Playbook PM: McConnell vs. the establishment

Apr 23, 2020

By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun

Presented by

IT IS NOW PRACTICALLY CERTAIN that the next knock-down, drag-out legislative fight of the coronavirus era will be over whether the federal government should send hundreds of billions of dollars to cash-strapped states, or allow them to declare bankruptcy.

IN ONE CORNER is Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL, who has cast doubt on the efficacy and propriety of sending hundreds of billions of dollars to states, and suggested they file for bankruptcy protection if they are in financial straits.

IN THE OTHER CORNER is, well, most other elected officials: President DONALD TRUMP and his occasional rival, Maryland's Republican Gov. LARRY HOGAN, both support Congress sending a pot of money to help states. New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO and his occasional rival, Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, do as well. NANCY PELOSI, the powerful speaker of the House, represents a caucus of Democrats who believe the primary way to combat the depths of this crisis is continued aggressive federal spending.

IN SHORT, THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT -- pockets of elected officials from the right, left and center -- says it recognizes the red ink that will be dripping off of state budgets, and says federal intervention is of critical importance.

ALL OF THIS WILL COME TO A HEAD in the coming months, when Congress begins to haggle over another stimulus package. The backdrop: 26 MILLION people out of work, nearly 50,000 Americans dead and nearly 1 million ill or recovered from the novel coronavirus.

MCCONNELL'S allies say the Kentucky Republican is, broadly speaking, representing a Senate Republican Conference that's bone tired of spending, and beginning to gain religion again on the ballooning federal budget deficit. Congress has OK'd nearly $2.5 trillion in spending over the last few months to help the country recover from the deadly virus.

BUT IT'S INCREASINGLY CLEAR that resisting assistance for state capitals is going to be difficult, as it has quickly become a priority on both sides of the aisle in state capitals like Albany and Annapolis, and in Washington itself.

CUOMO said in Albany today that suggesting states declare bankruptcy is "one of the really dumb ideas."

HOGAN, who chairs the National Governors Association with CUOMO, said in a Playbook Interview his state will have a $2.8 billion budget shortfall by July 1. The NGA has been lobbying for $500 billion in federal money for states. He said MCCONNELL will come to "regret" saying that states should file for bankruptcy protection, because "the last thing we need in the middle of an economic crisis is to have states all filing bankruptcy all across America and not able to provide services to people who desperately need them and further exacerbating the problems of this economic crisis."

HOGAN WAS LIKEWISE sharp in his criticism of Republicans like MCCONNELL'S team who call federal assistance a "blue-state bailout."

"THAT'S COMPLETE NONSENSE," HOGAN said. "These are well-run states. There are just as many Republicans as Democrats that strongly support this. ... I'm hopeful that we're going to be able to -- between the administration and the 55 governors in America, including the territories -- we're going to convince Sen. McConnell that maybe he shouldn't let all the states go bankrupt."

MCCONNELL'S OFFICE pointed to the Kentucky Republican's public remarks, and declined comment on HOGAN'S criticism.

OTHER HOGAN HIGHLIGHTS ...

-- HOGAN on dealing with TRUMP: "I don't go out of my way to, you know, poke the bear, or to criticize him unnecessarily. I just tried to be helpful with suggestions about the things that we really need, and I try to push for the things that we need."

-- WILL DMV RESIDENTS BE ABLE TO PLAY GOLF IN MD. SOON? "I think opening golf courses ... will be one of the early things that we do in the first part of our reopening. ... I don't see you being able to hang at the bar with your buddies in the clubhouse, but I think you'll be able to get out there and, you know, take a few swings in the grass in a safe way." Watch the full interview

A message from PhRMA:

In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. We are expanding our unique manufacturing capabilities and sharing available capacity to ramp up production once a successful medicine or vaccine is developed. Explore our efforts.

THE PITS ... 4.4 MILLION Americans filed for jobless claims last week, bringing the total number of unemployed to 26 MILLION.

-- BIGGEST INCREASES: Colorado, New York, Missouri, Florida and North Carolina.

HERE'S A STUNNING GRAF from Bloomberg, which shows the depths of the unemployment picture.

