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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by |  | | | Two quick quotes coming out of the Big Four meeting with President JOE BIDEN: — DEPT. OF IRONY: House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY, emerging from the meeting just hours after Rep. LIZ CHENEY (Wyo.) was ousted from GOP leadership for rebuking DONALD TRUMP’S conspiracy theories: “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. We’re sitting here with the president today.” — Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL on the Big Four huddle: “Almost all of the discussion was about infrastructure. I think I’m certainly safe in saying there is certainly a bipartisan desire to get an outcome. Clearly Senate Republicans are not interested in revisiting the 2017 tax bill.” CHENEY’S DOWN, BUT NOT OUT. It was over in 15 minutes. That’s all you need to know about the ouster of the woman many Republicans once saw as the possible speaker of the House or first female president. Mel Zanona and Olivia Beavers with the ledeall But while Cheney was easily axed from House GOP leadership this morning, she’s not going to disappear. Far from it. If anything, Cheney could now become more of a pain for McCarthy than she was already. — Cheney will have a massive platform and will likely become the face of the Republican resistance to Trump. — Now that she’s no longer chair of the GOP Conference, she’s freed from the niceties that leadership requires and could be more willing to contradict GOP leaders than ever before. — Plus, she can’t easily be waved off as an anti-Trump RINO — she voted in lockstep with him for four years, but couldn’t tolerate his election-related lies and conspiracies. Speaking in the GOP Conference this morning, Cheney hinted that she will not go quietly. “I promise you this: After today, I will be leading the fight to restore our party and our nation to conservative principles, to defeating socialism, to defending our republic, to making the GOP worthy again of being the party of LINCOLN,” she told her colleagues. SO WHAT’S NEXT? Probably the media circuit. Cheney already has at least one big interview lined up with NBC’s SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, per this tweet showing her with a sit-down in Cheney’s Capitol Hill office. MEANWHILE … Democrats are trying to capitalize on the GOP infighting. — Congressional Dems have already sent out fundraising emails about the bloodbath, calling Republicans “the party of lies” for siding with Trump over Cheney, as The Hill’s Juliegrace Brufke pointed out this morning. — Biden is seeking to contrast the GOP turmoil with his own positive messaging, as WaPo’s Matt Viser and Mike DeBonis report. More on that in their story HOW BIG OF A PROBLEM IS THE INFIGHTING FOR THE GOP? It depends on who you ask. — Political wiz DAVE WASSERMAN tweeted this morning: “If you think Liz Cheney’s GOP leadership post is an issue voters are going to care about in the midterm elections… prepare to be sorely disappointed.” But many Republicans seem to be annoyed with their fellow Republicans, telling their House friends to, essentially, get their shit together and cut it out. — Here’s ALYSSA FARAH , an alum of the original Freedom Caucus-turned-Trump White House staffer: “Georgia faced a major cyber attack, gas prices are skyrocketing, nearly 10M Americans are unemployed, we are still in a pandemic, our greatest ally in the MidEast is under attack - why are Republicans focusing on internal DC squabbling? This is a moment ripe for strong leadership.” — And JOSH HOLMES of McConnell’s kitchen cabinet: “Border crisis, gas lines, inflation, economic stagnation, kids still out of school, rocket attacks in Israel, and on and on and on. If you’re a Republican under the dome not talking about any of this today, you’re weakening your country.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Today is really boring, isn’t it? | | A message from Amazon: Amazon starting wage: $15
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Amazon employees have seen the impact $15 can make. Learn more. | | | LATEST FROM THE JAN. 6 HEARING — “Key Trump officials face Congress with Capitol riot response under scrutiny,” WaPo: “CHRISTOPHER C. MILLER, who was the acting defense secretary at the time, told members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that he stands by ‘every decision I made on January 6.’ … The defiant stance from Miller probably will rankle Democrats on the panel, who opened Wednesday’s hearing with demands for a reckoning.” — DEPT. OF REWRITING HISTORY: “Republicans At Jan. 6 Hearing Try To Paint Trump And His Followers As The True Victims,” Talking Points Memo … “GOP’s Gosar defends Jan. 6 rioter, says she was ‘executed,’” The Hill INFLATION WATCH — “Consumer prices shot up 0.8% in April as worries escalate,” AP: “A worrisome bout of inflation struck the economy in April, with U.S. consumer prices for goods and services surging 0.8%, the largest monthly jump in in more than a decade, and the year-over-year increase reaching its fastest rate since 2008. The acceleration in prices, which has been building for months, has unsettled financial markets and raised concerns that it could weaken the economic recovery from the pandemic recession. “Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed sharply higher prices for everything from food and clothes to housing. A 10% surge in the prices of used cars and trucks — a record jump — accounted for roughly one-third of last month’s increases. Prices for vehicles, both used and new, have been soaring as a result of a computer chip shortage.” RUNNING ON EMPTY — “Gas shortages start surfacing around metro Atlanta,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution … “Find where you can still buy gasoline in Charlotte with interactive map,” Charlotte Observer — THE WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE: “White House Open to Use of Foreign Ships to Ease Fuel Crunch,” Bloomberg: “The Biden administration is open to waiving domestic shipping restrictions to allow foreign tankers to transport fuel to areas with shortages due to the Colonial Pipeline Co. outage, the White House said Wednesday. “The 101-year-old Jones Act requires that ships carrying goods between U.S. ports be built and flagged in the U.S. as well as crewed by American workers. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the government would consider waiver requests, but stopped short of saying the administration would grant them.” — Energy Secretary JENNIFER GRANHOLM, Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG and DHS Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS will brief the full House and Senate this evening, per press secretary JEN PSAKI. — “This incident also reminds us that infrastructure is a national security issue,” Buttigieg said at the White House press briefing this afternoon, as he tried to also tamp down fears about fuel shortages. “And the reality is that investing in world-class, modern and resilient infrastructure has always been central to ensuring our country’s economic security, our national security, and as we’re seeing right now, that includes cybersecurity.” — HOT JOB: Cyber Security Manager at Colonial Pipeline, via Daybook ANTITRUST THE PROCESS — “Tech critic Lina Khan gets bipartisan committee nod for FTC post,” by Leah Nylen: “LINA KHAN, the progressive tech critic President Joe Biden nominated to the Federal Trade Commission, won bipartisan approval from the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, earning support from all but four GOP members.” TRADE WARS — “U.S. Tariffs Drive Drop in Chinese Imports,” WSJ: “The Trump administration imposed the levies in 2018-19, aiming to boost U.S. factory production by making Chinese imports more expensive for the American companies that bring them in. That so-called re-shoring of manufacturing hasn’t happened in any appreciable way, economic data show, as U.S. companies instead turned to other countries in Asia for supply. “Vietnam has been an especially big beneficiary. It now ranks No. 6 globally for imports to the U.S., up from 12th as recently as 2018.” | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | THE NEXT MEDICAID EXPANSION — “Red states ready to defy Biden’s ‘aggressive indoctrination’ on education,” by Megan Cassella and Liz Crampton: “Two central pillars of Biden’s sweeping American Families Plan — universal pre-kindergarten and free community college tuition — are structured as partnerships between the federal government and states, meaning they will require both political and financial buy-in from local officials to get up and running. “But Republicans in states like Wisconsin, Florida and Alabama are already signaling that they would put up a fight against Biden’s expansive social welfare proposal. … Without states’ cooperation, there’s little the Biden administration could do to guarantee the benefits it’s promising to families in all parts of the country, even if the president manages to muscle them through Congress.” PULLOUT FALLOUT — “White House Weighs Evacuating Afghan Workers With Time Running Out,” Bloomberg: “White House national security aides have held several meetings about the issue in recent days to trade ideas, discussing options including a mass evacuation of thousands of people to a third country where they could be processed and brought to the U.S. … “The likeliest scenarios for the U.S. would involve extracting Afghans through the existing special immigrant visas program, which has a long backlog, and allowing Afghan interpreters to seek refugee status … The White House is getting closer to presenting options to advocates and members of Congress impatient with the silence from President Joe Biden … But with U.S. forces due to fully depart Afghanistan by Sept. 11, there’s little time left.” INFRASTRUCTURE YEAR — “The other targets of Biden’s bipartisan outreach: Manchin and Sinema,” by Natasha Korecki: “In their meetings, the president sent the message to both [Sens. JOE MANCHIN and KYRSTEN SINEMA ] that he wants them to have a voice in how a massive infrastructure package is crafted, inviting them to identify hard-to-refuse pet projects in their states and signaling a real attempt at bipartisanship, all with the intent of getting them to feel invested in the package early on. … Much of the strategy is being driven by chief of staff RON KLAIN.” THE THIRD BRANCH — “Biden names new federal judges, including a Bush nominee, with an emphasis on diversity,” USA Today: “Biden’s third wave of judicial nominees includes three candidates for district courts and three for appellate courts, bringing to 20 the total number of judges he has named since taking office January 20. There are currently 81 vacancies in the federal court system. … Two of Biden’s latest appointments include candidates with deep experience as public defenders.” THE PATH TO HERD IMMUNITY — “They Haven’t Gotten a Covid Vaccine Yet. But They Aren’t ‘Hesitant’ Either,” NYT: “According to a new U.S. Census estimate, some 30 million American adults who are open to getting a Covid vaccine have not yet managed to actually do so. Their ranks are larger than the hesitant — more than 28 million who said they would probably or definitely not get vaccinated, and than the 16 million who said they were unsure. … “If the attention has centered on the vaccine hesitant, these are the vaccine amenable. In interviews, their stated reasons