|
Presented by Instagram: The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing. | | | | |  | | By Lauren Egan and Eli Stokols | | | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Eli | Email Lauren MADELINE ISRAEL was sitting at her computer working on her memoir on the evening of Dec. 21, when she got a call from her son, former Rep. STEVE ISRAEL (D-N.Y.). Madeline, 87, immediately thought something was off. Her son usually only calls on the weekends, so she quickly picked up the phone. “Steve said, ‘Hold on, Mom,’” she told West Wing Playbook. “The next thing I know it’s, ‘Hi Madeline, it’s Joe Biden.’” As it turned out, the former congressman was at a White House holiday party and President JOE BIDEN, who had first called his mom 10 years ago after learning her husband had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, wanted to see how she was doing. Israel tried to discourage Biden from interrupting the holiday gathering, but the president wasn’t having it. “I said, ‘Your staff hates when you do this.’ He looked at me and said, ‘I know, let’s call her,’” Israel recalled. “Everybody wants time with him, and here he is on the phone with a verbose Jewish mom from Arizona.”
| 
Tweet by former Rep. Steve Israel | Twitter | Biden is a frequent and devoted mom-caller. If you’re talking to the ’rents and he’s nearby, he’ll grab the phone from you. If he sees your mom next to you at some ceremonial event, a chit chat and selfie are likely in order. And if you mention your grandma in passing, as Run For Something co-founder AMANDA LITMAN did in 2017, it could lead to a call — and, in Litman's case, a surprisingly poignant and unexpected conversation with “Grammy” about grief, as she later recapped in a viral tweet thread. It’s not surprising for an old-school politician who has built his political brand on affability, empathy and human connection. But those on the receiving end don’t see politics as a component at all. “I’m sure he’s not worried about getting my vote,” said Madeline Israel. “He’s just a total mensch.” Biden called KELLY CLARKSON’s mother after the singer finished interviewing the first lady at the White House; he left a voicemail for Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH’s mom on Mother’s Day; he even made a long distance call to India to reach the mother of Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) after the congresswoman helped pass the infrastructure bill. Biden once called the mother of Sen. BEN RAY LUJÁN (D-N.M.) in 2021 just to tell her he was standing in the Oval Office with her son. “He knows how important moms are,” Jayapal said in an interview with MSNBC. But it’s not just the mothers of prominent politicians and pop stars who have been surprised by a Biden call. SUSAN JONES was busy at work in 2018 when she missed a call from her son, Ryan, a curator at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. She was stunned when she later checked her voicemail and heard a message from Biden complementing her child. She quickly called Ryan back to see if Biden was still at the museum, but he had just left. It probably was just as well. “Had I answered the call, I wouldn’t have heard anything he said,” she said. “I would have been so overwhelmed. Having not answered, I get to retain that voicemail and show it off to everyone.” “He took time out of his busy schedule to just let me know about my son. It really moved me,” she added. In November 2009, LEIGH FLAYTON — then the editor-in-chief of Arrive Magazine, the now-defunct onboard Amtrak publication — was wrapping up a photoshoot with the vice president in his office for a special cover story. As Biden waited for the crew to break down the lights and equipment, he offered to call everyone’s mom. LINDA FLAYTON thought it was one of the photographers pulling a prank. “I didn't really believe it was him,” she said. But the two started chatting about Scranton, Pa. — where Linda’s mother grew up and where Biden was born — and the conversation went on so long that Biden had to hang up on Leigh’s cell phone and call Linda back on a secure line. “I could hear his staff trying to get him to hang up, they were so mad,” Linda said. “He’s just as friendly as can be. And now I call him ‘my pal Joey.’” MESSAGE US — Are you a DAD that has been called by the president? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
| | A message from Instagram: Teens' experiences on Instagram should be positive and supportive.
That’s why we have tools to help teens see less sensitive content and help them spend less time on our platform.
Learn more about our tools and set them up today. | | | | | | This one is from Allie. Who was the first president to veto legislation? (Answer at the bottom.)