-- "The $600 Unemployment Booster Shot, State by State," by NYT's Ella Koeze: "Before the coronavirus, people receiving unemployment benefits in most states got, on average, less than half their weekly salaries. Now, as millions file claims, many are poised to receive more money than they would have typically earned in their jobs, thanks to the additional $600 a week set aside in the federal stimulus package for the unemployed."

Good Thursday afternoon.

THE HOUSE is voting later today to send another coronavirus relief bill to TRUMP.

TERRIFIC STORY ... WAPO: "They lived in a factory for 28 days to make millions of pounds of raw PPE materials to help fight coronavirus," by Meagan Flynn

IN MEMORIAM -- "Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother dies of coronavirus in Oklahoma," by The Boston Globe's Jess Bidgood: "Donald Reed Herring, the oldest brother of Senator Elizabeth Warren, died on Tuesday night in Norman, Okla., about three weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.

"Herring, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was 86. Warren, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration's halting response to the pandemic for months, has not previously revealed that her family was waging its own personal battle against the virus. She confirmed his death in a statement provided to the Globe and said the cause was coronavirus." Boston Globe

VA TROUBLES -- "VA medical facilities struggle to cope with coronavirus," by AP's Michael Casey and Hope Yen in Boston: "As she treated patient after patient infected with the coronavirus at a Veterans Affairs medical center in New York City, Heather Espinal saw stark warning signs. So many nurses had called in sick, she said, that the Bronx facility was woefully understaffed. ... Espinal is one of 1,900 VA health care workers who have become sick with the coronavirus, according to agency documents obtained by The Associated Press. Twenty have died.

"Another 3,600 of the 300,000-plus VA health care employees are quarantined and unable to work because they have been exposed to the virus, according to VA figures. As the coronavirus spreads across the U.S., VA health care facilities are struggling with shortages of workers and the equipment necessary to protect employees from contracting the virus, according to VA staff and internal documents obtained by the AP." AP

JOIN TODAY - COVID-19 AND THE ECONOMIC IMPACT ON WOMEN: It's no secret that the coronavirus has an economic impact - but did you know it's taking an especially heavy toll on the economic well-being of women? Join Women Rule Editorial Director Anna Palmer today at 4 p.m. EDT for a virtual conversation with Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest. Hear from Sallie on what steps women can take to regain control of their finances and weather the economic storm. Have a question for Sallie? Tweet it to @POLITICOLive using #AskPOLITICO. REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE.

THE VENTILATOR HUNT -- "Coronavirus Pandemic Prompts Race in Latin America to Build Cheaper Ventilators," by WSJ's Juan Forero in Bogotá, Colombia, and Santiago Pérez in Mexico City: "With the coronavirus pandemic bearing down on Latin America and ventilators in short supply, engineers, entrepreneurs and physicians are coming together with an audacious goal: building their own breathing machines from scratch in a matter of weeks.

"In Colombia, they started in mid-March, using open-source specs from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their partners, manufacturers in Medellín, began to retool automotive and appliance plants to make less expensive ventilators, with production costs at roughly $1,500 apiece, a fraction of the market price. They have started testing on pigs and hope to run clinical trials on people soon." WSJ

CENSUS UPDATE -- "Spotify and text-a-thons: How the census is reaching out during coronavirus," by Maya King and Danielle Muoio: "As the coronavirus bears down on cities and states across the nation, the Census Bureau has scrubbed in-person get-out-the-count work in favor of ad buys on Spotify, thousand-person text-a-thons and virtual speakers series. But despite an extensive statistical database and half-billion-dollar ad strategy to get a proper count, local officials warn that millions could still slip through the cracks.

"Spotify may not reach the hardest to count parts of the U.S. population. Those are the people in-person canvassers normally try to cajole to fill out census forms in person or online. The Census Bureau has extended the response deadline to Oct. 31 from August 15. ... It has also requested a delay of delivery of final data figures to the president by four months to April 30, 2021, pushing state redistricting operations into July of next year. So far, the United States' response rate sits just above 50 percent." POLITICO California

WHO'S LEFT HANGING -- "Young people are being left out of coronavirus economic relief efforts. That could be a big problem," by WaPo's Jacqueline Alemany and Brent Griffiths: "During the despair of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established ambitious federally funded jobs programs directly aimed at buoying young people. Now, in the midst of the historic novel coronavirus pandemic, there's a growing consensus among lawmakers and policy wonks that young millennials and their Generation Z counterparts need the same kind of aggressive government boost.

