|
Presented by PhRMA: The unofficial guide to official Washington. | | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | Senate Judiciary Chair DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) has built a reputation as a patient, fairly low-key liberal who is close with some Republicans. All of that will be tested this week during what is likely the pinnacle of his almost 40 years on the Hill, when he presides over the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of KETANJI BROWN JACKSON. “Republicans telegraphed for weeks that they wouldn’t put up a major fight against Jackson in the Durbin-chaired Judiciary Committee. Then came their soft-on-crime attack,” Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett write. “Just five days before the first Black woman nominated to the high court is set to appear before the panel, Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.) rolled out a lengthy broadside against her record on sentencing in child pornography cases.” — Durbin pushed back on Hawley’s attack this morning on ABC’s “This Week”: “He’s wrong. He’s inaccurate and unfair in his analysis. … There’s no truth to what he says. And he’s part of a fringe within the Republican Party. This was the man who was fist-bumping the murderous mob that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 of the last year. He doesn’t have the credibility he thinks he does.” ICYMI: WaPo’s Glenn Kessler has a fact-check of Hawley’s claim, awarding it “three Pinocchios.” But even as Durbin labels Hawley part of the GOP “fringe,” the Missourian’s argument is now expected to be a leading Republican critique on Jackson when her hearings begin Monday. “The GOP messaging whiplash is a reality check for Democrats as they prepare for their first Supreme Court confirmation hearings under President JOE BIDEN, who once wielded Durbin’s committee gavel,” write Marianne and Burgess. — About those preparations: CNN’s Ariane de Vogue has a thorough look into the administration’s sessions with Jackson and some of the attacks coming her way. A couple of words you’ll hear over and over this week from Republicans is that they are going to be “fair” and “respectful” in the hearings. — “We’re going to be fair, thorough and we’re not going to get in the gutter like the Democrats did with [BRETT] KAVANAUGH,” Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa), the committee’s top Republican, told WSJ’s Nataie Andrews. — The hearings are “going to be respectful, they’re going to be thorough and they’re going to be fair,” Sen. JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyo.) said on “This Week” earlier today. But these are Supreme Court hearings, and in the current political climate (and with at least four possible 2024 GOP contenders on the committee), you can probably expect the gloves to come off. HOW RUSSIA’S WAR IN UKRAINE TOUCHES U.S. POLITICS … — Diplomacy: CNN’s Isaac Dovere dives into Biden’s long history with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN, and how it informed his strategy to move fast with NATO and keep Ukraine from becoming a partisan issue back home. “Biden has deliberately worked with allies abroad to deny the Russian leader the one-on-one, Washington vs. Moscow dynamic that the President and his aides think Putin wants. Publicly and privately talking about the war as a fight for freedom and democracy, Biden has left other leaders to speak with Putin.” — National security: NYT’s Mark Mazzetti, Helene Cooper, Julian Barnes and David Sanger have a big look at how the U.S. is trying to balance aiding Ukraine with avoiding global war, a difficult dance underlying every decision about assistance and action. Among the many details they report: The administration has decided against a secret CIA effort to get weapons to Ukraine. They’re weighing trying to get Turkey to give the controversial, Russian-made S400 to Ukraine (here’s some cold water on that from Reuters). — Energy: Some American progressives want to use this moment of high gas prices to highlight the need to transition to clean energy, NBC’s Scott Wong reports. But others are wary of getting too aggressive amid the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine. — The border: Russians at the U.S.-Mexico border are having trouble getting in, compared to Ukrainians they see having an easier time, Reuters’ Daina Beth Solomon reports from Tijuana. That’s despite the fact that many of the Russians fled in opposition to the Putin regime. “A couple of dozen other Russians have for several days wrapped themselves in thick blankets to sleep feet from the border wall, hoping U.S. officials will hear their pleas for protection.” — Inflation: The war will likely affect American food prices and farming costs for things like fertilizer, even though the U.S. gets little of its food from Eastern Europe, WaPo’s Laura Reiley reports. “[G]rocery categories that lean heavily on cooking oils, aluminum packaging or commodity grains such as wheat will see higher prices and tighter supply because of the uncertainty associated with the conflict. That would include breads, baked goods, pasta, cereal and many items in the center aisles of the grocery store.” Beyond the U.S.: The food supply for millions of people around the world could be threatened, report WSJ’s Nate Rattner and Andrew Barnett. Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. The epic battle between Duke’s Coach K and MSU’s Tom Izzo for a spot in the Sweet 16 tips off at 5:15 p.m. (Go Green!) Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | 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. | | | THREE TOP SUNDAY READS: — How “RINO” became the GOP’s dirtiest slur. RINO (an acronym for “Republican in Name Only”) has been a popular GOP insult for years. But thanks to DONALD TRUMP, it’s taking off this year as an all-purpose cudgel in Republican primary attack ads, reports David Siders. Sign of the times: “In previous decades, a Republican risked getting tagged as a RINO for supporting tax increases, gun control or abortion rights. Today, in a reflection of the GOP’s murkier ideological grounding in the Trump era, it’s a term reserved almost exclusively for lack of fealty to Trump.” — The causes animating the conservative trucker convoy currently based in Maryland go well beyond concerns about pandemic restrictions, NYT’s Charles Homans reports from Hagerstown. From far-right conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to grievance politics about schools and race, “the protest is perhaps most notable as a window onto the evolution of the American right in the wake of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, and one that Republican politicians are watching.” — TikTok gets its moment as the hot new platform for politicians. Rep. TIM RYAN’s (D-Ohio) teenage daughter turned him on to campaigning via TikTok, and now he’s deploying it in his Senate bid, NYT’s Anna Kambhampaty writes in an expansive report on politicians’ use of the app — which remains relatively uncommon compared with other social media, and raises some complex questions about U.S. politicians using a platform owned by a China-based company. “Their videos run the gamut of cringey — say, normie dads bopping along to viral audio clips — to genuinely connecting with people,” she writes. Plus, this quote from Sen. ED MARKEY (D-Mass.): “When I post on TikTok, it’s because I’m having fun online and talking with my friends about the things we all care about.” SUNDAY BEST … — U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “We have supported the negotiations that President [VOLODYMYR] ZELENSKYY has attempted to do with the Russians. And I do use the word attempted, because the negotiations seem to be one-sided, and the Russians have not leaned in to any possibility for a negotiated and diplomatic solution. You know, we tried quite a bit before Russia decided to move forward in this brutal attack on Ukraine, and those diplomatic efforts were not responded to well by the Russians, and they’re not responding now. But we’re still hopeful.” She also said she doesn’t think Biden visiting Ukraine is on the table, which press secretary JEN PSAKI later confirmed. — Zelenskyy on the stakes of negotiations, on “State of the Union”: “We have to use any format, any chance in order to have the possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war.” More from David Cohen — Sen. BEN SASSE (R-Neb.) on why Biden should be thinking more about how to help Ukraine win, on “Fox News Sunday”: “Stop listening to all of your advisers who say Zelenskyy is a dead man walking. … Stop listening to those who say that Ukraine is inevitably going to lose. We should hear the president’s strategy to help Ukraine win. We should be on the side of these freedom fighters, and we’re too slow in almost every step we take.” More from David — Sen. JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyo.) on the three things Biden should do at NATO, on ABC’s “This Week”: “No. 1 is he needs to tell NATO that we collectively are going to supply the people of Ukraine things that they know how to use, whether it’s drones, planes, missile systems. No. 2, he has to say that he is going to go from Brussels to the eastern front of NATO to show the resolve of NATO and the United States’ commitment as well. And third, he needs to say to the people of Europe who are really in a tough situation with regard to energy and the dependence that they have on Russian energy, that we are going to increase the exporting of liquified natural gas from America to them.” — Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN on reports of Russia using hypersonic missiles, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I don’t see this, in and of itself, [as] a game-changer. I cannot confirm or dispute whether or not he’s used those weapons.” — ANTHONY FAUCI on how long he’ll stay in his job, on “This Week”: “I want to make sure we’re really out of this before I really seriously consider doing anything different. We’re still in this. We have a way to go. I think we’re clearly going in the right direction. I hope we stay that way.”
