WSJ’s Ken Thomas — Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL is apparently still open to … something. She actually spoke with Manchin on Tuesday, per WaPo’s Greg Sargent , who interviewed the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Jayapal (D-Wash.) “did seem to open the door to a way forward, though it’s a twisted and murky path.” The path, which you can read the piece to try to understand, basically involves getting Manchin to say exactly what he wants and going from there. | | | | A message from Mastercard: Holiday cheer is in the air and shoppers are returning to stores in force, including millions of small businesses across America. Mastercard SpendingPulse data shows that total retail sales are up nearly 30% compared to last year. By empowering small businesses with digital payment solutions, data insights and the tools to operate more efficiently, Mastercard is committed to helping them during this holiday season, and thrive in the future. | | | BIDEN TAKES ON OMICRON — In his Tuesday afternoon speech on the Omicron threat, Biden once again tried to thread the needle between not creating panic and warning unvaccinated people it could be really bad for them if they don’t get vaccinated. He tried to provide some reassurance to the demoralized masses: “This is not March of 2020. Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We’re prepared. We know more.” And he outlined the administration’s plans to provide 500 million free at-home tests, which Americans can order online for free in January. — WaPo’s Tyler Pager, Dan Diamond and Andrew Jeong have a good rundown of the remarks. This graf jumped out at us: “Biden’s speech marked the clearest distillation to date of a new message from the White House, as officials acknowledge the virus is unlikely to disappear but Americans no longer have to fully upend their daily lives even as cases rise. And it reflected the extent to which many Americans and political leaders show little appetite for the widespread shutdowns of the early pandemic period that hobbled the economy, forced millions of students into virtual learning, and sparked bitter partisan and cultural battles over how to combat the virus.” — Joanne Kenen, a contributing editor at POLITICO, weighed in with a post-speech analysis under a clever headline that summed it up neatly: “Why Biden’s Omicron Speech Won’t Break Through” — Eric Topol, a Scripps Research scientist whose Twitter feed and Substack are must-reads if you want to understand the pandemic, has an excellent rundown of why the Biden plan is completely inadequate in the face of the Omicron threat: “What the President Could Have Done Today to Counter the Pandemic” Good Wednesday morning, and thanks for reading Playbook, which Mediaite declared the 25th “most influential in news media” in 2021. Drop us a line and tell us what you think of their rankings: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. CLICKER — Chartbeat, the web traffic analytics tool, issued its annual list of “most engaging” stories Tuesday: the stories from this year that people spent the most time actively reading and interacting with on pages. The top five were: 1) “‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor,” by WaPo’s Amy Gardner 2) “ Comparing the Covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson,” by Stat’s Helen Branswell 3) “‘We feel incredibly betrayed’: Thousands of Guardsmen forced to vacate Capitol,” by POLITICO’s Lara Seligman, Natasha Bertrand and Andrew Desiderio 4) “‘We found a baby on the subway - now he's our son,’” by BBC’s Lucy Wallis 5) “Trump went ‘ballistic’ after being tossed off Twitter,” by POLITICO’s Gabby Orr, Daniel Lippman, Tina Nguyen and Sam Stein Just sayin’: POLITICO had three of the top 10 stories, and nine in the top 50. BIDEN UNDERWATER — A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll finds Biden with lagging approval ratings on a number of key issues facing his administration. The president’s overall approval sits at 43%, with his highest mark coming for his handling of the pandemic at 48% and his lowest for immigration at 35%. Toplines … Crosstabs | 
| | | | | A message from Mastercard:   The holidays are here and shoppers have returned to small businesses across America. We're empowering entrepreneurs with digital tools to help them grow and thrive. Learn More. | | | BIDEN’S WEDNESDAY: — 9:30 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief. — 10:30 a.m.: Biden will meet with the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force and private-sector CEOs, with a media spray at the top. VP KAMALA HARRIS’ WEDNESDAY: — 5:25 p.m.: The VP and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF will depart D.C. en route to Los Angeles. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 12:30 p.m. The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 3 p.m. THE HOUSE and THE SENATE are out. | | | | POLITICO TECH AT CES 2022 - We are bringing a special edition of the POLITICO Tech newsletter to CES 2022. Written by Alexandra Levine and John Hendel, the newsletter will take you inside the most influential technology event on the planet, featuring every major and emerging industry in the technology ecosystem gathered together in one place. The newsletter runs from Jan. 5-7 and will focus on the public policy related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the Summit. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY | 
