| | | | | |  | | By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun | Presented by |  | | | SHORTLY AFTER WE REPORTED that Rep. LOUIE GOHMERT (R-Texas) had tested positive for Covid-19, we got an email from one of his aides saying this: "JAKE, THANK YOU for letting our office know Louie tested positive for the Coronavirus. When you write your story, can you include the fact that Louie requires full staff to be in the office, including three interns, so that 'we could be an example to America on how to open up safely.' When probing the office, you might want to ask how often were people berated for wearing masks." A FEW THINGS ARE CLEAR after covering Washington for four months in the coronavirus era: Most people are taking this seriously, but not everyone. And all it takes is one irresponsible person -- an armchair scientist who decides masks aren't for them, or their entire office should work in person in the middle of a pandemic -- for many of us to get sick with a virus that could kill us. (GOHMERT says he might've gotten Covid from wearing a mask, per an interview he gave to a local affiliate.) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS arrive here from all over America nearly every week. They can't conduct their business from afar -- fair enough. But neither can we -- journalists -- or the House and Senate floor staff, maintenance workers or anyone who has to keep this massive complex afloat. YET, THE CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP refuses to require testing or masks for the people who come into the building each week. LET'S BE REAL: The Capitol has superspreader written all over it. People are coming off planes, out of cars, and many of them can't be relied upon to follow basic masking rules that are mandatory across the country. GOHMERT went back to his office after he tested positive to talk to his staff! On Tuesday, he was in close proximity to A.G. BILL BARR . (h/t OLIVIA BEAVERS) TO BE FAIR, Sen. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-Tenn.) has been beating the drum for widespread testing for some time. Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) said today he has a point. TESTING FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS is up to Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL. The White House has offered it to the Hill. CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE, PAUL KANE of WaPo says it the best: If you're a caddy on the PGA Tour or professional baseball player, you're facing a tougher Covid testing regime than members of Congress. JAKE'S GOHMERT SCOOP: "Gohmert was scheduled to fly to Texas on Wednesday morning with President Donald Trump and tested positive in a pre-screen at the White House. The eighth-term Republican told CNN last month that he was not wearing a mask because he was being tested regularly for the coronavirus. "'[I]f I get it,' he told CNN in June, 'you'll never see me without a mask.' Reps. Mario Diaz Balart (R-Fla.), Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Ben McAdams (D-Utah) and Tom Rice (R-S.C.) have tested positive for the virus, along with Sen. Rand Paul." WE EMAILED three people in GOHMERT'S office this morning once we heard about the positive test. They all ignored it. When we finally got CONNIE HAIR, GOHMERT'S chief of staff, on the phone, she said she would not answer any questions because POLITICO is a "propaganda" outlet. Good Wednesday afternoon. | | | | A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network: Congress addressed the affordability of Covid-19 testing and treatment. Cancer care needs the same. It's time to reduce out-of-pocket costs and ensure cost-sharing assistance benefits cancer patients. Congress: cancer patients need you to act quickly to remove hurdles to quality care. | | | IN THIS MORNING'S PLAYBOOK, we gave you a guide for how to interpret Congress-speak on big negotiations. But there's no translator necessary for this comment from Treasury Secretary STEVEN MNUCHIN this morning: "As of now, we are very apart." ANOTHER WHIRLWIND DAY … MCCONNELL will host W.H. COS MARK MEADOWS and MNUCHIN at the Senate lunch at 1 p.m. … At 3:30 p.m., MEADOWS and MNUCHIN have another meeting with PELOSI and Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER. … MEADOWS and MNUCHIN will then meet with MCCONNELL. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP told reporters this morning that Washington should focus on payments and stopping evictions now, and the rest of a Covid relief bill afterward, per pooler ANNE GEARAN of WaPo. More from Marianne LeVine and Sarah Ferris WATCH FOR THIS: We hear some Republicans -- administration members and members of Congress -- will propose some combination of a short-term extension of the current enhanced federal unemployment policy, which would be $600 extra, along with an eviction moratorium and direct payments. -- THE $600 QUESTION: "Is $600 a Week in Extra Unemployment Aid Deterring People From Seeking Work?" by WSJ's Kate Davidson: "Many economists who have studied the benefits say they so far don't see evidence in labor market data that the payments are affecting the rate at which people are returning to work during the pandemic. "A study published this month by Yale University economists found that workers with more-generous jobless benefits didn't experience larger employment