| | | | 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. | | | BIDEN’S SUNDAY — The Bidens will depart Rehoboth Beach, Del., for Washington at 1 p.m., arriving back at the White House at 1:55 p.m. VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SUNDAY — The VP has nothing on her public schedule.
| | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A CONVERSATION ON CRYPTOCURRENCY AND REGULATION: Cryptocurrency has gone mainstream. With the market now valued at $1.8 trillion, Washington’s oversight of the fast-growing industry remains in its infancy. How should Congress and federal agencies shape future regulation of digital asset markets? Join POLITICO in person or virtually for a deep-dive discussion on what’s next for crypto, regulation and the future of finance. Programming will run from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT with a reception from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. EDT. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
| 
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin holds a press conference with Bulgarian PM Kiril Petkov in Sofia on Saturday, the first time an American Defense secretary has visited the country in 25 years. | AP | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | WAR IN UKRAINE LATEST ON THE GROUND … — Russian gains, Ukrainian pleas: Advances by the invading Russian military drove up casualties over the weekend, even as some evacuations continued. On Saturday, Zelenskyy called again for negotiations: “I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. It’s time to meet. Time to talk.” More from the L.A. Times — Mariupol in crisis: Russian forces pushed deeper into the eastern Ukrainian city Saturday amid major fighting and a battle that shut down a big steel plant, per AP’s Cara Anna. In an allegation that would be stunning if true, the Mariupol city council said Russia has forcibly relocated thousands of the city’s denizens to remote regions of Russia or points unknown. More from CNN — Russia claimed to have used hypersonic missiles, “the first known use of such missiles in combat,” per CNN. U.S. officials confirmed the use of the weapons, which are harder to detect/protect against and a focus of development for the American military. But not everyone’s convinced: “there are elements of Russia’s claims that don’t quite add up and the implications of the use of Kinzhal in the conflict are limited, regardless,” write The War Zone’s Tyler Rogoway and Stetson Payne. — What’s next: A potential huge battle for Kyiv looms, NYT’s Andrew Kramer reports , as 2 million people or so remain in the city. It’s not inevitable, but if Russia gets to the capital, “capturing it, military analysts say, would require a furious and bloody conflict that could be the world’s biggest urban battle in 80 years.” — Amazing reads: WSJ’s James Marson tells the story of one family’s escape from Mariupol, “including an hourslong standoff with Russian gunmen, a detour through countryside strewn with dead bodies, and a dash through a disputed village.” And Dmytro Tkachuk writes for NBC about his family’s escape from Bucha to Kyiv. ALL POLITICS DEMS’ CIVIL WAR ON ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ — Democratic NYC Mayor ERIC ADAMS “is all but daring the left wing of the party to take him on” as he promotes a new police unit aimed at cracking down on gun crimes — which some progressives see as a “reductive and dangerous” distraction from instead investing in public services. Sally Goldenberg has a smart read on the politics of the moment — both in NYC and in the context of what’s happening nationally: — The national trend: “From President Joe Biden to Mayor JACOB FREY in Minneapolis, centrist candidates have been seizing executive power throughout the Democratic Party, even as far-left lawmakers made recent gains in the New York City Council and the Boston mayor’s race last year. Large cities throughout the country backed pro-police candidates and ballot measures in a seeming rebuke to the ‘defund’ the police movement that had taken hold following the murder of GEORGE FLOYD in 2020.” — The challenge for the left in NYC: “Convincing an electorate worried about public safety that a crime-conscious mayor who grew up poor, worked his way up to police captain after being beaten by cops as a teen, and won a tough election with widespread union support, is out of sync with Democrats.” — Related read: “As crimes rise, battles rage on about police funding,” by ABC’s Kiara Alfonseca 2024 WATCH — It won’t be simple for Democrats if they want to dethrone Iowa and shuffle the early-state order in the next presidential primary: “What exactly should happen next … is triggering a cascade of political, legal and practical challenges,” NBC’s Natasha Korecki and Alex Seitz-Wald report.