Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: POLITICO Playbook: How to translate congressional code

POLITICO Playbook: How to translate congressional code

Jul 29, 2020

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By Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer

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DRIVING THE DAY

ON TUESDAY, during a meeting in Speaker NANCY PELOSI'S office suite, the speaker and Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER had a point to make: The Republicans' $1 trillion Covid relief plan and the Democrats' multi trillion-dollar HEROES Act are simply irreconcilable.

"IT'S LIKE A GIRAFFE AND A FLAMINGO," PELOSI said to the room, which included SCHUMER, White House chief of staff MARK MEADOWS and Treasury Secretary STEVEN MNUCHIN. "They're both at a zoo. A dumb person may think they could mate for offspring. A smart person knows that's impossible. That's our bills. They're unable to mate."

SCHUMER compared them to dogs -- "a golden retriever can't mate with a Chihuahua. You have a Chihuahua. We have a beautiful lion," he said, according to multiple people in the room. PELOSI then helpfully reminded SCHUMER that a lion is a cat, so, no, they could not mate.

THERE COMES A POINT IN EVERY CONGRESSIONAL NEGOTIATION where it would be helpful for Google Translate to have a feature to turn Capitol Hill speak to English. Political leaders talk in hard-to-decipher code that leaves reporters confused, markets seesawing and novice observers guessing what the heck everyone is talking about.

WE'VE REACHED THAT POINT.

AFTER A FEW DAYS OF NEGOTIATIONS, it seems like MEADOWS, MNUCHIN, PELOSI, SCHUMER and Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL are speaking to us in Swahili, played backward.

SO, JOHN BRESNAHAN suggested we use this space to try to give you a sense of what to listen to when you're listening to these people. We spoke to our Hill colleagues -- most of whom work for other news outlets -- to help us decipher all of this stuff.

1) "WE'VE HAD A GOOD MEETING, we're making progress, good discussions": Man, we're screwed. This means nothing is going on, and the meeting might as well have been canceled. This is filler -- and the worst kind of filler at that. When you're having a good meeting, you don't need to say it. You just have it. And, more times than not, when you have a good meeting, you don't leave until that good meeting comes up with something better than "we had a good meeting."

2) METAPHORS GALORE: We -- meaning the American people and their elected and unelected representatives in D.C. -- have become way too reliant on stupid sports metaphors to illustrate progress or lack thereof. The 20-yard line, the 5-yard line -- whatever. Imagined progress on a football field does not equate to real progress, and it's a cheap way to try to say the process is moving. Thanks to the NYT's EMILY COCHRANE, even MEADOWS is beginning to realize that it's lame: "Somebody didn't want football analogies, so I still think we're doing the second inning," he said walking out of the Capitol on Tuesday evening.

3) MCCONNELL-ESE: WHEN MCCONNELL SPEAKS, you must listen, because he doesn't say a lot. When the Kentucky Republican suggested it is up to MEADOWS and MNUCHIN to negotiate with the Democrats, that's MCCONNELL gently tapping the administration under a speeding fast bus. Sure, MCCONNELL is saying, you figure it out with PELOSI and SCHUMER, and let me know how it goes. This means he wants deniability and distance. And, by the way, when MCCONNELL said he was opposed to providing billions for a new FBI building in downtown Washington as part of this bill, he was ensuring the tire tracks stayed nice and bright on President DONALD TRUMP'S back.

-- SOMEHOW, THE DEMOCRATS need our Google Translator too, because they were asking the Treasury to find out if MCCONNELL really needed a liability overhaul as part of this bill. That's the only thing he's ever said in this negotiation: that if there is no liability reform, there is no deal. If you listen closer, MCCONNELL isn't ruling out a negotiated settlement.

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

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4) UNDERSTANDING PELOSI AND SCHUMER. The speaker opened her evening media availability Tuesday night with this: "We're going to be very brief because we have work to do." And, in her dialect this meant, "God, the Republicans are so bad, and we have to at least try to make something of their mess."

-- PELOSI then said: "We are going to meet again tomorrow. But part of what we are doing now is really airing our differences. There is discovery in understanding where there might be opportunity or not." Read that as: "Man, we hope there's an agreement, but getting there will be trying to do backflips on dental floss."

5) TRUMP'S SILENCE: untranslatable. It's like Shalom in Hebrew: It can mean hi, goodbye or peace.

6) "WE'RE NOW GOING TO SEE THE PRESIDENT TO UPDATE HIM … TALKS ARE JUST BEGINNING": MNUCHIN said this Tuesday evening as he left the Capitol. This means talks are nowhere, and the administration is beginning to get frustrated.

