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Presented by Emergent: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | Presented by Emergent | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — After Ukrainian officials briefed members of Congress this week on the situation in Ukraine, a bipartisan group of 15 House members sent a letter to President JOE BIDEN today calling for the administration to step up its aid to the war-torn nation. ( Read the full letter here.) The group writes with four specific requests: 1. Support air defense capabilities: The letter states that “Russia’s advantage in this domain could soon develop into air dominance if the Ukrainians do not receive necessary military aid.” Specifically, the lawmakers ask the administration to “work with our NATO allies who possess the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to facilitate and expedite the transfer of these systems to Ukraine.” 2. Facilitate the transfer of manned and unmanned aircraft: “We commend the Polish government for taking proactive steps to deliver MiG-29 jets to the Ukrainian Air Force. We urge you to help facilitate this deal, commit to replenishing our allies’ fleets with American-made aircraft, and help advance the transfer of Su-25 aircraft to Ukraine as well.” 3. Strengthen economic sanctions: In addition to the sanctions in place on Russian entities, the lawmakers say that, if necessary, “secondary sanctions should be levied against Chinese banks and businesses that do business with Russia, in order to best ensure that Russia is unable to find a means of offsetting its exclusion from U.S. and European markets and banking systems.” 4. Bolster humanitarian aid: With Congress already passing $14 billion in aid for Ukraine as part of its government funding bill, the lawmakers want the administration to “to communicate the necessity of multilateral humanitarian assistance to our allies and partners around the world.” The letter increases the mounting pressure on the Biden administration to get involved in a few areas that it has been reluctant to venture thus far and raises the question of whether U.S.-China relations will be further strained over the war in Ukraine. It was signed by Reps. JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine), DON BACON (R-Neb.), JASON CROW (D-Colo.), BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-Pa.), JIM BAIRD (R-Ind.), CHRIS PAPPAS (D-N.H.), JOHN KATKO (R-N.Y.), CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-Pa.), BILL JOHNSON (R-Ohio), MICHAEL WALTZ (R-Fla.), CONOR LAMB (D-Pa.), JIM COSTA (D-Calif.), MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS (R-Iowa), KAIALI'I KAHELE (D-Hawaii) and VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-Ind.), who was born in Ukraine. MORE ON BIDEN’S LATEST RUSSIA MOVE — Biden officially announced this morning that the U.S. is pulling back its trade relations with Russia — stripping the country of its most favored nation status — and banning key imports. “The free world is coming together to confront Putin,” Biden said, announcing the move. What it means: “Stripping most favored nation status from Russia would allow the U.S. and allies to impose higher tariffs on some Russian imports, increasing the isolation of the Russian economy,” AP’s Zeke Miller, Josh Boak and Chris Megerian write. What else: “In a largely symbolic move, the administration also plans to ban imports of Russian seafood and alcohol, which amounted to $550 million last year. And Biden intends to prohibit the U.S. exports of luxury goods favored by the wealthy Russian oligarchs who support Putin,” per WaPo’s David Lynch. HARRIS IN ROMANIA — VP KAMALA HARRIS appeared at a news conference with Romanian President KLAUS IOHANNIS earlier today: “We take seriously, and are prepared to act on, the words we speak when we say, ‘An attack on one is an attack against all,’” she said. Harris also reiterated the administration’s call that Americans will pay more at the pump for now: “There is a price to pay for democracy. Gotta stand with your friends,” Harris said, adding that “sometimes it’s difficult, often it ain’t easy.” More from AP’s Aamer Madhani and Chris Megerian in Bucharest Happy Friday afternoon.
