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The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing. | | | | |  | | By Jonathan Lemire, Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Marianne LeVine | 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 Over his 36 years in the Senate, JOE BIDEN took pride in establishing friendships across the aisle. And now, as president in a hyper-partisan time, he often waxes nostalgic for the old days and states aloud just how much he likes many Republicans, including Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL. But Biden’s love of bipartisanship has its limits. The president clearly detests some on the opposite side of the aisle. There are those he views as convenient foils, allowing him to draw a distinction between his old GOP pals and the new crop of “MAGA Republicans” who, he often argues, pose a threat to the country. Biden frequently seizes on Florida Sen. RICK SCOTT’s plan to cut spending, including putting Social Security and Medicare on renew-every-five-year plans, as a cudgel with which to bash the GOP. There is little love lost between the two men. But Biden holds real antipathy for one Republican above all others: Sen. RON JOHNSON. The president's distaste is so strong that aides recall him expressing joy at MSNBC host JOE SCARBOROUGH’s frequent description of the Wisconsin senator as having “rocks in his head.” Biden’s disdain for Johnson was evident during last week’s post-State of the Union stop at a union hall not far outside Madison. Reading off a printout, Biden turned to the audience of hardhats: “By the way, you have Senator…” he said before pausing for a beat. Biden smirked. He cleared his throat as the crowd laughed and then finished calling out Johnson. “Ron Johnson, on Social Security and Medicare, quote, ‘We should transfer everything so we have to consider everything every year.’” As the crowd booed, Biden shook his head and muttered in agreement. “Come on, man.” Biden never served in the Senate with Johnson, who was elected in 2010, two years after Biden became vice president. But Biden grew to dislike Johnson in the years that followed. He viewed him as someone who cared mostly about cable hits. And Biden believed Johnson debased himself to prove his loyalty to DONALD TRUMP, according to three people familiar with the president’s thinking who were not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions. In recent years, Biden’s disdain has only grown. Though Johnson did not cast a vote against certifying Biden’s win, he backed Trump’s false claims of election fraud and spread doubt about the legitimacy of Biden’s election. He went so far as to task an aide with delivering an alternate — and fake — set of electors to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021 in a bid to keep Trump in power in 2020. Months later when that news came to light, Johnson claimed to have had only a vague awareness of what the document had been. And two years later, Johnson refused to commit to accepting the results of his own midterm election, until he won. There’s also his unabashed skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines, including a recent focus on, as he put it, “advocating for the vaccine-injured.” White House Deputy Press Secretary ANDREW BATES seized on Johnson’s mixed messages in an email to reporters last week, noting that the senator had criticized Biden for suggesting Republicans want to ban Medicare, only to describe Medicare as a “Ponzi scheme” in a radio appearance the same day. A person close to the president also noted that Johnson’s often blunt expressions of policy, such as his statement about how he loved outsourcing because it meant cheaper products, often allow Biden to draw sharp contrasts. More recently, Johnson has zeroed in with particular gusto on HUNTER BIDEN, believing that the business dealings of the president’s son must be investigated and could lead to evidence of wrongdoing by the president himself. That has angered the president, who had privately expressed hope Johnson would lose his reelection bid last fall. That didn’t happen. And now, the White House is preparing for the two men to clash repeatedly as Wisconsin looms as perhaps the most important swing state on the map. For his part, Johnson this past week both defended his stance on Social Security and Medicare and claimed that Biden was “compromised” on China because of unproven claims of foreign financial entanglements. He also didn’t seem to quibble with the idea that he was on Biden’s sh*t list. In fact, he embraced it. "I would say I'm probably not his favorite senator,” Johnson said. "I think there's all kinds of personal animus from him toward me. He doesn't like the truth being told.” MESSAGE US — Are you MSNBC host JOE SCARBOROUGH? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | | | | This one is from Allie. With all this talk about Social Security, we thought we’d test your knowledge on it. What year did President FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT sign the Social Security Act that established the program? (Answer at the bottom.)
