| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by |  | | | NEW … A HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LETTER urging Speaker NANCY PELOSI and the House Democratic leadership to bring up an enhanced unemployment stabilization bill has garnered signatures from 117 lawmakers -- more than half of the Democratic caucus. THIS IS A BIG NUMBER, and represents a tad bit of restiveness in the caucus over Pelosi's hold-the-line stance against a skinny Covid relief bill. THE BILL would automatically tie unemployment insurance to "triggers" in the health and economic data -- an idea known as stabilization -- rather than requiring fresh action from Congress. The letter -- PELOSI held a call Thursday evening with House Minority Leader STENY HOYER, House Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.) and Assistant Leader BEN RAY LUJÁN (D-N.M.), in which the leadership seemed to want to stay away from a stand-alone vote on unemployment insurance stabilization. They agreed instead to push for a more comprehensive deal. The lack of GOP willingness on funding for state and local governments is also problematic for Dems. IT'S WORTH NOTING: Pelosi spoke favorably of including stabilization measures like this in the lead-up to the Heroes Act, but ultimately they weren't included because of the cost. THIS MORNING'S MAIN EVENT -- "DeJoy defends proposed changes amid Postal Service furor," by Andrew Desiderio, Marianne LeVine and Daniel Lippman: "In lengthy prepared remarks before the GOP-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, [Postmaster General Louis] DeJoy acknowledged several concerns lawmakers have raised in recent weeks, including the significant delivery delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "DeJoy, who attributed those delays in part to his reforms, asked Congress for financial relief and called on lawmakers to urgently address the Postal Service's fiscal challenges, including its pension system. … DeJoy, a Republican megadonor, also pushed back on the idea that his proposed changes to the organization are intended to suppress mail-in voting for the upcoming election." POLITICO … DeJoy's opening statement -- D'OH … @AndrewDesiderio: "Sen. [Tom] Carper was apparently having technical difficulties when he was called on, and he turned to a staffer and yelled 'f*ck, f*ck, f*ck' — apparently not realizing that his audio feed had returned. Oof." Video, via WaPo's JM Rieger -- HMM … NBC: "Mnuchin's role in postmaster's appointment becomes target," by Heidi Przybyla: "In the weeks before Republican donor Louis DeJoy was installed as postmaster general, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a series of one-on-one meetings with members of the Postal Service Board of Governors, multiple people familiar with the encounters told NBC News. "Those people said Mnuchin met with Republican board members, as well as with Robert Duncan, the board's chairman, who once chaired the Republican National Committee. … [M]any on the board were aware of the get-togethers, one person said. Mnuchin was requesting briefings before a decision was made, which the person called 'unusual.' There was also discussion with Mnuchin about the 'need to move quickly' on a selection, the person said." Happy Friday afternoon. | | 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. | | | THE BEN TERRIS TREATMENT -- "The Burden of Tim Scott," in WaPo Magazine: "He may be a self-described introvert, but he has a natural charm, the kind of guy who knows the Capitol Hill police officers' names and what football teams they root for. Known for his colorful socks and the stage presence of a revivalist preacher, Scott for a time even debated going into the seminary. … "Scott has said that his next Senate campaign in 2022 will be his last. There have been rumors of a possible run for governor, and Scott's friend [Trey] Gowdy says he has been encouraging him to run for president. It's an open question whether Scott wants to stay in politics at all. Scott certainly has a lot to gain, politically, by not burning all of his bridges in the party. For now, though, the more pressing matter may be: What does he lose for all the times he stays quiet?" THE LOOMING EVICTION WAVE -- "They're Making the Rent. Is It Costing Their Future?" by NYT's Conor Dougherty and Gillian Friedman: "They've made it with government checks and family help. They've made it with savings and odd jobs. They've made it with church charity, nonprofit rescue funds, GoFundMe campaigns. One way or another, through five months of economic dislocation, the nation's tenants have for the most part made their rent. "Now the question is how much longer these patchwork maneuvers will work — and what will happen to the economy if they suddenly don't." COVID CRISIS MANAGEMENT -- "Covid-19 Crisis in Nursing Homes Requires Aggressive Federal Response, Panel Says," by WSJ's Anna Wilde Mathews: "The nation's nursing homes need an aggressive and comprehensive federal approach to the Covid-19 crisis, including supplying facilities with personal protective gear, assisting with staffing shortages and offering coronavirus testing with rapid results, according to recommendations from a commission convened by the Trump administration. "The commission is due to deliver its final report Sept. 1, but it has already provided slides with a draft list of recommendations to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that spearheaded the panel's formation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. … The commission is suggesting that the federal government should ensure that all nursing homes get three months' worth of protective gear, and that it create a national strategy to guarantee access to rapid-results testing for all nursing homes, according to the people with knowledge of the matter." WSJ SCOOPLET -- "Trump expected to stop by Republican convention site in N.C. on Monday," by Quint Forgey and Anita Kumar MILESTONE -- "We Crossed the Line Debt Hawks Warned Us About for Decades," by NYT's Matt Phillips: "Economists and deficit hawks have warned for decades that the United States was borrowing too much money. The federal debt was ballooning so fast, they said, that economic ruin was inevitable: Interest rates would skyrocket, taxes would rise and inflation would probably run wild. "The death spiral could be triggered once the debt surpassed the size of the U.S. economy — a turning point that was probably still years in the future. It actually happened much sooner: sometime before the end of June. … But the economy hasn't drowned in the flood of red ink — and there's a growing sense that the country could take on even more without any serious consequences." NYT | | | | POLITICO'S "FUTURE PULSE" - THE COLLISION OF HEALTH CARE AND TECHNOLOGY: The coronavirus upended trends across health care, like so much else in America, casting players in new roles and reordering workers' priorities. It has positioned drug companies as potential heroes, sparked a massive infusion of new capital into the sector, and changed how planners see the future of hospitals. The health care system that emerges from this crisis will be fundamentally different, and technology will play a significant role in shaping it. Future Pulse spotlights the politics, policies, and technologies driving long-term change on the most personal issue for voters: Our health. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | SNOW WAY -- "Barr 'vehemently opposed' to pardoning Snowden," by AP's Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker CHINA LATEST -- "Trump Team Signals U.S. Firms Can Use WeChat in China After Ban," by Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs, Shelly Banjo, Saleha Mohsin, Jenny Leonard and Naomi Nix: "The Trump administration is signaling that U.S. companies can continue to use the WeChat messaging app in China, according to several people familiar with the matter, two weeks after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned service. "The administration is still working through the technical implications of how to enforce such a partial ban on the app, which is owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd., one of China's biggest companies. A key question is whether the White House would allow Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google to carry the app in its global app stores outside of the U.S., according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The intention is to prohibit any downloads or updates of the WeChat app in U.S. app stores, two of the people said." Bloomberg WHO'S ON THE HILL -- "Senators Lead an Increasingly Diverse Nation. Their Top Aides Are Mostly White," by NYT's Nicholas Fandos: "Just 11 percent of top staff members in senators' Washington offices — the key aides who draft legislation, coordinate public communications and vet nominees for executive branch posts and lifetime judgeships — are people of color, according to a new study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies … By comparison, close to 40 percent of Americans are people of color, and 9 percent of senators. "Of the 100 members of the Senate, 72 — including Republicans and Democrats representing states with large minority populations, like Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida and Arizona — did not employ a single person of color as one of their top personal aides when researchers made their initial tallies in January 2020. Only four, all Democrats, employed more than one such top aide … [T]he chamber's top aides have grown slightly more diverse since 2015." NYT … The study RACIAL RECKONING -- "To narrow racial and economic disparities, Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic is rethinking what the Fed's mandate means," by WaPo's Rachel Siegel: "For Bostic — widely seen as one of the most distinguished leaders in economics, and who has also been subjected to indignities like being stopped by police for no reason — grounding his vision in the country's history of injustice was key to focusing attention on how those structures persistently affect people's lives today. … "Bostic hesitates to point to a specific, short-term policy target, calling instead for deeper thought and discussion about historic racism and inequality and how that legacy still stands today. … Closely watched by economists and lawmakers, these debates reflect a profound challenge — and opportunity — for the Federal Reserve." WaPo -- WSJ: "Push to Defund the Police Faces Headwinds in Some Poor, Black Neighborhoods," by Julie Wernau and Erin Ailworth in Chicago: "The Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side is the kind of community that activists say they are fighting to help—a poverty-stricken, mostly Black area with endemic crime. There have been 200 shootings this year in Englewood, an 80% increase over the same period in 2019. "Yet an increasingly vocal number of business owners, community leaders and residents say they are tiring of calls to defund police departments, viewing protesters largely as outsiders unwilling to do the hands-on work they say is required to improve Black communities." WSJ | | | | 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. | | | | | NAVALNY LATEST -- "German doctors gain access in Siberia to dissident in coma," by AP's Daria Litvinova in Moscow TRUMP'S PATH TO 270 -- "Trump Campaign's Hopes Rest on Boosting White Working-Class Turnout," by WSJ's Aaron Zitner and Alex Leary: "Donald Trump's campaign has said its strategy is to boost voter registration and turnout among the people who most support him — largely, the white working class — a goal distinct from trying to persuade undecided groups or Democrats to move his way. An analysis of voter data shows that the opportunity, at least on paper, is substantial. … "Assuming the same turnout rates as in 2016, about 62% of Michigan's nonvoters this year, or 1.6 million people, would be white residents without a four-year college degree, according to an analysis of census data by William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer. In Pennsylvania, white residents without degrees also would account for about 62% of nonvoters, or 2.1 million residents. In Wisconsin, they would account for 67% of nonvoters, or more than 800,000 people. Mr. Trump won each of the three states by a margin of less than 1 percentage point." WSJ ALL FALLS DOWN -- "Kanye denied ballot spot in his native Illinois," by Shia Kapos in Chicago … "Kanye West fails to make Ohio ballot," by the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jackie Borchardt -- @Bencjacobs: "Per a spox, 'Kanye West has filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Elections.'" IMPEACHMENT TICK-TOCK -- "'Are you really going to impeach me?': How the Ukraine bombshell unfolded over 48 hours and laid bare Trump's fixation with Biden," by WaPo's Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan, adapted from their new book, "Trump on Trial" ( $22.49 on Amazon) TRANSITIONS -- Raphael Warnock's Senate campaign in Georgia has added Meredith Brasher as press secretary and Stephen Buys as press assistant. Brasher is a Sojourners and Stacey Abrams alum, and Buys previously worked on Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' reelect. | | | | 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. 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