| | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Tara Palmeri | Presented by Facebook | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | A must-read scoop from the WSJ on an issue that's not going away: "Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate On Covid-19 Origin" THE WEEK AHEAD IN D.C. — Is bipartisanship alive in Washington? This week should give us a pretty good clue. It doesn't look promising at the outset. ON INFRASTRUCTURE: President JOE BIDEN set a deadline of Memorial Day to strike a deal with Republicans. And while both sides have put offers and counteroffers on the table, they ended last week accusing each other of gimmickry. Not a good sign. That's not to mention the colossal differences that remain over the price tag, pay-fors and scope — and the pressure Biden is under from his own party to just get on with it and turn to reconciliation. The big question for the next few days is this: Will Republicans counter the latest White House offer, which lowered the more-than-$2 trillion price tag to $1.7 trillion? The NYT has the latest here. ON POLICING: Lawmakers are already downplaying the possibility of clinching a bipartisan accord before Biden's other self-imposed deadline of the week: May 25, the anniversary of GEORGE FLOYD'S murder. The president will be hosting Floyd's family at the White House on Tuesday. But while lawmakers appear to have made headway on some of the thorniest issues — including a possible middle ground regarding qualified immunity for cops — nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. And from what we're hearing, that's unlikely to be this week. ENDLESS FRONTIER-PLUS: If you haven't been following this rather wonky and massive, 1,400-page tech bill, we don't blame you. But even if this isn't your issue, it's worth keeping an eye on whether this legislation passes this week for another reason: Senate watchers say if the upper chamber can't clear this proposal aimed at outcompeting China, it won't pass anything all year on a bipartisan basis. That's because Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, for whom this is something of a pet project, has allowed the legislation to go through so-called regular order, a rarity these days on Capitol Hill. So the text, which seeks to juice at least $110 billion into research, tech and science, has been amended many times — including by Republicans — and is loaded up with tangential spending and policy riders. Sometimes that helps get votes, giving lawmakers a personal reason to vote yes. But its chief co-author, Sen. TODD YOUNG (R-Ind.), has expressed concern with some of the changes. He's on a new Indiana Business Journal podcast talking (positively) about the bill this morning. | | A message from Facebook: The internet has changed a lot since 1996 - internet regulations should too
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– Reforming Section 230 | | | JAN. 6 COMMISSION: We hate to keep beating this dead horse, but the all-but-doomed Jan. 6 commission proposal could get a vote in the Senate as early as this week. It's worth watching for a potential spill-over effect. Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) was outraged that his GOP colleagues were suggesting they would filibuster the bipartisan setup. Could that be a tipping point for Manchin to greenlight his party to forge ahead with reconciliation for infrastructure? Manchin is the one blocking that move now, saying he wants an infrastructure deal to be bipartisan. Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. KNOWING DOUG — Be sure to check out Eugene's profile of second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, who's still navigating the weightier responsibilities of his new perch — like how to take on food insecurity — with, well, just being a dude. For instance, when he showed up at an Annapolis bookstore last week and made a request, it wasn't for a thick presidential biography but a new memoir by … SETH ROGEN. Lots more fun deets in the piece | | | |   | | | BIDEN'S MONDAY — The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President's Daily Brief at 9:50 a.m. Biden will receive a briefing on the Atlantic hurricane outlook and preparedness efforts at FEMA headquarters at 1:30 p.m. — Harris will host a listening session on the digital divide at 2:15 p.m. in the South Court Auditorium. — Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at noon. THE SENATE will meet at 3 p.m. to take up the Endless Frontier Act. It will vote at 5:30 p.m. on cloture for CHIQUITA BROOKS-LASURE'S nomination as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator. THE HOUSE is out. BIDEN'S WEEK AHEAD — On Tuesday, the president will meet with the family of George Floyd on the anniversary of his death. Biden will travel to Cleveland on Thursday to deliver remarks on the economy. He'll travel on Friday to Wilmington, Del., for the Memorial Day weekend. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dances to the Funkrust Brass Band at Prospect Park on Sunday. | THE WHITE HOUSE REPUBLICANS SEIZE ON IRS BOOGEYMAN — Conservative groups are latching onto one of Biden's recently proposed pay-fors for his massive spending plans: the idea of hiring 87,000 new IRS workers over the next decade to collect $80 billion from tax evaders. Anita Kumar has a story up this morning about how Republicans are accusing the Biden administration "of pushing for the IRS expansion as a way to raise taxes, increase dues paid to left-leaning unions, and increase oversight on political organizations, as happened with the rise of Tea Party groups during the Obama presidency." Marc Short, the former chief of staff to VP Mike Pence and founder of Coalition to Protect American Workers, said GOP messaging on this issue polled extremely well in critical swing districts. Now his group is up with six-figure cable and local