For Dems, it’s ’2009 all over again’

Presented by Facebook: The unofficial guide to official Washington.

Nov 04, 2021 View in browser   By Rachael Bade, Ryan Lizza, Eugene Daniels and Tara Palmeri Presented by Listen to today's Daily Briefing DRIVING THE DAY DEMOCRATS' UGLY REALITY SETS IN — Following an embarrassing election night for Democrats, Speaker NANCY PELOSI and her caucus have redoubled their efforts to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill (BIF) and Build Back Better package (BBB) through their chamber this week. House Majority Leader STENY HOYER announced Wednesday night that both bills could even see a floor vote as soon as today. For now, the GOP sweep in Virginia and Dems' razor-thin victory in New Jersey seem to have done what months of negotiations on the Hill could not: force moderates and progressives into line on passing both bills. There's a sense among Dems that if they just stop the bickering and get something done, they might be able to reverse what looks to be a devastating trajectory for the party heading into the midterms. Underscoring this feeling, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) retweeted moderate leader JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-N.J.) saying that the message from the election was "loud and clear": Democrats need to pass both bills ASAP. Not a pairing we see every day. But will passing BBB and BIF help the party in 2022? After the nationwide Democratic shellacking Tuesday, it's fair to ask. Ahead of Election Day, some prominent Democrats warned that failure to pass President JOE BIDEN's agenda would depress turnout among the Democratic base. Yet voters did come out in record numbers — they just said something Democrats didn't want to hear: The party is seen as out of touch with the concerns of middle America and without a clear message on the issues that affect their lives — from inflation to empty store shelves to school closings and curricula, to name a few. Democrats boast that their BBB proposals are popular — and polling backs them up. Yet election results across the country showed Americans think the nation is headed in the wrong direction. There's no certainty that "delivering" on the Biden agenda will change that. A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations Jack is one of 40,000 people working on safety and security issues at Facebook. Hear more from Jack on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet's most pressing challenges, including reforming Section 230 to set clear guidelines for all large tech companies.   Four smart post-election reads covering this ground: 1) NYT's Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns have a story about the Democratic Party "reeling" from the election results, including quotes from two House Democrats who were particularly candid. — Rep. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, a vulnerable Virginia Democrat, said Biden needs to remember that he won in 2020 first and foremost because his name was not DONALD TRUMP, and adjust his expectations accordingly: "Nobody elected him to be FDR, they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos." — Rep. KATHLEEN RICE (D-N.Y.) was even more blunt: "I don't understand some of my more progressive colleagues saying [that Tuesday] night now shows us that what we need to do is get both of these bills done and shove even more progressive stuff in … What we're talking about is not resonating with voters." 2) Meanwhile, KEVIN MCCARTHY is gloating. The minority leader predicted Republicans could flip upward of 63 House seats, just as the GOP did during the Tea Party wave of 2010 following the passage of Obamacare, writes Anthony Adragna at Congress Minutes. "If you're a Democrat and President Biden won your seat by 16 points, you're in a competitive race next year," McCarthy said. "You are no longer safe. … It'll be more than 70 Democrats that will be competitive." McCarthy isn't the only one seeing similarities to 2009 … 3) "This is 2009 all over again," former DCCC Chair STEVE ISRAEL told our Ally Mutnick and Elena Schneider in a piece exploring Democrats' bleeding suburban coalition. "The only benefit they have now over 2009 is knowing just how bad it can get. Damn. 4) WaPo's Paul Kane analyzes why Democrats' vow to move forward on the Biden agenda likely won't stop the bloodbath awaiting the party in 2022. He looks not only at 2009, but also at 2017, when the shoe was on the other foot and Republicans passed a massive tax cut following losses in Virginia and New Jersey — and Democrats still flipped more than 40 House seats. In short: Dems may be right that pressing forward with their agenda is better than the alternative — what, after all, is the point of having a majority if you aren't going to do anything with it? — and they may well get their legislative victories any day now. But the odds are they'll lose the House no matter what they do. Good Thursday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.     