President Joe Biden addresses the country Tuesday about his administration’s response to the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | THE PANDEMIC HOARDING VS. (BURDEN) SHARING — TONY BLINKEN held a virtual meeting with foreign ministers Tuesday about the Omicron threat and announced $580 million in new funding for international organizations fighting the pandemic. But according to an administration official, the secretary of State also relayed a message that boiled down to this: “We need you all to do more.” The White House is increasingly frustrated that the burden of tackling a worldwide pandemic is falling disproportionately on the U.S. and not enough on other large, wealthy countries. At the same time, pressure is growing on the U.S. to do even more as the pandemic drags on and, in many low-income countries, gets worse. Outside groups that focus on distributing vaccines around the world have two main gripes: | • | They want the U.S. to find a way to donate more shots than it already has. | • | They want the administration to force Moderna to share its vaccine recipe so other countries can make their own and not have to wait for them to be sent. | | The administration points out that it’s already promised 1.2 billion doses to be distributed globally, with more than 335 million already doled out to 111 countries according to the administration. In terms of forcing Moderna’s hand, Biden officials say their hands are tied by the agreements the Trump administration made with the company regarding its intellectual property. The backdrop of all this is the question of hoarding. As variants spread worldwide, can wealthy countries protect their own people while ensuring that nations with drastically lower vaccination rates get the billions of shots they need? “There is a zero-sum game in terms of total vaccine supply, where you have rich countries hoarding vaccines for their own citizens, and that is leaving very few vaccines for the rest of the world,” ROBBIE SILVERMAN at Oxfam told Playbook. This all puts the Biden administration in a politically precarious position. Expectations are high (possibly too high) for an administration that knows it can’t do it all alone, but is also stuck with other wealthy countries it says aren’t pulling their weight. The longer poorer countries remain unvaxxed, the better conditions for the virus to thrive. And the longer it thrives, the more likely that another variant (maybe one more dangerous than Omicron) reaches the United States, bogging Biden down even further in this Covid quagmire. THAT’S BILLION WITH A ‘B’ — The Secret Service announced Tuesday that “criminals stole close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds. … The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide,” CNBC’s Eamon Javers and Scott Zamost report. “More than $2.3 billion in stolen funds have been recovered so far, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 suspects who span the spectrum from individuals to organized groups.” | | | | A message from Mastercard:   Mastercard is helping entrepreneurs thrive during this holiday season and into the future. Learn More. | | | CONGRESS MCCONNELL MISCHIEF-MAKING — Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL is openly courting Manchin to switch sides. “It is hardly a secret, Mr. McConnell said, that he has wooed Mr. Manchin for years, only to have Mr. Manchin, a lifelong Democrat, resist. And Mr. Manchin this week said he ‘hoped’ there was still a place for him in the party,” NYT’s Carl Hulse writes . “But Mr. McConnell seemed to see the clash over the spending measure as potentially providing a new opening for a party switch that would both restore him as majority leader and shift the ground in Washington. And he is also not against stirring up trouble for Democrats however and whenever he can. ‘Obviously we would love to have him on our team,’ said Mr. McConnell. ‘I think he’d be more comfortable.’” POTENTIAL MCCONNELL SUCCESSOR EYES THE EXITS — NYT’s Jonathan Martin scoops that Sen. JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) “is seriously considering retiring after next year, a prospect that has set off an intensifying private campaign from other Republicans urging him to seek reelection. … A combination of family concerns and [DONALD] TRUMP’s enduring grip on the Republican Party have prompted the senator, who is in his third term, to tell associates and reporters in his home state that 2022 could be his last year in Congress.” RAKING IN THE DOUGH — Manchin’s political action committee saw an uptick in corporate contributions ahead of his announcement that he would not vote for BBB, according to CNBC’s Brian Schwartz and Jacob Pramuk . “Manchin’s leadership PAC, Country Roads, received 17 contributions from corporations in October and 19 last month. None of the four months prior to October saw as many corporate contributions.” Some of the donors included American Express, Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin and insurance companies like UnitedHealth Group and Blue Cross Blue Shield. KNOWING DAN CRENSHAW — The Texas Republican representative has drawn some recent