Playbook PM: The climate emergency debate heats up

From: POLITICO Playbook - Tuesday Jul 19,2022 05:30 pm

Jul 19, 2022

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Even as climate activists hoped for President Joe Biden to declare a “national climate emergency,” it now appears that they’ll have to wait a bit longer — if it comes at all. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Global temperatures continue to rise, and Europe is in the midst of a deadly, record-shattering heat wave.

Here at home, “nearly 20% of the U.S. population, or about 60 million people, will likely see a temperature at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) this week,” per CNN. “Among the hardest-hit areas are in the Southern Plains, including Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, where intense heat will stick around until at least Tuesday.” New York, Boston and Philadelphia are set to issue heat advisories for Wednesday.

But even as climate activists hoped for President JOE BIDEN to declare a “national climate emergency,” it now appears that they’ll have to wait a bit longer — if it comes at all.

AP’s Seung Min Kim, Chris Megerian and Matthew Daly report that at an event Wednesday at a coal-turned-wind power plant in Massachusetts, Biden “will stop short of issuing an emergency declaration that would unlock federal resources to deal with the issue,” despite pressure to make the move. “It was not clear whether an emergency declaration remained under consideration for later action.”

It all comes at a particularly frustrating time for climate advocates — against the backdrop of recent reports that Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) will not support the climate portion of Democrats’ reconciliation bill, which would include hundreds of billions of dollars to address global warming.

Asked this morning about the possibility of Biden declaring a national climate emergency, Manchin told ABC’s Allison Pecorin, “Let’s see what the Congress does. The Congress needs to act.”

New polls seem to suggest that Americans largely agree with that sentiment. NYT’s Mira Rojanasakul and Catrin Einhorn report that in all but a handful of congressional districts nationwide, majorities of voters want policymakers to do more on climate. Sixty-one percent of adults think Congress should act on the issue — compared to 52% who think the same about the president, and 57% who want their governor to do more.

One nugget, FWIW: A majority of Americans in all but three states believed that Congress should do more to address climate change. One of those three states? West Virginia.

A SMATTERING OF JAN. 6 NEWS …

— The Secret Service won’t be able to recover its agents’ deleted Jan. 6-related texts, which the House Jan. 6 committee has sought, and therefore won’t have any new information of note for the panel, WaPo’s Carol Leonnig and Maria Sacchetti report. The lacuna is due to agents not uploading their old messages to an internal drive before a reset and replacement of staff phones. “The result is that potentially valuable evidence … is unlikely to ever be recovered.” At the same time, the National Archives got involved today, asking the Secret Service to provide information about “the potential unauthorized deletion” of messages within 30 days.

— Chair BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.) is out with mild Covid-19, but the Jan. 6 committee’s Thursday hearing will proceed as scheduled.

— Rep. JODY HICE (R-Ga.) followed Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) in challenging a subpoena from the Fulton County, Ga., investigation into the efforts to subvert the 2020 election, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman. Hice’s lawyer successfully moved the motion to a federal court and then cited the Constitution’s “speech and debate” clause in seeking to prevent the congressman from having to testify.

— After a complicated and confusing morning hearing, the judge in STEVE BANNON’s contempt of Congress trial said he would consider a brief delay in the trial (to the tune of a day). Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney have the latest details.

Good Tuesday afternoon. JOHN KIRBY will join press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE at this afternoon’s briefing.

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ALL POLITICS

POLL OF THE DAY — The latest CNN/SSRS poll finds Democrats and Republicans tied on the generic congressional ballot at 46% apiece — slightly better for Dems than their last poll, but still not good enough to retain the House if that breakdown holds in November.

PRIMARIES ON THE LEFT — Former NYC Mayor BILL DE BLASIO dropped out of a New York congressional race today : “It’s clear the people of #NY10 are looking for another option and I respect that. Time for me to leave electoral politics and focus on other ways to serve.”

— WaPo’s Paul Schwartzman has an interesting new story from Manhattan about JERRY NADLER trying to beat fellow Democratic Rep. CAROLYN MALONEY by making an identity-politics appeal to Jewish voters. Maloney has called that approach divisive, while Nadler says it’s important for a city with a big Jewish population to have Jewish representation in the House. “In interviews on the East and West sides, Jewish voters said that although they value diversity, they do not generally feel compelled to back their own,” Schwartzman finds. Jewish bingo for members of the tribe: The article includes Zabar’s, “heymisher,” Tikkun Olam, “mishegoss,” Barney Greengrass and “the West Side’s nosh circuit.”