BIDEN'S THURSDAY: The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President's Daily Brief at 10 a.m. Principal deputy press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will brief at 2 p.m. The HOUSE will meet at 10 a.m. Pelosi will hold her weekly press conference at 10:45 a.m. She will swear in Reps.-elect SHONTEL BROWN (D-Ohio) and MIKE CAREY (R-Ohio) at 3:10 p.m. The SENATE is in. ANTHONY FAUCI, CDC Director ROCHELLE WALENSKY and acting FDA Commissioner JANET WOODCOCK will testify before the HELP Committee at 10 a.m.   DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.     PLAYBOOK READS PHOTO OF THE DAY: A Pasadena 7-year-old gets his first Covid-19 vaccine shot at a kickoff event on the first day of vaccinations for kids 5-11 in Los Angeles on Wednesday. | Keith Birmingham/The Orange County Register via AP ELECTION FALLOUT VIRGINIA — What are the takeaways from GLENN YOUNGKIN's victory? Depends on your viewpoint, of course: — For Republicans: • The Senate GOP is getting more comfortable with having Trump on their side, having seen how Youngkin was able to walk a tightrope with his quasi-support successfully even in a state that broke big for Biden last year, reports Burgess Everett : "Republicans are looking to Youngkin as a floor for how to deal with the former president — with [MARCO] RUBIO's easy Trump embrace as the ceiling." • Olivia Beavers and Michael Stratford report that Youngkin's emphasis on "education, stoking parental worries about progressivism in the classroom while urging them to play a greater role in schools," has some other Republicans "taking notes on Youngkin's blend of the standby GOP line on education — criticizing the outsized influence of teachers' unions, backing school choice — with anti-liberal culture-war rhetoric." • It may be a while before we know how Latinos voted in the election: One exit poll found that Youngkin won them by a stunning 12 points, while another said they broke for TERRY MCAULIFFE by 34. Huh? Everyone wants to know how this crucial and growing bloc of voters decided, but Sabrina Rodríguez and Marc Caputo report that going over more granular data to determine the true story will take days. (That hasn't stopped political folks from touting the early data most favorable to them.) — For Democrats: • A pair of op-eds for the NYT caught our attention. Former Virginia Rep. TOM PERRIELLO writes that "the fear of Trump 2.0 is not enough to win elections," and says Dems "should be sprinting to immediately pass the boldest possible version of President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. Democrats need to look like the party that knows how to govern and produces results that benefit Americans of every race and region." But another piece, by TORY GAVITO and ADAM JENTLESON , points to McAuliffe's lack of an answer to racially coded attacks as a main culprit. Youngkin "was able to use racially coded attacks to motivate sky-high white turnout without paying a penalty among minority voters. This appears to solve the problem bedeviling Republicans in the Trump era: how to generate high turnout for a candidate who keeps Donald Trump at arm's length. … It will not work [for Democrats] to ignore race and talk about popular issues instead." • Biden's take: The president said Wednesday that Dems' losses "underscore that the party needs to 'produce for the American people,' but he pushed back against the notion that the off-year election results were a repudiation of his presidency," AP's Colleen Long and Aamer Madhani report. He said that while Congress should have advanced the social spending package before Election Day, he's not sure it would've changed the results. NEW JERSEY — Gov. PHIL MURPHY was reelected in a squeaker, defeating Republican JACK CIATTARELLI by a razor-thin margin. (As of this morning, Murphy was up by 1.2 percentage points.) — Matt Friedman writes that the win "breaks a decadeslong 'curse' in which no New Jersey Democrat had won reelection to the governorship in 44 years." — The Trentonian's very N.Y. Post-esque headline on the race: "Holy Ciatt That Was Close" — In perhaps the biggest upset of the week, New Jersey state Senate President STEPHEN SWEENEY appears to have lost reelection to EDWARD DURR, a man who "has never held public office, he has been a commercial truck driver for 25 years and he claims to have spent a whopping $153 during the primary portion of his campaign," per NJ.com. — STAT OF THE DAY: "Of the $153 Durr spent on his moonshot campaign, nearly half went to Dunkin' Donuts," via Washington Free Beacon.     