"But historians doubt any government intervention of the kind that helped lift a generation of young people out of poverty in the 1930s would be workable today. Conspicuously left out of the $2 trillion stimulus package, most high school seniors and many college students are not eligible for broad financial assistance from the government to help them dig out of the pandemic's economic hole." WaPo

COLLEGE IMPACT -- "Desperate for fall enrollees, colleges are luring students with campus perks and cold cash," by WaPo's Jon Marcus: "Put down a deposit and, at some schools, your tuition will never go up. Like to sleep in? Other colleges will give you early registration privileges so you don't get stuck with morning classes. Still others are throwing in free food, free football tickets, even free books autographed by celebrity faculty members in residence. ...

"In a twist of timing, some of the inducements are a consequence of a Justice Department action that forced college admissions officers to drop key parts of their professional code of ethics, which prohibited many of these kinds of appeals and banned colleges from pursuing each other's students." WaPo

THE RIPPLE EFFECT -- "Vaccine Rates Drop Dangerously as Parents Avoid Doctor's Visits," by NYT's Jan Hoffman: "As parents around the country cancel well-child checkups to avoid coronavirus exposure, public health experts fear they are inadvertently sowing the seeds of another health crisis. Immunizations are dropping at a dangerous rate, putting millions of children at risk for measles, whooping cough and other life-threatening illnesses. ...

"The problem is global. National immunization programs in more than two dozen countries have been suspended, which could also leave more than 100 million children vulnerable, a consortium of international organizations, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, recently reported." NYT

OUR NEIGHBORS NEED YOUR HELP: Layoffs, school closures, and health fears. Everyone is struggling, and our neighbors need our help now more than ever. From grab-and-go dinners for kids to boxes of groceries for seniors, you can help provide critical support for people in the greater D.C. community who need it most. No one should go hungry during this pandemic. Together, we can make sure no one has to. Please support the Capital Area Food Bank's COVID-19 response today.

E-RING READING -- "Fox News regular Anthony Tata to be tapped as Pentagon policy chief," by Daniel Lippman and Lara Seligman: "Anthony Tata, a retired Army brigadier general, novelist and Fox News regular, will be tapped as the next Pentagon policy chief, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

"If confirmed by the Senate, Tata would replace John Rood, who was forced out in February as part of President Donald Trump's loyalty purge after two years in the job. According [to] two current administration officials and one former defense official, Tata beat out Douglas Macgregor, another retired Army officer and frequent Fox News commentator, for the job. Both were interviewed by Trump." POLITICO

BETWEEN BARACK AND A HARD PLACE -- "Biden's ties to Obama could hamper appeal to Latino voters," by AP's Will Weissert: "For many Latinos, Biden's embrace of the Obama years is a frightening reminder of when the former president ejected about 3 million people living in the U.S. illegally, earning him the moniker of 'deporter in chief.' That's one reason Latinos overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.

"But with the Vermont senator out of the race and Biden left as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Latinos face an agonizing choice. They could look past Biden's resume and vote for him or sit out the election and risk another four years of President Donald Trump, who escalated his hard-line stance this week with an executive order freezing some immigration into the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic." AP

MEDIAWATCH -- "The New York Times Will Pause Printing of Sports and Travel Sections," by Cheddar's Michelle Castillo: "In a note that will be sent out to employees this week, executive editor Dean Baquet and managing editor Joseph Kahn told employees the Travel section of the newspaper will be replaced with a new section called At Home which will debut on Sunday. In addition, the Sunday Sports section will no longer be printed separately and will be folded into the front section of the newspaper. Additional travel-related stories could live throughout the paper."

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, a senior editor at The Nation, and Joe Bernstein, a technology reporter at BuzzFeed, welcomed Kian Leo Bernstein on Tuesday in New York City.

A message from PhRMA:

In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. Explore our efforts.