| | | | A message from Emergent: Emerging threats never stop and neither do we. Our protections help defend against things we hope will never happen – so we are prepared, in case they ever do. Learn how we’ve become a leader in protecting people against public health threats at www.emergentbiosolutions.com. | | | WAR IN UKRAINE — “Russian airstrikes pounded Ukrainian cities far from the front lines Friday as Moscow’s ground offensive appeared to reposition some forces in the north of the country in what Western officials worry is a prelude to a renewed attack on the capital,” per WSJ’s Alan Cullison and Alexander Osipovich. — “A drone that flew over several NATO countries all the way from the Ukrainian war zone crashed overnight on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, triggering a loud blast and damaging parked cars but causing no injuries, authorities said Friday,” AP’s Darko Bandic writes. — Even before war broke out and sent Russians and Ukrainians fleeing their countries, “a Russian exodus to the United States was already well underway, according to tallies on border crossings over the past year, as the number of Russians seeking asylum on the southern border grew to the highest numbers in recent history,” NYT’s Miriam Jordan and Eileen Sullivan write. SANCTIONS TALK — NYT’s Ella Koeze writes that the use of sanctions has risen in recent years — especially by the U.S. over the last two decades. She dives into the Global Sanctions Database, a project from Drexel University, to answer the question: Do sanctions work? “To assess the success of sanctions in their database, the researchers compared stated policy goals for each case with determinations from government or official sources such as the United Nations on whether the goal was achieved. Using this framework, they found that about half of the stated goals in the sanctions cases were at least partly achieved, and about 35 percent were completely achieved.” Related reading: “Gazprombank: The Big Russian Lender That Dodged Western Sanctions,” by WSJ’s Patricia Kowsmann and Alexander Osipovich BIDEN TRIES TO CURATE THE ‘FOR YOU PAGE’ — WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz has a scoop on how the White House’s outreach to a select group of influential TikTok creators, who it views as an emerging source of information on the war in Ukraine. “On Thursday afternoon, 30 top TikTok stars gathered on a Zoom call to receive key information about the war unfolding in Ukraine. National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons.” POLICY CORNER IMMIGRATION FILES — ICE deportations “fell sharply last year under President Biden to the lowest levels in the agency’s history despite record-high border crossings, according to statistics released Friday in an annual report,” WaPo’s Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti write . “During the 2021 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE recorded 59,011 deportations, down from 185,884 in 2020. The lower numbers were partly the result of enforcement changes triggered by the coronavirus pandemic that have allowed U.S. agents to rapidly expel unlawful border crossers under the Title 42 public health code, a procedure that does not count as a formal deportation. But another gauge of ICE enforcement activity — immigration arrests in the U.S. interior — also showed a significant drop relative to historic averages.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today. | | | | | ALL POLITICS SIREN — Iowa’s status as the first-in-the-nation caucus may be in danger as Democratic Party leaders consider a shakeup to the presidential nominating calendar. A draft resolution obtained and corroborated by the Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel “would set new criteria for early-voting states that favor primaries over caucuses and diversity over tradition. “If the proposal advances, it would upend the party's presidential nominating calendar by requiring states to apply to hold their nominating contests before the rest of the country and expanding the number of early voting states to as many as five. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, which currently lead off the process, would not necessarily be given preferential consideration over other states that apply.” The issue is set to be discussed at the DNC’s winter meetings later Friday, though no final decision is expected. THE MIDTERM RESET — With Biden in Philly today to speak to an antsy Dem conference, NYT’s Annie Karni captures the mood of his audience awaiting: “Gone is the talk of a transformative agenda to remake the country’s social safety net that was once going to be the centerpiece of Democrats’ sales pitch to voters. The words ‘Build Back Better’ were all but forbidden among the groggy lawmakers who arrived after only a few hours of sleep. “Speaking to reporters, Representative PRAMILA JAYAPAL of Washington, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, joked that the slogan for Mr. Biden’s defunct social policy and climate bill had become like the evil Voldemort in ‘Harry Potter’ — that which must not be named. Instead, after a year of supporting his agenda, House Democrats have pivoted to beseeching Mr. Biden to act on his own through executive actions to address the outstanding issues they care about before they face voters in November.” — Adding to the concern for Dems today is a new WSJ poll out that has some bruising takeaways with the midterms just months away. The details:
- For Biden: “The new survey showed that 57% of voters remained unhappy with Mr. Biden’s job performance, despite favorable marks for the president’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a recent State of the Union speech, which provided him an opportunity to directly speak to millions of Americans.”