declines when the benefits took effect and that they have returned to their previous jobs at similar rates as others. … Some businesses have said the size of the payments was a factor in getting people to return to work, and some workers have cited the benefits as a reason for not returning to work." WSJ PORTLAND LATEST … @OregonGovBrown: "After my discussions with VP Pence and others, the federal government has agreed to withdraw federal officers from Portland. They have acted as an occupying force & brought violence. Starting tomorrow, all Customs and Border Protection & ICE officers will leave downtown Portland." THE TRUMP DOCTRINE -- "Pentagon plans to pull 11,900 troops from Germany, Esper says," by Stars and Stripes' Corey Dickstein: "The plan would fulfill President Donald Trump's demands to remove thousands of troops from Germany, which he has long derided as delinquent on its defense spending obligations within NATO. The announcement also comes after a monthslong review of American force strength in Europe." Stars and Stripes BIG TECH ON THE HILL -- "Why Amazon may have the most to lose from tech's Hill showdown," by Leah Nylen: "Amazon … has steadily attracted ire from both the right and left in recent years for its uncommon influence over the way much of America lives." … Live updates from Leah, Nancy Scola and John Hendel -- MEANWHILE … MNUCHIN said a recommendation to TRUMP about TIKTOK is coming this week. BOUNTYGATE LATEST -- @axios: "NEW: President Trump tells @jonathanvswan on #AxiosOnHBO that he didn't raise the issue of alleged bounties on U.S. troops during his call with Vladimir Putin last week: 'That was a phone call to discuss other things.'" The interview clip | | | | 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. | | | | | SIREN -- "At least 54 hospitals have reached ICU capacity in Florida," by CNN's Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt: "Another 44 hospitals have 10% or less ICU capacity available, according to [the Agency for Health Care Administration]. AHCA reports about 16% ICU beds are available across the State of Florida." THE BIG PICTURE -- "A Viral Epidemic Splintering Into Deadly Pieces," by NYT's Donald McNeil Jr.: "Each state, each city has its own crisis driven by its own risk factors: vacation crowds in one, bars reopened too soon in another, a revolt against masks in a third. … The New York Times interviewed 20 public health experts — not just clinicians and epidemiologists, but also historians and sociologists, because the spread of the virus is now influenced as much by human behavior as it is by the pathogen itself. … "Overall, the scientists conveyed a pervasive sense of sadness and exhaustion. Where once there was defiance, and then a growing sense of dread, now there seems to be sorrow and frustration, a feeling that so many funerals never had to happen and that nothing is going well. The United States is a wounded giant, while much of Europe, which was hit first, is recovering and reopening — although not to us." NYT -- WAPO: "Young people are infecting older family members in shared homes," by Lenny Bernstein: "As the death toll escalates in coronavirus hot spots, evidence is growing that young people who work outside the home, or who surged into bars and restaurants when states relaxed shutdowns, are infecting their more vulnerable elders, especially family members. "Front-line caregivers, elected officials and experts in Houston, South Florida and elsewhere say they are seeing patterns of hospitalization and death that confirm fears this would happen, which were first raised in May and June." WaPo HUNT FOR A VACCINE -- "Most voters say they'd rather wait for an effective coronavirus vaccine," by Zachary Brennan: "More than 60 percent of voters think the U.S. should fully test any coronavirus vaccine — even if that delays rolling it out and allows the virus to keep spreading in the meantime, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. Just 22 percent of respondents said the government should make a vaccine available as soon as possible, even if it had not been fully tested." POLITICO … The poll -- "The ultimate geopolitical game — distributing a coronavirus vaccine," by Ashleigh Furlong OMINOUS SIGN -- "Michigan Threatens to Slip From Trump as He Goes Quiet on Airwaves," by NYT's Shane Goldmacher and Kathleen Gray: "Since the end of June, Mr. Trump has spent more money on ads in 10 other states — with Michigan falling behind even much smaller states like Iowa and Nevada — and in recent days, Mr. Trump's campaign stopped buying ads in Michigan entirely. … Mr. Trump's campaign has downplayed any talk of retreat." NYT SCOTUS WATCH -- CNN'S JOAN BISKUPIC: "How Brett Kavanaugh tried to sidestep abortion and Trump financial docs cases": "Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh urged his colleagues in a series of private memos this spring to consider avoiding decisions in major disputes over abortion and Democratic subpoenas for President Donald Trump's financial records, according to multiple sources familiar with the inner workings of the court." CNN THE CITIZENS UNITED LEGACY -- "America's Elections Are Becoming Contaminated With Untraceable Cash," by The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay: "Political donations by non-disclosing groups … have skyrocketed in recent years. During