| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by |  | | | BREAKING … BLOOMBERG'S @GregStohr: "Supreme Court will hear Obamacare arguments on Nov. 10, a week after the election, per online docket." NIGHT THREE OF THE DEM CONVENTION -- WHAT KAMALA WILL SAY … CHRIS CADELAGO sent us a note with some deets on what JOE BIDEN'S running mate will focus on tonight. TOPLINE: Harris will tell her personal story, focus on inclusivity and make the case for why BIDEN is qualified to be president. -- WHO WILL JOIN HER? Because of the coronavirus, Harris will be joined in Wilmington, Del., only by her husband, DOUG EMHOFF. Emhoff earlier this week took a leave of absence from the law firm DLA Piper. The American Lawyer: "A DLA Piper spokesman on Monday confirmed that Emhoff, a litigator in the firm's Los Angeles office, is in the process of transitioning his clients to different attorneys in the firm." WHAT WE'RE WATCHING TODAY … HOUSE REPUBLICANS will hold a call at 3:45 p.m. today to discuss, in part, the USPS vote Dems are putting up this weekend. Remember: This bill provides $25 BILLION for mail service, and stops further changes to the USPS. EXPECT THE WHITE HOUSE to come to a decision whether to support it today before the GOP call. The Dem USPS bill, which will probably get a bunch of GOP support YOU SHOULD NOT VIEW THE USPS vote as a proxy vote for a small-bore Covid relief deal. The two have little to do with each other. JUST TO BE CLEAR, here's what reaching a deal would require at this point: bridging the gap on state and local funding, where Republicans are at $150 billion-$250 billion, and Democrats are at nearly $900 billion. There's also a major gap on schools, where Dems are at roughly $400 billion and Republicans are at $105 billion. Other issues include food aid and rental eviction laws. SEN. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) told us on "PLUG IN WITH PLAYBOOK" this morning that he thought Covid relief negotiations between the White House and congressional Democrats would start before LABOR DAY, and wrap up shortly after. -- KAINE: "I actually think that there's going to be some motive to get really down to brass tacks on the negotiation right after the Republican convention." The clip MARK MEADOWS said on "FOX AND FRIENDS" this morning: "We need to put money back in people's pocket, with perhaps a skinny deal to make sure checks go out. Let's go ahead and do that. I call on Nancy Pelosi to not only finally fix the post office, but let's find the things that are hurting Americans across the country because of this pandemic. Let's pass a skinny bill. We'll be here on Saturday -- hopefully they will be with a negotiating heart." THE PRESIDENT TOLD his supporters not to buy Goodyear Tires because they had asked employees not to come to work with expressions of political preference. The stock went down, but bounced right back up. Good Wednesday afternoon. Press secretary KAYLEIGH MCENANY is briefing at 1 p.m. | | A message from the American Investment Council: Whether your child is learning from home or returning to the classroom, private equity-backed companies are helping to create a safer and more accessible educational experience this fall. Back to school will look different this year, but we're in this together. | | | STEVEN MNUCHIN NEEDS A DEAL … NOT ONLY ON COVID RELIEF, BUT ON HIS CO-OP! … N.Y. POST: "Steven Mnuchin's 740 Park co-op returns with massive discount": "Even US Treasury [Secretary] Steve Mnuchin is feeling the burn of falling real estate prices. He has just relisted his apartment at 740 Park Ave. -- and slashed the asking price more than 20 percent from when the co-op first went on the market in 2018. Mnuchin's sprawling duplex on the eighth and ninth floors hit the market for $32.5 million two years ago; it was last listed for $27.5 million in 2019. It now has a price tag of $25.75 million." The listing TREATMENT LATEST -- "F.D.A.'s Emergency Approval of Blood Plasma Is Now on Hold," by NYT's Noah Weiland, Sharon LaFraniere and Sheri Fink: "Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak … "The authorization is on hold for now as more data is reviewed, according to H. Clifford Lane, the clinical director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An emergency approval could still be issued in the near future, he said. … Senior health officials have privately expressed concern about the rapid growth of the Mayo [Clinic] program and the perceived rush to declare plasma effective without the affirmation of results from randomized trials." NYT THE MISINFORMATION PANDEMIC -- "Report: 'Superspreaders' of bogus health news racked up billions of views on Facebook," by Cristiano Lima: "Groups and pages that spread misleading health news attracted an estimated 3.8 billion views on Facebook in the past year, an activist group said in a report Wednesday — adding that those networks pushing bogus claims drew far more traffic than authoritative sources on topics like Covid-19. … "Avaaz found that only 16 percent of the content it identified as health misinformation was labeled as such by Facebook, with the rest remaining online without any warnings. … Democratic lawmakers given advance access to the report tore into Facebook, calling it further evidence that the company is not doing enough to stop the spread of health misinformation." The report REOPENING POLL DU JOUR -- "'I'm Only One Human Being': Parents Brace for a Go-It-Alone School Year," by The Upshot's Claire Cain Miller: "Parents across America are facing the pandemic school year feeling overwhelmed, anxious and abandoned … a new [Morning Consult] survey for The New York Times has found. "Just one in seven parents said their children would be returning to school full time this fall … Yet four in five parents said they would have no in-person help educating and caring for them … And more than half of parents will be taking on this second, unpaid job at the same time they're holding down paid work." NYT | | | | PRE-GAME THE PRIME-TIME DNC LINEUP WITH POLITICO'S HIT "FOUR SQUARE" SHOW : This isn't quite how we predicted the convention would look back in January, but here we are. Time to make the most of it! Join Four Square host Eugene Daniels and top political journalists Tim Alberta, Laura Barrón-López, and Ryan Lizza throughout convention week for a breakdown of the day's biggest political developments and the buzz surrounding the convention. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | HUNT FOR A VACCINE … "Will Covid-19 vaccines be safe for children and pregnant women? The data, so far, are lacking," by Stat's Helen Branswell THE WUHAN INVESTIGATION -- "NIH Presses U.S. Nonprofit for Information on Wuhan Virology Lab," by WSJ's Betsy McKay: "The National Institutes of Health told a small New York-based nonprofit that it must hand over information and materials from a research partner in Wuhan, China, that is under scrutiny by the Trump administration to win back a multimillion-dollar research grant. "Among the items the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance must provide to resume funding is a sample of the new coronavirus that the Wuhan researchers used to determine its genetic sequence, according to a July 8 letter from the NIH viewed by The Wall Street Journal. EcoHealth Alliance must also arrange for an inspection of the Wuhan Institute of Virology by an outside team." WSJ AXIOS' BARAK RAVID: "Scoop: Israel raises concerns with U.S. about new Saudi nuclear facility" ABOUT LAST NIGHT -- THE NEW GOP … LAURA LOOMER won a GOP congressional primary in Florida, and was cheered on by the president, though it's a strongly Democratic seat. She's been banned from social media platforms for her virulently anti-Muslim comments. MILES TAYLOR LATEST … BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN: "Ex-DHS official: Trump appeared to side with Team Russia" … "Ex-Aide: Trump told DHS secretary, 'Get your ass to the border'" CONVENTION READING -- "Exclusive: Pete Buttigieg Readies for His Primetime Convention Slot," by Indianapolis Monthly's Adam Wren: "The former South Bend Mayor, now a possible cabinet pick for a Biden administration, previews his Thursday night convention address about belonging, and downplays a possible statewide run in Indiana." Indianapolis Monthly GIRLFRIEND, YOU ARE SO ON -- "Marianne Williamson is back — to talk about forming a third party," by Holly Otterbein: "Two former long-shot presidential candidates are speaking at a convention this month where participants will debate the idea of creating a third party, organizers of the event told POLITICO. Self-help author Marianne Williamson and former Sen. Mike Gravel — left-wing contenders who ran for the White House this cycle — will appear at the 'People's Convention.' … "The event will serve as an implicit warning to Joe Biden: If he is elected but viewed as not progressive enough, he or his running mate, Kamala Harris, could face a challenge from a new left-wing third party in 2024." | | | | BECOME A CHINA WATCHER: The fate of U.S.-China communication is hanging in the balance. Now that the White House has issued an ambiguous future ban on "transactions" involving WeChat, what's next? The decisions made in Washington and Beijing will shape our future for decades to come. 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. | | | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- "California police reform push could shift the national conversation," by Jeremy White and Alexander Nieves in Oakland: "California cops battled previous attempts by state lawmakers to rein in the use of force. Now, they are active participants in negotiations to curtail policing powers, a sign of shifting dynamics … "The bills up for debate in Sacramento would rewrite rules around how police officers manage protests, when they must disclose misconduct and, most critically, what violations could lead the state to strip officers of their certification or penalize them for excessive use of force. One bill would go as far as requiring officers to physically restrain colleagues who step out of line. The combined weight of the legislation would amount to an unprecedented law enforcement overhaul in the nation's most populous state." POLITICO -- NBC: "Coronavirus pandemic didn't curb fatal police shootings, ACLU report finds," by Erik Ortiz: "Fatal shootings by police officers did not appear to ease up even amid the coronavirus pandemic, and Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by deadly police shootings compared to white people." NBC … The report BATTLE FOR THE SENATE … ESQUIRE'S CHARLES PIERCE: "A Lot of People Want Lindsey Graham Retired. Jaime Harrison Thinks He's the Man to Do It." THE LONG ARM OF XI JINPING -- "China's National-Security Law Reaches Into Harvard, Princeton Classrooms," by WSJ's Lucy Craymer: "Classes at some elite universities will carry a warning label this fall: This course may cover material considered politically sensitive by China. And schools are weighing measures to try to shield students and faculty from prosecution by Chinese authorities. "At Princeton University, students in a Chinese politics class will use codes instead of names on their work to protect their identities. At Amherst College a professor is considering anonymous online chats so students can speak freely. And Harvard Business School may excuse students from discussing politically sensitive topics if they are worried about the risks." WSJ AFTERNOON READ -- "The Chaos Agents: It started as an internet meme. Then waves of political unrest gave adherents of the Boogaloo a chance to test their theories about the collapse of American society," by Leah Sottile in the NYT Magazine ENGAGED -- Miriam Warren, VP at DCI Group, and Jeremy Bird, VP at Arthur J. Gallagher, got engaged Saturday in Atlanta. They were introduced by mutual friends following a wedding at Inn at Perry Cabin. BONUS BIRTHDAYS: Maria Jeffrey and Christian McMulled of Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) office (h/ts Lauren Aronson) | | | | A message from the American Investment Council:   Private equity-backed companies are providing digital textbooks and software to support remote learning and partnering with individual schools to help them safely reopen. Learn more. | | | | | | | 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 | | | | |
