| | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BREAKING OVERNIGHT — “Macron postpones state visit to Germany to deal with violent riots across France,” by Federica Di Sario: “According to the latest estimates by France’s Interior Ministry, up to 1,300 rioters were arrested in the night between Friday and Saturday.” ’TIS THE SEASON — “Fourth of July Travel: Why Your Flight Cancelation or Delay Is Inevitable,” by WSJ’s Ethan Steinberg
|  President Joe Biden lays out a new path to the millions of Americans who had been promised as much as $20,000 in forgiven debt. | Evan Vucci, File/AP Photo | WHAT’S NEXT ON STUDENT DEBT — Shortly after 10 a.m. yesterday, with a mix of dejection and focus, aides all around the White House logged on to SCOTUSblog and Twitter. After a series of Supreme Court decisions this term that remade American society in the image of its conservative majority, officials were girding for the final and most personal blow — the overturning of President JOE BIDEN’s $400 billion student debt relief plan. It was an outcome the administration had long been planning for. Hours later, Biden stood before reporters in the Roosevelt Room and laid out a new path to the millions of Americans who had been promised as much as $20,000 in forgiven debt. He said the court “misinterpreted the Constitution” and announced the administration would pursue different avenues for student debt relief. What will end up being legally and administratively workable, however, is in serious question. Officials acknowledge any alternative pursued under the federal Higher Education Act will take months to develop, and there is no way to know how many people it will affect until the full process is done. Waiting on the other end is more litigation and a skeptical high court. Insulating any new moves against another judicial death blow appears likely to narrow the scope of relief and slow down the timeline considerably as administration officials move carefully through the policymaking process. Pressed for details yesterday, National Economic Council Deputy Director BHARAT RAMAMURTI told reporters that officials “can’t actually prejudge its outcome” but “our goal is to provide relief to as many borrowers as possible under this process.” Meanwhile, those hoping for relief are now just two months away from having to restart payments for the first time since March 2020. Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA announced steps yesterday meant to make the transition easier. As our colleague Michael Stratford lays out, borrowers will (1) have a 12-month “on-ramp” period where they won’t get dinged on their credit reports if they miss payments (though interest will continue to accrue) and (2) be eligible for new “income-driven” payment payment plans that will require them to pay as little as 5% of their monthly disposable income. As for the politics … Advocates for student borrowers have pointed their ire squarely at the court, at least for now. Those we spoke to last night were actually pleasantly surprised that a Plan B was already in the works — a stark contrast to the criticism that the White House invited last year for not immediately laying out next steps after the court knocked down Roe v. Wade. “As of today, Joe Biden is standing in the corner of student loan borrowers and standing against a court that wants to take away their rights to debt relief. And that leaves us in a good place,” said MIKE PIERCE, the executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center. “But at the end of the day, we’re going to measure this by who’s debt-free, and the jury is still out on whether the president is ultimately going to be able to keep this promise.” — Related read: “Supreme Court Decisions on Education Could Offer Democrats an Opening,” by NYT’s Jonathan Weisman: “The decisions this week on affirmative action and student loans give Democrats a way to make a case on class and appeal to voters who have drifted away from the party.”
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Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | | What’s already clear is that Democratic attacks on the conservative Supreme Court are only beginning. The anger expressed from all corners of the left this week “indicated that Democrats are gearing up for a more robust — and direct — battle against a court that many of them believe has become an illegitimate outgrowth of the Republican Party,” WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reported last night. Included in that are calls — screams? — for Biden to come out in favor of changes such as expanding the court or instituting term limits, which he has long been resistant to support. Still, it’s been hard to miss that Biden, ever the institutionalist, has become more and more comfortable with criticizing not just the court’s decisions but also the court itself, as our Holly Otterbein and Zach Montellaro report. Biden’s response this week to the end of another conservative-leaning term, they write, moves him “incrementally closer to his party’s base, even pleasing some of the progressive activists who have pushed him to adopt hardline changes to the court — and who will be a key part of any successful coalition for him in the 2024 presidential election.” TERM IN REVIEW — “The Supreme Court’s term was full of whimpers. Then it ended with a bang,” by Josh Gerstein: “Moves by Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS in the weeks leading up to the grand finale seemed to signal an eagerness on his part to project an air of moderation. … But if Roberts amassed some political capital from those decisions, he swiftly spent it on Thursday and Friday. In the three most politically divisive cases of the term, the court issued polarized 6-3 decisions — two of which Roberts wrote himself, and all of which delivered sweeping conservative victories on issues that are high priorities for the right.“ Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. What are your end-of-term SCOTUS hot takes? Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | A HEADLINE THE WHITE HOUSE WILL LIKE — “Markets’ Monster 2023 Rally Defied All Expectations,” WSJ COMING WEDNESDAY — “Biden will host Sweden’s prime minister at the White House as the Nordic nation seeks to join NATO,” AP
