Playbook PM: Pelosi’s Covid funding quagmire

From: POLITICO Playbook - Thursday Mar 17,2022 05:11 pm

Mar 17, 2022

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Speaker NANCY PELOSI was visibly angry this morning, we hear, going off on her own members during a private Democratic whip meeting this morning for tanking the White House’s requested Covid relief money.

HHS Secretary XAVIER BECERRA and President JOE BIDEN’s top infectious disease adviser ANTHONY FAUCI came to Capitol Hill to implore Democrats to pass the additional funding to address pandemic-related challenges. The administration, they said, will run out of money soon, emphasizing the urgent need for a bill now.

Pelosi got up after the pair spoke, apologized to them for having to come to Capitol Hill to ask the president’s own party for help — then turned her ire on her members, according to two sources in the room.

“You want to tell me about what you didn’t get? Don’t tell Noah about the flood,” she said, later adding: “I’m very heated up about this!”

— Remember: Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the Rotunda had come up with a deal to give the White House about $15 billion in pandemic funding via the omnibus. But a handful of House Dems revolted at the last minute over one of the pay-fors: recouping and repurposing unused state pandemic funds. Pelosi ended up stripping it out of the bill since she didn’t have the votes for passage.

Our Sarah Ferris, Nicholas Wu and Marianne LeVine have a story up on the drama of the morning. They caught up with Pelosi as she left the meeting, and the speaker expressed confidence that they’d get a pandemic bill to Biden’s desk soon.

“We’re just going to have to pass it , and we’ll pass it when we have the votes to pass it,” Pelosi told them. “In order to have bipartisan votes, we want it to be paid for, and that’s what we’re doing.”

So what’s the plan? Come up with new pay-fors, of course, to try to ensure it can muster the 10 GOP votes needed to pass the Senate, as we reported in Monday’s Playbook . But as our colleagues note, even if House Democrats find new money, passage is not assured because they don’t have a must-pass vehicle to attach it to: “Now that the cash has been detached from the giant bipartisan spending deal that leaders had assumed would guarantee its passage, how do they get it through the 50-50 Senate?”

ZIENTS OUT, JHA IN — The White House this morning announced that JEFF ZIENTS is leaving the Biden administration as Covid-19 coordinator, a post he has held since Biden took office. Replacing him will be ASHISH JHA, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health.

— Knowing Jha: “Officials said his background as a medical doctor makes him the right choice as the virus becomes more an endemic part of the country’s health challenges. In 2014, Dr. Jha was a co-chair of an international commission on the global response to the Ebola outbreak. And he has argued that agencies like the World Health Organization are critical in dealing with diseases like Ebola and Zika,” NYT’s Michael Shear and Sheryl Gay Stolberg write.

— What it means, via WaPo’s Dan Diamond and John Wagner: “Biden’s selection of Jha, praised by administration officials and allies as a pragmatic communicator, also reflects the administration’s belief that the pandemic is moving to a new stage where the United States must accept some level of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths, much as it does for other respiratory viruses.”

Good Thursday afternoon. March Madness has officially tipped off! Here are Garrett’s Final Four picks. For the men: Gonzaga, Kentucky (Go Big Blue!), Arizona and Kansas. For the women: South Carolina, Louisville, Texas and UConn. Let me know your favorite picks and biggest upsets on email or Twitter.

A message from PhRMA:

ICYMI: A majority of Americans reject so-called government “negotiation” once they learn it could restrict access and choice and chill the innovation of new treatments and cures. The survey also shows a majority find health care coverage costs unreasonable and a top priority health care issue for policymakers to address today.

UKRAINE-RUSSIA LATEST

— “The fate of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol was unclear early Thursday after Russian forces bombed a theater where they had been sheltering from fighting over the southern port city,” WSJ’s Isabel Coles, Alan Cullison and Yaroslav Trofimov report.

— “As a curfew in Kyiv, Ukraine, ended on Thursday and rescuers dug through the rubble of an attack on a theater in the southeastern city of Mariupol, Western intelligence assessments said that Russian forces were making minimal movement toward capturing additional Ukrainian cities, although they were broadening attacks on civilians,” NYT’s Megan Specia and Josh Holder report.

