Pledges Biden’s Cabinet will surely break

From: POLITICO West Wing Playbook - Tuesday Jan 02,2024 10:27 pm

Jan 02, 2024

By Lauren Egan, Myah Ward and Benjamin Johansen

Presented by

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.

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Well, folks, somehow we made it. 2024. It is finally upon us. It’s going to be an excruciating, soul-crushing, potentially exciting year.

For President JOE BIDEN and his staff, it’s going to be stressful. Not only do they face a reelection campaign but in the next few weeks they need to get Ukraine aid passed into law, come to some agreement on a border deal, fund the government and manage the war in Israel. Those are just the toplines.

Administration officials are also living their own lives, too. And the coming of a new year means making some changes on that front. West Wing Playbook checked in with members of the president’s Cabinet about their resolutions for the new year. We requested they share non-work related goals (because we get it, no one is super excited to be back in the office — or working remotely — today).

Enjoy.

GINA RAIMONDO, Secretary of Commerce

In the New Year, I’m hoping to drink less diet soda.

DEB HAALAND, Secretary of the Interior

This year, I hope to run my first ultra-marathon! I plan to do everything I can when I have spare time to train.

TOM VILSACK, Secretary of Agriculture

In 2023, I spent time studying the ancient sages, who urged people to look for the supernatural, or the extraordinary, in the natural and ordinary events of life — in a sense, looking for God or for acts reflecting God in the day-to-day.

The ancient sages believed by doing this we would grow to appreciate life more and to be more grateful for simple acts of kindness and compassion. In 2024, my resolution is to put this into practice in my own daily life and work.

JULIE SU, acting Secretary of Labor

I resolve to create more space in policy decision making for people who have historically been left out of those decisions. I also resolve to learn to ice skate as well as [Veteran Affairs Secretary] Denis McDonough.

Editor’s note: McDonough did not provide a comment to us. Perhaps he has nothing to resolve?

MARCIA FUDGE, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

I really enjoy the theater, and with my travel schedule, I don’t always get a chance to go as often as I’d like. In 2024, I am planning to catch a few more shows.

MICHAEL REGAN, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

In 2024, I resolve to try my hand at baking! I will join forces with my 10-year-old son Matthew to learn how to bake a homemade, gluten-free poundcake.

ISABEL GUZMAN, Administrator of the Small Business Administration

Next year my son will go off to college. I want to spend 2024 sharing more time with him, together with his grandparents, to learn more oral family history.

EVAN RYAN, White House Cabinet Secretary

This year I want to make sure that when I am with my children I am present and am conscious of my phone use around them.

KATHERINE TAI, United States Trade Representative

Adopt a cat. Maybe two. Because everything is a negotiation. Including with my husband.

WEST WING PLAYBOOK

We want to meet Katherine Tai’s new cat while eating a slice of Michael Regan’s gluten-free pound cake before running an ultra-marathon alongside Deb Haaland. We will look to the ancient sages for inspiration and guidance.

MESSAGE US — Are you DENIS MCDONOUGH? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.

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A message from Center Forward:

In America, people disagree on just about everything... except the Fed’s new rule that would tighten capital markets. Everyone agrees: it's a bad idea. Basel III Endgame would have unintended consequences – hurting hard-working Americans, raising costs, and harming American competitiveness. Experts everywhere have doubts about Basel III Endgame. Maybe you should, too. Tell the Fed: Protect our economy.

POTUS PUZZLER

Which president was orphaned at age 9?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

SQUEEZING EVERY LAST SECOND OUT OF VACATION: President Biden and first lady JILL BIDEN are returning this evening from their St. Croix holiday vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Bidens kept the visit pretty low-key, as NYT’s LISA FRIEDMAN reports from the island.

They attended mass on Saturday, taped a New Year’s Eve interview with RYAN SEACREST and ventured out to a local seafood restaurant. Asked by reporters for his New Year’s resolution as he left the restaurant, Biden said it was “to come back next year.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This opinion piece by WaPo’s HEATHER LONG about how the U.S. economy in 2023 was a lot stronger than what many experts predicted. She called it “the economic equivalent of an underdog athlete winning gold.”