OK, NOW, HOW TO KNOW WE'RE CLOSE: A deal will come together at some point -- we think! -- and here's what it will look like. Progress will be rolling along, and details will leak out signaling momentum. Members will then freak out, and we'll hear that the language doesn't match the intent of the negotiators. Everyone will yell and get back in their corners. Some drastic action will shake everything loose -- a late-night phone call, a meeting with the president or some sort of wild meeting.

THEN, INVARIABLY, we will have the RAND PAUL/TED CRUZ holdup. Will they slow the inevitable down, or will they fold for some token amendment vote? We'll then have to wait for TRUMP'S tweet, which will be promised, but will somehow come hours later than expected.

THIS WILL ALL END at some ungodly hour, with MCCONNELL shuffling paper on the floor, announcing the deal, SCHUMER taking a lap alongside him and everyone leaving Washington behind for what's left of the August recess.

Happy Wednesday.

OK, NOW FOR SOME OTHER NEGOTIATING DYNAMICS … TRUMP is far less concerned with the $1 trillion limit Senate Republicans have imposed than MCCONNELL is. MCCONNELL doesn't seem interested in budging. Negotiations are going nowhere, at the moment.

-- THERE WAS HOPE FOR CLARITY on items like unemployment insurance, school money and retention bonuses Tuesday, and there was little of that. MEADOWS and MNUCHIN will meet again with PELOSI and SCHUMER today. ALSO: Administration sources tell us that new money for mail-in balloting might become a red line for the president. But, could there be a deal that also allows for ballot security to appease the president?

DON'T READ INTO THIS, but know that it happened: PELOSI provided desserts for MEADOWS' 61st birthday, which was Tuesday. They sang "Happy Birthday" to the White House chief of staff.

L.A. TIMES: "California could create its own $600 weekly unemployment benefit," by Patrick McGreevy

DRIVING TODAY -- TECH CEOS ON THE HILL: Amazon's JEFF BEZOS, Apple's TIM COOK, Alphabet's SUNDAR PICHAI and Facebook's MARK ZUCKERBERG will be on Capitol Hill for a noon hearing in 2141 Rayburn. OPENING STATEMENTS: Bezos … Cook … Pichai … Zuckerberg

-- THE LOOKAHEADS: CRISTIANO LIMA … WSJ … FT

FRONTS: NYT, with this ANNIE KARNI/KATIE ROGERS headline: "Trump Family Legacy: Empathy Is for the Weak" … N.Y. POST … WSJ

OUR BAD: We had a typo in Tuesday's PM edition. President DONALD TRUMP wants $1.75 billion, not $150 billion, for the FBI building. Either way, it's far from a sure thing.

ICYMI … JOE BIDEN said he'd name his running mate by the end of next week.

-- THE AP IMAGE EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT: "Biden's notes: 'Do not hold grudges' against Kamala Harris"

NEW … TOMMY TUBERVILLE, fresh off his Alabama Senate primary victory against JEFF SESSIONS, is in Washington for a few days to raise money. The former coach's fundraisers sent out an email announcing the visit and telling potential donors that they are "accepting in-person meetings" Tuesday through Thursday. Tuberville was also spotted at the Trump Hotel on Tuesday night. Rep. BRUCE WESTERMAN (R-Ark.) posted a photo on his Facebook feed of the two, sans masks, in the hotel lobby.

IT'S WORTH MENTIONING: Alabama is on the list of states D.C. Mayor MURIEL BOWSER recently announced are "high risk" and from which anyone "traveling for non-essential activities will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days from their arrival in the District." The D.C. Health Release … A campaign representative did not comment.

CORONAVIRUS RAGING … More than 4 MILLION Americans have been diagnosed with Covid-19. More than 149,000 Americans have died.

-- WAPO: "At the heart of dismal U.S. coronavirus response, a fraught relationship with masks," by Griff Witte, Ariana Eunjung Cha and Josh Dawsey

-- "U.S. officials: Russia behind spread of virus disinformation," by AP's Eric Tucker: "Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

"Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow's military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort meant to reach American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly." AP

-- WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD: "The World's Covid Resurgence": "The lesson is that the virus won't disappear anytime soon. Governments may have to impose some business and social restrictions to protect hospitals and the vulnerable. But lockdowns aren't a miracle cure, and their collateral damage is too severe to sustain."

MERIDITH MCGRAW: "If Trump has a 'new' tone, just wait a few days": "Donald Trump's 'new' tones are perpetually faltering. After a week in which the president was more willing to stick to a script, temporarily eschewed some of his more fact-challenged medical statements and kept many of answers to reporters' questions uncharacteristically succinct, Trump's more typical behavior is starting to show through.