TV ads in two states and planning to expand to 20 House battlegrounds in six. "I still think this is an Achilles' heel for the overall plan," he told Anita. TOP-ED — "How Joe Biden Can Win a Nobel Peace Prize," by NYT's Tom Friedman. This is a must-read if for no other reason than the one Times media columnist Ben Smith noted in a tweet Sunday night: "You know one person who really reads and listens to @tomfriedman? Joe Biden …" CONGRESS THE SUMMER FROM HELL — Forget infrastructure, police reform and the massive voting overhaul Democrats want to pass this summer for just one moment. In the next two months before August recess — or just thereafter — Congress will also have to determine the fate of unemployment benefits, a debt ceiling increase and government funding, which require 60 votes in the Senate for passage. Add the rising temperatures in Washington — we're not talking about the sweltering heat, but about partisan friction — and it doesn't exactly tax the imagination to conjure what could go wrong. In a story posted this morning, Marianne LeVine and Sarah Ferris lay out the next two months of the legislative calendar, and detail the rising panic setting in as Democrats see the clock ticking. From the story: "Democrats are publicly grinning through the stress. But they also recognize that their summertime scramble will have enormous implications for the fate of the agenda that got Biden elected. Given the likelihood that next November's midterm could wrest away the party's grip on Congress, Democrats are eager for an intense burst of activity before Washington is overtaken by further preelection political paralysis." LINGERING FEARS — "Lawmakers worry the toxic atmosphere on Capitol Hill will follow them home, raising safety concerns," WaPo: "Several Democratic members have privately expressed their concerns to leadership about security back home as threats have risen, according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations. Some of these Democrats said they have paid out of their own pocket to increase security at their district offices or install security systems in their homes out of an abundance of caution. "Members' concerns have been validated by the U.S. Capitol Police, who report that threats against lawmakers have increased by 107 percent in just the first five months of the year compared with last year. … Democratic leaders said they are trying to be responsive to the concerns of members and included $21.5 million for member safety regarding travel and district office security upgrades as part of a $1.9 billion proposal to fortify security at the U.S. Capitol following the Jan. 6 attack. The bill passed the House on a narrow 213 to 212 vote last week." | | A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations
2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It's time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges.
See how we're taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations. | | | POLITICS ROUNDUP GOING LOCAL — "They tried to overturn the 2020 election. Now they want to run the next one," by Zach Montellaro: "The candidates include Rep. JODY HICE of Georgia, a leader of the congressional Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results; Arizona state Rep. MARK FINCHEM, one of the top proponents of the conspiracy-tinged vote audit in Arizona's largest county; Nevada's JIM MARCHANT, who sued to have his 5-point congressional loss last year overturned; and Michigan's KRISTINA KARAMO, who made dozens of appearances in conservative media to claim fraud in the election. "Now, they are running for secretary of state in key battlegrounds that could decide control of Congress in 2022 — and who wins the White House in 2024. Their candidacies come with former President DONALD TRUMP still fixated on spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election, insisting he won and lying about widespread and systemic fraud. Each of their states has swung between the two parties over the last decade, though it is too early to tell how competitive their elections will be." — On a related topic, the AP's Nick Riccardi has the latest look at the kookiness surrounding Cyber Ninjas and its election audit in Arizona. This quote sums it up pretty well: "'If I give you 20 M&Ms, and you want 30, you can keep counting it, but you did not get 30 M&Ms,' said DAVID BECKER of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a former Department of Justice voting rights attorney and elections expert. 'This is not an effort to find the truth.'" THE NATURAL STATE PETRI DISH — "Why Arkansas Is a Test Case for a Post-Trump Republican Party," per NYT's Jonathan Martin: "Arkansas represents the full spectrum of today's G.O.P. There are Trump devotees fully behind his false claims of a stolen election and his brand of grievance-oriented politics. That faction is now led by the former White House press secretary SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS … More ideological, and less Trump-centric, conservatives include Senator TOM COTTON. "And then there are pre-Trump Republicans, like Gov. ASA HUTCHINSON, hoping against hope the moment will pass and they can return the party to its Reaganite roots. Finally, some Republicans are so appalled by Trumpism, they have left or are considering leaving the party. Perhaps most significant, each of these factions are bunched together in a state powered by a handful of corporations that are increasingly uneasy with the culture-war politics that define Trump Republicanism." TROUBLE FOR TIMKEN — "Top MAGA ally under fire for 'squishiness' on Trump," by Marc Caputo and James Arkin: "During JANE TIMKEN'S tenure as Ohio's GOP chair, Donald Trump won the one-time bellwether state by a whopping 8 percentage points. She put 150,000 miles on her car driving to the state's 88 counties as a surrogate for the