| | BIDEN’S SATURDAY — The president has nothing on his public schedule.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SATURDAY — The VP has nothing on her public schedule. | | | | | | 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
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Moms for Liberty meeting yesterday in Philadelphia, where he and Donald Trump raced to the right to outflank each other on education. | Matt Rourke/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. HOW CLOSE WE CAME: In the weeks after he lost the 2020 election, then-President DONALD TRUMP called then-Arizona Gov. DOUG DUCEY directly to urge him to overturn the results, WaPo’s Leigh Ann Caldwell, Josh Dawsey and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez reveal this morning. Trump also tried to get his VP MIKE PENCE to join in the pressure campaign. Though Ducey didn’t record the call, he said privately earlier this year that he’s surprised special counsel JACK SMITH’s team hasn’t asked him about it, per the Post. 2. DEMOCRACY WATCH: “Battle over Wisconsin’s top elections official could have ripple effects for 2024,” by AP’s Harm Venhuizen: “MEAGAN WOLFE, the nonpartisan administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, has been a target of conspiracy theorists … Republicans who control the state Legislature have called for Wolfe to resign over how she ran the 2020 contest, even though multiple reports and reviews found the election was fair and the results accurate. Democratic election commissioners are attempting to work around lawmakers to keep Wolfe in office indefinitely after her term ends Saturday. Both sides rely on arguments that raise unanswered legal questions and could take months to resolve through the courts.” 3. PULLOUT FALLOUT: “Biden administration failed to foresee Afghanistan mayhem, review finds,” by WaPo’s Michael Birnbaum and Dan Lamothe: “A State Department report released Friday faults the agency’s crisis management and awareness before and during the fall of Afghanistan, findings certain to be trumpeted by Republicans and other critics who have charged that bureaucratic lethargy played a significant role in the chaos and violence that unfolded nearly two years ago during one of the Biden administration’s darkest moments.” 4. CASH DASH: Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS has joined the millionaires’ club. His latest financial disclosure shows that his net worth skyrocketed thanks to a recent book deal, from $319,000 in 2021 to $1.17 million at the end of last year, the Orlando Sentinel’s Skyler Swisher reports. He pulled in $1.25 million from HarperCollins for “The Courage to Be Free.” ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.’s FEC filing showed that he made $7.8 million last year, NYT’s Rebecca Davis O’Brien reports. That includes more than $500,000 from his anti-vaccine Children’s Health Defense organization and almost $1.6 million from a law firm that sues pharmaceutical companies and others. 5. POLL POSITION: “The RNC’s debate plans have a major, largely unnoticed problem,” by Steve Shepard: “[M]eeting the Republican National Committee’s polling requirements … might be a lot harder than it looked at first blush. That’s because the RNC’s criteria exclude virtually all of the public surveys conducted these days, meaning there may not be many opportunities for the lower-polling candidates to even hit that 1 percent. According to the RNC’s guidelines, in order to count for debate qualifying, polls have to survey at least 800 ‘likely’ primary voters or caucus-goers. [Those] criteria aren’t just strict — they’re unrealistic.” Notable: RealClearPolitics’ Philip Wegmann reports that the DeSantis-allied Never Back Down super PAC “expects that if Trump skips that [first debate], the governor won’t participate either.” 6. DAVID WEISS PUSHES BACK: “Hunter Biden prosecutor maintains he had ‘ultimate authority’ over probe: ‘I stand by what I wrote,’” by the N.Y. Post’s Victor Nava and Steven Nelson: “In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman JIM JORDAN, obtained by The Post, US Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss maintained that he was being truthful in a June 7 missive to the Ohio Republican when he wrote that he was in charge of ‘deciding where, when, and whether to file charges’ against President Biden’s son.” 7. NEXT TERM’S BIG SCOTUS CASE: “Supreme Court takes up case over gun ban for those under domestic violence restraining orders,” by CBS’ Melissa Quinn: “The Supreme Court said Friday it will consider whether a 30-year-old federal law that prohibits people under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing guns violates the Second Amendment, taking up a case that will test the high court’s new standard for determining whether firearm restrictions pass constitutional muster.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | 8. BURNS AFTER READING: CIA Director WILLIAM BURNS secretly traveled to Ukraine last month to hear Kyiv’s plans for ending the war, which entail making significant territorial gains by the fall and then starting cease-fire talks with Russia by the end of the year, WaPo’s John Hudson and Shane Harris scooped. Burns’ goal was also to reiterate the U.S. commitment to sharing intelligence with Ukraine. And after last weekend’s near-coup in Russia, Burns called his counterpart in Moscow, SERGEI NARYSHKIN, to emphasize that the U.S. had played no role in it, WSJ’s Warren Strobel scooped. 9. EXIT INTERVIEW: “To Foreign Policy Veteran, the Real Danger Is at Home,” by NYT’s Peter Baker: “[A]s he steps down after two decades running America’s most storied private organization focused on international affairs, [Council on Foreign Relations President RICHARD] HAASS has come to a disturbing conclusion. The most serious danger to the security of the world right now? The threat that costs him sleep? The United States itself.” CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker —14 funnies
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Rogers - TinyView.com | GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza: — “Keeping Speech Robust and Free,” by Jeffrey Toobin in The New York Review of Books: “The case of New York Times v. Sullivan set a vital standard in libel law. Could the clash between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems dismantle it — and at what cost?” — “Cancelled,” London Review of Books: “Amia Srinivasan writes about free speech on campus.” — “Two North Korean defectors: a tale of secrets, lies and love,” by FT’s Edward White and Kang Buseong: “After she fled to South Korea, Kim Joo Kyung couldn’t stop thinking about her first love. She decided to try to find him.” — “The Man Who Broke Bowling,” by GQ’s Eric Wills: “Jason Belmonte’s two-handed technique made him an outcast. Then it made him the greatest — and changed the sport forever.” — “About That Time John F. Kennedy Jr. Hunted for Pirate Treasure,” by Kate Storey in Esquire: “An excerpt from the new book White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port offers a rare glimpse into JFK Jr.’s life at the private family compound.” — “The Night 17 Million Precious Military Records Went Up in Smoke,” by Megan Greenwell in Wired: “Fifty years ago, a fire ripped through the National Personnel Records Center. It set off a massive project to save crucial pieces of American history — including, I hoped, my grandfather’s.” — “Frozen in time,” by Science’s Warren Cornwall in Minneapolis: “Scientists are learning how to cryopreserve living tissues, organs, and even whole organisms, then bring them back to life.” — “What May Be One of the Biggest Jewelry Heists Ever Is Still a Mystery,” with illustrations By Dorothy Gambrell for Bloomberg Businessweek: “And the stolen merchandise — worth either $8.7 million or about $100 million, depending on whom you ask — is nowhere to be found.” — “Grady Kurpasi Went to Ukraine to Fight. Then He Disappeared,” by Kevin Maurer in Rolling Stone: “A 50-year-old Marine with his years of service behind him gave up everything when Russia invaded Ukraine. It would be a year before his family learned what really happened to him.” — “Inside the Secretive World of Penile Enlargement,” by ProPublica’s Ava Kofman: “How a doctor’s two-decade quest to grow the penis is leaving some men desperate and disfigured.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO 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 | | Abby Grossberg settled with Fox News for $12 million. Ron DeSantis’ campaign attacked Donald Trump for supporting LGBTQ people — and got called out by the Log Cabin Republicans for homophobia. Melissa Block is leaving NPR after 38 years. Ed Lewis retired from Fox News with a congratulatory gift from the White House. Walt Nauta and Trump stopped by Pat’s King of Steaks in Philly. SPOTTED: White House chief of staff Jeff Zients having dinner with his family last night at the new José Andrés restaurant Bazaar at the Waldorf Astoria. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Christian Tom is returning to the Biden White House as director of the Office of Digital Strategy. He most recently was at the McCourt Institute. More from the AP ENGAGED — Connor Pfeiffer, executive director of the Forum for American Leadership, and Serena Frechter, deputy director of the Public Interest Fellowship, got engaged Tuesday in the Cotswolds in England. They met when Serena recognized Connor at a bar in D.C. Pic WEDDING — Julie Tsirkin, Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, and Gavi Reichman, technical product manager at Finra, got married Tuesday in Certaldo, Italy. They met at Rutgers their freshman year. Pic … Another pic BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Revv’s Robert Mohn HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sally Quinn … Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) … Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) and Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) … Guy Cecil of Priorities USA … NBC’s Kristen Welker … Brett Zongker of the Library of Congress … Renewable Fuels Association’s Bob Dinneen … Washingtonian’s Susan Farkas … Mike Czin of SKDK … Greta Lundeberg of Boeing … Grace Koh … National Journal’s Kirk Bado … AJ Roshfeld … Neal Patel of the Alpine Group … Clark Jennings … North American Millers’ Association’s Jane DeMarchi … POLITICO’s Timothy Cama, Vali Mansouri and Jason Plautz … Molly Wicker of Braver Angels … John Giesser … State’s Victoria Nuland … Martin Indyk THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): CNN “State of the Union”: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg … Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) … Chris Christie … Will Hurd. Panel: Alice Stewart, Karen Finney, Larry Hogan and Faiz Shakir. ABC “This Week”: Mike Pence … Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Supreme Court panel: Sherrilyn Ifill and Jennifer Mascott. Panel: Heidi Heitkamp, Sarah Isgur, Rick Klein and Juana Summers. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Nikki Haley … Jennifer Griffin … Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.). Panel: Doug Heye, Annmarie Hordern, Penny Nance and Richard Fowler. CBS “Face the Nation”: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg … Mike Pence … Eric Holder … Michael Drake … Lindsay Gorman. NBC “Meet the Press,” with a special edition on the fentanyl crisis: DEA Administrator Anne Milgram … Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) … Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Panel: Lori Lightfoot, Andrew Kolodny and Jan Rader. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures,” guest-hosted by Jason Chaffetz: John Ratcliffe … Larry Elder … Florida AG Ashley Moody … North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. MSNBC “The Katie Phang Show”: Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) … Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride … Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried … Molly Jong-Fast … Joia Crear-Perry. 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 DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook misstated the outlet for which Melissa Gira Grant writes. It is The New Republic.
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