Playbook PM: Biden plunges into the reconciliation negotiations

Presented by Google: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington.

Sep 15, 2021 View in browser   By Garrett Ross and Eli Okun Presented by HERE WE GO — Democrats wanted to have their massive reconciliation package written by today, but instead they're still trying to get the caucus in line. And now, President JOE BIDEN is jumping into the wrangling. — Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) arrived at the White House shortly before 10 a.m. for a meeting with the president to discuss the $3.5 trillion bill. Sinema was seen leaving the grounds just before 11 a.m., per CNN's Betsy Klein. — Later today, Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) will drop by the Oval Office to chat about the bill, according to WaPo's Seung Min Kim, who was first to report the confabs. During a lunch with Senate Dems on Tuesday, Manchin again called for the party to put a pause on the $3.5 trillion bill, an attendee told Burgess Everett. The proposition was met with crickets. The two meetings are Biden's first crack at breaking through to the two moderates who have so far resisted backing the bill due to its hefty price tag. GRIM MILESTONE — This week, the U.S. death toll from Covid exceeded 663,000. That means the coronavirus has led to the deaths of roughly 1 in every 500 Americans, per WaPo's Dan Keating and Akilah Johnson. FBI FACES DAMNING TESTIMONY ON NASSAR — In emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Olympic gymnastics star SIMONE BILES blamed "an entire system that enabled and perpetuated" LARRY NASSAR's years of sexual abuse of hundreds of girls and women. She was joined by other survivors who shared their own stories. — ALY RAISMAN said she "felt pressured by the FBI to consent to Nassar's plea deal." — MCKAYLA MARONEY accused the FBI of making "entirely false claims about what I said" in their report on Nassar. "They chose to lie about what I said and protect a serial child molester rather than protect not only me but countless others." She called for the prosecution of the FBI agents who were involved in the botched investigation into Nassar. — Afterwards, during his own testimony, FBI Director CHRISTOPHER WRAY apologized to the survivors, and said that the Indiana-based FBI agent who improperly handled the Nassar case has been fired. More on the hearing from CNN … NBC News … NYT TALKER — Time released its list of the 100 most influential people of the year today. Among the writeups: Joe Biden, by Sen. Bernie Sanders … VP Kamala Harris, by Speaker Nancy Pelosi … Rep. Liz Cheney, by Cindy McCain … Sen. Joe Manchin, by Sen. Susan Collins … W.H. COS Ron Klain, by Hillary Clinton … The full list Good Wednesday afternoon. A message from Google: Google is committing $10 billion to advance cybersecurity. Widespread cyberattacks continue to threaten the private information of people, organizations, and governments around the world. That's why Google is investing $10 billion to expand zero-trust programs, help secure the software supply chain, and enhance open-source security. Learn more.   THE WHITE HOUSE MANDATORY MEETING — Biden is scheduled to meet with a score of top private-sector executives to discuss vaccine mandates today, per WSJ's Sabrina Siddiqui. BIDEN'S BLESSING — "POPE FRANCIS said Wednesday that Catholic bishops must minister to politicians who back abortion with 'compassion and tenderness,' not condemnation, and warned that they shouldn't let politics enter into questions about receiving Communion," according to the AP. MRS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON — ANGELINA JOLIE continued her Washington tour this morning, meeting with White House press secretary JEN PSAKI, comms director KATE BEDINGFIELD and White House Gender Policy Council co-chair JENNIFER KLEIN to "discuss reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act," CNN's Kate Sullivan, Betsy Klein and Arlette Saenz report. Jolie also popped into the White House briefing room CONGRESS THE LATEST PAY-FOR PROPOSAL — Dems' newest idea to pay for their multitrillion-dollar economic package? Hiking "existing federal levies on cigarettes and cigars while introducing new taxes on vaping," WaPo's Tony Romm writes. "Democrats say the changes could help them raise $100 billion in revenue over the next 10 years." A HAIL MARY ON FILIBUSTER REFORM — "Anti-filibuster advocates are preparing a last stand to gut the Senate's supermajority requirement by spotlighting a sweeping Democratic election reform bill. Their chances aren't looking good," Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine report. "Some in the party want to press pause on what could be a messy fight over the Senate's rules until other must-pass matters advance, given their thin majorities in the House and Senate. That sentiment