president. And she raised a total of $5 million for his two campaigns. "But that sterling record of MAGA support might not be enough to guarantee the former president's support in her bid for the GOP Senate nomination. Timken's sin? In her capacity as state party chair, she failed to immediately condemn home-state Republican congressman, ANTHONY GONZALEZ, for voting to impeach Trump in response to the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6." BEYOND THE BELTWAY DO AS I SAY … "Whitmer apologizes after photo shows her at bar violating her own order," Detroit News: "Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER issued an apology Sunday after a photo emerged showing her at a restaurant with 12 other people gathered around tables pushed together in violation of her health department's current epidemic order. The May 15 order from the state Department of Health and Human Services says no more than six people can be seated together and groups of patrons must be six feet apart. The conservative news outlet Breitbart first reported the photo Sunday." ONE YEAR LATER — "A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime," NYT: "[A] year after Mr. Floyd's death, Los Angeles and other American cities face a surge in violent crime amid pandemic despair and a flood of new guns onto the streets. The surge is prompting cities whose leaders embraced the values of the movement last year to reassess how far they are willing to go to reimagine public safety and divert money away from the police and toward social services. … But more cops is what Los Angeles is getting." — "George Floyd's family holds rally, march in brother's memory," AP AMERICA AND THE WORLD THE LATEST IN MINSK — "Belarus Forces Down Plane to Seize Dissident; Europe Sees 'State Hijacking,'" NYT: "The strongman president of Belarus sent a fighter jet to intercept a European airliner traveling through the country's airspace on Sunday and ordered the plane to land in the capital, Minsk, where a prominent opposition journalist aboard was then seized, provoking international outrage. "The stunning gambit by ALEKSANDR G. LUKASHENKO, a brutal and erratic leader who has clung to power despite huge protests against his government last year, was condemned by European officials, who compared it to hijacking. It underscored that with the support of President VLADIMIR V. PUTIN of Russia, Mr. Lukashenko is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to repress dissent." | | | | JOIN TUESDAY FOR A CONVERSATION ON AMERICA'S MATERNAL HEALTH CRISIS: The maternal and infant mortality rates in the U.S. have been rising, especially for women and babies of color. One year into the pandemic, how have social determinants of health contributed to maternal and child health outcomes for Black women and other women of color? Join POLITICO for a deep-dive conversation for which we'll use Illinois as a case study to understand how social determinants of health and Covid-19 complicate efforts to eliminate maternal and infant mortality. We will also explore the various public health and policy solutions to reduce racial disparities during pregnancy and postpartum. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | SPOTTED: Marc Adelman, Phil and Chelsea Mattingly, Michael LaRosa, Missy Owens and Stacy Kerr at Rasika on Saturday night. SPOTTED: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at Fight Club restaurant on Saturday night, according to a detailed press release sent out by a publicist for the restaurant. The press release, via @ChelseaCirruzzo … Insta post from Fight Club FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Paolo Mastrangelo is now senior director of government affairs at Humanity Forward. He previously was senior public affairs adviser for Holland & Knight's public policy and regulation group. TRANSITIONS — Tara Vales has joined Edelman's external affairs team as VP of media and executive positioning. She previously was senior manager of public relations at CNN. … David Overy is now media and external relations specialist for the National Security Innovation Network. He previously worked in government affairs for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. ENGAGED — Tom Wilbur, director of public affairs at PhRMA, and Leslie Lake, VP at FleishmanHillard, got engaged Saturday at the National Arboretum, followed by a champagne toast with friends at James Creek Marina. The couple met about two years ago at PhRMA HQ and had their first date at Red Bear Brewing in NoMa. Pic … Another pic WEDDINGS — Peter Murray, who was previously director of external engagement for former DOT Secretary Elaine Chao, and Rachel Chasteen, marketing manager at Grey Fox Strategies, got married this weekend in Tampa, Fla. — Brittni Palke, owner of Palke Communications and a Senate Homeland Security Committee alum, and Brad Hurtig, a motivational speaker, got married May 1 in Willmar, Minn., near Brittni's hometown of Clara City. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) … NBC/MSNBC's Kasie Hunt ... former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) … Giovanna Gray Lockhart ... Rory Cooper of Purple Strategies … Eric Schwerin .... Sara Olson ... D.E. Shaw's Randall Whitestone … NPR's Tom Bowman ... Mark Bescher of Mondelēz International ... Signal Group's Chelsea Koski ... Craig Singleton … Atlantic Council's Damon Wilson … Sarah Pavlus … Bob Franken … former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland … Deborah Hart Strober … Herbert Wachtell … Meredith Ritchie … Edelman's Sarah Miller … Jason Wallace ... Henock Dory … Fred DuVal ... Bloomberg's Alisa Parenti ... Tom Maher ... Rana Abtar … Debby Goldberg ... Daniel Zingale ... Kevin Tierney … Uzbekistani PM Abdulla Aripov (6-0) … Bob Dylan (8-0) Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. 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