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| Presented By American Bankers Association |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Mar 29, 2021 |
| Happy Monday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,198 words ... 4½ minutes. |
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| 1 big thing ... Scoop: Moderate Dems buck Biden on taxes |
| President Biden boards Air Force One yesterday after spending the weekend in Wilmington. Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images President Biden's plan to pay for his coming infrastructure package with big tax hikes is already meeting some resistance from moderate Democrats — a stumbling block for his progressive ambitions, Axios' Kadia Goba and Jonathan Swan report. - Why it matters: Biden could face a complicated path to cover more than $3 trillion he is expected to seek, in multiple proposals, for infrastructure as well as social welfare.
Two moderate Democratic senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have drawn the most attention as potential obstacles to Biden's agenda. But the president also faces headwinds in the House, where Speaker Pelosi can lose just three Democratic votes if Republicans are unified in opposition. - Over the past week, Axios has been interviewing moderate Democratic House members. Several are skeptical about Biden's tax-and-spend plans, and some were willing to say so on the record.
- A leader of the House Democrats' moderate faction, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, said he worries about tax increases that could slow economic recovery and drive residents out of his state.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tells Axios: "[W]e look forward to working with a broad coalition of members on the critical priorities of the president's plan: creating good jobs and making America more competitive — paid for without any tax increase on people making less than $400,000 a year." The bottom line: In the 50-50 Senate, just one Democrat can hijack policy. Manchin has already suggested he wouldn't support a corporate tax rate of 28%. |
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| 2. Millions of Americans remain vulnerable |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in several states, partially a result of variants of the virus becoming more widespread, Caitlin Owens reports in Axios Vitals. - Why it matters: A remarkable 72% of Americans 65+ have received at least one dose of the vaccine. But millions of Americans — particularly young people with underlying conditions — remain vulnerable.
Coronavirus cases are rapidly rising in Michigan, New York, New Jersey and other Northeastern states. |
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| 3. Breaking overnight: Big boat nearly free |
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| Live tracking today shows tug glut. Photo: FleetMon via Reuters |
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| Engineers today "partially refloated" the colossal container ship that continues to block traffic through the Suez Canal. - Satellite data showed that the ship's bulbous bow, once lodged deep in the canal's eastern bank, had been partly wrested from the shore, but remained stuck at the canal's edge, AP reports.
- The ship's stern had swung around and was now in the middle of the waterway, tracking data showed.
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| A message from American Bankers Association |
| Americans give their bank a "thumbs up" |
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| America's banks are going the extra mile, and their customers appreciate it. A new Morning Consult national survey reveals 9 in 10 Americans are "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with their bank a year into the pandemic—and a whopping 96% give their bank's customer service high marks. More results. |
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| 4. Robots do the "Mashed Potato" |
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| Photo: CBS News |
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| "We've been trying," Anderson Cooper said on "60 Minutes" last night, "to get into Boston Dynamics' workshop for years, and a few weeks ago they finally agreed to let us in." - Why it matters: The robotics company is obsessed with "making machines that can stay upright on their own and move through the world with the ease of an animal or human."
The pièce de résistance: Elite robots danced the "Mashed Potato" for Anderson — old-school music; cutting-edge technology. Photo: CBS News Above is Atlas, the most human-looking robot Boston Dynamics has ever made: - "It's nearly 5 feet tall, 175 pounds, and is programmed to run, leap and spin like an automated acrobat."
Watch the video. |
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| 5. First time in 80 years: Church membership dips below 50% |
| American membership in houses of worship dropped below 50% for the first time in the 83 years Gallup has been asking the question. - In 2020, 47% of U.S. adults belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque — down from 73% in 1937, and 70% in 1999.
Go deeper. |
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| 6. Chauvin trial opens: What to expect |
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| Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Chandan Khanna, Stephen Maturen and Michael Siluk/Getty Images |
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| Broadcast networks will break in at approximately 10 a.m. ET today to carry opening statements in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis. - Why it matters: 10 months after George Floyd's killing rocked the world, the trial is a defining moment in America's reckoning with race and justice, Axios Twin Cities reporters Torey Van Oot and Nick Halter write.
What to expect: Day 1 includes instructions to the jury and opening statements. What actually caused Floyd's death will likely be a central theme of the arguments and testimony to come. - Chauvin's defense is expected to point to an underlying heart condition and a "high level of fentanyl in his system" as factors.
