| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade and Ryan Lizza | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | Republicans have been all over the map lately in their Supreme Court messaging. Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.) called President JOE BIDEN's vow to only consider Black women for the vacancy "affirmative action." Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) said Biden doing so during the campaign was "clumsy" and risked further politicizing perceptions of the high court. And Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) welcomed Biden's bid to diversify the Supreme Court, saying "it's about time" it looked more like America. So what gives? The discordant notes stem from a behind-the-scenes Republican Party tussle over strategy for the upcoming nomination, according to more than a half-dozen GOP officials on and off Capitol Hill. Republicans are divided between a desire to keep the nationwide focus on issues that resonate with swing voters they need to flip both chambers — like spiraling prices — and red-meat rhetoric that revs up their base. Some are worried that going too hard at Biden's pick — and especially using language like "affirmative action" — will distract from pocketbook issues and potentially backfire. But others think Republicans would be missing a key opportunity if they hold back, pointing to a recent ABC poll showing that three-quarters of voters want Biden to look at "all possible nominees," while only 23% wanted him to consider only Black women. During Senate Republicans' private lunch Tuesday, GOP leaders encouraged members to keep focusing on the pocketbook problems plaguing Democrats. Minority Whip JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) said that waging a high-profile battle against a SCOTUS nominee they don't have the votes to block could be counterproductive to their messaging and also set unreasonable expectations for the base. Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL — who knows a thing or two about court fights — argued that the GOP has already had a lot of success with the courts. He suggested one liberal jurist replacing another wasn't a big deal since it wouldn't change the balance of the court. BUT SOME REPUBLICANS AREN'T HAVING IT: Sen. JOHN KENNEDY (R-La.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, didn't exactly tamp down his rhetoric. "No. 1, I want a nominee who knows a law book from a J. Crew catalog," he said upon exiting the lunch. "No. 2, I want a nominee who's not going to try to rewrite the Constitution every other Thursday to try to advance a 'woke agenda.'" Asked about how he squared that language with GOP leaders' advice, Kennedy said: "I think some members of leadership think they can control what people want to talk about. I don't agree with that proposition. I'm going to talk about what I want to talk about, and if they don't like that, they can call somebody who cares." Presidential hopefuls like Sens.TED CRUZ (R-Texas) and JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.) aren't heeding leadership's advice, either. Cruz said it was "offensive" for Biden to say he would consider only Black women for the nomination when they constitute about 6% of the U.S. population. Other conservative members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have privately discussed whether they could try to use a procedural move to kill the nomination in committee, passing around this Federalist story about how to possibly do so. Off the Hill, meanwhile, there's an appetite on the right for a fight. Some conservative groups, we're told, are talking about trying to implement the playbook the left used during the DONALD TRUMP years to try to gin up their own base. The Conservative Partnership Institute is making plans for a joint war room with other right-leaning groups. The American Accountability Foundation is one of several investigative groups standing at the ready to try to dig up dirt on any nominee. Others are already starting opposition research on possible picks. "It would be an incontrovertible error for Republicans to give Democrats a blanket pass for the upcoming nominee to the Supreme Court," said BOBBY DONACHIE, VP of Athos, a literary and PR agency for right-leaning groups. "It is essential for Senate Republicans to make it crystal clear they will not abdicate their constitutional duty to properly vet a nominee for the highest court in the land." THUNE ELABORATES: We caught up with the chamber's No. 2 after lunch, and he laid out leadership's thinking a bit more. He said it's important for Republican voters to understand that there are limits to what GOP senators can do. "They have 51 votes," he said. "They're going to be able to put through who they want." Thune also argued that Democrats are eager to divert attention from problems plaguing Biden, though he said Republicans will of course vet whomever Biden chooses when the time comes. "The Supreme Court is obviously a very important issue — like I said, we're going to do [our] due diligence. … But in the end we're going to continue talking about inflation … and all the other things that this administration has dropped the ball on." Senior communicators in the Senate have been trying to steer the conversation that way as well. GOP comms staff this week were advised to tell their bosses not to engage in hypotheticals, talk about wanting a qualified nominee, and accuse Biden of picking too many liberal judges. Then, after a nominee is chosen, they've been encouraged to focus on the nominee herself and her qualifications. BUT GOP LEADERS MIGHT NOT HAVE MUCH OF A SAY ON THIS: Their loudest and most conservative members sit on the Judiciary panel, including some who have presidential ambitions. For "whomever is angling for 2024 or 2028, this is primetime," said one outside Republican strategist. "They're going to try to put on a good show."
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Watch his story here. | | | Good Wednesday morning. It's 2/2/22. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. SURVEY SAYS — Half of voters back Biden's decision to name a Black woman to the bench, according to our latest POLITICO/Morning Consult weekly poll. Fifty percent support the move while only 27% oppose. A majority of Democratic voters are mostly in lockstep with Biden, and more independent voters support the idea than do not. Republican voters, however, oppose limiting the choice to an African American woman. Respondents were asked "Do you support or oppose President Biden's decision to appoint a Black woman to replace Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court?" Here's the breakdown:
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| But while most Democrats say it's important for Biden to pick a Black woman (66% important, 24% unimportant), independents (30% important, 48% unimportant) and Republicans (13% important, 74% unimportant) did not agree. Toplines … Crosstabs
| | A message from Amazon: At Amazon, health benefits start on day one for employees and their families. Learn more. | | | BIDEN'S WEDNESDAY: — 10:15 a.m.: The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 1:30 p.m.: Biden, Harris and first lady JILL BIDEN will host an event in the East Room " to reignite the Cancer Moonshot," with second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF also attending. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 12:30 p.m. The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 3 p.m. THE SENATE is in. Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN will brief the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees on Afghanistan behind closed doors at 10 a.m. THE HOUSE will meet at 10 a.m. GLORIA ESTEFAN will be among those testifying before the Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. on the American Music Fairness Act.
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President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris meet with Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Jan. 1. | Win McNamee/Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | JUDICIARY SQUARE BIDEN'S POSSIBLE GOP ALLY ON THE JUDICIARY PANEL — Onetime Biden friend-turned-antagonist Graham hasn't spoken to the president since his inauguration. But the friend of Donald from South Carolina might become the Democratic president's greatest GOP ally in the looming SCOTUS fight, as Burgess Everett writes today . Graham all but vowed to back J. MICHELLE CHILDS, a judge from his home state, if she's nominated. More important, the senator is already pushing back on some GOP suggestions that Republicans obstruct the nomination process in committee. Some palace intrigue from the story: "Those moves have raised the specter that Graham, who once lavished praise on Biden as 'as good a man as God ever created,' may be making a political shift back to the deal-cutter who worked on immigration reform and defused a brutal Bush-era battle over judges. At a minimum, Graham still seems to believe in deference to presidents on nominations, despite his fury at how Democrats handled the confirmation of Justice BRETT KAVANAUGH and his swing from vociferous Trump critic to ardent defender." — On Tuesday, Biden made the rounds with other prominent Senate Republicans. The president called McConnell and held a meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee leadership, including ranking member CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa). And "top White House aides began reaching out to GOP senators to seek their input," WaPo's Seung Min Kim reports. "Together, those actions Tuesday launched Biden's effort to project at least a veneer of bipartisan consultation as he sets out to make his first pick to the Supreme Court, replacing [STEPHEN] BREYER. The White House is hoping to smooth the way for Biden's upcoming choice even though the Senate in recent years has been an increasingly vicious battleground for such nominations." SCOTUS SHERPA — Biden administration officials said Tuesday that former Sen. DOUG JONES (D-Ala.) will serve as the "sherpa" for Biden's nominee, guiding her through the nomination process, NYT's Katie Rogers scooped. CONGRESS LUJÁN HOSPITALIZED, AND DEMS SWEAT THEIR MAJORITY — Sen. BEN RAY LUJÁN (D-N.M.) was hospitalized after suffering a stroke last week, but his office said he is expected to make a full recovery. More from the Albuquerque Journal — The news shocked the Democratic Caucus on Tuesday, with some members worried about what it means for upcoming votes given their 50-50 majority, Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett write: "Luján's unexpected medical condition comes at a moment when Senate Democrats simply don't have any votes to spare to pass party priorities, including reviving their social spending bill and now confirming a Supreme Court justice. The latest news could leave Democrats reliant on Republican votes to move forward on nominees and other priorities." — The historical context: WaPo's Amy Wang and Mike DeBonis note that strokes took out then-Sens. TIM JOHNSON (D-S.D.) for nine months and MARK KIRK (R-Ill.) for almost a year. But "[t]heir strokes were of … different types than Lujan's."
| | | | A message from Amazon:   "My job before Amazon didn't have benefits, and that can be kind of crazy." | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST — At a news conference Tuesday, Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN "accused the West on Tuesday of deliberately creating a scenario designed to lure it into war and ignoring Russia's security concerns over Ukraine," Reuters' Natalia Zinets and Vladimir Soldatkin report . "In his first direct public comments on the crisis for nearly six weeks, a defiant Putin showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has called non-starters and a possible excuse to launch an invasion, which Moscow denies." GOP VS. TUCKER — Our Andrew Desiderio writes that "Republican senators are unmoved by TUCKER CARLSON's relentless warpath against support for Ukraine — even as it widens an existing rift in their party." JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH TRUMP'S VOTING MACHINES IDEA — The House select committee on Jan. 6 is "scrutinizing former President Donald Trump's involvement in proposals to seize voting machines after the 2020 election, including efforts to create a legal basis for directing national security agencies to take such an extreme action," NYT's Luke Broadwater, Maggie Haberman, Alan Feuer and Michael Schmidt report. "[T]he committee recently received documents from the Trump White House including what court filings described as a 'document containing presidential findings concerning the security of the 2020 election after it occurred and ordering various actions,' along with related notes." WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE — Trump in a Newsmax interview Tuesday criticized Graham for saying that Trump's calls to pardon Jan. 6 rioters were inappropriate. "Lindsey's a nice guy, but he's a RINO," Trump said . "Lindsey's wrong. … Lindsey Graham doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, if he says that, because you have to have equal justice." THE MONEY FLOW — Trump's Save America PAC gave $1 million to MARK MEADOWS' Conservative Partnership Institute, CNN's Eric Bradner reports . The donation came July 26, just a few weeks after the House created the Jan. 6 committee, and it accounted for an outright majority of all the money the PAC "disbursed to political organizations and candidates in the second half of 2021." POLICY CORNER NATIONAL DEBT WATCH — The nation's "debt exceeded $30 trillion for the first time, reflecting increased federal borrowing during the coronavirus pandemic," WSJ's Amara Omeokwe reports . "'This is a jaw-dropping number that is a real cause for concern,' said MAYA MACGUINEAS, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 'It is the result of both borrowing for really important crises, most notably the Covid pandemic, but also trillions and trillions of borrowing for no reason other than politicians have stopped being willing to pay the bills.'"
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., asked Secretary-General António Guterres to skip the Beijing Olympics over China's human rights record — but he refused. Foreign Policy's Colum Lynch got the scoop. Hail to the … Washington Commanders? After a long renaming process, the NFL's Washington Football Team appears set to announce their new moniker today. Brad Freitas, the enterprising chopper pilot for NBC Washington, snuck a glimpse of the name printed on a large banner at FedEx Field on Tuesday night. Whoopi Goldberg was suspended from ABC's "The View" for two weeks after saying that the Holocaust was "not about race." Chip Roy voted "present" on a House bill to rename an Atlanta post office in honor of John Lewis. The measure passed, 402-0-1. Tucker Carlson contributed $250 to Marjorie Taylor Greene's reelection, as part of an auction for a rifle. (Here's The Hill's story.) Steny Hoyer tested positive for the coronavirus and says he has "mild symptoms." Rand Paul showed up at the Big Board to celebrate the H Street bar's defiance of Washington's vaccination and masking mandates. Minutes before he arrived, the D.C. Department of Health ordered the establishment to shut down due to their repeated health violations — but Thomas Massie, Tim Burchett and Victoria Spartz came anyway to show their support. (h/t Emily Brooks) Dean Heller, the former Nevada senator now running for governor, said he believes Joe Biden is an "illegitimate president." Mary Trump announced that she's following the lead of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell by pulling her podcast from Spotify in protest of Covid disinformation from podcaster Joe Rogan. HOT JOB: Racing president (part-time) for the Washington Nationals. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Sarah Benzing has been tapped to run the DSCC Independent Expenditure. She most recently was chief of staff for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). — Alejandro Roark is joining the FCC as chief of the consumer and governmental affairs bureau. He previously was executive director of the Hispanic Telecommunication and Technology Partnership. — Manuel Bonder is now press secretary for Josh Shapiro's Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign. He previously was deputy comms director at the Democratic Party of Virginia, and is a Pete Buttigieg campaign alum. — William Rich is now chief sanctions officer for emerging markets at Citibank. He most recently was managing director for Middle East and Africa at Kharon, and is a Treasury and Intelligence Community alum. MEDIA MOVE — David Cloud is rejoining the WSJ as Middle East correspondent, based in Dubai. He previously covered the Pentagon and military for the L.A. Times, and is a NYT alum. Talking Biz News STAFFING UP — Stephanie Doherty is joining the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as legislative director. She previously was legislative counsel for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), and is a Jon Tester and Obama DHS alum. … Miro Korenha is now the Senior Advisor and Speechwriter for NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad. She previously was co-publisher/creator of Our Daily Planet. … … The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is adding April McClain-Delaney as deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for comms and information and Andy Berke as a special representative for broadband. McClain-Delaney previously was Washington director of Common Sense Media, and Berke is a former mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn. TRANSITIONS — Olivia Troye is joining the Renew America Movement as chief strategy officer. She's founder of the Troye Group and a Mike Pence alum. … Chris Urben is now a managing director at Nardello & Co. He spent 25 years at the DEA, most recently as assistant special agent in charge of the special operations division for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. … Kristin Eberhard is now director of climate policy at the Niskanen Center. She previously was director of climate and democracy at the Sightline Institute, and is an NRDC alum. … … Angie Buckingham Melton is now VP at McAllister & Quinn. She previously was a lobbyist and strategic consultant at the Margolin Group. … James Jelin is now director of digital strategy at BCom Solutions. He most recently was digital director at the Democratic Party of Georgia, and is a GBAO Strategies alum. … Sadie Thorman will be comms director for Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.). She currently is press secretary for Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.). BIRTHWEEK (was Tuesday): Lauren Pickett of Pinkston … Gavin Wilde HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) (7-0) … Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) … The Atlantic's McKay Coppins … Ellen Malcolm … Gabriella Uli of the American Legislative Exchange Council … NBC's Carrie Dann … The New Yorker's Michael Luo … Teddy Downey of The Capitol Forum … The Hill's Reid Wilson … Paul Bedard … Dan Knight of Koch Industries … Aaron Keyak of the State Department … Victorino "Vic" Matus … Karly Matthews of the American Conservation Coalition … David Pakman … Heather Smith of Rep. William Timmons' (R-S.C.) office … Adrienne Lee Benson ... Sam Schifrin of Rep. David Price's (D-N.C.) office … Traci Kraus … Patrick Hayden of the North American Export Grain Association … Haley Ast … Avery Pierson of Sen. Rob Portman's (R-Ohio) office … Sally Albright … RGA's Amanda Kitchen O'Malley … Jen Duck … Andy Hemming … POLITICO's Briana Jeter … Barry Diller (8-0) 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.
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