— Biden is set to hold a call with Chinese President XI JINPING on Friday to “discuss managing our countries as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern,” the White House said. More from Jonathan Lemire … Related reading: “China finds itself in a tricky position — stuck between the White House and the Kremlin,” by Phelim Kine

— “Drones flying into NATO territory have forced the alliance to decide how to respond — if at all — to incidents inside its borders,” by CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Natasha Bertrand and Barbara Starr

— Despite social media giants’ crackdown on misinformation inside and outside of Russia, official Kremlin accounts are still posting it, resurfacing “long-standing questions about [the platforms’] role in hosting and moderating the speech of controversial public figures,” WaPo’s Cristiano Lima and Will Oremus write.

— NYT’s John Eligon writes of the countries around the world that are sympathetic to Putin’s war. “Interviews with dozens of people in those countries — from Vietnam to Afghanistan to South Africa to China — reveal that while many are disturbed by the war and the loss of innocent lives, some are sympathetic to Russia’s justifications for its invasion of Ukraine, and do not accept the ‘good versus evil’ scenario presented by the United States and Europe.”

JUDICIARY SQUARE

KBJ FILES — Senate Judiciary Chair DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) and the White House jumped to KETANJI BROWN JACKSON’s defense today, blasting GOP attacks that centered on her handling of sex offenders, Marianne LeVine reports . “I don’t believe in it being taken seriously,” Durbin said in an interview about the charges leveled by Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.). “I’m troubled by it because it’s so outrageous. It really tests the committee as to whether we’re going to be respectful in the way we treat this nominee.”

What’s this about? “Hawley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Jackson’s record on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and as a district court judge in a series of tweets Wednesday, going so far as to say ‘her record endangers children.’ Hawley’s tweets offers a potential preview of Republicans’ questions next week, when Jackson’s confirmation hearings are scheduled to take place.” Here’s Hawley’s full Twitter thread on the subject, posted Wednesday night

“Meanwhile, White House spokesperson ANDREW BATES described Hawley’s tweets as ‘toxic and weakly-presented misinformation that relies on taking cherry-picked elements of her record out of context — and it buckles under the lightest scrutiny.’”

WIN A VIP TICKET TO THE GREATEST POLITICAL SHOW ON EARTH! POLITICO and SHOWTIME are teaming up for an evening of cocktails and conversation featuring the POLITICO Playbook team and Mark McKinnon and Jennifer Palmieri from "The Circus" on Showtime in Washington, D.C. Enter for a chance to win a ticket to join fellow Playbookers and newsmakers at this exclusive, VIP event by Friday, March 18th. Winners will be notified on that date (travel and accommodations not provided, this is a widely attended event pursuant to House & Senate ethics rules). ENTER HERE.

CONGRESS

IRS ASKS CONGRESS FOR MONEY — The IRS wants Congress to invest in the agency as it prepares to enforce the sweeping sanctions on Russian actors. “Aides to CHARLES P. RETTIG, the I.R.S. commissioner, told congressional staff on Wednesday afternoon that the agency’s criminal investigations unit, which has 3,000 employees, needs to grow about 40 percent over the next five years. It wants a net gain of about 1,300 after attrition,” NYT’s Alan Rappeport writes . “That could require Congress to invest more than $5 billion in the agency, which is trying to oversee a sprawling sanctions program and coping with evasion tactics that have become more sophisticated as a result of the proliferation of digital assets.”

THE ECONOMY

THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE — “Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs continue to fall amid a strong job market rebound,” AP’s Matt Ott writes. “Jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 214,000 for the week ending March 12, down from the previous week’s 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs. The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell to 223,000 from the previous week’s 231,750.”