— HuffPost’s Kevin Robillard has a notable takeaway from today’s Maryland gubernatorial primary, as seen through the lens of TOM PEREZ : “[T]he ideological battles that defined the past four years of Democratic primaries are cooling, with experience and background becoming more important as voters look for candidates who can tackle inflation, climate change and a sclerotic political system.”

PRIMARIES ON THE RIGHT — From Queen Creek, Ariz., The Daily Beast’s Sam Brodey reports that the super-tight Arizona GOP gubernatorial race between KARRIN TAYLOR ROBSON and KARI LAKE will mark the next big test of the Republican Party’s future. Robson is trying to run in the mold of GLENN YOUNGKIN or BRIAN KEMP, appealing to conservatives without reciting Trump’s election fraud conspiracy theories. Lake is full MAGA. “Even Arizona, a state with a high bar for weirdness and wildness in politics, has seen little like the Karrin vs. Kari battle royale,” Brodey writes. “The two candidates have not meaningfully sparred on any issues. … Instead, personal attacks have dominated this contest.”

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS — Rep. VICENTE GONZALEZ’s (D-Texas) campaign has paid a blogger who’s been calling Rep. MAYRA FLORES (R-Texas) “Miss Frijoles” and a “cotton-pickin’ liar,” earning significant blowback in South Texas, NBC’s Marc Caputo reports. Flores is calling JERRY MCHALE’s posts racist and offensive. “[T]he timing of the attacks were coincidental [and] the congressman didn’t pay for any of the inflammatory posts, know about them or have any control over them,” the Dems say. But some find it surprising that Gonzalez worked with a blogger who regularly uses “crude and bigoted language.”

DEMOCRACY DIGEST — NYT Magazine’s Charles Homans is out with a major feature on how election lies and conspiracy theories became the central thrust of American conservatism, with a particular focus on Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee DOUG MASTRIANO. He traces the movement’s diverse, sometimes obscure origins, and where it aims to go: “If the quest to overturn the election was the central fact of Mastriano’s political ascent, the ascent itself happened because Mastriano told a story about politics in which the supposed theft of the election was proof of a dispossession that went beyond [DONALD] TRUMP. …

“History, faith, crime, retribution: These are the rudiments of a new strain of Republican politics,” Homans finds, “shaped by the last year of Trump’s presidency — the second impeachment trial, the coronavirus pandemic, the campaign — but destined to extend far beyond it. … The hole he punched in American democracy, out of sheer self-interest, had allowed his followers to glimpse a vision of the country restored to its divinely ordained promise that lay beyond that democracy — but also beyond him.”

RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT — The Ohio Supreme Court today tossed out the state’s new congressional map as an unconstitutional Republican gerrymander, though these borders will still be used for this fall’s elections since the primaries have already been held. The 4-3 ruling could yield new maps for 2024, though the swing justice will be replaced at the ballot box in November. More from The Columbus Dispatch

HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT ROE BEING OVERTURNED? JOIN WOMEN RULE ON 7/21: Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade , abortion policy is in the hands of the states and, ultimately, voters. Join POLITICO national political correspondent Elena Schneider for a Women Rule “ask me anything” conversation featuring a panel of reporters from our politics and health care teams who will answer your questions about how the court’s decision could play out in different states, its impact on the midterms and what it means for reproductive rights in the U.S. going forward. SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS AND REGISTER HERE.

CONGRESS

ECA REFORM WATCH — Senate Majority Whip DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) said he will likely back the Electoral Count Act reform bill that a bipartisan group of senators have crafted (“I would have written it differently, but I know the reality of the 50/50 Senate”) — “a strong signal that the bill could get significant Democratic backing,” write WaPo’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theo Meyer.

CASH DASH — House GOP Conference Chair ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.) announced today she has pulled in $10 million for other Republican candidates’ campaigns and committees this cycle.

