| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza and Eugene Daniels | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
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It's Day 2 of the Joe Manchin- Chuck Schumer deal that vastly expanded Biden's shrunken legislative ambitions, boosted the morale of Democrats in difficult races, and infuriated Congressional Republicans. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | MANCHIN GIVETH AND MANCHIN… — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) may have just resurrected Biden's domestic agenda, but he told CHRIS CUOMO in an interview that aired Thursday on Cuomo's new podcast, that he wouldn't yet commit to supporting the president in 2024. "If JOE BIDEN runs again and he is the Democratic nominee, depending on who the Republican nominee is, we will just have to wait and see," Manchin said. DEMOCRATS IN… ARRAY? — It's Day 2 of the Manchin-Schumer deal that vastly expanded Biden's shrunken legislative ambitions, boosted the morale of Democrats in difficult races and infuriated Congressional Republicans. The White House is ending a week they had long been dreading because of the string of bad economic data they (correctly) anticipated, on a surprisingly high note: — The CHIPS+ bill passed the House, despite a last-minute revolt from Republican leadership miffed about the Manchin deal and whipping against the bill (24 House Republicans voted for it anyway). — Early indications among Democrats in the House — who you might have heard are sometimes in disarray — are encouraging for the reconciliation bill. Jordain Carney and Sarah Ferris report that "House Democrats met Joe Manchin's surprise deal with a bigger twist: unity behind it." ( Though some Democrats are asking for the bill to include an expansion of Medicaid.) — The initial scrubs of the bill by economists favor the arguments of Democrats who say that the bill will tame inflation. "[M]any economists agreed that the tax and other provisions would likely help reduce price pressures somewhat, although the overall effect is likely to be modest and potentially will not be felt for months or years," report NYT's Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport . There were no new major obstacles apparent on Day 2, but the existing ones remain as Democrats try to pass the bill in the Senate next week: "The party needs all 50 members to be in favor of the deal and present to vote, and they must ensure the bill complies with strict parliamentarian rules allowing Democrats to pass it with a simple majority — plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President KAMALA HARRIS. Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.), another Democrat who party leaders have struggled at times to get on board with legislation, has not taken a public stance on the bill yet." Worth noting : "the caucus hasn't had all 50 members voting since the start of the month." Yet, the backstory of how the Manchin-Schumer deal came together does not exactly make either Biden or CHUCK SCHUMER look like LYNDON JOHNSON. ( See this account from Steve Clemons, who is close to Manchin, for example.) It will pain a lot of Biden stans to admit this fact: Manchin and LARRY SUMMERS had more to do with reviving the most progressive environmental and tax legislation in decades than the president did. REPUBLICANS IN… DISARRAY? — Meanwhile, the GOP ended the week in a fit of pique. Speaking for many in his party, especially in the Senate, Sen. JOHN KENNEDY (R-La.), said this about Democrats unveiling the reconciliation bill right after the Senate passed CHIPS+: "We got our ass kicked. It's just that simple … Looks to me like we got rinky-doo'd. That's a Louisiana word for 'screwed.'" More from Burgess Everett and Olivia Beavers That fury was followed by House Republicans trying to kill CHIPS+, a tactic they admitted was about the Manchin flip, and Senate Republicans — somewhat inexplicably — filibustering a bipartisan veterans bill, a move they denied had anything to do with Manchin's move. Instead, Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL, who described the Manchin-Schumer deal as a "giant package of huge new job-killing tax hikes, Green New Deal craziness that will kill American energy, and prescription drug socialism," swore that the turn on the "burn pit" bill was about Schumer reneging on a promise to allow a vote on an amendment from Sen. PAT TOOMEY (R-Pa.). The WSJ wasn't buying that : "Republican anger blocked a separate piece of legislation. Soon after the announcement of the Manchin deal, the Senate unexpectedly failed to advance a bipartisan bill to provide healthcare to veterans exposed to burn pits." Neither was JON STEWART, a longtime advocate for the legislation, who railed on GOP senators in an epic 10-minute viral diatribe in which he concluded, "If this is America First, then America is fucked." The White House could hardly believe that Biden's renewed legislative fortunes had driven Republicans — even the normally unflappable McConnell — to make such a self-destructive move. "The President and Democrats in Congress are on the verge of delivering a