CONGRESS VOTING RIGHTS ACT GOES DOWN, via WaPo's Mike DeBonis : "Republican senators on Wednesday voted to block debate on the third major voting rights bill that congressional Democrats have sought to pass this year in response to the state-level GOP push to restrict ballot access following former president Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election … Only one Republican, Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI of Alaska, voted to advance it." FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Protect Democracy, the Project on Government Oversight and the University of Chicago Center for Effective Government are launching the Filibuster Reform Forum to "help people learn about different filibuster reform proposals with brief explanations in the same format," with initial contributions from Molly Reynolds, Norman Ornstein, Jonathan Gould, Kenneth Shepsle, Matthew Stephenson, Mel Barnes, Norman Eisen and Sarah Binder and the opportunity for senators and scholars to contribute new proposals over time. THE WHITE HOUSE NOT HAPPENING — On Wednesday, Biden denied reports that his administration would send payments of $450,000 to families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration. — The backstory: On Oct. 28, WSJ reported that DOJ, DHS and HHS officials "were in talks to pay around $450,000 a person to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of the families, who say they suffered trauma from being separated in 2018 while illegally crossing the border." — Biden on Wednesday: "That's not going to happen." More from WSJ's Aruna Viswanatha, Sadie Gurman and Andrew Restuccia ACLU Executive Director ANTHONY ROMERO tells us "the parties continue to negotiate." THE PANDEMIC A GRIM MILESTONE — On Wednesday, the number of Americans who've died from Covid-19 hit 750,000 — more than the total populations of Alaska, Vermont or Wyoming, note WaPo's Marc Fisher, Lori Rozsa and Kayla Ruble. AMERICA AND THE WORLD THE FOG OF WAR — The Defense Department said Wednesday that surveillance videos of the Aug. 29 U.S. aerial assault in Afghanistan that killed 10 civilians "showed the presence of at least one child in the area some two minutes before the military launched a drone strike," report NYT's Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt. "The inquiry by the Air Force's inspector general, Lt. Gen. SAMI D. SAID, found no violations of law and does not recommend any disciplinary action. … 'Regrettably, the interpretational assessment was inaccurate.'" BEYOND THE BELTWAY TEXAS-STYLE ABORTION LAW INTRODUCED IN OHIO — Republican lawmakers in Ohio "introduced legislation Tuesday that would ban all abortions in Ohio — going further than the Texas anti-abortion law argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Monday," Cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer reports. GA. ELECTION OFFICIAL RESIGNS — Georgia's Fulton County elections director RICHARD BARRON announced his resignation Wednesday "following a tumultuous year that has included death threats against him and his staff and the potential takeover of election operations in the county by state officials," CNN's Fredreka Schouten reports.   BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we've got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don't miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now.     PLAYBOOKERS Kamala Harris said the Democratic Party "had great wins" in Tuesday's elections. Dave Weigel resurfaced a photo from Terry McAuliffe's campaign launch 11 months ago. The slogan on the podium? "Our kids. Our schools. Our future." Huma Abedin clarified that we've been pronouncing her name wrong all these years. Writes the NYT: "It is more like 'Humma' than 'Hooma.'" Eric Garcetti tested positive for the coronavirus. He was at COP26 with John Kerry earlier this week. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin had a conversation with Mitch McConnell and John Thune on the Senate floor during which "McConnell put up air quotes and could be heard saying 'extraordinary measures,'" per Igor Bobic. Jamie Dimon was seen walking through the Capitol sans mask. Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, told Puck's Teddy Schleifer that "woke-ism" will likely lead the next generation of business execs to be more timid on political issues. Eric Adams' wardrobe suggests a drive to be "a master of the universe, a next-gen executive, a representative of the wellness contingent and the street-smart local, all at the same time," writes the NYT. Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour won the National Press Foundation's Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress for her Jan. 6 coverage. MADE IN DC: Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel revealed to the crowd at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's Annual Budget Ball Reception on Tuesday that he's literally a "product of D.C." Daniel Lippman reports that at the start of his Q&A with CRFB President Maya MacGuineas, Spiegel said his parents met on a blind date at the Old Ebbitt Grill … and the rest is history. As for the future, he talked up augmented reality: already a couple hundred million people are engaging with it on Snapchat, he said. "Instead of reading a textbook or watching a movie about the solar system," Spiegel said, people will be able to "walk through it." SPOTTED: Miranda Kerr, Leon Panetta, Mitch Daniels, Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Angus King (I-Maine), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Eric Cantor, Michael Steele and Steve Rattner. SPOTTED at a private fundraiser for Blake Masters at dLeña hosted by Austin Stone, Andrew Beck, Jake Denton and Parker Magid on Wednesday night: Chris Rufo, Raheem Kassam, Jack Posobeic, Saurabh Sharma and Mary Rogers McMaster. SPOTTED at a Diwali reception hosted by the Indian American Impact Project at the Willard on Wednesday night: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Neera Tanden, Gautam Raghavan, Sabrina Singh, Josh Kaul, Neil Makhija and 200 Indian Americans in public service. SPOTTED at a book party for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Walter Pincus' new book, "Blown to Hell: America's Deadly Betrayal of the Marshall Islanders" ($29.99), hosted by George and Elizabeth Stevens: Barbara and John Cochran, Kate Lehrer, Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell, Eden Rafshoon, Mary Graham, and Diana and Mallory Walker. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S FIRST EQUITY CONVENING: On Tuesday, the Department of Commerce, the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, B Lab, Families and Workers Fund and Ariel Investments will host the Biden administration's first ever Interagency Convening on Equitable Economic Growth — an interagency meeting/summit bringing together people from the government, business and philanthropic communities to discuss policies to advance economic equity among communities of color and other underrepresented groups. The event will feature remarks from Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, domestic policy adviser Susan Rice and others. STAFFING UP — The White House announced a handful of nominations Wednesday, including Nick Perry to be ambassador to Jamaica and Kurt DelBene to be assistant VA secretary for information and technology and CIO. TRANSITIONS — Mia Ehrenberg is now comms director for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.). She most recently was deputy press secretary for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and is a Cameron Webb alum. … Emily Coyle is joining Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney as a principal. She previously was senior director and head of U.S. cybersecurity and privacy policy at SAP. WEEKEND WEDDING — Emilie Simons, White House assistant press secretary, and Steven Bernitt, manager at WASHREIT, got married at the Claremont Club & Spa in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday. The two met at a mutual friend's house on Emilie's first weekend in D.C. in 2014. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Erik Smith, partner at Seven Letter, and Edith Gregson of Edith Gregson Interiors welcomed daughter Davey Nolan Smith on Oct. 28. She came in at 8 lbs, 12 oz and joins her older sister and three older brothers. Pic … Another pic BIRTHWEEK (was Saturday): Alexandra Wasielak of the German Marshall Fund HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Laura Bush … Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) (5-0), John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) and Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) … NYT's Ben Smith … Alice Tong … CNN's Gabby Orr … WaPo's Mike DeBonis and Catherine Rampell … AP's Alex Sanz … Treasury's Addar Levi … Michael Clauser … Jessica Reis of Bully Pulpit Interactive … API's Casey Martel … Julie Siegel … Ken Weinstein (6-0) … Rick Ungar … Morgan Mohr of the White House … Carlos Gutierrez of EmPath … Maggie McNerney of Dezenhall Resources … Amanda Thayer … Jean Roseme of Rep. Frederica Wilson's (D-Fla.) office … Tim Saler ... Kevin McVicker ... Trish Turner … Aaron White … Kari Kant … Hal Malchow … Julie Tippens … POLITICO's Amanda Eisenberg and Liz Davidson … Avi Berkowitz … Georgetown Law's Rima Sirota … Ashley Estes Kavanaugh … Lucy Tutwiler Hodas Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. 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 Facebook: Facebook's industry-leading investments are stopping bad actors We've invested $13 billion in teams and technology over the last 5 years to enhance safety. It's working: In just the past few months, we took down 1.7 billion fake accounts to stop bad actors from doing harm. But there's more to do. Learn more about how we're working to help you connect safely.     Follow us on Twitter Rachael Bade @rachaelmbade Eugene Daniels @EugeneDaniels2 Ryan Lizza @RyanLizza Tara Palmeri @tarapalmeri   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to edwardlorilla1986.paxforex@blogger.com by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.