🤫 Biden resettlement plan

Plus: Ohio's "RINO" attack | Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Facebook   Axios Sneak Peek By the Axios Politics team ·Jan 25, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. 🚨Breaking: Pelosi announces re-election bid. ⚡ Situational awareness: Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Roy Schwartz and Mike Allen, alongside Axios staffers, have written a book about our secret sauce. "Smart Brevity: Write Less. Say More. Be Heard," will be in bookstores this fall. Preorders start in March. Workman Publishing will present this guide showing how to apply the Smart Brevity® approach in the war for attention with all forms of communication. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,148 words ... 4 minutes. Edited by Glen Johnson.     1 big thing: Scoop - Biden resettlement plan Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders enter a processing center at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, last August. Photo: Sgt. Jimmie Baker/U.S. Army via Getty Images   President Biden's advisers are crafting a plan to accelerate bringing potentially thousands of Afghans to the U.S. from Qatar, a source with direct knowledge of the administration's internal deliberations on the subject tells Axios' Stef Kight and Jonathan Swan. Why it matters: As U.S. military leaders plan for a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, the administration is still struggling to handle the aftereffects of its chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. One challenge: how to care for tens of thousands of displaced Afghans — many of whom helped the U.S. fight its longest war. The president's senior national security and foreign policy officials are discussing an expedited refugee process. It would allow Afghans to be screened, vetted, approved for refugee status and placed on planes to the United States within 30 days of their arrival at the military site in Qatar being used to house them. It usually takes two to five years for refugee applicants to be resettled in the U.S. Between the lines: The Department of Homeland Security, State Department and White House are considering a streamlined process. The administration is nearing a mid-February deadline for moving thousands of Afghan refugees in the U.S. off military bases and into their new communities. So far, the administration has relied on the use of humanitarian parole to rapidly resettle tens of thousands of Afghans. That mechanism only provides protection from deportation and the ability to work for two years. Afghans already in the U.S. then will have to go through the lengthy special immigrant visa, asylum or green-card processes to attain permanent legal status. Using an expedited U.S. Refugee Admissions Program process in Qatar, though, would immediately put Afghans on a pathway to green cards. What they're saying: The administration has been working to rebuild the U.S. refugee program, a National Security Council spokesperson told Axios. "There is more work to do, which is why we are exploring a variety of innovations to streamline the resettlement process and eliminate redundancies, while maintaining the robust health and screening and vetting processes," the official said. Keep reading.     2. Scoop: Race to lead NRCC begins Reps. Darin LaHood (left) and Richard Hudson. Photos: Al Drago/Getty Images (LaHood) and Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images   Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) are both telling colleagues they plan to run for chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee for the 2024 cycle, people familiar with the matter tell Axios' Sarah Mucha and Hans Nichols. Why it matters: Republicans are confident they'll win the House majority back this fall, and the early jockeying to lead the caucus' fundraising apparatus is just another indicator of their optimism. It also speaks to the ambition of Hudson and LaHood to climb their party's leadership ladder. Both used last weekend's NRCC winter retreat at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida, to sound out colleagues — and donors — about how they can best position themselves to win. Both LaHood and Hudson have been on the NRCC finance committee and understand the importance of raising money for the committee. The big picture: During the donor retreat, House Republicans have been poring over optimistic polling and developing methodical plans to wield power if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is elevated to House speaker. The GOP needs to flip five seats in the midterms to win control of the House, a task made easier by a wave of Democratic retirements over the past year. Redistricting hasn't been as favorable for Republicans as many of them had hoped, but they look at an incumbent president with his approval ratings in the low 40s and like their odds of recapturing the House. And the successor to the current NRCC chair, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), will step into a party apparatus that's ramped up its targeted advertising and grassroots fundraising strategies. Keep reading.     3. Senate candidates attack Ohio's "RINO" Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. Photo: Justin Merriman/Getty Images   Bashing Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for his work to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 has become a litmus test for Republican Senate candidates in Ohio vying for Donald Trump's endorsement. Why it matters: The intra-party attacks underscore how opposition to masking and COVID mandates has snowballed into a powerful political force, not just at the federal level but also in state races, Axios' Sophia Cai writes. What we're watching: Former Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel — the early front-runner in the crowded and expensive GOP Senate primary — was the first to make attacking DeWine a regular part of his stump speech. "Unfortunately, Republican governor, 'RINO' Gov. DeWine, decided he was going to lead the charge in shutting down Ohio before any state in the nation," Mandel said last March, using the acronym for "Republican in Name Only." Former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken and tech company executive Bernie Moreno both moved from praising DeWine at the start of the lockdown to taking markedly less-supportive stances. As Moreno stated during one of several Republican forums where DeWine's name repeatedly came up, "It's one of the most popular things to do on this circuit, to say nasty things about DeWine." Author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance endorsed DeWine for governor in 2018 but said after he entered the Senate race that DeWine "has not done enough to really protect the interests of children throughout the pandemic." What they're saying: Asked about the attacks, DeWine told local Fox affiliate WJW, "Yeah, well, none of them are running for governor — first of all. They're running for Senate, and we'll see who emerges from that." Keep reading.     A message from Facebook Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations, including Section 230     Aaron is one of 40,000 people working on safety and security issues at Facebook. Hear more from Aaron 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.     4. Progressives narrow focus to better odds Data: Justice Democrats; Chart: Axios Visuals The progressive group that helped Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stage her improbable 2018 win is narrowing its focus as it tries to elect more Democrats to pass the remaining progressive elements of President Biden's agenda, Axios' Andrew Solender and Alexi McCammond report. Why it matters: The entire landscape for Justice Democrats has changed during the past two weeks. Its efforts to replace moderate incumbents are being altered by partisan gerrymandering, retirements, or in one case, an unexpected FBI raid. The group is now navigating its most tumultuous midterms cycle yet. Driving the news: Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), who's been in and out of Congress for most of the past 30 years, announced Tuesday he won't be seeking re-election. His decision came after state Republicans proposed a new congressional map, making his Nashville district much friendlier to the GOP. The Justice Democrats' first endorsement of the 2022 cycle — back in April 2021 — was Cooper's liberal challenger, community organizer Odessa Kelly. Yet in a statement issued after Cooper's announcement, Kelly hinted she's reassessing the viability of her campaign, too. "I am still looking into the recently redrawn district lines and charting a path forward for my campaign," she said. By the numbers: Justice Democrats has shifted away from its 2018 strategy of backing as many candidates as possible. Instead, it's identified a much smaller group — six — that has the best opportunity to knock off establishment Democrats and elevate their primary challengers. Keep reading.     5. Pics du jour Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images   President Biden went shopping for Vice President Kamala Harris, other gift recipients — and himself near Barracks Row in Washington. Photo: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images Photo: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images     A message from Facebook Working to stop harmful content and improve our platforms every day     We're committed to stopping illicit content and keeping you safe on Facebook. That's why we've quadrupled our safety and security teams to more than 40,000 over the last five years. But there's more to do. See how we're working to help you connect safely.   📬 Thanks for reading. A reminder your family, friends and colleagues can subscribe to Sneak or any of Axios' other free local and national newsletters through this link. Like this email style and format? Bring the strength of Smart Brevity® to your team — more effective communications, powered by Axios HQ.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. 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