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Presented by Facebook: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade and Garrett Ross | | | JUST POSTED — “Trump Said to Have Reacted Approvingly to Jan. 6 Chants About Hanging Pence,” by NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Luke Broadwater: “Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the Capitol started chanting ‘Hang MIKE PENCE!’ on Jan. 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, MARK MEADOWS, left the dining room off the Oval Office, walked into his own office and told colleagues that President DONALD J. TRUMP was complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety.”
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“My Republican colleagues can work with us now. I think it’s a slim prospect. Very slim, all too slim. We’ve been burnt so many times before,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said today. “But this is so important. We must pursue action and even ask Republicans to join us again.” | Drew Angerer/Getty Images | THE LATEST ON GUN TALKS — Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER announced on the floor this morning that he’s allowing bipartisan gun violence talks to move forward — just in case Tuesday’s tragedy in Texas could be the tipping point that finally forces action. “My Republican colleagues can work with us now. I think it’s a slim prospect. Very slim, all too slim. We’ve been burnt so many times before,” he said. “But this is so important. We must pursue action and even ask Republicans to join us again.” Read more: “Skeptical Schumer gives bipartisan gun talks a chance,” by Burgess Everett Meanwhile, Sen. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) has been in touch with GOP colleagues SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine), who wants to look at how states have used red-flag laws to stop violence, and PAT TOOMEY (R-Pa.), who wants to expand background checks, about restarting talks. And Sen. KYRSTIN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) randomly approached a gaggle of reporters on the Hill today to say she also wants to be part of these negotiations as well. “There are things that we can do, right?” she asked rhetorically. “There’s some shared agreement on red flags, which I think might be a place to start conversations to actually get something done for real that would make a difference to people.” A few thoughts to keep in mind as talks move ahead: — Don’t expect action soon. The Senate is set to go on a weeklong Memorial Day recess starting Thursday. And while Schumer is typically a huge fan of putting GOP lawmakers on record with tough votes he can use against them politically, the New York Democrat indicated he has no plan to rush a roll call on guns, and plans to give bipartisan conversations the time to develop. — Don’t expect the tragedy in Texas to end the filibuster. In the past 24 hours or so, Sinema and Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.V.) have both indicated that the shooting won’t change their position on the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for the same reason other policy matters don’t either: Going nuclear, they explain, would just give the GOP the freedom to roll back any new gun bills when they take power. “Everyone wants to go, ‘Filibuster, filibuster, filibuster — get rid of that,’” Manchin said. “What makes you think they won’t reverse it immediately if they didn’t like what we do?” — A historical flashback: Bipartisan talks about red-flag laws were heating up in the summer of 2019. The thing that ended them? The emergence of a little-known-but-now-famous whistleblower report that led Democrats to start impeaching DONALD TRUMP. In fact, the then-president at one point called Speaker NANCY PELOSI to try to dangle the prospect of a gun-related agreement to get her to back off impeachment. Obviously, it didn’t work. An optimist could look at the context of our current moment and see a glimmer of hope that something could be done this time since Congress came close before. (This morning, even Senate GOP campaign chief RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) said “I’m OK with that” regarding federal red-flag laws.) But the reality is that this is an election year and guns remain a political third rail in much of the country, so we’re not holding our breath. Neither, it turns out, is President JOE BIDEN’s top Hill ally, Delaware Sen. CHRIS COONS. “They are disturbed, upset, troubled, but not willing to change where they are,” Coons said of his colleagues. “Usually I want to be more optimistic. But, like, I don't think it'll change anything. … I don't see any hope today for getting 10 Republican senators to join us in further restrictions on military-style weapons.”
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Learn more about our work ahead. | | | SURVEY SAYS — The new POLITICO/Morning Consult out today provides some fresh insights on what issues are motivating voters as the midterms rev up. The takeaway: Economic issues are, to no surprise, the No. 1 topic on voters’ minds. But there’s some interesting indicators of what else voters are — and aren’t — prioritizing. Toplines … Crosstabs
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| The large plurality of voters (41%) chose the economy (including issues such as taxes, wages, jobs, unemployment and spending) as their primary concern. The next closest priority? Security issues (such as terrorism, foreign policy and border security) at 13%. The only other two issue sets that clock in with double digits were issues such as Medicare and Social Security and “women’s issues” (defined as issues including birth control, abortion, equal pay, etc.), both at 11%. (But there’s an open question to how much Dems can lean on abortion politics to drive out voters, as we wrote this morning.) — Related read: “South Carolina Democrat seeks to make abortion key issue in governor's race,” by Elena Schneider What isn’t moving the needle: Health care and energy issues both garnered only 8% of voters’ top concern. And coming in last among the polling: education at a measly 3%. The low mark for education issues suggests that all the hand-wringing among the Biden administration about what to do with student loans could be moot when voters go to the polls. One more nugget from the polling … In the generic congressional ballot race: Democrats have a slight lead with 45% compared to Republicans’ 41%. (A significant 14% said they either don’t know or have no opinion.) Good Wednesday afternoon. THE LATEST IN TEXAS — “Uvalde gunman legally bought AR rifles days before shooting, law enforcement says,” by Texas Tribune’s Reese Oxner — The White House is in preliminary talks of planning a trip for Biden to visit Texas, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports . “The details are still being finalized and it remains to be seen when the president will go, with officials keeping in mind they don't want to distract from ongoing response efforts.”
