Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Ben Johansen. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren PROGRAMMING NOTE: West Wing Playbook will be off next week but back to our normal schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 5. We hope absence makes the heart grow fonder. Washington in August always has that busy-but-quiet, no-one-will-pick-up-your-calls feel. But beyond the Beltway this month, the White House has vigorously been mining political gold in going after junk fees. The administration, with the help of Democratic lawmakers, has worked with the Progressive Change Institute to coordinate a string of hyperlocal events to turbocharge the message on one of President JOE BIDEN’s favorite economic issues. During this month’s congressional recess, Michigan Reps. DEBBIE DINGELL and RASHIDA TLAIB held junk fee events in Detroit, while Pennsylvania Rep. BRENDAN BOYLE hosted one in Philadelphia and Rep. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN in her central New Jersey district. In Albuquerque, Rep. MELANIE STANSBURY teamed up with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director ROHIT CHOPRA. This week, Reps. JEFF JACKSON and ELISSA SLOTKIN made the push around eliminating junk frees in, respectively, Charlotte, N.C., and Lansing, Mich. Pennsylvania Rep. CHRIS DELUZIO will do the same Tuesday in Bellevue. The high volume of local news coverage of the events has surprised White House officials, MICHAEL NEGRON, special assistant to the president for economic policy, told West Wing Playbook. “The attention these events are getting and the desire on the part of many to be working on these issues really speaks to just the universal resonance of this feeling that companies are abusing us in a whole host of ways that we can’t always detect,” Negron said. The efforts are intended to boost support for the president’s economic agenda. Just 36 percent of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, so the White House and Progressive Change Institute are testing out the new hyperlocal strategy to gin up coverage. While they don’t view this as an end-all-be-all solution to voters’ concerns about inflation and the economy writ large, they hope the push can help shape what Americans think when they hear “Bidenomics” and make junk fees a winning 2024 issue. Going after junk fees, part of Biden’s competition agenda, has strong bipartisan support: 76 percent of U.S. adults somewhat or strongly support the president’s junk fee proposals. It’s also tangible for many Americans. According to unreleased data from Data for Progress, 82 percent of consumers have been hit with these hidden fees — like when buying concert tickets or during hotel stays — in the past two years. Planning for this month started after the White House reached out to the Progressive Change Institute following Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year. According to dial testing done by Navigator Research at the time, the junk fees section of Biden’s remarks was among the most popular. Biden has tried to rein in these hidden costs through executive action, while House Democrats have introduced legislation to further crack down. The White House approached Jackson about participating in the push after Biden’s address, and the Progressive Change Institute helped organize the North Carolina Democrat’s event Thursday at a local Charlotte theater. The venue’s director also participated in the local media engagement, describing how they sell tickets to contrast the “bad actors” in the space, Jackson said. “As an individual issue, the best way to make the case is to make sure people understand how it could impact them personally,” he told West Wing Playbook. It’s not yet clear whether this localized approach will translate into Americans giving Biden credit on the economy. But given the success in generating attention and support at the local level, they plan to deploy the strategy with other issues, said Progressive Change Institute co-founder ADAM GREEN. “It definitely makes sense to rinse and repeat the hyper-localized strategy on issues like lowering Pharma costs and child care costs,” Green said. His group will expand the blitz into September, and has upcoming events in Madison, Wis., New York City, and Las Vegas. A dozen other events are in the works in states including Arizona, Florida, California and Texas. Administration officials including HUD Secretary MARCIA FUDGE have bolstered events with local media interviews, and plans are underway for Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG and Agriculture Secretary TOM VILSACK to potentially join in coming weeks. The White House’s junk fees push goes beyond federal lawmakers. Officials have also roped in state legislators in recent months to talk about junk fees, providing a playbook on what actions they can take at the state level, Negron said. Not long after those meetings, California lawmakers proposed a package of bills to tackle junk fees. “Part of the effort is to shift culture at all levels, so that this is something companies think twice about doing,” said JESSE LEE, senior communications adviser to the National Economic Council. MESSAGE US — Are you YVANNA CANCELA, special assistant to the president and senior adviser for intergovernmental affairs? 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!
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