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   ICYMI: Majority of Americans reject so-called government “negotiation”. | | | THE PANDEMIC BUCKLE UP — The administration’s new approach to the pandemic is gearing up for its first big test as officials anticipate a coming surge, NYT’s Benjamin Mueller reports. Though plenty of questions remain as to what it’ll look like, experts say — again — that the U.S. isn’t doing enough to prepare: “New pills can treat infections, but federal efforts to buy more of them are in limbo. An aid package in Congress is stalled, even as agencies run out of money for tests and therapeutics. Though less than one-third of the population has the booster shots needed for high levels of protection, the daily vaccination rate has fallen to a low.” ACCOUNTABILITY UPDATE — Following POLITICO reporting that patients at some hospitals are being asked to take their N95 masks off, the Biden administration is working on how to make patients more aware of safety complaints they can file, Rachael Levy reports . “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to notify hospitals that patients should be allowed to wear their N95s when entering,” per one source. BEYOND THE BELTWAY STICKING TO THEIR GUNS — With new moves by Ohio and Alabama this month, permitless concealed carry of guns is now the law of the land in the majority of the country, WaPo’s Kim Bellware reports. “The back-to-back wins for gun-rights advocates who want to see fewer restrictions on the Second Amendment signal how partisan divides and relentless activism at the state level are significantly reshaping the landscape around gun possession.” — 25-year-old Virginian-Pilot reporter SIERRA JENKINS was killed in crossfire in a Norfolk nightspot shooting, an incident she would have otherwise been called on to cover, the paper’s Jane Harper reports. — A mass shooting at a car show near Dumas, Ark., killed at least one person and left 24 injured Saturday night. More from the AP REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP — Take four: The Ohio redistricting body began yet again Saturday to try to draw new state legislative lines by a week from now, following another state Supreme Court rejection of a partisan gerrymander. More from the Columbus Dispatch
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | OUT AND ABOUT — Joe Crowley had a surprise 60th birthday party Saturday afternoon at the Cutting Room in New York City, where he performed on stage with the band and his kids. Willie Nile also sang a few songs. And John Boehner called in to wish Crowley a happy birthday. SPOTTED: Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Delaware Gov. John Carney, Charlie Rangel, Bill Shuster, Joe Addabbo, Jimmy Vacca, Melinda Katz, John McCarthy and Vaughn Hillyard. TRANSITION — Ryan Dierker will be a legislative assistant for Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). He previously was senior policy adviser for Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.). HAPPY BIRTHDAY: RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel … WaPo’s Phil Rucker … Washingtonian’s Cathy Merrill Williams … Kevin Hassett … Gloria Story Dittus of Story Partners … Mark Putnam of Putnam Partners … Arthur Scott … Jon Thompson … Julie Townsend … Michael Whouley of Dewey Square Group … Jay Heimbach … Hamilton Place Strategies’ Elliott Owensby … NBC’s Benjy Sarlin … MSNBC’s Jack Bohrer … POLITICO’s David Ferris … Naomi Zeigler of Sen. Tom Carper’s (D-Del.) office … Sally Aman … Results for America’s Zac Coile … Jessica Carter … Abbey Welborn … Susan McGinnis … Matt Finkelstein … Gloria Totten … Cory Gattie … Michael Brownlie … NYT’s Justin Lewis … Robert Scott Heaslet 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 PhRMA: According to a new poll , voters overwhelmingly support policies that would lower out-of-pocket costs and bring greater transparency and accountability to the health insurance system.
We need to make the cost of medicine more predictable and affordable. Government price setting is the wrong way. The right way means covering more medicines from day one, making out-of-pocket costs more predictable and sharing negotiated savings with patients at the pharmacy counter.
Learn more. | | | | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
