BIDEN’s NOT-SO-SUBTLE VACCINE MESSAGE — The White House knows states and localities don’t have to require Covid-19 vaccinations if they don’t want to. It knows businesses don’t need to make the vaccine a condition of returning to the office. And it knows governors aren’t obligated to give $100 to anyone who decides to get a shot. But the White House also wants Americans to know one thing: It’d be a lot cooler if they did. That’s the upshot of the latest round of incentives that President Joe Biden rolled out Thursday, as his administration tries everything short of widespread mandates to boost the nation’s vaccination rate. While much of the attention focused on the new requirements for federal workers and contractors, officials are hoping the measures touch off a wave of similar directives across the nation. “The Administration will encourage employers across the private sector to follow this strong model,” the White House said in a fact sheet distributed to reporters. That widespread adoption would conceivably get far more people vaccinated than a single government requirement ever could, pushing up the U.S.’s numbers and doing it – crucially – without the kind of direct federal involvement that could spur backlash and distrust. The same goes for the other new initiatives, all of which called on public- and private-sector leaders to take action without giving any heavy-handed orders. Businesses can now get reimbursed for making it easy for workers to get vaccinated. Biden challenged schools to distribute vaccines in their communities, and local governments to hand out cash for shots. On Thursday, the White House got its first taker. Minnesota will give $100 to each person newly vaccinated, the state’s Democratic governor announced. Still, there’s the lingering question: Will any of this register in the least-vaccinated areas of the country? Even as the U.S. nears the 70 percent mark for partially vaccinated adults (nearly a month after the White House wanted) and daily vaccinations tick up, several red states still lag well behind – and in some counties throughout the country, barely more than one-fifth of residents have gone to get the shot. “I know people talk about freedom, but I learned growing up … with freedom comes responsibility," Biden said. "The decision to be unvaccinated impacts someone else." Watch: POLITICO’s Joanne Kenen and Harvard’s Robert Blendon’s Live Q&A based on recent polling on partisan divides over vaccine mandates. The discussion centered on how to break down remaining resistance, including by relying on the local clinicians treating seriously ill Covid-19 patients. INSIDE DEMS’ SPENDING PACKAGE TWO-STEP — Democrats are pursuing a delicate dual-track strategy to passing a bipartisan infrastructure deal and subsequent $3.5 trillion spending bill – with leaders well aware any misstep could blow up their plans, POLITICO’s Burgess Everett, Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers report. The effort hinges on the House’s willingness to hold up the $550 billion infrastructure package until Senate Democrats can marshal enough votes to advance their far larger partisan bill, a process that will require Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders to balance the demands of lawmakers across the ideological spectrum. Centrist senators have already raised concerns about the $3.5 trillion bill’s price tag, angering progressives and throwing the fate of the whole enterprise into doubt. It also remains unclear what exactly will make it into the bigger package, with progressives pushing for a massive overhaul of Medicare that would add dental, hearing and vision benefits. And in the House, Pelosi will face pressure on both sides over the infrastructure bill – with liberals urging her to keep her promise and a moderate faction pressing for quicker passage. It’s a job that will get even more difficult later this week: The GOP winner of Tuesday’s Texas House race is set to be seated, shrinking the Democrats’ majority to just three. | 
