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Presented by National Association Of Black Law Enforcement Officers: The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing. | | | | |  | | By Myah Ward, Lauren Egan and Benjamin Johansen | | | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Hill talks are heating up over funding for Israel, the southern border and Ukraine. But while the shape of a deal that could appease both parties and the White House remains murky, one thing is abundantly clear: There’s no way JOE BIDEN is walking out of the negotiations unscathed. Anxiety levels have been high since we reported last week that, to win GOP votes on the spending package, the administration would be open to potential changes that would deny more migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum. Now in a letter sent to the White House today, first obtained by West Wing Playbook, nearly 200 immigration groups and progressive organizations are urging Biden to reject policy and funding proposals that would limit access to asylum and to fulfill his campaign promises to “restore the asylum system.” “We are appalled by proposals that would eliminate or reduce asylum protections at precisely the moment in which protections for people seeking asylum are most needed,” the groups wrote in the letter organized by Human Rights First, National Immigration Law Center and National Immigrant Justice Center. “These proposals, including statutory changes to asylum law and major funding expansions to detain and rapidly remove people seeking asylum, would lead to violations of international law, and would violate your campaign commitment to restore the asylum system after the prior administration decimated it.” Biden will almost certainly have to sign off on some border compromises that come out of Hill talks. He continuously faces heat on the immigration issue, and has been lambasted for reimplementing DONALD TRUMP-era policies such as the so-called transit ban. White House assistant press secretary ANGELO FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ said the president supports “comprehensive reforms” to the immigration system, which is why he sent a bill to Congress immediately upon taking office in 2021. “If Republicans want to have a serious conversation about reforms that will improve our immigration system, we are open to a discussion,” he said. “We disagree with many of the policies contained in the new Senate Republican border proposal. Further, we do not see anything in their proposal about creating an earned path to citizenship for Dreamers and others. Congress should fund the President’s supplemental request to secure the border now.” Both the White House and Senate Dems rejected the initial GOP supplemental package that included stricter asylum, curtailed humanitarian parole policies and would build the border wall. But the new bipartisan negotiating group — which includes Sens. THOM TILLIS (R-N.C), KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-Ariz.), JAMES LANKFORD (R-Okla.), CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.), MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.), LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) — has left advocates and immigration policy experts nervous about what compromises might emerge from the talks. They feel now is time to put pressure on Biden before it’s too late. “Making fundamental changes to asylum law and immigration policy in the context of politicized and rapid negotiations on government spending is antithetical to the United States government’s obligations to people fleeing life-threatening harm and exercising their lawful right to seek asylum,” said MARY MEG MCCARTHY, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center. While top Biden aides worked the phones last week to discuss potential changes to the credible fear standard with advocates and Dems, they have been less present in negotiations this week. But there’s growing worry that the president’s party is a political tight spot. During a closed-door meeting Wednesday, Lankford noted that Republicans have leverage in the talks since the White House has privately floated interest in some border restrictions, according to a person who received a readout after the meeting. “This administration campaigned on a platform of reversing Trump-era policies — getting rid of these bans and border walls and other significant limitations on peoples’ ability to get protection in the United States,” said SARAH MEHTA, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “So to see the administration or our Congress really stepping back from some of those protections and commitments is alarming.” MESSAGE US — Are you MAYA HUMES, senior communications adviser? 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!
| | | | JOIN US ON 11/15 FOR A TALK ON OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: As the sustainability movement heats up, so have calls for a national standard for clean fuel. Join POLITICO on Nov. 15 in Washington D.C. as we convene leading officials from the administration, key congressional committees, states and other stakeholders to explore the role of EVs, biofuels, hydrogen and other options in the clean fuel sector and how evolving consumer behaviors are influencing sustainable energy practices. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | Which president’s death was the only one in presidential history not to be officially recognized in Washington? (Answer at bottom.)
| | WORKIN’ HARD FOR THAT ENDORSEMENT: Biden traveled to Illinois on Thursday to celebrate United Automobile Workers’ labor deal with the Big Three automakers. As he stepped on stage at the Community Building Complex of Boone County, he took off his blue blazer and put on a red UAW T-Shirt. “That shirt looks good on you,” someone shouted from the audience. Biden responded: “I’ve worn this shirt a lot man, you have no idea.” Biden was joined by UAW President SHAWN FAIN, whose union has yet to endorse the president’s reelection bid. “You’ve done one helluva job, pal,” Biden said of Fain. During the visit, he also expressed support for UAW’s efforts to unionize workers at Tesla and Toyota, saying he wants “this type of contract for all auto workers.” Also worth noting, Biden has jokes. After a reporter appeared to trip on a riser, the president looked out and said, “You OK?” “I want the press to know that wasn’t me,” Biden said, flashing a grin.
