| | | | | | | Presented By Climate Power | | | | Axios Sneak Peek | | By the Axios Politics team ·Oct 18, 2021 | | Welcome back to Sneak. The nation lost a soldier-statesman. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,343 words ... 5 minutes. Edited by Glen Johnson. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Rage over Rahm |  | | | Rahm Emanuel. Photo: Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images | | | | Progressive activists in Chicago — led by Democratic congressional candidate Kina Collins — are planning two days of demonstrations in the city around Rahm Emanuel's hearing to be U.S. ambassador to Japan, Axios' Alexi McCammond reports. Why it matters: The protests are the latest example of the tension between the Democratic Party's progressive and centrist wings. While Collins and others want the White House to retract Emanuel's nomination, there's no indication he won't be confirmed. What they're saying: "We can't say 'Black Lives Matter' and plan to 'Build Back Better' by appointing the man who covered up a police murder by rewarding him and giving him a cushy job as an ambassador," Collins told Axios during a phone interview today. - She's a Justice Democrats-backed challenger running against longtime incumbent Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.).
Between the lines: Emanuel's confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, falls on the seventh anniversary of the death of Laquan McDonald. - The Black teenager was fatally shot 16 times by Chicago police.
- Emanuel was mayor at the time.
- The shooting triggered massive protests, both because of its nature and the fact the officers' body-cam footage was concealed for years.
The big picture: Progressives have been criticizing Emanuel's nomination for months, zeroing in on the McDonald shooting. - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has urged her colleagues in the Senate to vote against Emanuel.
- "This nomination is deeply shameful," she said in a statement last month. "That the Biden administration seeks to reward Emanuel with an ambassadorship is an embarrassment and betrayal of the values we seek to uphold both within our nation and around the world."
But, but, but: Emanuel has denied any efforts to conceal McDonald's death, and insisted he relied on his legal advisers and the Chicago Police Department. - The officer, Jason Van Dyke, was sentenced to prison for just under seven years.
- He will be eligible for parole early next year.
|     | | | | | | 2. Breaking Biden's diplomatic logjam |  Data: Center for Presidential Transition via Congress.gov; Chart: Will Chase/Axios The hearing for Emanuel shows the logjam for reviewing and confirming President Biden's ambassadorial picks is finally starting to break. Why it matters: Biden is far behind his predecessors in the rate at which his ambassadorial picks have been confirmed. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a series of high-profile hearings and votes this week to finally begin chipping away at the backlog. By the numbers: Only nine of Biden's ambassador picks have been confirmed to date. By Oct. 18 of the first year of prior administrations: - George W. Bush: 73 confirmed ambassadors
- Barack Obama: 59
- Donald Trump: 24
Driving the news: The Foreign Relations Committee will meet tomorrow to vote on several nominees, including: - Morgan Stanley executive Thomas Nides as ambassador to Israel.
- Former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) as ambassador to Turkey.
- Former Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) as ambassador to New Zealand.
- Comcast executive David Cohen as ambassador to Canada.
- Businesswoman Cindy McCain, widow of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), as ambassador to the World Food Programme in Rome.
- Former Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware as ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
Nick Burns, Biden's nominee for ambassador to China, and Jonathan Kaplan, his pick for ambassador to Singapore, also will testify on Wednesday. - Burns, a Harvard professor and former State Department official, will be asked about how he plans to navigate efforts to team up with the United States' Asia-Pacific allies to compete with Beijing.
- Kaplan, a former tech entrepreneur, will likely lean on his business and tech background during his hearing.
- Singapore is quickly becoming a new global technology hotspot, yet the U.S. hasn't had an ambassador to there since January 2017.
Between the lines: Despite the Senate's acceleration in clearing the Biden backlog, there are still dozens of important ambassadorial posts that need filling. - Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) plan to continue slowing down the process by objecting to the Senate moving forward via unanimous consent.
| | | | | | | | 3. Muscling Manchin |  | | | House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images | | | | Senior House Democrats are braced for battle with the Senate over whether paid family medical leave — a key priority for progressives — will be included in Biden's final budget reconciliation bill, lawmakers and aides tell Axios' Hans Nichols. Why it matters: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has indicated he wants to cut the program to reduce the bill's price tag. "Paid family and medical leave must be in the final package," Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told Axios today. - The coverage has an estimated cost of $225 billion to $500 billion over 10 years.