ALL POLITICS

GEORGIA ON HER MIND — In the early stages of her campaign for Georgia governor, STACEY ABRAMS has largely played down her Democratic Party star power, opting instead to keep the focus in state. NYT’s Maya King digs into Abrams strategy thus far: “Her first days on the campaign trail have been spent largely in small, rural towns like Cuthbert, where she is more interested in discussing Medicaid expansion and aid to small businesses than the flagship issue that helped catapult her to national fame. Ms. Abrams’s strategy amounts to a major bet that her campaign can survive a bleak election year for Democrats by capitalizing on Georgia’s fast-changing demographics and winning over on-the-fence voters who want their governor to largely stay above the fray of national political battles.”

FRAUD FILES — Despite an overwhelming lack of evidence, a string of “ambitious Republicans across the country are making a show of cracking down on voter crime this election year,” NYT’s Reid Epstein and Nick Corasaniti write. “It is a new phase of the Republican campaign to tighten voting laws that started after former President DONALD J. TRUMP began making false claims of fraud following the 2020 election. The effort, which resulted in a wave of new state laws last year, has now shifted to courthouses, raising concern among voting rights activists that fear of prosecution could keep some voters from casting ballots.”

REDISTRICTING READ — New Hampshire GOP Gov. CHRIS SUNUNU said on Wednesday that he would veto the “once-in-a decade redistricting maps being pushed through the state’s legislature by fellow Republicans who control both chambers,” Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser writes.

IN NEW YORK — “Meeks regains ground in AOC's backyard,” by Joe Anuta

IN PENNSYLVANIA — “Hoodie or Blue Blazer? Pennsylvania Democrats Choose Between Competing Styles in Senate Primary,” by WSJ’s Aaron Zitner

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.

THE PANDEMIC

THE EUROPEAN SURGE — “Experts warn that another coronavirus wave may be imminent in the United States, fueled by a more contagious Omicron subvariant that is spreading rapidly in Europe, though they said the trend was more a cause for caution than alarm. … The surges have not led to a widespread rise in hospitalizations in Europe, though the number of Covid patients is on the rise in a few countries, including Austria, Britain and the Netherlands,” writes NYT’s Alyssa Lukpat.

PREPARING FOR THE WORST — The Biden administration is asking the World Health Organization to “improve global equity in the next public health emergency by pushing manufacturers to voluntarily share their products and technology, according to a document drafted by the Department of Health and Human Services and obtained by POLITICO,” Erin Banco reports . “Biden administration officials coordinating with a WHO group focusing on preparedness in health emergencies wrote the paper, outlining ways to expand equity through a potential pandemic treaty or some other kind of global agreement.”

POLICY CORNER

CLIMATE FILES — “The Biden administration can move forward on policies that incorporate an increased estimate of the cost of climate change, a panel of judges ruled late Wednesday, reversing a decision by a federal judge last month. The ruling marks the latest development in the Biden administration’s attempt to adopt a more than sevenfold increase in a metric called the social cost of carbon, which assigns a dollar value to the harm caused by greenhouse-gas emissions,” WSJ’s Katy Stech Ferek writes.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

MEGATREND — “Mortgage Rates Top 4% for the First Time Since 2019,” by WSJ’s Orla McCaffrey

PLAYBOOKERS

TRANSITIONS — Brad Jenkins has been named president and CEO of AAPI Victory Fund. He’s previously been serving as acting president, and is an Obama White House alum. … Katelynn Thorpe is now comms director for House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). She previously was comms director in DeLauro’s personal office, and is a Nita Lowey alum. … Amir Capriles is now chief revenue officer at Granicus. He most recently was North American enterprise sales VP and general manager of public sector at Pegasystems. … Bob Kolasky is now senior VP for critical infrastructure at Exiger. He most recently was director of the National Risk Management Center at DHS.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — MSNBC anchor Lindsey Reiser and Kathy Clark, journalist and executive producer at The Social Television Network, on March 10 welcomed Harlen Rachel Reiser-Clark, who came in at 7 lbs, 11 oz. Instapics

A message from PhRMA:

ICYMI: Majority of Americans reject so-called government “negotiation” once they learn it could restrict access and choice and chill the innovation of new treatments and cures.