|  President Biden puts on a UAW Local 1268 shirt before speaking to United Auto Workers in Boone County, Illinois on Thursday. | Evan Vucci/AP | After his speech, Biden participated in interviews with COURIER and More Perfect Union, according to the White House. ANOTHER INTERVIEW DROPPING SOON: Biden also recently taped a podcast interview with ANDERSON COOPER about “grief and loss,” the CNN host said in a tweet. The episode airs later this month. NOT A VERY WARM WELCOME: Over 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered on Thursday outside the Ritz-Carlton in Boston, where Vice President KAMALA HARRIS was hosting a fundraiser. Our LISA KASHINSKY reports the protesters chanted “Kamala, Kamala can’t you see? You are on a killing spree,” as they waited for the vice president to arrive. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by Wall Street Journal’s MOLLY BALL about how last night’s Republican debate made clear the unpopularity of the party’s position on abortion. Ball writes that the party’s inability to articulate a cohesive stance on the issue may damage their future prospects. White House communications director BEN LABOLT shared the piece on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by Vox’s JONATHAN GUYER, who reports that over 500 former Biden campaign staffers wrote a letter urging for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The group, called Biden Alumni for Peace and Justice, is one of the growing group of dissenters calling on the administration to push for a ceasefire. “As the President of the United States, you have power to change the course of history, and the responsibility to save lives right now. We are counting on you to take that power and responsibility seriously and to meet this moment with the urgency it demands. If you fail to act swiftly, your legacy will be complicity in the face of genocide,” the letter reads. SGOTUS SUPPORT: Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF visited Cornell University on Thursday to speak with students and school administrators about the rise in antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war, AP’s ZEKE MILLER reports. Just last week, a Cornell student was arrested and charged for posting violent, antisemitic threats on an online student forum. “The White House said students shared with Emhoff ‘their personal experiences and reactions to the threats of violence on campus’ and that Emhoff ‘offered messages of hope and encouraged the students to take pride in their Jewish faith,'” Miller writes.
| | | | A message from National Association Of Black Law Enforcement Officers: The Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes would have devastating unintended consequences for communities of color. Criminalizing menthol will fuel an illicit market, increasing the potential for negative law enforcement interactions and significant criminal justice penalties. As advocates for equal justice for Black and other minority communities, we urge the Biden administration to withdraw the proposed menthol ban. Learn more. | | | | | FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: ALEX SOPKO is leaving the White House, where she is senior adviser in the office of intergovernmental affairs, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. — PAAWEE RIVERA has also left the White House, where he was senior adviser to the IGA office and director of tribal affairs, according to Lippman. ROSE PETOSKEY has joined the office as his replacement. She most recently was senior counselor to the assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the Interior Department. — ITAI GRINBERG has become an adviser to climate technology company Crux, Lippman has also learned. He is a Georgetown law professor and former deputy assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department. THAT’S A BIT HARSH: After a failed vote Tuesday in the House to reduce Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG’s salary to $1, House Republicans went at it again, this time with White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE. The amendment to reduce her salary to a single buck was defeated 257-165-1, with 54 Republicans joining Democrats to strike it down.
| | | | A message from National Association Of Black Law Enforcement Officers:   | | | | | BIBI TAKES A PAUSE: The White House on Thursday announced that Israel has agreed to implement daily four-hour humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow for civilians to flee the area. National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY said that the first pause would come today and that Israel will announce the daily window at least three hours in advance, our LARA SELIGMAN reports. Kirby said the move is a step in the right direction and that “we’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pauses.” ANOTHER BLOW: Although more Americans are buying heat pumps, an environmentally friendly alternative to heating your home, the rate of installation has significantly slowed down, adding another roadblock in the Biden administration’s ambitious climate plans, NYT’s SANTUL NERKAR and MADELEINE NGO report. As they note, the downtick in installations could curb Biden’s goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by 2050. “Installations have slowed recently because the cost of installing a new heat pump is significant enough that many homeowners need to borrow money to buy one,” they write. “That is not something many people are eager to do, given that mortgage and other lending rates are at or near their highest levels in decades.”
| | The untold story of a brief FBI inquiry into Biden’s golf club membership (WaPo’s Michael Kranish) The Joe Biden Re-election Dilemma (NYT’s Charles Blow) Peter Thiel Is Taking A Break From Democracy (The Atlantic’s Barton Gellman) Congressman-Elect Gabe Amo Reflects on His History-Making Victory in Rhode Island: 'Only the Beginning' (People’s Virginia Chamlee)
| | | | A message from National Association Of Black Law Enforcement Officers: The National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice strongly opposes the Biden Administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes. The unintended consequences of the ban, including higher incarceration rates and increased police interactions, will be disproportionately borne by people of color. Law enforcement resources and justice systems are already at a breaking point and the ban will only add to the strain. As an organization dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice, we know the menthol bad is simply bad policy. Consumer education and health care are key to reducing smoking rates - not criminalization. We urge you to join us in telling the Biden Administration to stop the menthol ban. Learn more. | | | | | Secretary of Agriculture TOM VILSACK has had quite a distinguished career: 40th governor of Iowa, state senator and two-time Agriculture secretary. But arguably the most impressive part of it is his lottery chops. In 2020, Vilsack rolled the dice and bought a scratch off. It turned out to be the winner, paying out $150,000. He told reporters then that the prize went to his church, kids, and to pay off his mortgage. In case you’re feeling lucky, here’s some advice from the secretary: “Check your numbers. It matters. There are different ways to win. I didn’t realize that. I honestly didn’t realize you could win by not having all of the numbers. And so people sometimes walk away from some resources and some money when they don’t check their ticket.” Noted.
| | | | JOHN TYLER, because of his allegiance to the Confederate States of America. Tyler’s coffin was draped with a Confederate flag; he remains the only U.S. president ever laid to rest under a flag not of the United States. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.
| | | | GET READY FOR POLITICO’S DEFENSE SUMMIT ON 11/14: Russia’s war on Ukraine … China’s threats to Taiwan … a war in Gaza. The U.S. is under increasing pressure to deter, defend and fight in more ways — but not everyone agrees how. Join POLITICO's 3rd Annual Defense Summit on November 14 for exclusive interviews and expert discussions on global security and the U.S.'s race to bolster alliances and stay ahead of adversaries. Explore critical topics, including international conflicts, advanced technology, spending priorities and political dynamics shaping global defense strategies. Don’t miss these timely and important discussions. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