the 2018 election cycle, such groups provided roughly $178 million to federal political committees, according to data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2020, they're on track to far surpass that total. By the end of June, non-disclosing groups had donated $177 million to federal political committees, per CRP data. "The result, experts say, has been an erosion of fundamental rules governing American elections and the growing amounts of money spent to affect their outcomes. … The phenomenon is not confined to one political side or the other." Daily Beast | | | | DON'T MISS - POLITICO'S NEW "FUTURE PULSE" NEWSLETTER: The coronavirus rapidly accelerated the onset of telemedicine, but after an initial boom, the wave of virtual visits is quickly fading. What does the future look like? From Congress and the White House, to state legislatures and Silicon Valley, Future Pulse spotlights the politics, policies, and technologies driving long-term change on the most personal issue for voters: Our health. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | TRUMP TRIES TO PIVOT -- "Chicago becomes a stage for fulfilling a conservative battle," by Shia Kapos and Tina Nguyen: "The prospect of federal agents being deployed to Chicago marked the realization of long-held conservative aspirations. Conservative media for decades have painted America's third-largest city as a national hub of gun violence and gang activity, crippled by what they see as political correctness thwarting real solutions. "Now President Donald Trump is indulging the dream more than any national leader in recent history, attempting to turn a major liberal city into an election-year example of his pledge to deliver law and order across the country. The president's drumbeat of attention on Chicago — with a pledge to send in hundreds of federal agents to quell the city's gun violence problem — has turned into a stampede of voices designed to rally his troops in the culture wars." POLITICO VEEPSTAKES -- "Biden VP finalist Val Demings says a medical issue six years ago forced her to drop out of a race. But she's never said what the issue was, and staffers say she quit because she was losing," by Business Insider's Kayla Epstein, Elvina Nawaguna and Darren Samuelsohn BATTLE FOR THE SENATE -- "The nastiest Republican primary in the country," by Alex Thompson and James Arkin: "The race was never supposed to be competitive: The Trump-backed candidate, Bill Hagerty — who served as the president's ambassador to Japan — was on a glide path. … But as the contest has tightened in the run-up to the Aug. 6 election, Hagerty's main opponent, Manny Sethi, has found traction by claiming to be the true, unapologetic Trumpian conservative in the race — while blasting Hagerty as a squishy, Mitt Romney-loving phony. "Hagerty largely ignored Sethi most of the race — seemingly confident of his lead which his internal polls had at 17 points — until earlier this month, when he abruptly went on the offensive. … [T]he battle is a window into the changing nature of the Republican Party, in which economic populism is in vogue, and race and identity have been thrust to the fore." POLITICO MAKING MOVES -- "Republican China Hawks Secretly Approaching Team Biden," by The Daily Beast's Erin Banco and Hanna Trudo IMMIGRATION FILES -- BIG INVESTIGATION: "Lured to America — then trapped: Visas for farmworkers have surged under Trump. But the program has subjected some workers to horrific abuse," by NBC's Suzy Khimm and Daniella Silva in Blackshear, Ga. BOOK CLUB -- "Ex-CIA director Brennan writes in upcoming memoir that Trump blocked access to records and notes," by WaPo's Shane Harris: "In the fall of 2018, when former CIA director John Brennan decided to write his memoir, he asked the agency for his official records … The CIA, where Brennan had worked for nearly 30 years, said no. It was a break with decades of tradition. … After months of 'haggling,' Brennan learned that the CIA was following the orders of the man he had spent the previous two years publicly excoriating … "Brennan recounts his battles with the president in the memoir he eventually wrote, with limited access to unclassified and heavily redacted material: 'Undaunted: My Fight Against America's Enemies, at Home and Abroad.' The Washington Post reviewed portions of the book, which is scheduled to be published on Oct. 6. … [N]ational security experts said they'd never heard of a president targeting a former high-ranking official this way, critic or otherwise." WaPo … $21.49 on Amazon MEDIAWATCH -- THE WASHINGTON POST is now capitalizing both Black and White. Announcement -- Ruth Graham is joining the NYT as a national correspondent covering religion, faith and values. She most recently has been a staff writer at Slate. Announcement IN MEMORIAM -- WNDU: "Former Indiana Governor Joseph E. Kernan dies at 74": "Earlier today, Joseph E. Kernan, 48th Governor of the State of Indiana passed away following a long illness. … [I]n 1987, he was elected to his first of three consecutive terms as mayor of the City of South Bend. … When Governor [Frank] O'Bannon died unexpectedly of a stroke in 2003, Kernan was sworn in as the state's 48th Governor. Kernan made history immediately by appointing Kathy Davis as Indiana's first female Lt. Governor." | | | |   | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
