Axios AM: Mike's Big 6 — The GOP's new power centers

Plus: 6-photo sequence of border crossing | Sunday, March 28, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By JPMorgan Chase & Co.   Axios AM By Mike Allen ·Mar 28, 2021 Happy Sunday! Smart Brevity™ count: 943 words ... < 4 minutes. ⚡ Breaking: Myanmar security forces opened fire at a funeral today, as people across the country gathered to mourn 114 people killed Saturday in the worst crackdown on protests since the military coup on Feb. 1. —Reuters     1 big thing: The GOP's new power centers Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs the voting law. Photo: Gov. Brian Kemp's Twitter feed.   Democrats control Washington, but Republicans have a mighty counterweight that gets little attention: dominance in the states and the courts. The GOP controls a majority of statehouses and state legislatures + more state Supreme Court justices lean Republican than Democrat. All of this is backed by Republican-appointed majorities on federal appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme court.  Why it matters: That one-two punch gives Republicans domain over a huge swath of America's governing system, including power over voting laws and the redistricting of House seats, plus the ability to use state courts to their advantage. Just as Biden is taking a maximalist approach to Washington power; Republicans are doing the same state-by-state:  We saw that power vividly on Friday when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a new voting law that significantly tightens access to polls: Elections "will never be the same in Georgia," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports atop today's front page: The changes "will be felt by millions of voters, potentially with enough impact to alter the results of close elections in a sharply divided state." There'll be tighter ID requirements for absentee and in-person voting, per-county limits on drop boxes, a ban on giving food and water to voters waiting in line, and more state control of county voting boards.  Democrats see such changes, which Republicans are pushing in 43 states, as a real threat to their chances of winning congressional and other races. President Biden yesterday called the Georgia law "an atrocity": "This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end. We have a moral and Constitutional obligation to act." Another big lever that Republican governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have used aggressively: the ability to control the reopening of state economies amid the pandemic.  The catch: Republicans admit that states face very real limits in a federally dominated system. The most notable is federal control of economic policy, which leaves the states on the margins of most debates. What's next: Around the country, Republican-controlled state legislatures are trying to thwart Washington with action on guns, voting rights, abortion, transgender youth and participation of transgender students in athletics. Share this story.     2. U.S. faces massive tab for school ventilation Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Getting kids back to in-person learning could hinge on upgrading the ventilation systems in school buildings, Axios' Kim Hart writes. Why it matters: This is a massive undertaking in the U.S., where school maintenance has been neglected and the average school building is 44 years old. Significant stimulus funds can be funneled to installing new A/C systems, but it may not happen by fall. What's happening: The $1.9 trillion COVID relief package includes $168 billion for K-12 schools and colleges. House Education Chair Bobby Scott (D-Va.) said at an Axios virtual event last week that schools have not been maintained properly. Many, particularly those serving low-income students and communities of color, need a lot of renovation. Where it stands: 4 in 10 U.S. school districts need to update or replace the HVAC systems in at least half of their school buildings — affecting about 36,000 school buildings, according to a GAO report from last June. Some estimates put the cost of bringing America's schools up to code at $200 billion. Share this story.     3. Slow normality: The world emerges Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP   Barcelona, Spain, held a sold-out concert for 5,000 — Europe's biggest commercial audience of the pandemic era, AP reports. Why it matters: Concertgoers passed a same-day COVID screen. The idea is to test the tests' effectiveness, along with the event's mask requirement, in preventing outbreaks from big cultural events. How it worked: Ticket buyers chose among three venues to take a quick antigen test Saturday morning. Those with negative results got a code on their cellphones validating their tickets for the 7 p.m. show. 📷 More photos. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images The cherry blossoms in D.C.'s Tidal Basin are drawing crowds, with peak blooms projected for Easter weekend — April 2-5 (next Friday-Monday). The National Park Service warned that access will be closed if crowds get too big to socially distance. (WTOP) 🌸 Watch virtually: "Bloomcam" and "Budcam."     A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co. How to connect people to well-paid, sustainable jobs     JPMorgan Chase is helping expand economic opportunity by supporting efforts that develop inclusive educational pathways that provide people access to: Higher education. High-value credentials. Real-world work experiences. Learn about their efforts.     4. Photo sequence: Coming to America Photos: John Moore/Getty Images   John Moore of Getty Images — who has photographed the border under each president going back to George W. Bush — made this sequence showing a woman and girl gazing across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, before crossing into the U.S. on March 16. Photos: John Moore/Getty Images The asylum-seekers walked through the shallow but strong current into El Paso to present themselves U.S. Border Patrol agents.     5. Day 6: Big ship still stuck The Ever Given is over 1,300 feet long. So you see the problem. Graphic: AP "If the tugboats, dredgers and pumps cannot get the job done," the N.Y. Times reports from Egypt, "they could be joined by a head-spinning array of specialized vessels and machines requiring perhaps hundreds of workers": Small tankers "to siphon off the ship's fuel; the tallest cranes in the world to unload some of its containers one by one; and, if no cranes are tall enough or near enough, heavy-duty helicopters that can pick up containers of up to 20 tons — though no one has said where the cargo would go. (A full 40-foot container can weigh up to 40 tons.)" A tug works on the ship last night. Photo: Ziad Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty Images     6. 1 fun thing: SNL's Biden, Harris, Emhoff, Cruz Photo: NBC   On "Saturday Night Live," Maya Rudolph — as Vice President Harris — led a "Unity Seder" where the questions were: "How's school? Did you eat? When're you giving me grandchildren? And what's with that haircut?" Then heavy PDA between "Harris" and Martin Short as Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff — introduced by his wife as "my rock, my everything, my Semitic smokeshow, my step-babydaddy." Aidy Bryant as Sen. Ted Cruz showed up with Israel-flag cupcakes and pigs in a blanket. When "President Biden" (Alex Moffat) told the V.P. she'd be in charge of the border, "Harris" responded: "Wow! Thank you for the opportunity. Such a fun, solvable problem! And — and what are you in charge of?" "Harris" addresses the president as "J'Biden." Watch the video. ... N.Y. Times recap.     A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPMorgan Chase calls for seamless career pathways     Policymakers and businesses increasingly recognize that to meet the growing demand for skilled workers, career pathways should begin in high school. What this means: Career pathways should be carefully designed to prepare students to meet the knowledge and skill demands of the labor market.   📬 Thanks for sharing your weekend with us. Please invite your friends to sign up for Axios AM/PM.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox. And make sure you subscribe to Mike's afternoon wrap up, Axios PM.   Follow Axios on social media: