🤫 Scoop - Afghan failures

Plus: Scoop - Dem's Manchin plan | Tuesday, February 01, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Business Roundtable   Axios Sneak Peek By the Axios Politics team ·Feb 01, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. We hope you had a good first day of the shortest month. 📅 Join Axios' Ashley Gold and Margaret Talev tomorrow at 12:30pm ET for a virtual event about the outlook for cybersecurity in 2022. Guests include Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser for Homeland Security. Register here. Smart Brevity™ count: 995 words ... 4 minutes. Edited by Glen Johnson.     1 big thing: Scoop - Leaked document reveals Biden's Afghan failures Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images   Leaked notes from a White House Situation Room meeting the day before Kabul fell shed new light on just how unprepared the Biden administration was to evacuate Afghan nationals who'd helped the United States in its 20-year war against the Taliban. Why it matters: Hours before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan's capital on Aug. 15, 2021, senior Biden administration officials were still discussing and assigning basic actions involved in a mass civilian evacuation, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Hans Nichols report. Outsiders were frustrated and suspicious the administration was having plenty of meetings but was stuck in bureaucratic inertia and lacked urgency until the last minute. While the word "immediately" peppers the document, it's clear officials were still scrambling to finalize their plans — on the afternoon of Aug. 14. For example, they'd just decided they needed to notify local Afghan staff "to begin to register their interest in relocation to the United States," the document says. And they were still determining which countries could serve as transit points for evacuees. What they're saying: "While we're not going to comment on leaked internal documents, cherry-picked notes from one meeting do not reflect the months of work that were already underway," NSC spokesperson Emily Horne told Axios. Keep reading. 👓 Go deeper: Read the document.     2. Scoop: Senate Dem's Manchin outreach Sen. Michael Bennet. Photo: Rod Lamkey/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images   One Senate Democrat — desperate to revive a cornerstone of President Biden's progressive agenda — is open to scaling back eligibility for the child tax credit to lure support from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Axios' Sophia Cai has learned. Why it matters: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has been at the center of negotiations to revive the CTC, which expired Dec. 31. His openness to a concession signals to Manchin he's serious about coming to a compromise. Driving the news: Bennet told Axios he's amendable to lowering the income limit for the full payment from $150,000 for families and $90,000 for individuals without adding a work requirement. Bennet did not say how much he's willing to reduce the income limit but confirmed the White House knows he's willing to consider lower caps. "I always believed those were reasonable caps, but I'm happy to think about other caps if that's important to getting something done here," Bennet said. Manchin, for his part, told West Virginia MetroNews he wants to prioritize it for those making $75,000 or less. But, but, but: Bennet's outreach puts the White House in a tough spot: supporting a means-tested child tax credit means that some families making less than $400,000 a year will see their taxes go up in 2022 — which could be construed as a tax increase. The president has vowed not to do precisely that. Keep reading.     3. Charted: Olympics view Data: Pew Research Center; Chart: Will Chase/Axios Nearly half of American adults say they approve of the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics — although 45% admitted they hadn't heard anything about it, according to new polling from Pew Research Center reviewed by Axios' Stef Kight. Why it matters: The XXIV Winter Games begin this week in Beijing. In protest of China's human rights abuses toward Uyghur Muslims, the U.S. will be sending athletes but no government or diplomatic officials, as announced in December. By the numbers: It's an issue with rare bipartisan support. 50% of Democratic or Democratic-leaning respondents, along with 45% of Republican and Republican-leaning respondents, told Pew they — at least somewhat — approve of the boycott. Fewer than one in four overall disapproved of it. Roughly 30% were unsure, driven mostly by the large number who said they hadn't heard anything about it. Between the lines: Despite the administration's announcement late last year, only 9% said they'd read or heard "a lot" about it. Of those, there was even stronger support for the boycott — 69% approved, with nearly half saying they "strongly approve." More than three-in-five respondents who'd heard "a little" about the boycott also said they — at least somewhat — approved of the plan. Keep reading.     A message from Business Roundtable Billions of dollars in investments. Tens of thousands of American jobs     That's how a competitive tax code benefits American workers, families and communities. A tax hike on U.S. businesses will undermine a strong U.S. economy and sustained growth. Now is not the time to go back to old ideas, old arguments and harmful fiscal policies.     4. ICYMI: Worthy of your time Shalanda Young, nominated to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, had her confirmation hearing today. Photo: Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images   🎥 Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor and convicted felon, discussed an ethics probe of Rep. Marie Newman (D-Ill.) in a Cameo video bought by a strategist for a PAC supporting her opponent, Axios' Andrew Solender reports in tonight's Sneak roundup. "What she's accused of doing, while it might not smell good to some people, is really standard practice in politics," Blagojevich said of Newman, the Washington Post reported. 👤 Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, told Axios the National Archives had to hire an additional 20 employees to comply with the panel's sweeping documents request, up from four staffers originally working on it. "We've gotten about five tranches," Thompson said, adding there are "thousands" of pages of documents the agency has yet to hand over.‎‍ ⚖️ Former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), a close ally of the president, has been chosen by the White House to guide its upcoming Supreme Court pick through the confirmation process, the New York Times reported. Other recent sherpas include former Sens. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). 💥 Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and David Joyce (R-Ohio) are urging the administration to expedite the supply of 250 combat tanks to Poland, a key NATO ally, in a letter obtained by Axios. The shipment has faced a yearlong delay. ⚕️Congress is grappling with two health emergencies: Sen. Ben Ray Luján's (D-N.M.) office said he suffered a stroke, while House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he tested positive for COVID-19. "[Lujan] is currently being cared for at UNM Hospital, resting comfortably, and expected to make a full recovery," his chief of staff, Carlos Sanchez, said in a statement.     5. Pic du jour Photo: Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images   Secretary of State Antony Blinken took time out from his high-stakes Russia-Ukraine negotiations to attend a ceremony renaming the State Department cafeteria. The food hall was dedicated to the late Terence A. Todman, a six-time ambassador who reached the rank of career ambassador. Todman led the charge to desegregate the cafeteria itself, a profile in courage noted on the first day of Black History Month.     A message from Business Roundtable Business leaders are creating opportunity for all Americans     As major employers in every state, Business Roundtable CEOs are creating quality jobs with good wages, supporting the communities in which they operate and driving economic growth to build a better future for America.   🎉 Happy Lunar New Year! Thanks for reading tonight. A reminder your family, friends and colleagues can subscribe to Sneak or any of Axios' other free local and national newsletters through this link. 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