Long writes there are a number of factors that explain why the U.S. did well last year even as other countries struggled: Americans spent more than they did pre-Covid; there’s been a surge in wealth across income levels; and home values have soared, among other reasons. “While spending will likely slow in 2024, be careful betting against the U.S. consumer. As for Biden, he deserves more credit than he’s getting,” she concludes.

Deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES shared the piece on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by our GAVIN BADE, who writes that the Biden administration’s global trade agenda is hitting a wall, as the president has failed to sell his self-described “worker-centered” framework to key members within his party. That’s stoked “fears of a backlash at the ballot box from the very workers the president and fellow Democrats are courting.”

THE BUREAUCRATS

KICKING OFF THE NEW YEAR: Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE made the cable news rounds this morning to preview the year ahead for the White House. In an interview with ABC’s GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration would be focused on Bidenomics, codifying Roe v. Wade, tackling gun violence, among other issues. And in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Jean-Pierre told MIKA BRZEZINSKI that Biden’s 2024 priority is to work on implementing key parts of legislation, such as lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

THERE’S STILL TIME: To all of the Cabinet secretaries who did not share their new year’s resolution with us, please reach out. It’s never too late to set a goal. We’ll run it in tomorrow’s edition.

A message from Center Forward:

Agenda Setting

BORDER NEGOTIATORS CIRCLE BACK: Sens. KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-Ariz.), CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) and JAMES LANKFORD (R-Okla.) cut their holiday break a bit short to return to in-person border negotiations with Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS. The group met for 90 minutes on Tuesday and plan to meet again throughout the week.

The communication lines weren’t entirely dark over the holidays. Senators and administration officials continued to talk virtually, while Mayorkas, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and Biden’s homeland security adviser LIZ SHERWOOD-RANDALL also trekked to Mexico to discuss the border crisis, as more than 300,000 migrants tried to cross the southern border in December alone — breaking an all-time monthly record.

Karine Jean-Pierre expressed some optimism on the talks, telling CNN this morning the negotiations over the holidays were “very productive.” The White House used that same, vague word to describe the administration’s meeting with Mexican officials, though none of the talks have so far resulted in any concrete policy solutions.

WELCOME TO 2024: The Biden campaign is kicking off 2024 by shifting its reelection strategy, focusing more on the impact of a potential second Trump administration, CNN’s EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE reports. Instead of simply stressing the president’s accomplishments, the plan is to instead focus on moments when Trump goes “full Hitler,” as younger campaign aides put it, in speeches and actions.

“The campaign so far, these aides believe, has essentially been Biden running against himself, and losing,” Dovere writes. “But they see the next few weeks of the Republican primary campaigns as an opportunity to persuade influencers and media into thinking about the race on their terms.”

What We're Reading

The Latest Secret Government Mission in Washington, D.C.: Taking Out Deer (WSJ’s Andrew Duehren)

Trouble with tha God (POLITICO’s Brakkton Booker)

Half of Gazans Are at Risk of Starving, U.N. Warns (NYT’s Liam Stack, Gaya Gupta and Abu Bakr Bashir)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

HERBERT HOOVER. After he was orphaned at age 9, Hoover moved from Iowa in November 1885 to Oregon and the home of his maternal uncle, HENRY MINTHORN.

Thanks to the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum for this question!

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.

A message from Center Forward:

Experts everywhere have doubts about Basel III Endgame and say it’s a bad idea. The rule would tighten capital markets, making it even more expensive for a family to buy a house, send their kids to college, and save for retirement. It would make it even harder for small and mid-size businesses to get the loans they need to expand and innovate.

That’s why experts from across industries are voicing their concerns on how it would have a “devasting impact.”

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the banking system is “very strong” and “well-capitalized.” So why would the Fed raise capital requirements and hurt hard-working Americans? Tell the Fed: Protect our economy.