Monday, June 21, 2021

This week in Washington: Biden takes on rising crime

Presented by the American Investment Council: The unofficial guide to official Washington.
Jun 21, 2021 View in browser
 
POLITICO Playbook

By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels and Tara Palmeri

Presented by

the American Investment Council
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DRIVING THE DAY

FOR YOUR RADAR: Violent crime has been spiking across America for more than a year. The issue has been at the top of the GOP agenda and constitutes a major portion of Fox News programming. We remember during the Democratic primaries that the Biden campaign was the most nimble when it came to defusing unpopular issues that titillated the progressive base of the party: abolish ICE, defund the police, decriminalize the border.

The White House has been very reluctant to emphasize issues outside of ending the pandemic, reviving the economy and passing its American Jobs Plan and its American Families Plan. So we think it's notable that on Wednesday, President JOE BIDEN will be devoting his public events to the issue of crime and how his administration is responding to the uptick in violence. Keep an eye on this one.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK: Not to be too dramatic, but this is a big week for democracy.

The Senate is back in session today at 3 p.m., and by the end of the week we'll know a lot more about how broken the upper chamber is. As legislators headed out of town last week, there was some tantalizing progress on bipartisan legislation across three big issues: infrastructure, police reform and voting rights.

On infrastructure, all eyes will be on the White House today as we await its response to the latest bipartisan proposal to land on Biden's desk.

Police reform talks have been stuck in neutral for weeks. We'll be watching Sen. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) to see if there's a deal to be had on qualified immunity.

A message from the American Investment Council:

This summer looks a lot better because of private equity's investments over the past year. Millions of Americans got vaccinated, many of the small businesses we know and love survived the pandemic and are thriving, and the travel sector is rebounding. Learn more at https://www.investmentcouncil.org/summer.

 

But the main event will be voting rights.

On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER will bring voting rights legislation to the Senate floor. It doesn't have 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Even if there were no filibuster, it does not have 50 votes to pass the Senate.

As usual, Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) will be in the middle of this week's drama. He offered a compromise proposal last week that received the Democratic equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval: an endorsement from STACEY ABRAMS. On the other hand, her being for it meant that many Republicans automatically came out against it.

Manchin believes that democracy requires bipartisanship, and he has crafted an identity as a master dealmaker. His colleagues roll their eyes at that, and his results so far are pretty minimal. Can he cobble together a bipartisan coalition on this issue? Our Magic 8-Ball keeps coming back, "Very Doubtful."

The dirty secret in Washington is that many high-level Democrats are not wildly enthusiastic about the massive voting rights, political reform and government ethics bill known as the For the People Act. The version that passed the House is considered to be deeply flawed — a messaging bill that was written by staffers, not reform experts, and conceived before many of the problems of 2020 were revealed. It never had a chance in the Senate, and it is not the bill that this White House would have crafted.

So Manchin is doing a favor for a lot of Democrats who are too scared to speak out against the bill, which has become sacrosanct in some progressive circles, by opposing it and trying to craft an alternative.

One other person to watch as this legislation is debated this week: KAMALA HARRIS. The VP has been appointed by Biden to lead the administration's effort on voting rights reform. Does she get her hands dirty and try to forge a Senate deal?

Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook, where we get our hands dirty every day. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

 

A message from the American Investment Council:

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This summer looks a lot better because of private equity's investments over the past year. Learn more about private equity's investments at https://www.investmentcouncil.org/summer.

 

BIDEN'S MONDAY:

— 9:50 a.m.: The president will receive the President's Daily Brief.

— 1:45 p.m.: Biden will meet with financial regulators.

Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at noon.

HARRIS' MONDAY:

— 10:05 a.m.: The VP will travel to Pittsburgh.

— 12:35 p.m.: Harris and Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH will deliver remarks on Child Tax Credit Awareness Day at the Brookline Memorial Recreation Center.

— 2:30 p.m.: Harris and Walsh will hold a roundtable as part of the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment at IBEW Local Union 5.

— 5:30 p.m.: The VP will depart Pittsburgh en route to D.C.

BIDEN'S WEEK AHEAD:

— Wednesday: Biden will deliver remarks on the administration's crime prevention strategy and meet with stakeholders.

— Thursday: Biden will travel to Raleigh, N.C., to promote vaccinations.

— Friday: Biden will deliver remarks on Pride Month.