| | | “EMBARRASSING”: The president Wednesday morning addressed House Republicans’ failure to elect a speaker at the start of the congressional session, saying “it is not a good look” for the country and called it “embarrassing it’s taking so long.” “The rest of the world is looking” to see if we can “get our act together,” he said. Our KELLY GARRITY has more details. ALSO EMBARRASSING: Spamming the entire White House press pool list with your nonsensical ‘reply all’ messages. You know who you are. Please show yourselves out. BUILDING BRIDGES: Biden’s move to appear alongside Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL (R-Ky.) during his visit to Kentucky on Wednesday was a strategic one, our ADAM CANCRYN and MARIANNE LEVINE report. The president will need Congress’ help to avoid a government shutdown, continue to help Ukraine in the Russian invasion and achieve other administration goals in the new year — and the joint appearance is an attempt by the White House to keep the peace. *MINOR* DETAIL: According to AP’s SEUNG MIN KIM, the president wore a mask while aboard Marine One Wednesday because of a minor cold. He tested negative for the coronavirus Tuesday and Wednesday, a White House official told her. OK, NOW WE’RE HUNGRY: Biden stopped at Just Q'in BBQ in Cincinnati, Ohio and ordered some brisket, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, jalapeño cornbread, and peach cobbler, according to the White House. The proof:
| 
President Joe Biden and Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Puerval eat part of their orders as they visit Just Q'in BBQ in Cincinnati, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) | AP | WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: The latest jobs numbers. CNN’s ALICIA WALLACE reports that “the number of available jobs in the U.S. totaled 10.46 million in November, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Labor. That’s more than the 10 million total job openings that economists were expecting, according to Refinitiv, and slightly lower than the upwardly revised October total of 10.51 million.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Maybe the demands from Republican lawmakers that Rep. KEVIN MCCARTHY agree to not raise the debt ceiling as a condition for getting their vote his speakership? Honestly, the news is pretty good for the White House right now. We'll try again tomorrow. ON THE CALENDAR: Japanese Prime Minister FUMIO KISHIDA is slated to make a White House visit with the president on Jan. 13. The two leaders are expected to discuss North Korea, Ukraine, China's tensions with Taiwan, among other topics. More from Reuters’ TREVOR HUNNICUTT and STEVE HOLLAND. VEEP ON THE MOVE: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS traveled to Chicago on Wednesday to tout the administration’s investments in infrastructure. The trip marked her sixth visit to Illinois, according to a pool report.
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | | | | FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: JOHN RIZZO has been named SVP of public affairs at the comms and public affairs firm Clyde Group and will focus on its financial services clients, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. Rizzo, an alum of Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and Sen. BOB CASEY (D-Pa.), most recently was a senior spokesperson at the Treasury Department, where he was public affairs lead on crypto assets, fintech, financial stability, domestic finance and economic policy. — ALEX JACQUEZ has been promoted to be special assistant to the president for economic development and industrial strategy at the National Economic Council, where he will lead on critical minerals work, Lippman learned. He most recently was a senior policy adviser at the NEC. TAIWAN BOUND: A group of U.S. trade officials are heading to Taiwan to participate in talks, Jan. 14-17, for a proposed trade agreement between the two nations, despite Beijing's objections, our DOUG PALMER reports for Pro s. The group will be led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative TERRY MCCARTIN and will include officials from other U.S. government agencies.
| | | A RUN FOR THE BORDER?: After two years of fending off GOP criticism he was minimizing a migrant crisis at the southern border, Biden may finally head there as part of next week’s trip to Mexico City for the North American Leaders Summit. WSJ’s TARINI PARTI and ANNIE LINSKEY report the president is “strongly considering” making a border stop but that no final decision has been made. While in Kentucky, Biden told reporters it was his “intention” to make a visit. EXPANDING ABORTION PILL ACCESS: The FDA moved Tuesday to allow retail pharmacies to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding access to the medication amid the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and a larger movement from states to implement restrictions. Our ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and LAUREN GARDNER report that “pharmacies in more than a dozen states that have near-total abortion bans would not be able to participate and those in states without bans would have to go through a certification process to qualify.” AN APEC OLIVE BRANCH: The U.S. is gearing up to host the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco this November, and our Doug Palmer writes that the summit could also provide an opportunity for Chinese President XI JINPING to visit the U.S. for the first time in six years.
| | | Opinion: Joe Biden, welfare king (Merrill Matthews for The Hill) US had ‘direct conversations’ with Russia on Paul Whelan since Griner’s release, State Department says (CNN’s Jennifer Hansler)
| | A message from Instagram: Instagram’s daily time limits let parents say how long their teens can spend on the platform once supervision is set up.
The impact: teens can spend time online more intentionally.
Set up daily time limits and learn more about the 30+ tools that can help teens have a positive experience on Instagram. | | | | | | NED PRICE spent some time in the Situation Room when he worked for the National Security Council in the Obama administration and working there had its perks — two to be exact. In the book West Wingers, a compilation of short stories by the Obama White House staff, Price, who is now a spokesperson for the State Department, described the room as “a windowless, underground setting with two redeeming qualities: the history seeped into every cranny and the bowl of M&M’s placed just outside the entrance every weekday at lunchtime.” Price was under so much stress, he “typically measured the intensity of my week based on the number of M&M lunches I consumed.” Happens to the best of us!
| | | President GEORGE WASHINGTON executed the first veto to legislation on April 5, 1792. According to History.com, “the bill introduced a new plan for dividing seats in the House of Representatives that would have increased the amount of seats for northern states.” A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