breakthrough for middle class families — and against inflation — by empowering Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, cutting energy costs, and reducing the deficit," White House Deputy Press Secretary ANDREW BATES told Playbook. "But Congressional Republicans, who have proposed tax increases on over 75 million working people as well as putting Medicare on the chopping block, are so frantically upset at the Inflation Reduction Act that they have turned their backs on veterans exposed to toxic chemicals in the service of their country and flip flopped on crucial economic competitiveness legislation that the Chinese government wants killed. Taking out pointless rage at the loss of welfare for big pharma on veterans, American business, and American workers is both pathetic and the epitome of extreme MAGA values." Schumer said he would put the Vets bill up for a vote again on Monday and allow the Toomey amendment to be offered. MIXED REVIEW — John Harris looks at the surprise Manchin deal and asks, "Wait, is Biden a better president than people thought?" "The pending breakthrough on climate legislation likely puts Biden's approach to the presidency in the best possible light," he writes. "Importantly, even that best light still reveals large gaps between the demands of the moment and his ability to meet those demands — or to use the tools of the modern presidency in a way that the most successful leaders have done. Biden's presidency has more life, and more possibility, than it looked like 48 hours ago. But it is still fundamentally defined by his limits — most of all by his weak rhetorical skills and his inability to tell a compelling story about where he would take the country." Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade , Eugene Daniels , Ryan Lizza .
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Learn how Meta is helping build the metaverse. | | | DEEP DIVE: THE COMING MUSHROOM BOOM — Here's something about Washington, D.C. that even a lot of people who live here don't know: Psychedelic mushrooms are basically legal. Back in 2020, voters approved a ballot initiative that made growing, purchasing, and distributing mushrooms the lowest law enforcement priority for D.C. police. In Washington, you can have mushrooms delivered to your door in less than an hour without worrying about running afoul of local cops. And a lot of people here are availing themselves of D.C.'s unique decriminalization rules. Microdosing mushrooms as a kind of performance-enhancing brain boost — already wildly popular among the California tech set — is now fairly common in Washington, especially in media circles. Recreational use — macrodosing? — isn't all that uncommon either. A lot of the new curiosity about psychedelics was sparked by MICHAEL POLLAN's 2018 book, "How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence." (The book has now been turned into a show on Netflix.) In other circles, JOE ROGAN's podcasts about mushrooms created a flurry of interest. The Department of Veteran Affairs is now conducting clinical trials with psilocybin , the drug in psychedelic mushrooms, to treat mental health issues. And The Intercept reported this week that in a recent letter to Rep. MADELEINE DEAN (D-Pa.), the Biden administration revealed that the FDA is likely to approve the use of psilocybin to treat depression sometime in the next two years. But cities and states are way ahead of the federal government. There are movements in more than two dozen states to either study, decriminalize or outright legalize mushrooms and other psychedelics. With many veterans as the face of the movement, it's happening in blue states like California, New York and Vermont, as well as in red states like Utah, Kansas and Florida. The epicenter of this movement, as was the case with cannabis legalization, is Colorado, where voters in November will decide whether to approve the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022, which would create state-regulated "healing centers" where anyone over 21 could receive psilocybin-assisted therapy. It's safe to say we are on the cusp of a new frontier in drug legalization, and in the next few years psychedelics are going to be as easily obtainable in cities and states across the country, as they are right now in D.C. And most politicians haven't even started to think through what their position on this issue should be. On this week's episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Ryan traveled to Littlejohn, Colorado and sat down with VERONICA LIGHTNING HORSE PEREZ , the co-leader of the Colorado mushroom campaign. They talked about how psychedelics helped treat her mental health issues, what it's like to undergo psychedelic therapy with mushrooms and ayahuasca, and her own journey to becoming the unlikely political activist at the forefront of legalization. Listen to the full episode here , and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
|  | | | | | A message from Meta:   | | | | | PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S FRIDAY — The president will receive the President's Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m.
Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will brief at 1:30 p.m.
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THE HOUSE will meet at 9 a.m., with last votes at 3 p.m. Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY will hold his weekly press conference at 9:30 a.m. Speaker NANCY PELOSI will hold hers at 10:45 a.m.
THE SENATE is out. | | | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today . | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
|  Vice President Kamala Harris waves after the conclusion of her speech at the Billie Holiday Theatre in Restoration Plaza on Thursday in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | ALL POLITICS PRIMARY COLORS — From Scott City, Mo., Kathy Gilsinan has a POLITICO Magazine feature on how ERIC GREITENS' scandals have shaped, anchored and elevated his Missouri GOP Senate bid. Though a torrent of negative ads have dislodged him from the polling lead, Greitens isn't out of the race yet: "His supporters do not believe he's done what he's accused of, they don't trust the media or the establishment politicians highlighting those things, and they do trust him, more or less." And Gilsinan finds that on the campaign trail, there's more to Greitens than the outrage-courting conservative flamethrower: He's also "the scholar and motivational speaker, a kind of MAGA BRENÉ BROWN." But, but, but: NYT's Blake Hounshell writes that a Greitens loss next week "will be a lesson that the laws of political gravity do, in fact, still apply." UPSET WATCH — Ohio Republicans are whispering that Rep. TIM RYAN's Democratic Senate campaign is too close to J.D. VANCE for comfort, as Ryan tries to appeal to Republicans as a moderate populist, NBC's Henry Gomez reports from Akron. Vance, whose campaign has been quiet this summer, even says he talked to a donor who thought Ryan was running as a Republican. HATE WATCH — The controversy around DOUG MASTRIANO's ties to antisemitic Christian nationalist ANDREW TORBA finally grew loud enough that the Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee put out a statement about it Thursday: "Andrew Torba doesn't speak for me or my campaign. I reject anti-Semitism in any form." Mastriano also criticized Democrats and said that "extremist speech is an unfortunate but inevitable cost of living in a free society." Mastriano's statement didn't, however, address Torba's claim that Mastriano won't give interviews to non-Christian reporters. POLL POSITION — New Fox News polling has results Democrats will like: JOHN FETTERMAN is ahead of MEHMET OZ by 11 points in the Senate race (47%-36%), while Mastriano is down to JOSH SHAPIRO by 10 (50%-40%), Dana Blanton reports . The GOP's weakness is largely due to Republicans having not consolidated behind their nominees yet. — In Georgia, Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK leads HERSCHEL WALKER by 4 points (46%-42%), while Gov. BRIAN KEMP leads STACEY ABRAMS by 3 points (47%-44%), per Fox News . Notably, in none of these Pennsylvania or Georgia races is anybody landing above 50% yet. JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH THE INVESTIGATIONS — The Justice Department is prepping for an executive privilege legal battle to try to get Trump White House figures to testify about what Trump did around Jan. 6, CNN's Evan Perez and Katelyn Polantz scooped . SIREN: "An executive privilege court fight would immediately put the Justice Department's investigation into a more aggressive stance than even the MUELLER investigation." — As the Jan. 6 committee and DOJ start sharing evidence more, the House panel is planning to share 20 witness transcripts with prosecutors, Kyle Cheney reports . That's a big step forward for cooperation — but it's also just 20 out of 1,000. — Georgia GOP Chair DAVID SHAFER, one of the 16 false Trump electors in the state whom Fulton County DA FANI WILLIS has probed, recently went before the special grand jury in Atlanta, CNN's Jason Morris, Zachary Cohen and Erin Burnett report . GONE WITH THE WIND — In crucial days leading up to Jan. 6, text messages sent by top DHS officials CHAD WOLF and KEN CUCCINELLI are missing, WaPo's Carol Leonnig and Maria Sacchetti report . Once again, the culprit is a "reset" of government phones that took place later that month. The DHS IG found out about the vanished texts in February, but did not take any action or "alert Congress to the potential destruction of government records." — Secret Service Director JAMES MURRAY is postponing his retirement to handle the brouhaha over agents' deleted texts from Jan. 6, CBS' Nicole Sganga scooped .