THE SENATE will meet at 3 p.m. to take up CHRISTOPHER FONZONE'S nomination to be general counsel of the Office of the DNI, with a vote to invoke cloture at 5:30 p.m.

THE HOUSE will meet at 9 a.m. in a pro forma session.

 

DON'T MISS THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT: POLITICO will feature a special edition of our Future Pulse newsletter at the 2021 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators who are turning lessons learned from the past year into a healthier, more resilient and more equitable future. Covid-19 threatened our health and well-being, while simultaneously leading to extraordinary coordination to improve pandemic preparedness, disease prevention, diversity in clinical trials, mental health resources, food access and more. SUBSCRIBE TODAY to receive exclusive coverage from June 22-24.

 
 
PLAYBOOK READS

Andrew Yang

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Andrew Yang speaks Sunday at the unveiling of a mural in Chinatown in New York City, where the mayoral primary looms Tuesday. | Kena Betancur/Getty Images

THE RACE FOR NYC MAYOR

T-MINUS 24 HOURS TILL ELECTION DAY — "Tensions bubble up on the last day of early voting in the New York mayor's race," by Sally Goldenberg and Erin Durkin: "Leading candidate ERIC ADAMS, a retired police captain, continued to rail against shootings and paint his opponents as ill-equipped to deal with a crime wave as he campaigned in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx on Sunday. … One of his opponents, former City Hall attorney and first-time candidate MAYA WILEY, is pushing for a reduction in the NYPD budget and has castigated Adams' law-and-order stance as a precursor to mistreatment of Black New Yorkers at the hands of cops. Both Wiley and Adams are Black.

"Meanwhile, Adams again excoriated the new partnership between two of his chief competitors — KATHRYN GARCIA and ANDREW YANG — as a cynical ploy to silence voters of color who prefer him."

"5 Takeaways From N.Y.C. Mayoral Candidates' Last Weekend of Campaigning," NYT

POLITICS

LET'S PLAY SOFTBALL — Republicans leveraged their takeover of state legislatures after the 2010 midterms to ruthlessly redraw districts and maximize their chances of controlling the House. But when Democrats have had opportunities to return the favor, Ally Mutnick writes in a must-read piece today headlined "How Democrats are 'unilaterally disarming' in the redistricting wars," they've often taken a pass. In Oregon, the Democratic state House speaker gave Republicans veto power over the maps as part of a deal to get them to stop throttling her legislative agenda — a move one Democratic House member called "abysmally stupid."

But it's not just in Oregon: "In key states over the past decade, Democrats have gained control of state legislatures and governorships that have long been in charge of drawing new maps — only to cede that authority, often to independent commissions tasked with drawing political boundaries free of partisan interference. …

"'We Democrats are cursed with this blindness about good government,' said Rep. GERRY CONNOLLY of Virginia, a Democratic state that will nonetheless see its congressional map drawn by a newly created independent commission."

CASH DASH — NYT's @ShaneGoldmacher: "The DNC and RNC have never been so well funded so early in a cycle —> RNC: $78.8 million cash on hand *after* transferring $5 million each to NRSC and NRCC; no debts. DNC: $59.8 million cash on hand; $700k debts."

TRUMP FLEX — "Chaotic N.C. Senate primary tests Trump's sway over the GOP," by Burgess Everett, Melanie Zanona and Olivia Beavers

DIRECT DEMOCRACY — "Voters supported progressive policies on ballot initiatives. Republicans are pushing back," by NBC's Phil McCausland

CONGRESS

THE PARIAH — "Liz Cheney's Unlikely Journey From G.O.P. Royalty to Republican Outcast," by NYT's Mark Leibovich in Casper, Wyo.: "She has received a stream of death threats, common menaces among high-profile critics of [DONALD] TRUMP, and is now surrounded by a newly deployed detail of plainclothes, ear-pieced agents. Her campaign spent $58,000 on security from January to March, including three former Secret Service officers … [Rep. LIZ] CHENEY was recently assigned protection from the Capitol Police, an unusual measure for a House member not in a leadership position. …

"Ms. Cheney's temperament bears the imprint of both parents, especially her mother, LYNNE CHENEY, a conservative scholar and commentator who is far more extroverted than her husband. But [DICK] CHENEY has long been his eldest daughter's closest professional alter ego … She said her main pursuit now involved teaching basic civics to voters who had been misinformed by Mr. Trump and other Republicans who should know better."