"In the last day, he again chided governors who were slowing economic reopenings amid a nationwide coronavirus surge, and he returned to promoting flawed information about hydroxychloroquine, MAGA world's preferred Covid-19 drug, even as top public health officials debate its efficacy. Tuesday night, Trump characteristically doubled down, defending his decision to trumpet misleading claims from a doctor who has also alleged alien DNA is used in medical treatments and vaccines are disseminated to prevent people from being religious." POLITICO

-- BACK ON THE HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE BANDWAGON … TRUMP: "Many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine coupled with the zinc and perhaps the azithromycin," Trump asserted at a White House briefing, though there is no evidence from at least five rigorous clinical trials that hydroxychloroquine has any impact in preventing the virus or treating mildly to severely ill cases.

"I happen to think it works in the early stages," the president continued, repeating his past claim that "I think front-line medical people believe that, too -- some. Many." More from Quint Forgey and Caitlin Oprysko

COLBY COLLEGE POLL … SARA GIDEON 44, Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) 39.

NEW … MORE DEM SPENDING … HOUSE MAJORITY PAC is reserving $2.3 million more, including $1.1 million in Dallas. OTHER MARKETS: $130,000 in Charleston … $300,000 in Des Moines … $250,000 in NYC … $225,000 in Oklahoma City … $175,000 in Quad Cities … $65,000 in Savannah, Ga. … $90,000 in D.C.

-- ALLY MUTNICK: "Scores of House Republicans are suddenly sweating over losing their seats": "A slew of dismal summer polls and a persistent fundraising gap have left some Republicans fretting about a nightmare scenario in November: That they will fall further into the House minority.

"Publicly, House GOP leaders are declaring they can still net the 17 seats needed to flip the chamber. But privately, some party strategists concede it's a much grimmer picture, with as many as 20 Republican seats at risk of falling into Democratic hands.

"Far from going on offense, the GOP could be forced to retrench in order to limit their losses. There's a growing fear that Trump's plummeting popularity in the suburbs could threaten their candidates in traditionally favorable districts, and that their party's eagerness to go on offense might leave some underfunded incumbents and open GOP-held seats unprotected.

"Internal Democratic surveys in recent weeks have shown tight races in once-solid GOP seats in Indiana, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and Montana that President Donald Trump carried handily 2016 — data that suggest the battleground is veering in a dangerous direction for the GOP."

NYT: "[A]n advocacy group for Indian-American candidates is announcing that it will spend $10 million in this year's elections. That group, Impact, [announced] its plans on Tuesday along with a new executive director, the public interest lawyer Neil Makhija, who called 2020 a 'pivotal moment' for Indian-Americans."

TRUMP'S WEDNESDAY -- The president will depart the White House at 9 a.m., headed to Midland, Texas. He'll arrive at 11:30 a.m. CDT and travel to the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Odessa, Texas. He will participate in a roundtable with supporters at 12:35 p.m. Afterward, he will speak at a fundraiser. He will then return to Midland and tour the Double Eagle Energy Oil Rig at 2:50 p.m. Trump will deliver remarks at 3:20 p.m. on "restoring energy dominance in the Permian Basin" and sign presidential permits. Afterward, he will return to Washington, arriving at the White House at 9:05 p.m.

HAPPENING TODAY @ 12 p.m. EDT – A DEEP DIVE INTO 2020 CAMPAIGN POLLING : With less than 100 days remaining until Election Day, it's time for a deep dive into campaign polling with POLITICO senior campaign and elections editor Steven Shepard and national political reporter Laura Barrón-López. Hear from expert pollsters Margie Omero and Jon McHenry on how the polls look today and what they portend for the future, how the industry corrected mistakes made in 2016, and the impact of Covid-19 on their work. REGISTER HERE.

PLAYBOOK READS

A Boeing 777X is pictured. | Getty Images

PHOTO DU JOUR: Boeing is reportedly planning to delay its new 777X airliner by up to a year thanks to the pandemic. | David Ryder/Getty Images

NYT/HOUSTON: "Oil and Gas Groups See 'Some Common Ground' in Biden Energy Plan," by Clifford Krauss and Ivan Penn: "'There is a lot of room in there for oil and gas,' said Matt Gallagher, president of Parsley Energy, a West Texas oil producer, about the Biden plan. … 'There is some common ground,' said Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the industry in Washington and is close to the Trump administration. 'We appreciate the fact that they recognize that there is going to be a role for natural gas and oil in our future. We share the broad goal of reducing emissions and addressing climate change.'"