for not getting vaccines are disparate, complex and sometimes shifting. They are, for the most part, America’s working class, contending with jobs and family obligations that make for scarce discretionary time.” HAPPENING NEXT WEEK — “The leaders of Emergent, whose factory spoiled vaccine doses, will testify before a U.S. House panel,” NYT WHO’S ON FIRST — “Inquiry Into Early Covid-19 Response Finds WHO Delays but Spares China,” WSJ: “The World Health Organization should be given the power to swiftly investigate threatening pathogens in any country, a review board established by the United Nations agency’s leadership said, saying the agency took too long to declare Covid-19 a public-health emergency in early 2020.” | | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A CONVERSATION ON TRANSGENDER POLITICIANS: More transgender people got elected to office at all levels across the country in 2020, in both blue and red states – and that number is likely to continue to grow. During the last year, constituents across America elected six transgender candidates at the state level as transgender rights gain more attention across the country. Join POLITICO Nightly: Daytime Edition for a conversation featuring transgender elected officials as they discuss their experiences running for and serving in public office. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | FROM 30,000 FEET — “Experts Call for Sweeping Reforms to Prevent the Next Pandemic,” NYT: “The next time the world faces an outbreak of a fast-spreading and deadly new pathogen, governments must act swiftly and be ready to restrict travel or mandate masks even before anyone knows the extent of the threat, according to a pair of new reports delivered to the World Health Organization. … “Pandemics, the authors concluded, are an existential threat on the order of a chemical or nuclear weapon, and preparing for them must be the responsibility of the highest levels of political leadership rather than only health departments, often among the least powerful of government agencies.” The first report … And the second IMMIGRATION FILES — “Migrants Take More Risky—and Sometimes Deadly—Paths to Illegally Enter U.S.,” WSJ: “Crossing into the U.S. illegally has gotten more difficult over the past year, leading more migrants to take treacherous and sometimes deadly paths as their numbers have grown substantially … “Driven by an expanded border wall and stepped-up enforcement efforts, many people are turning to remote desert and mountain crossings or traveling on overcrowded boats and on railcars. … Most migrants opting for the most extreme and dangerous crossing routes are single adults trying to avoid detection.” TRUMP CARDS — Slate has a big package out this morning called “Trump Slump: They were riding high during the last administration. Now what?” It includes a detailed rundown of where top Trumpworld figures have landed, a look at the “curious resiliency” of the Trump Winery, what’s happening with all of those “In This House, We Believe” signs, and the Biden vs. Trump toilet paper sales race. DEEP DIVE — “Police shootings of children spark new outcry, calls for training to deal with adolescents in crisis: A Washington Post database of fatal force incidents finds most children shot by police are minorities and less likely to be armed than adults shot by police.” | 
| HOLLYWOODLAND — “Ellen DeGeneres to End Talk Show: ‘I Need Something New to Challenge Me,’” The Hollywood Reporter SPOTTED: first lady Jill Biden working out this morning at Barre3 on 14th Street. … Rahm Emanuel in coach on the 12:15 p.m. American flight from DCA to O’Hare. MEDIAWATCH — Kevin Williamson will join the Competitive Enterprise Institute in a visiting capacity to head up a project exploring the modern environmental movement and the climate change debate. He’s currently a roving correspondent for National Review. … Thom Shanker will be director of the Project for Media and National Security at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. He’s been a longtime Pentagon correspondent and editor at the NYT. … Cambria Roth is now an engagement editor at POLITICO. She previously worked on audience engagement and story optimization at HuffPost. TRANSITIONS — Joby Young and David Lasseter are launching Horizons Global Solutions. Young previously was COS to former Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and is an Austin Scott alum. Lasseter previously was deputy assistant secretary of Defense at DoD and is a DOJ alum. … Jillian Newhard is now a VP at Strategic Elements. She previously was comms director at ACT. … Waldo McMillan is joining Cisco as head of the D.C. office. He previously was VP of legislative affairs at Charter Communications. … … Jeremy Halbert-Harris is now director of strategic opportunities and comms at House Majority PAC. He previously was senior political and field adviser for the Georgia Senate runoff and coordinated campaign director for Biden in Georgia. … Carrie Filipetti, Amanda Rothschild and Hannah Hummelberg are joining the Vandenberg Coalition. Filipetti will be executive director, and was previously deputy assistant secretary for Cuba and Venezuela at the State Department. Rothschild will be senior policy director, and was previously senior adviser on the policy planning staff at State. Hummelberg will be director of government affairs, and was previously comms director and national security policy adviser for Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.). BONUS BIRTHDAY: NYPD’s John Miller | | | | A message from Amazon:   Watch what happened when Amazon raised their starting wage to $15/hr. | | | | | | | 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 | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