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | JUDICIARY SQUARE ALITO SPEAKS — In remarks delivered last week but newly made public on Thursday, Justice SAMUEL ALITO made fun of foreign leaders who criticized his decision overturning Roe. "One of these was former (British) Prime Minister BORIS JOHNSON," Alito joked. "But he paid the price." "All I am going to say is that ultimately if we are going to win the battle to protect religious freedom in an increasingly secular society, we will need more than positive law," Alito added. More from USA Today POLITICAL VIOLENCE WATCH — DAVID JAKUBONIS, the man accused of trying to stab Rep. LEE ZELDIN (R-N.Y.), will stay in custody as the court awaits a mental health evaluation. Jakubonis' lawyer "said his client was a mentally battle-scarred Iraq War vet with a drinking problem, who had relapsed after a recent breakup," per the N.Y. Post . — EUGENE HUELSMAN, who was convicted of making a death threat against Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.), was sentenced Thursday to six months of house arrest, per Josh Gerstein . AMERICA AND THE WORLD HE SAID, XI SAID — The call Thursday between Biden and Chinese President XI JINPING seemed to take no concrete steps on a range of crucial irritants in their countries' ties, Phelim Kine and Mohar Chatterjee report . "That stalemate in the bilateral relationship imposes high expectations for an in-person meeting that the two leaders are negotiating for later this year." PELOSI HEADS TO ASIA — Pelosi departs today on her Asia trip, but whether she'll go to Taiwan remains unclear. More from Bloomberg THE PANDEMIC GETTING A BOOST — Reformulated coronavirus vaccine boosters will be rolled out in September, the Biden administration expects, per NYT's Noah Weiland and Sharon LaFraniere . Pfizer and Moderna have told the U.S. the doses will be ready by then. As a result, the administration has decided against expanding the current booster shots to adults under 50 this summer, as they were originally planning. Worth noting: That choice came despite advocacy from ANTHONY FAUCI and ASHISH JHA to make them available to all adults now. TV TONIGHT — PBS' "Washington Week": Jonathan Lemire, Amara Omeokwe, Ayesha Rascoe and Marianna Sotomayor. SUNDAY SO FAR … CNN "State of the Union": Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) … Australian PM Anthony Albanese. Panel: Karen Finney, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Abdul El-Sayed and David Urban. FOX "Fox News Sunday," guest-anchored by Bret Baier: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Tudor Dixon. Panel: Guy Benson, Catherine Lucey, Gillian Turner and Marie Harf. ABC "This Week": Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) … Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Panel: Frank Luntz, Marianna Sotomayor, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Susan Page. CBS "Face the Nation": Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Neel Kashkari. Panel: Robert Costa, Jonathan Martin, Asma Khalid and Ramesh Ponnuru. NBC "Meet the Press": Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Panel: Carlos Curbelo, Adrienne Elrod, Jonathan Lemire and Kristen Welker. MSNBC "The Sunday Show": Devlin Barrett … Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) … Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes … Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) … Ruth Ben-Ghiat … Nan Whaley … Joan Walsh. CNN "Inside Politics": Panel: MJ Lee, Jonathan Martin and John Bresnahan.
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY . | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Naomi Biden will have her wedding on the South Lawn . Barack and Michelle Obama will be back at the White House on Sept. 7 as their official portraits are unveiled, per People . Katherine Faulders landed a string of Jan. 6 scoops this week while she was stuck at home with a Covid-positive baby . Donald Trump dismissed criticism of his Saudi golf ties by saying, "Nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11."