- The prosecution, meanwhile, will rely heavily on medical examiner testimony and argue that "what substantially caused [Floyd's] death, was the compression and the actions by the former officers."
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| 7. Schumer's power play |
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| Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer leaves a news conference Thursday. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters |
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| Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer believes he has found a route to moving additional bills by simple majority, beyond the one additional use of reconciliation that most on Capitol Hill had thought was his limit. - Why it matters: If the Senate parliamentarian upholds Schumer's interpretation, Democrats can pass more pieces of the party's agenda without having to bust the filibuster rule.
Top policy aides to Schumer recently argued to the Senate parliamentarian that revising this year's budget resolution could "trigger an additional set of reconciliation instructions," which would allow for further 50-50 votes that are decided by Vice President Harris. - "No final decision has been made on the legislative strategy," a Schumer aide said. "Schumer wants to maximize his options."
Share this story. |
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| 8. 🚨 Russians hack, um, Homeland Security |
| A suspected Russian operation hacked email accounts of top Trump administration Homeland Security officials, including acting Secretary Chad Wolf and members of the cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, AP reports. - Why it matters: The intelligence value of the SolarWinds hacking isn't publicly known. But the symbolism is stark.
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| 9. 🏀 Top women players have bigger social followings than men |
| Among the men's and women's Elite Eight teams, eight of the 10 most-followed players — and 10 of the top 20 — are women, Axios Sports editor Kendall Baker reports. - Here are the combined Twitter and Instagram follower counts for the 10 most-followed players, plus their estimated annual earnings if athletes had full control of their name, image and likeness rights, provided to Axios by athlete marketing platform Opendorse.
- 🚺 Paige Bueckers, UConn: ~730k ($382k)
- 🚺 Hailey Van Lith, Louisville: 696k ($965k)
- 🚹 Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga: 325k ($495k)
- 🚺 Jaden Owens, Baylor: 295k ($310k)
- 🚺 Zia Cooke, South Carolina: 206k ($178k)
- 🚺 Cameron Brink, Stanford: 91k ($47k)
- 🚹 Adrian Nunez, Michigan: 83k ($70k)
- 🚺 Anna Wilson, Stanford: 80k ($41k)
- 🚺 Olivia Nelson-Ododa, UConn: 77k ($30k)
- 🚺 Brea Beal, South Carolina: 74k ($69k)
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| 10. 1 fun thing: How we'd float the boat |
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| Illustration: Will Chase/Axios. Satellite photo: CNES/Airbus via AP |
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| Marine architects and salvage experts were flummoxed until today's breakthrough at the Suez Canal. But Axios visual journalist Will Chase devised three wacky prescriptions for unsticking the big ship. - Here is Will's narration of his priceless illustrations (which he sent me in a Google Doc labeled "floaty boaty"):
1. Helium balloons: After all, it worked for that guy in "Up" (and balloon boy). The key is Archimedes' principle — that the upward buoyant force on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. - WIRED calculated that you would need to displace 50.7 million pounds to raise the ship by one meter, allowing tugboats to pull it free. So we'll use 50.7 million as our magic number. One cubic foot of air weighs 0.0807 pounds (yes, air is a fluid).
- A standard party balloon holds about 0.526 cubic feet of gas, and thus could lift 0.036294 pounds. So to raise our ship one meter, we would need 50.7 million pounds divided by 0.036294 pounds of lift per balloon, or 1,396,925,111 helium balloons. Call it 1 billion. That's roughly half the helium that exists on earth.
Illustration: Will Chase/Axios. Satellite photo: CNES/Airbus via AP 2. Pool noodles: A standard 3.5 inch by 55 inch foam noodle can lift about 18.3 pounds. Taking 50.7 million pounds divided by 18.3 pounds of lift per noodle gives us a required 2,770,492 foam noodles. Call it 2 million. Illustration: Will Chase/Axios. Satellite photo: CNES/Airbus via AP 3. Dolphins: A landmark study in 2008 showed dolphins can exert between 200-400 pounds of force when swimming. Let's take the middle and assume that our dolphins can all push upwards on our boat with 300 pounds of force. Dividing 50.7 million by 300 pounds of force per dolphin, we'd only need 169,000 dolphins. Sounds like a plan. |
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| A message from American Bankers Association |
| America's banks – a source of strength for the economy |
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| Banks of all sizes are prioritizing the post-pandemic recovery, economic growth, innovation and financial inclusion for all communities. To see our ideas for jumpstarting the recovery and growing a more inclusive economy, read ABA's Blueprint for Growth. |
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