FOR THOSE KEEPING TRACK … JOSH GERSTEIN: "Barr won't rule out pre-election release of Durham report"

VALLEY TALK -- "The moment of reckoning for the Facebook advertiser boycott," by Steven Overly and Laura Kayali: "The widely publicized advertiser boycott against Facebook has less than a week to show it has become a global coalition solid enough, and strong enough, to take on the social media giant.

"Civil rights groups persuaded more than 1,100 companies and organizations from the U.S. to Germany to Australia to pull their money from the social network during July to pressure Facebook to take more action on hate speech and deceptive posts from politicians. But the month is almost over without Facebook meeting many of their demands. If the movement can't up the ante, it risks watching its work evaporate." POLITICO

MEDIAWATCH -- "Maya Wiley Is Leaving MSNBC to Weigh Run for N.Y.C. Mayor," by NYT's Emma Fitzsimmons: "Maya D. Wiley, a former top counsel for Mayor Bill de Blasio, is leaving her role as a contributor on MSNBC and NBC News to explore a run for mayor of New York City, an official at MSNBC confirmed on Tuesday.

"Ms. Wiley, a Black former chairwoman of the city's police oversight agency, would be entering a mayor's race that has been reshaped by recent Black Lives Matter protests and the coronavirus pandemic. If she runs, she would likely be a formidable candidate as she vied to become the first female mayor of New York City."

BECOME A CHINA WATCHER: Across the globe, America's allies are pushing back hard on Beijing as evidence of human rights abuses against Uighurs pile up. How should the U.S. and its allies approach the China challenge? Join the conversation and gain expert insight from informed and influential voices in government, business, law, tech, and academia. China Watcher is as much of a platform as it is a newsletter. Subscribe today.

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

TRANSITIONS -- Caroline Hutcheson is now a VP for Targeted Victory's public and corporate affairs practice. She most recently led financial comms for Boeing, and is a Navy veteran. … Patrick Wilson is joining semiconductor company MediaTek USA as VP of government affairs. He most recently was director of the Commerce Department's office of business liaison. … Cris Turner is now VP of global government affairs at Micron Technology. He most recently was VP and head of office for Americas government affairs at Dell.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Kristin Fisher, Fox News correspondent. How she got her start in journalism: "I accepted a general-assignment reporting gig at the first station to offer me a job: KJCT News 8 in Grand Junction, Colo. A few weeks in, I took over their 'Outdoor Adventures' segment. I had some pretty aggressive visions for this segment and had a tough time finding photographers willing to do these adventures with me. So I started shooting and editing my own stuff and loved it so much that I became a one-man band for the next nine years and eventually started my own video production company." Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) is 63 … Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) is 68 … Peter Alexander, White House correspondent at NBC News and co-anchor of "Weekend Today" … Ja'Ron Smith, deputy assistant to the president, is 38 … Ken Burns is 67 … David Westin, Bloomberg TV anchor and reporter … Caitria Mahoney … SKDK's Herbie Ziskend (h/t Eric Lesser) … WaPo's Carol Eisenberg … Marilyn Quayle is 71 … former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), now founder of Hidden Heroes, is 84 … former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-Baker (R-Kan.) is 88 … Bloomberg's Aaron Kessler and Ellie Titus … former Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) is 53 … former Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) is 69 … Garance Franke-Ruta … Sheila Dwyer … Nate Rawlings is 39 … Jim Hake, founder and CEO of Spirit of America … Brennan Murray, public policy senior associate at VIPKid … Kris Purcell … Kelsey Brugger …

… Rick VanMeter … NYT's Peter Goodman … Danny Vinik … Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is 51 … John Raffetto … Lyndsay Polloway, U.S. Chamber of Commerce's VP of events, is 37 … Vox's Laura McGann … Alexah Rogge … Reuters' Joanna Plucinska … POLITICO Europe's Jacopo Barigazzi … Chris Carr … Karl Douglass … former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn is 62 … Keren Charles Dongo … IBM executive chair Ginni Rometty … POLITICO's Olivia George … Grant Bosse … Rob Hennings … Bill Pascoe … Melissa (Steffan) DePuydt … Lise Clavel … Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association … Dave Barr … Charles Hoskinson … Allison Jaslow … Leroy Petry is 41 … Jeff Patch … Caitlin Callahan … Tom Kimbis … Laura Nichols (h/t Teresa Vilmain) … George Kaiser is 78 … Tony Brown, the pride of Chicago and assistant head coach for the Wizards (h/t Randy White)

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the significant barriers to affordable health care that cancer patients have long faced. Policymakers took action to address the affordability of COVID-19 testing and treatment. Lawmakers must do the same for cancer patients by removing the red tape of prior authorization and step therapy, reducing out-of-pocket costs, and ensuring cost-sharing assistance directly benefits patients. Learn more.