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | ALL POLITICS TRUMP’S EYE TOWARD 2024 — Miffed by his recent string of primary endorsement embarrassments — the latest of which came Tuesday night — Trump is reportedly getting antsy about a potential 2024 run and how tight his grip remains on the Republican Party. “Trump has been quizzing advisers and visitors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida about his budding rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, including his former vice president, MIKE PENCE, and Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS,” WaPo’s Josh Dawsey, Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker report. “Among his questions, according to several advisers , who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations: Who will actually run against him? What do the polls show? Who are his potential foes meeting with? He also had revived conversations about announcing a presidential exploratory committee to try to dissuade challengers, they say, even as some party officials and advisers continue to urge him to wait until after the midterm elections to announce that he’s running.” CONGRESS BIDEN’S ATF NOM SITS FOR CONFIRMATION — STEVEN DETTELBACH sat for a confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning for his nomination to be director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Dettelbach brushed off questions about support for any specific policies from the administration or gun-control groups, and vowed to “to never let politics in any way influence my actions as ATF director.” If confirmed, he would be the first permanent ATF director since 2015. Read more from Anthony Adragna DEMS BRUSH OFF BIDEN’S TAIWAN COMMENT — Biden’s comments this week about defending Taiwan sparked a swift clean-up effort by the White House to tone down what he said. But some congressional Dems are hoping that the president meant what he said. “Lawmakers see it as a sign that Russia’s war on Ukraine is pushing Biden to get more muscular toward China, despite reservations from his aides,” Andrew Desiderio reports. “Lawmakers said the frequency of the episodes shows that despite the attempted clean up, Biden truly believes that deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan requires going beyond selling weapons to the U.S. ally. They say the U.S. needs to convey to China’s XI JINPING that, like with Russia, there will be consequences for invading a sovereign neighbor. And if that means abandoning strategic ambiguity, these members of Congress say, so be it.” — Related read: “China wants 10 Pacific nations to endorse sweeping agreement,” by AP’s Nick Perry ON THE HUNT — House Oversight Committee Republicans are plotting out their next moves to investigate HUNTER BIDEN should their party win back control of the House this fall. “The top Republican on the committee on Wednesday sent letters to numerous banks and the Treasury Department demanding more information about Hunter Biden and his associates. The letters, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, ask for financial records,” WSJ’s Natalie Andrews and Alex Leary report. “Lawmakers involved said the requests for information are a sign of where the GOP will focus its investigative authority.”
| | | | A message from Facebook:   | | | POLICY CORNER HAPPENING TODAY — FDA Commissioner ROBERT CALIFF is testifying on the infant formula shortage before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, where he was expected to “acknowledge a string of failures” at the agency that led to the crisis. Read more from Meredith Lee LEGAL BATTLE COMING OVER TITLE IX — The Biden administration is launching a new policy to protect transgender students in classrooms across the country. But implementation will be a whole other issue and could wind up being played out in the courts. Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA’s “new proposed rule for Title IX, the federal education law that prohibits sex-based discrimination, is expected to go public in June and include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time,” Bianca Quilantan reports. But the pending rule is expected to “tee up more legal battles over competing philosophies on gender ideology, forcing institutions to tiptoe between potentially costly settlements in courts and protecting transgender students on campus.” WAR IN UKRAINE — “As the fourth month dawns in the war in Ukraine, the battle has narrowed to a 75-mile-wide sliver of land in the heart of the eastern Donbas region, where Russia’s concentrated firepower and shortened supply lines are helping its forces make progress toward a handful of key cities,” write NYT’s Andrea Kannapell, Victoria Kim and Shashank Bengali.
| | | | 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. | | | | | THE PANDEMIC MONKEYPOX LATEST — Countries across the world, including the U.S., are “preparing for a worst-case scenario for the spread of monkeypox, working to secure thousands of additional vaccines and treatments,” Carmen Paun, Krista Mahr and Helen Collis report. “U.S. health officials say the country has a ‘good stock’ of vaccines against monkeypox. But the current strategy of containment, which includes vaccinating high-risk, close contacts of infected patients, could quickly strain the current Jynneos supply if cases rise.” RIPPLE EFFECT — The resistance to coronavirus vaccines and misinformation surrounding the efforts “has begun to taint some people’s view of long-established vaccines,” Moises Velasquez-Manoff writes for NYT Magazine in a deep dive on what comes next for the anti-vaxxer movement. “If this dynamic continues, it could threaten decades of progress in controlling infectious disease. The C.D.C. has registered a 1 percentage point drop in childhood vaccinations since the pandemic began. … While there is a lack of data about how widespread this newfound intransigence toward vaccines is, the possibility that it may be spreading worries nearly every expert I queried.” PLAYBOOKERS OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a bipartisan Aerospace Industries Association reception on Tuesday on Capitol Hill for the first time since the pandemic in the Russell Caucus Room: Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Jim Bridenstine and Eric Fanning. — SPOTTED at a screening of “Top Gun: Maverick” at the Motion Picture Association on Tuesday night: DeDe Lea, Charles Rivkin, Commander Nick Saunders, Megan Greene, Clayton Doss, Ken Hockycko, Karyn Temple, Glen Roberts, Ethan Rosenzweig, Patrick Kilcur, Mila Venugopalan, Keith Murphy, Kira Alvarez, Danny Fernandez, Edward Hill, Emorie Broemel, Brad Watts, Lance West and Jonathan Stahler. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Betty Cremmins is now director for sustainable supply chains in the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She most recently was lead for engagement, nature based solutions and 1t.org, at the World Economic Forum. TRANSITIONS — Shannon Myricks is now White House liaison at the Department of Education. She most recently was deputy White House liaison at the Department of Health and Human Services. … Paola Arellano is now scheduler for Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.). She most recently was an intern at the Home Depot government relations office through the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute Global Leaders program. Correction: Tuesday’s Playbook PM misidentified the leader of Votebeat. Votebeat is led by editor-in-chief Chad Lorenz and editorial director Jessica Huseman.
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