TALES FROM THE CRYPTO — Sen. CYNTHIA LUMMIS (R-Wyo.) said today that the big cryptocurrency bill that she’s championed likely won’t get a vote in the Senate this year, per Bloomberg’s Alex Nguyen and Allyson Versprille. Lummis and Sen. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-N.Y.) said it will take time for their legislation to move through committees.

MARRIAGE VOTE COUNT — As the House prepares to vote today on codifying the right to same-sex marriage and all eyes turn toward the Senate, Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska) told CNN’s Manu Raju that she supports same-sex marriage and “will look at what the House is doing.”

THE ECONOMY

(A LITTLE LESS) PAIN AT THE PUMP — The relative reprieve on gas prices continues as average prices around the country have now pushed below $4.50 a gallon, per AAA’s tracker. One state — South Carolina — has gotten under $4, while eight Western states remain above $5.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

LAYING DOWN A MARKER — Biden today is signing an executive order aimed at disincentivizing foreign hostage-taking and inappropriate detentions of Americans, following recent high-profile arrests like that of WNBA star BRITTNEY GRINER. The move will enable the U.S. to impose visa bans and financial sanctions on those engaged in the practice. And the State Department will introduce a new “D” designation warning Americans of the risks of detention by foreign governments when they travel, initially to be applied to China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela. More from CNBC

But, but, but: Reuters’ Hümeyra Pamuk reports that when families of Americans detained abroad learned about the EO on Monday, many “left with a big disappointment, complaining that while it proposes nascent steps to deter hostage taking, it still fails to outline a strategy to bring home existing detainees.”

DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — China warned today that Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s plans to travel to Taiwan would elicit “resolute and forceful measures” from Beijing if she follows through. More from Reuters

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POLICY CORNER

WHAT ROHIT CHOPRA IS UP TO — The CFPB is expected to roll out new guidance pushing banks to help reimburse people who suffer scams on money transfer platforms like Zelle, WSJ’s Andrew Ackerman scooped. “At the heart of the issue is how much banks should be liable for repaying customers who authorize the platforms to move around their money, only to later learn they were defrauded.”

VALLEY TALK

MUSK READ — A judge granted Twitter its attempt to compel an expedited trial in its bid to force ELON MUSK not to back out of buying the company. More from CNBC

ANTITRUST THE PROCESS — As the House Judiciary Committee adopted a 2020 report today from its antitrust investigation into Big Tech behemoths, new documents emerged that “bolster the committee’s claims that the internet giants illegally favor their own products, a practice that pending legislation to update antitrust laws would make more difficult,” reports Josh Sisco, diving into the Google and Amazon details. Bloomberg’s Leah Nylen has a similar takeaway from a newly public Facebook internal memo.

PLAYBOOKERS

OUT AND ABOUT — Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) had a reelection fundraiser Monday night at the home of Erika Gudmundson, with many fellow former Hillary Clinton campaign staffers in attendance. SPOTTED: Angela Baker, Greg Hale, Ali Rubin, Irene Sherman, Nora Toiv, Melissa Luce, Jonathan Beam, Sarah Nolan, Sarah Pollack, Chris Mussett, Katherine Trefz, Kevin Casey, Ana Ma and Laurance Frierson.

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Dilpreet Sidhu, who served in the White House since Day One as the NSC’s principal deputy executive secretary, recently departed to become deputy chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.

WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Dan Koh, Marty Walsh’s chief of staff at the Labor Department, is joining the White House as deputy Cabinet secretary in the executive office of the president, reports the Boston Globe.

MEDIA MOVES — The Atlantic announced Alice McKown as its new publisher and EVP and Mary Liz McCurdy as SVP of strategic partnerships and business development. Announcement

TRANSITION — Leigh Claffey is now lead for digital advocacy on the government affairs team at Shopify. She most recently was at Growth Energy.

WEEKEND WEDDING — Sami Leonardo, an associate at Reservoir Communications Group and an RNC alum, and Kaleb Bennett, a comms representative at Lockheed Martin and an RNC and Trump White House alum, got married Saturday in Mifflin, Pa. They met at the RNC in 2017. Pic … Another pic … SPOTTED: Jonathan Brodo, Corinne Day, Caeleigh Jennings, Patrick MacDonnell, Bryn Woollacott, Kendyll Ferrall, Robert Shultz, Chad Banghart, Richard Sant, Kevin Fairbrother, Kenneth Callahan and Sarah Wood.