was borne out by interviews with more than a dozen Democrats on Tuesday." POWERFUL INTERVIEW — Rep. SUSAN WILD (D-Pa.) opens up to the 19th News' Amanda Becker about the trauma that she has faced after her longtime partner died by suicide, the coronavirus pandemic and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. "Each experience, traumatic in its own way, inspired Wild to focus on highlighting the importance of mental health care, whether by sponsoring legislation or sharing her own experiences." THE PANDEMIC A DIFFERENT KIND OF SHOT SKEPTICISM — Ahead of an advisory committee meeting set to take place on Friday, the FDA is proceeding with caution when it comes to the booster shot created by Pfizer and BioNTech, Lauren Gardner reports . "The agency appeared skeptical about the companies' assertion that an apparent drop in immune protection conferred by their Covid-19 vaccine is likely due to the passage of time, rather than the emergence of the hyper-contagious Delta variant." DEEP DIVE — Kaiser Health News is up with new reporting that found GOP legislators in more than half of states have rolled back public health powers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. "A KHN review of hundreds of pieces of legislation found that, in all 50 states, legislators have proposed bills to curb such public health powers since the covid-19 pandemic began," KHN's Lauren Weber and Anna Maria Barry-Jester write. "While some governors vetoed bills that passed, at least 26 states pushed through laws that permanently weaken government authority to protect public health."   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     POLITICS ROUNDUP LESSONS LEARNED — Democrats have at least one big takeaway from California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM's blowout victory in yesterday's recall election, NYT's Jonathan Martin writes: "The party's pre-existing blue- and purple-state strategy of portraying Republicans as Trump-loving extremists can still prove effective with the former president out of office, at least when the strategy is executed with unrelenting discipline, an avalanche of money and an opponent who plays to type." POLICY CORNER CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? — Commercial cellphone data is increasingly being used in criminal law proceedings, forcing critics to ask "a host of potential constitutional questions" about how much access is being given to law enforcement officials, WSJ's Byron Tau reports. RUNNING ON EMPTY — ELON MUSK and Tesla's "honeymoon period with the government" may be reaching its end, WaPo's Faiz Siddiqui writes from San Francisco, as the White House and Congress turn their attention to other automakers to bolster electric-car production. TRUMP CARDS REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT — A handful of former Trump administration officials are "writing position papers, appearing on conservative television outlets and meeting privately with GOP lawmakers — all in an effort to turn the collapse of Afghanistan into another opportunity to push a hard-line immigration agenda," AP's Jill Colvin reports. The group includes STEPHEN MILLER, RUSS VOUGHT and KEN CUCCINELLI.   Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today .     AMERICA AND THE WORLD TECH TREATY — The White House is joining forces with Britain and Australia on a working group to share advanced technologies in a thinly veiled challenge to China, a White House official and congressional staffer told Alexander Ward. The trio, which will be known as AUUKUS — which sounds a little auuk-ward, if you ask us — will focus on AI, cyber, underwater systems and long-range strike capabilities. MISSILE TESTS IN KOREA — North and South Korea ratcheted up tensions again today, with each country testing new missile capabilities hours apart from each other, the BBC reports. "The North fired two ballistic missiles across its east coast, its first test with such missiles in six months and a fresh breach of UN resolutions. … Hours later, the South tested its first submarine-launched ballistic missile." BEYOND THE BELTWAY IDA'S TRUE TOLL — Hurricane Ida was every bit as powerful and dangerous as forecasted. But in New Orleans, the storm itself turned out not to be the most deadly part. Of 14 deaths the storm caused in the city, 10 were tied to the heat — and experts say there are probably more, NYT's Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Katy Reckdahl write. VALLEY TALK MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS — WSJ's Keach Hagey and Jeff Horwitz have a new look at the internal organs of Facebook. The report details a 2018 change in the algorithm that was meant to improve user interaction. But Facebook staffers recognized that it was making the platform worse. "Company researchers discovered that publishers and