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| AND NOW, A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT: Biden delivered remarks Thursday about the Chinese spy balloon, saying that shooting it down “sent a clear message, a clear message, that the violation of our sovereignty is unacceptable.” The president said he plans to speak to Chinese President XI JINPING about the incident “to get to the bottom of this. … But I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.” More details from our MIA MCCARTHY. As for the other three objects shot down, Biden said there was no indication that they were tied to China. In fact, he said, it was possible they were objects put into the sky by research institutes to monitor the weather. Some unfortunate, poorly-funded group that spent all its budget on a high-tech balloon is probably super pissed right now. C’MON FOLKS: After turning to leave the room, Biden returned to the lectern to answer a shouted question from NBC’s PETER ALEXANDER, who asked him to address criticism over not addressing the country about the sudden proliferation of high-altitude foreign objects. But reporters on the other side of the room refused to stop shouting questions of their own. Chief among them was STEVEN NELSON of the New York Post, who asked if Biden’s ability to deal with China was “compromised by [his] family’s business interests.” Biden shot back: “Give me a break, man.” Turning to leave, he told Alexander to come to his office where “we’ll have more polite people.” Once Biden left, NELSON and others got a dressing down from their colleagues, according to four people in the room. Reuters’ JEFF MASON, a former president of the White House Correspondents Association, told Nelson and others their behavior was “unacceptable” and “embarrassing.” NPR’s TAMARA KEITH, the current WHCA president, chimed in, calling it “unproductive.” Keith followed up in an email to WHCA members about the need for decorum. Shouting questions at a president is a proud, decades-long tradition. But the goal here is to get him to engage, not leave entirely! That said, Biden did call Alexander minutes later to answer his question, the NBC correspondent said in a tweet. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: White House spokesperson ANDREW BATES reupped a 2022 piece from the NYT’s SHERYL GAY STOLBERG asking experts in aging to assess the president’s health. Bates shared on Twitter a screenshot of this paragraph: “Mr. Biden, these experts agreed, has a lot going in his favor: He is highly educated, has plenty of social interaction, a stimulating job that requires a lot of thinking, is married and has a strong family network — all factors that, studies show, are protective against dementia and conducive to healthy aging. He does not smoke or drink alcohol and, according to the White House, he exercises five times a week. He also has top-notch medical care.” And late Thursday, following the president’s physical exam earlier in the day, the White House shared a letter from his doctor noting that Biden “remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by JONATHAN MARTIN for POLITICO Magazine about how behind closed doors, Democratic leaders are worried about Biden’s reelection. The fears center on his age, but they are backing him anyway because “they fear the potential alternative: the nomination of Kamala Harris and election of Donald Trump.” JMart goes on: “Saluting [Biden’s] candidacy is publicly framed as simply backing an incumbent president, dog bites man, nothing to see here. In truth, it gets them out of a potentially messy primary, buys them time on his eventual, and perhaps equally messy, succession and helps keep the focus on Trump and the Republicans, which is both the adhesive that binds their coalition and their best calling card for the broader electorate: See, we’re not those guys.” MOVIE NIGHT: The president and first lady are hosting a screening of the movie, “Till” in the East Room on Thursday evening with cast members, the family of Emmett Till, students, civil rights leaders, historians and families of victims of hate crimes. The screening was a rare event for the Biden White House, which has only hosted two other screenings (“The Survivor,” held in honor of Yom HaShoah, and “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness”). Attendees were invited to a reception afterward on the State Floor. SPILLING TEA W/SUGAR: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS detailed her relationship to her childhood neighbor and friend, REGINA SHELTON, whom she calls her “second mother,” in an interview Thursday with PopSugar. Shelton “was a woman of deep faith and lived her faith as a verb — it was displayed on a daily basis in her actions,” Harris writes. “As attorney general of California, as United States senator, and then as vice president of the United States, I laid my hand on her Bible as I took the oath of office. At every step of the way, Mrs. Shelton is with me.” STILL SEARCHING: The FBI searched the University of Delaware in recent weeks as part of its investigation into Biden’s possession of classified documents, CNN’s PAULA REID scooped. Although there did not appear to be classified documents in the batches collected, the documents are being reviewed by the FBI.
| | | WHO WILL IT BE?: Our VICTORIA GUIDA has a run down of who the president is considering to serve as the vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, following LAEL BRAINARD’s departure. Some on the short list include MARY DALY, San Francisco Fed president; AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, Chicago Fed president; SUSAN COLLINS, Boston Fed president; and LISA COOK, a member of the Fed’s board. IT’S OFFICIAL: The National Hockey League Players’ Association announced Thursday that Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH is set to be its executive director, starting “mid-March.” Walsh is the first Cabinet secretary to leave the Biden administration, and the hunt for a new labor secretary has already begun. Our NICK NIEDZWIADEK has more. PERSONNEL MOVES: KATY ANN SEARCY is now chief of staff in the office of Infrastructure Implementation at the White House. She was most recently at USAID and has previously worked for HILLARY CLINTON, CHERYL MILLS and Stripe.
| | | FIRST VETO AHEAD: Senate Republicans are set to vote on a House-passed bill that would roll back a D.C. criminal justice measure, putting Democratic lawmakers in a tough spot — and potentially giving the president his first veto should the bill end up on his desk, our BURGESS EVERETT reports. Biden has come out against the legislation, but has not vowed to veto it. BACKSTOP FOR THE UNINSURED: The Biden administration is considering a plan that would keep Covid vaccines, treatments and tests free for the uninsured into 2024, our ADAM CANCRYN and DAVID LIM report. This is as the administration gears up for the end of the public health emergency, taking away free resources from some. The move would be the administration’s way to ease worries that the most vulnerable Americans could be left without access to Covid care once the emergency ends this spring.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | | How a Fog of Questions Over a Spy Balloon and U.F.O.s Fed a Diplomatic Crisis (NYT’s Edward Wong, Julian E. Barnes and Adam Entous) How Ukraine war has shaped US planning for a China conflict (AP’s Tara Copp) U.S. Could Default as Soon as July if Debt-Ceiling Standoff Isn’t Resolved (WSJ’s Andrew Duehren)
| | | On Aug. 14, 1935, Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. “In addition to several provisions for general welfare, the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement,” according to the Social Security website. 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 | | | | |  |