headlines for a quality few in his party possess these days: the willingness to criticize other Republicans, even as he remains far from a Never Trumper. “I think politics has changed radically, where people want a freewheeling, authentic person,” he tells Olivia Beavers in a new profile. “Fine, that’s good. And that’s certainly what I deliver. But you also need to be thoughtful and correct in what you say.” ALL POLITICS TEAM OF TRUMPERS — DAVID MCCORMICK, a hedge fund executive gearing up to run for Senate in Pennsylvania, is bringing on a slew of former Trump advisers, Alex Isenstadt reports this morning. Among them is HOPE HICKS, “who has been helping McCormick arrange meetings and reach out to people ahead of his anticipated early 2021 announcement [and] is working on her first campaign since being a top staffer on Trump’s 2016 effort. Two other prominent top staffers in the Trump administration — STEPHEN MILLER and CLIFF SIMS — are also expected to serve in advisory roles.” | | | | 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | John Cornyn texted Joe Manchin on Tuesday asking him to switch parties, but didn’t hear back. WaPo reviewed Bill and Hillary Clinton’s MasterClasses and was surprised “that hers is nearly a third longer. … Less astonishing (okay, not astonishing at all) is that Hillary appears to have prepared far harder for her class.” Mia Love apparently doesn’t know the difference between Virginia and West Virginia. Barbara Lee and Nicole Malliotakis have Covid. So does Meena Harris. Dr. Mehmet Oz’s ratings are plummeting ahead of his show’s finale. ASSIGNMENT EDITOR — Dan Pfeiffer wants to know: “Where are the news stories about stocked shelves and presents arriving on time?” MEDIA MOVES — Dylan Wells is joining USA Today as a Congress, campaigns and politics reporter. She currently is a national political correspondent at National Journal. … Paula Friedrich is joining POLITICO as an interactive developer. She previously was a newsroom developer for the San Francisco Chronicle. … … Fatima Hussein is joining the AP to cover the Treasury Department. She previously was a worker safety and environmental law reporter for Bloomberg. Talking Biz News … Rachel Glasberg is now a producer for NBC’s “Stay Tuned.” She previously was a writing associate producer at MSNBC. Talking Biz News FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Anja Manuel will be executive director at the Aspen Strategy Group, where she was previously director. She is taking over from Nicholas Burns, who is stepping down to become U.S. ambassador to China. TRANSITION — Kate Bellino is now deputy press secretary for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). She most recently was staff assistant/comms assistant for Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.). WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Sean Downey, partner at Hilltop Public Solutions and a Cory Booker and Barack Obama campaign alum, and Julie McClain Downey, VP of strategic comms at American Bridge 21st Century and a Planned Parenthood, Booker and EMILY’s List alum, welcomed Lucy Jill Downey on Monday. Pics — Lucien Zeigler, research director for the Saudi-U.S. Trade Group, and Sophie Pyle Zeigler, CEO of Rosé Media, welcomed Caroline “Coco” Elaine Zeigler on Monday. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Charlie Peters, founding editor of the Washington Monthly (9-5!) … Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) … Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) … Diane Sawyer … Jamie Kirchick … Mike Needham of Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) office (4-0) … DJ Nordquist … EEI’s Rich Ward … Matt Manda … CNN’s Daniella Diaz … Heather Holdridge of Real Voices Media … Adam Verdugo … Scott Sadler … Libby Rosenbaum of the American Council of Young Political Leaders … Cherylyn Harley LeBon … Maria Thorbourne … LexStrat’s Marc Raimondi … Zack Carroll (3-0) … AEI’s Rachel Manfredi … Beau Phillips … Jake Perry of Jake Perry + Partners … DCCC’s Karen Defilippi … Roxanne Stachowski … NPR’s Michele Kelemen … Ascent Media’s Matthew Mazzone … McGuireWoods Consulting’s Mark Bowles … Paul Wolfowitz … former Rep. Bill Lipinski (D-Ill.) … Mary Baskerville … POLITICO’s Kristin Longe … Chris Austin … Eugene Steuerle ... Andrew Egger ... WTOP’s Matt Small … Nick Thomas … former Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz … Maeve Coyle … Mary Kirtley Waters … Landon Heid … Hank Sheinkopf Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross. | | | | A message from Mastercard: What do you do when your dreams don’t go according to plan?
That’s what many small business owners who depended on foot traffic wondered last year when the pandemic suddenly forced them to close their doors and change their business models.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, serving as the lifeline through which goods, services and livelihoods flow. And, when the pandemic hit, Mastercard solutions, insights and tools helped entrepreneurs evolve to succeed in the new digital economy.
Now, as shoppers return to small businesses this holiday season, Mastercard is helping entrepreneurs prepare for the future. | | | | | | | 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 | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