— MEANWHILE: "The Race to Replace Liz Cheney Is a Trump Sideshow," by The Daily Beast's Sam Brodey: "[S]ix candidates onstage didn't just castigate Cheney for calling out Trump's unfounded claims about the election he lost, or just enthusiastically embrace those claims themselves. They bragged about being in Washington for the Jan. 6 riot. They endorsed nationwide audits of the 2020 election … and they flirted with leading threads of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

"Wyoming's GOP congressional hopefuls run the full gamut of experience, poise, and polish. Some are total newcomers who've never held or campaigned for office. Some are state lawmakers and party officials. But all are exactly the same when it comes to the most important qualification in today's Republican Party: unswerving personal devotion to Trump."

MANCHIN PROFILES — The New Yorker and WaPo both trek to West Virginia in a pair of profiles on the other Joe with veto power:

"Undecided Voter," from Evan Osnos in Farmington, W.Va.

"Joe Manchin, at the apex of his power, finds few allies in his quest for bipartisanship," by WaPo's Annie Linskey and Mike DeBonis in Fairmont, W.Va.

 

A message from the American Investment Council:

Advertisement Image

This summer looks a lot better because of private equity's investments over the past year.

 

POLICY CORNER

IMMIGRATION FILES — "White House eyes ending migrant family expulsion by July 31," by Axios' Stef Kight: "The policy known as Title 42 has resulted in tens of thousands of migrant family members, including asylum seekers, being sent away. … Biden has been briefed on a plan for stopping family expulsions by the end of July, as well as the option of letting a court end it …

"The administration has been in negotiations with the ACLU, which has put a temporary hold on its lawsuit targeting the practice of expelling families. Details of internal discussions relayed to Axios show top administration officials have suggested Biden seize the initiative by ending the order … They argue that allowing the ACLU to sue would force the Justice Department to defend Trump's policy. That, in turn, could result in sensitive information being released through the litigation process and could be seen as contradictory to Biden's commitment to asylum."

THE POST-PANDEMIC ECONOMY — "Tight Labor Market Returns the Upper Hand to American Workers," by WSJ's Eric Morath and Greg Ip: "Ballooning job openings in fields requiring minimal education — including in restaurants, transportation, warehousing and manufacturing — combined with a shrinking labor force are giving low-wage workers perks previously reserved for white-collar employees. That often means bonuses, bigger raises and competing offers.

"Average weekly wages in leisure and hospitality, the sector that suffered the steepest job losses in 2020, were up 10.4% in May from February 2020 … Pay for those with only high school diplomas is rising faster than for college graduates."

THE BIG PICTURE — "The economy isn't going back to February 2020. Fundamental shifts have occurred," by WaPo's Heather Long

TRUMP'S DOJ

NEW DETAILS ON THE SURVEILLANCE STORY — "How the Justice Department swept up records of two congressional Democrats and Trump's lawyer," by CNN's Evan Perez, Pamela Brown, Katelyn Polantz and Jeremy Herb: "The subpoena that swept up the records of two Democratic congressmen, their staff and family members in 2018 appears to have been the result of a leak investigation that initially included scrutinizing a senior aide on the House Intelligence Committee, and not the lawmakers themselves, sources told CNN. …

"Apple provided names connected to the accounts the company had records for, including then-House Intelligence ranking member ADAM SCHIFF and Rep. ERIC SWALWELL … [DON] MCGAHN'S records appear to have been swept up in a separate investigation by federal investigators in a similar manner to Schiff's and Swalwell's, according to a source familiar with the matter."

MEDIAWATCH

BEN SMITH'S LATEST IS A JUICY ONE: "Tucker Carlson Calls Journalists 'Animals.' He's Also Their Best Source," NYT: "[TUCKER] CARLSON, a proud traitor to the elite political class, spends his time when he's not denouncing the liberal media trading gossip with them. He's the go-to guy for sometimes-unflattering stories about Donald J. Trump and for coverage of the internal politics of Fox News (not to mention stories about Mr. Carlson himself). …

"The double game isn't new to Mr. Carlson's strain of American right-wing populism. … And Mr. Carlson's comfortable place inside Washington media, many of the reporters who cover him say, has taken the edge off some of the coverage. It has also served as a kind of insurance policy, they say, protecting him from the marginalization that ended the Fox career of his predecessor, GLENN BECK, who also drew a huge audience with shadowy theories of elite conspiracy."

 

SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.