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Former President Donald Trump plays during the pro-am round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, NJ., on Thursday. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo | SPORTS BLINK — The Cedric Richmond era is really over. Republicans crushed Democrats 10-0 in the Congressional Baseball Game on Thursday night, perhaps signaling a new period of dominance after a long fallow stretch last decade. Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), the relief pitcher, was named the GOP's MVP. More from The Hill More on the game: Climate activists tried to disrupt the game to urge more aggressive action, and multiple protesters were arrested, per WTOP . … House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who was nearly killed at practice five years ago, told the Washington Examiner's Juliegrace Brufke that "for all practical purposes, I've fully healed and am very lucky to be alive, so I don't take anything for granted." … Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) reminisced to Roll Call's Chris Cioffi ahead of his final game: "During the game, you feel like you're 18 years old — you're playing in a major league field in front of thousands of people … The next morning, you feel 118 because everything in your body is sore."
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Republicans celebrate after winning the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity at Nationals Park on Thursday in Washington, DC. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images | OUT AND ABOUT — Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, Robert Montgomery and Alex Marquardt headlined a fundraiser Thursday night to benefit journalists covering the war in Ukraine via Reporters Without Borders. "You are as brave and as heroic as all the Ukrainians who are fighting," Markarova said. SPOTTED: Yasmeen Abutaleb, Shane Harris, Damian Paletta, Yamiche Alcindor, David Chavern, Tammy Haddad, Jonathan Martin and Betsy Fischer Martin, Steven Portnoy, Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Jen Psaki, Denyce Graves, Robert Costa, Adrienne Elrod and Nkechi Nneji. — The Insured Retirement Institute hosted a pre-Congressional Baseball Game reception at Gatsby's, across from Nats Park. SPOTTED: Reps. Rick Allen (R-Ga.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Wayne Chopus, Marc Cadin, Kevin Mayeux, Paul Richman, John Jennings, Laricke Blanchard, Carol Danko, David Burns, Carson Lewis and Jason Rosenstock. STAFFING UP — Derrick Brent will be deputy undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual property and deputy director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He most recently was a consultant, and is a Barbara Boxer alum. MEDIA MOVE — Quint Forgey is departing POLITICO, where he's a reporter and co-author of National Security Daily. He's heading to Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government to get a master's in public policy. TRANSITIONS — Michael Shapiro is now managing director of government affairs for Blackstone, with a focus on infrastructure investments and projects. He most recently was deputy assistant Transportation secretary for economic policy, and was a member of the White House Infrastructure Implementation Task Force. … Sarah Audelo will be deputy advocacy director, states at the Open Society Foundations. She most recently was executive director at Alliance for Youth. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) … NBC's Peter Alexander … White House's Herbie Ziskend and Lise Clavel … Ja'Ron Smith of Dentons Global Advisors … Ken Burns … WaPo's Carol Eisenberg … Sheila Dwyer … Jim Hake of Spirit of America … POLITICO's Olivia George, Tejus Gangadhar and Luis Morales … E&E News' Kelsey Brugger … CNN's Kristin Fisher … Rick VanMeter … Laura McGann … Alexah Rogge … Rob Hennings … Katherine Lugar of the American Beverage Association … Snap's Laura Nichols … Bloomberg's David Westin … AP's Aaron Kessler … Garance Franke-Ruta … former Reps. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) … Caitria Mahoney … Washington Lt. Gov. Denny Heck … former Sens. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and Nancy Kassebaum Baker (R-Kan.) (9-0) … Marilyn Quayle … Charles Hoskinson … Lyndsay Polloway … Nathan Sell of the American Cleaning Institute … Nate Rawlings … Denver Mayor Michael Hancock … Karl Douglass Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine. | | A message from Meta: The metaverse will make learning more interactive
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