- Beyond Neal, it has powerful backers in the House and Senate, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is committed to keeping it in any final package, according to a person familiar with her thinking.
- "I'm confident there's a path forward to ensuring its inclusion, and believe all parties involved in these discussions understand how critical this provision is for workers and the economy," Neal said.
The big picture: The House is facing a self-imposed deadline to reach an agreement by Oct. 31. Lawmakers, as well as outside groups, are fighting to ensure their priorities are included in any final agreement. - The New Democrat Coalition demanded today that Biden's signature child tax credit remain in the final bill, after Axios reported Manchin wanted to dramatically trim it.
- "The Build Back Better Act must extend this vital, middle-class tax cut through at least 2025 and keep full refundability," said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the coalition's chairwoman.
- Along with other House moderates, she will head to the White House tomorrow to meet with Biden.
- "New Dems are the majority makers in the House, and it is our constituents who would be left behind if this enhanced child tax credit is not fully extended," DelBene said.
Flashback: At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Pelosi insisted on keeping a provision to expand paid family medical leave as she negotiated with then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over the first big relief package. Between the lines: Biden didn't mention paid family medical leave when he was in Connecticut last week, marking the second time he's omitted the program from his official remarks. - Yet Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg endorsed it on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, saying it remains "in the president's vision."
- "We'll see what the legislative process is going to bring," he added.
Keep reading. | | | | | | | | A message from Climate Power | | It's time: Congress must pass clean energy tax credits | | |  | | | | It's time to invest in tax credits for clean energy, transform our power sector to achieve 100% clean electricity and invest in disadvantaged communities. Congress, the window to act is closing. We must pass the Build Back Better Act. Learn more. | | | | | | 4. By the numbers: New state laws |  Data: Quorum; Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios States have been busy this year enacting bills focused on health, education, schools and elections, according to a recent analysis by Quorum reviewed by Axios' Stef Kight. Why it matters: The coronavirus pandemic has had significant impacts on health systems, schools and elections across the country — a likely contributor to the number of bills mentioning those topics. - Some Republican-controlled state legislatures also have passed a flurry of voting restriction laws, as well as bills attempting to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.
By the numbers: Only a fraction of bills introduced actually become law. - For example, state lawmakers have introduced five times as many bills mentioning health care as have been enacted, according to Quorum's numbers.
- More bills were introduced this year that addressed taxes and transportation than elections and voting, but the election-related bills were more likely to be enacted.
| | | | | | | | 5. Pic du jour |  | | | Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images | | | | As political and military leaders remembered Colin Powell, Jonathan Reiner — a cardiologist — told CNN viewers his death should be viewed as a case for expanding COVID-19 vaccinations, not doubting their effectiveness, writes Axios' Glen Johnson. - The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs and secretary of State had been double-vaccinated and was due to receive his booster this week.
- Powell also was over 80, and had an immune system compromised by multiple myeloma and the treatment for that blood-plasma cancer.
"He is sort of the index case for why we need to vaccinate the public, and why young people need to be vaccinated. Because it's not just protecting the person who receives the vaccine, who may be a young person who may do quite well if they get infected. It's really protecting the rest of society. And General Powell was very vulnerable to dying from this virus, should he be infected." | | | | | | | | A message from Climate Power | | It's time: Congress must pass clean energy tax credits | | | | | | | | It's time to invest in tax credits for clean energy, transform our power sector to achieve 100% clean electricity and invest in disadvantaged communities. Congress, the window to act is closing. We must pass the Build Back Better Act. Learn more. | | | | 📬 Thanks for reading. A reminder that your family, friends and colleagues can subscribe to Sneak or any of Axios' other free newsletters through this link. |  | | It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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