 
 
PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED: National security adviser Jake Sullivan at the Nats-Mets game Sunday afternoon. … Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump on Sunday at the Kiawah Island Beach club chatting with Nikki and Michael Haley.

SPOTTED at a Father's Day celebration to meet Michael Breyer and Leah Solivan's new son, Stevie, at Jane Harman's house: Justice Stephen Breyer and Joanna Breyer, A.G. Merrick Garland and Lynn Garland, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Susan Blumenthal, Nina Totenberg, Kate Lehrer, Coach Kathy Kemper, Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, and Judy Hope.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Brian Buchwald, Shann Biglione and Dan Gaynor are launching Kelp, an AI-powered platform focused on corporate reputation. Gaynor, an Obama and Martin O'Malley alum, and Buchwald most recently were at Weber Shandwick, and Biglione was at Publicis Media.

TRANSITIONS — Katie Martin is joining Big Dog Strategies as a partner and will launch Sway Public Affairs as CEO. She most recently was deputy assistant secretary for media strategy and press secretary for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and is an NRSC and NRCC alum. … Tom Bush is now senior director for government relations at Airbus. He previously was legislative director for Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). …

… Christian Martinez is now rapid response director for Glenn Youngkin's Virginia gubernatorial campaign. He most recently was comms director for Bullpen Strategy Group and is an America Rising alum. … Usamah Andrabi will be candidate comms manager at Justice Democrats. He previously was comms director for Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.). … Clair Waggoner is now press assistant for Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.). She previously was a staff assistant for Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.).

WEEKEND WEDDING — TRUMP ALUMNI: May Davis, deputy solicitor general for Ohio and a Trump White House alum, and David Mailman, director for corporate development at Travels Center America and a former professional baseball player, got married Saturday in Cleveland. Pic Another picSPOTTED: Derek Lyons and Liz Horning, Virginia Boney, Chad and Kathryn Mizelle, Julia Hahn, David Morrell, Patrick Philbin, Aly and Jim Beley, Tim Tymkovich, Mary Salvi, Gary Barnett, Theo Merkel, Nick Butterfield, Jennie Lichter, Lauren Culbertson and Chris Grieco, Austin Ferrer and Patrick DiMarco.

BIRTHWEEK (was Sunday): Daniel Bleiberg of Sen. Jacky Rosen's (D-Nev.) office (3-0)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) … Oregon Gov. Kate Brown … Axios' Mike Allen … NYT's Elizabeth Williamson and Elizabeth Dias … WaPo's Laura MecklerCody UhingCharlie Glazer ... Peter PerlSam Nunberg (4-0) … Dan Wagner ... Lloyd Green ... Kate Kochman ... Shara Mohtadi ... George Jahn ... CNN's Madeleine Morgenstern ... Jill Farquharson … former Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Marjorie Margolies (D-Pa.) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.) … David Makovsky ... Bully Pulpit Interactive's Caroline Weisser Susan Tomai … POLITICO's Wiktoria Brodzinska, Valerie Miller, Marc Sames and Delece Smith-Barrow ... Jake MaccobySara GilliamChad Wolf Edward SnowdenBrendan Summers … ABC's Chris FrancescaniMollie Leavitt Campbell Matthews … Inside Higher Ed's Emma WhitfordSanam RastegarBrian KamoieLeslie Shockley BeyerDavid L. MarcusGreg Hitt of Dominion Energy … former New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill Zack RichnerBrian BargerMax ClarkeCole RandleMary MeagherMary Beth DonahueEllen GolombekGary Maloney Roger JarrellMike FaulmanMason Reynolds … Indonesian President Joko Widodo (6-0) … Prince William

Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.

A message from the American Investment Council:

This summer looks a lot better because of private equity's investments over the past year. According to the Wall Street Journal, "private-equity portfolio companies have been involved in nearly every step" of getting people vaccinated against COVID-19. A new report from EY shows that the majority of private equity investment in 2020 went to small businesses. They also helped many of the businesses we know and love – like Baskin Robbins, LegoLand, and BlackRock Coffee – get to the other side of the pandemic poised for new growth and job creation. And the travel industry is rebounding, thanks to private equity investment in companies like Airbnb, RVShare, and Expedia. This year, we're celebrating summer because of private equity's investments in our families and communities. Learn more at https://www.investmentcouncil.org/summer.

 
 

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Rachael Bade @rachaelmbade

Eugene Daniels @EugeneDaniels2

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