- For the party: “Democratic advantages narrowed over Republicans on issues related to improving education and the Covid-19 response. A 16-percentage-point Democratic edge on which party would best handle the pandemic was down to 11 points, while a 9-percentage-point lead on education issues was down to 5 points.”
- On inflation, which 50 percent of respondents said is their top issue: “A majority of voters, 63%, said they disapproved of Mr. Biden’s handling of rising costs, the president’s worst rating on six policy issues surveyed in the poll. Meanwhile, 47% of voters said Republicans were better able to handle inflation, compared with 30% who preferred Democrats.”
CONCERN OVER VOTING RIGHTS — The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also released new polling today that raises concerns about voting rights. The poll finds that “voting was the only one of eight subjects — including education and treatment by police — in which fewer Americans now than four years ago said African Americans had achieved significant progress since the civil rights era. Concern about a lack of progress is much higher for Democrats, 86% of whom believe more must be done to secure racial equality in voting rights, compared with 40% of Republicans.” IN MINNESOTA — JENNIFER CARNAHAN, the widow of late GOP Rep. JIM HAGEDORN, is “laying the groundwork to try to seek his old seat in Minnesota,” Olivia Beavers reports . “Carnahan would bring more than ties to Hagedorn, who died last month after battling kidney cancer since 2019 — she’s a former state GOP chair. But Carnahan resigned the Minnesota Republican chair position last summer amid a scandal that began when a donor got charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking. She’s starting her Hill outreach early: House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY confirmed to POLITICO that he and Carnahan spoke by phone this week, a day after Hagedorn’s Tuesday memorial service in Virginia. Whether that effort gets her past the GOP’s privately held anxiety over her checkered record is another matter.”
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S INAUGURAL HEALTH CARE SUMMIT ON 3/31: Join POLITICO for a discussion with health care providers, policymakers, federal regulators, patient representatives, and industry leaders to better understand the latest policy and industry solutions in place as we enter year three of the pandemic. Panelists will discuss the latest proposals to overcome long-standing health care challenges in the U.S., such as expanding access to care, affordability, and prescription drug prices. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD NUKE DEAL TALKS ON PAUSE — Talks to reinstate the Iran nuclear deal were paused Friday after Russia’s demands for a sanctions carveout. “European officials are concerned that the pause may turn out to be the death knell for efforts to bring the United States and Iran back into compliance with the deal, which puts important limits on Iran’s nuclear program while lifting punishing economic sanctions on Iran imposed by the United States,” NYT’s Steven Erlanger reports in Brussels. FOR YOUR RADAR — Chinese President XI JINPING is “considering putting a confidant he has known for decades in charge of the country’s economic and financial systems, an appointment that would ensure his control over an ambitious effort to remold the world’s second-largest economy,” WSJ’s Chun Han Wong reports in Hong Kong. PLAYBOOKERS HOT JOB — Fresh off ending a historic lockout … “Senior Manager, State Government Relations At Major League Baseball” MEDIA MOVES — Jazmine Ulloa and Alexandra Berzon have joined NYT. Ulloa will be a midterm reporter based in Washington and previously was a political reporter for The Boston Globe. Berzon will be an investigative reporter and previously was a reporter at ProPublica. Announcement FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Kevin Harris, Madeline Dyer and Deirdre Downey Fruh are joining Crypto.com. Harris will be senior director of public affairs and previously was executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Dyer will be director of government affairs and previously supported the president of Visa on business strategy and operations. Fruh will be director of content and engagement and previously was a policy adviser to Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
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