political parties were reorienting their posts toward outrage and sensationalism," Hagey and Horwitz write. Those staffers' warnings fell on deaf ears. MEDIAWATCH POTENTIALLY BIG FIRST AMENDMENT IMPLICATIONS — On Wednesday, a federal appeals court rejected Rep. DEVIN NUNES' defamation against RYAN LIZZA over a 2018 Esquire article he wrote about a farm owned by members of Nunes' family, reports Josh Gerstein . But the court also ruled that when Lizza tweeted out a link to the story the following year, he essentially republished the story — a decision that could have wide-reaching consequences for the First Amendment in the social media age. "'It's certainly a novel application of a couple of important libel doctrines, and a potentially troublesome one if the 8th Circuit's ruling is allowed to stand,' said CHIP STEWART , a professor at Texas Christian University. 'It's an odd kind of bootstrapping argument. Nunes claims the underlying article is false. He sues over it. Lizza tweets the exact same story after the lawsuit is filed. And what was originally not actual malice now all of a sudden is, at least plausibly enough for a lawsuit to advance to further costly litigation. All over a tweet that changed nothing about the original story.'" FOR YOUR RADAR — "An ABC News staffer claimed the network retaliated against her after she filed a complaint early this year alleging that she was sexually assaulted by MICHAEL CORN, who was then her boss as the top producer of 'Good Morning America,'" WSJ's Joe Flint reports. "KIRSTYN CRAWFORD, a producer on the show, filed suit last month against Mr. Corn and the network. In an amended version of the suit filed Wednesday, she alleged that after she formally registered her complaint at ABC the network didn't renew her three-year contract, offering instead a six-month extension with no raise."   A message from Google: Cyberattacks are endangering people and governments around the world. Learn how Google's $10 billion investment will advance cybersecurity.     Follow us on Twitter Rachael Bade @rachaelmbade Eugene Daniels @EugeneDaniels2 Ryan Lizza @RyanLizza Tara Palmeri @tarapalmeri Eli Okun @eliokun Garrett Ross @garrett_ross   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

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California Today: What the Election Results Tell Us About California

Republicans' influence in the state continues to weaken.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story September 15, 2021 By Soumya Karlamangla It's Wednesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom's clear defeat of the recall effort points to Republicans' weakening grip on California. Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared at the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento after the polls closed on Tuesday.Jim Wilson/The New York Times By now, you've probably heard that Gov. Gavin Newsom handily defeated a Republican-led effort to recall him, with the vote count this morning showing that 65 percent of Californians opposed removing him from office. Newsom's lead was so wide when the early numbers were released last night that many news outlets declared the race over within an hour of the polls closing. "We are enjoying an overwhelmingly 'no' vote tonight here in the state of California," the governor, looking tired, told reporters in Sacramento around 9 p.m. There are many takeaways from this election, from the need to reform California's wonky recall process to the Democrats' success rallying voters by evoking Donald Trump. But what's most stunning to me is what's been revealed about the Republican Party's dwindling power in California. This state was once a Republican stronghold that reliably went red in presidential elections. We produced Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who we also elected governor twice. Yet the share of Californians identifying as Republican has plummeted from 35 percent in 2003 to 24 percent now. (Meanwhile, the fraction of registered Democrats has increased slightly to 46.5 percent from just shy of 45 percent, while those with no party affiliation has risen from 16 percent to 23 percent, with a tendency to lean toward the Democrats.) The reason I'm choosing numbers from 2003 is because that year provided a road map for the Republicans who had been hoping to recall Newsom. In 2003, Californians voted Gray Davis, a Democrat, out of office and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. But in 2021, a similar feat was always going to be a much steeper climb. Democrats now outnumber Republicans by nearly two to one. "When you have such a big disadvantage, when your party is only 24 percent, well you have a problem," said Joshua Spivak, a senior fellow at Wagner College's Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform, who recently wrote a book on recall elections. "They just don't have the voters." Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Mona Provisor, an election worker, worked on her knitting while waiting to help voters at the Redwood Playhouse in Garberville.Alexandra Hootnick for The New York Times Plus, over the past 18 years, party lines have hardened. In 2003, Democrats were more willing to criticize the governor from their party, while Schwarzenegger had cross-aisle appeal as a moderate Republican, and also a movie star. "Arnold was to many Dems a perfectly acceptable alternative," said Raphael Sonenshein, the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT This year, however, Republicans failed to coalesce around a candidate who could appeal beyond the far right, as my colleague Jeremy W. Peters reports. Kevin Faulconer, the centrist Republican candidate on the ballot, garnered little support throughout the campaign, though he resembles the kind of moderate Republicans who have succeeded here in the past. Meanwhile, Larry Elder, a far right conservative radio host, quickly became the most popular candidate for recall supporters. But, as demonstrated by Tuesday's results, Elder's appeal with Republicans didn't translate to Democrats, who overwhelmingly voted to keep Newsom in office. There are no obvious answers as to what the future of the Republican Party will be in California. But Newsom is up for re-election in 2022, (yes, actually) so whatever tack the party chooses may become clear soon enough. For more: See how your county voted with our election tracker. Newsom's victory could be a guide for Democrats in the 2022 midterms, reports The Atlantic. Why was Newsom's French Laundry moment such a big deal? Our California restaurant critic Tejal Rao explains. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Subscribe Today We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times with this special offer. Tournament House in Pasadena offers "supplemental" third Covid-19 shots.Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The rest of the news Booster shots: Healthy Americans, including many living in California, are seeking coronavirus booster doses, unwilling to wait for federal approval. "Those doses don't last forever, so I felt no guilt about taking one that probably would have expired," a woman who lives in Del Mar told The Times. Theranos trial: A key whistle-blower testified on Tuesday in the fraud trial of the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Drinks to-go: A bill that would allow restaurants to continue serving to-go cocktails through 2026 awaits Newsom's signature, Eater San Francisco reports. Climate change: President Biden's visit this week to California and other western states was a last-ditch opportunity to sell the importance of mitigating global warming. Presidential war powers: Barbara Lee, who represents Alameda County in Congress, spent two decades building consensus to rein in war authorizations that have been stretched beyond their original intent. But the Afghanistan withdrawal has complicated the debate. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAPD vaccine resistance: About 2,300 Los Angeles Police Department employees have indicated they may request exemptions to a vaccine mandate because of their religious beliefs, according to an investigation by NBC Los Angeles. Plus, six LAPD staffers are suing the city over its vaccine mandate, reports CBS News. Museum of Contemporary Art: The contemporary art museum in Los Angeles announced on Tuesday that Johanna Burton will become the institution's sole director and the first woman in that role. Urban heat islands: San Diego officials are identifying parts of the city where temperatures tend to reach dangerously high levels to try to address the dangers of extreme heat, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. LAPD error: A new report by federal investigators finds that Los Angeles police miscalculated the amount of fireworks they placed into a containment vessel before detonating them and causing damage in a South L.A. neighborhood in June, The Los Angeles Times reports. CENTRAL CALIFORNIA Ancient sequoias threatened: Wildfires in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are posing a danger to sequoia groves containing some of the oldest and biggest trees in the world. Kern County lawsuit: Kern County sued Newsom on Monday over a ban on fracking, The Bakersfield Californian reports. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Mills College: One of just 37 women's colleges remaining in the country, Mills College will merge with a private Boston university and become "gender inclusive," reports The San Francisco Chronicle. Unaffordable housing for teachers: Despite drawing some of the highest teacher salaries in the country, educators in Santa Clara County have a harder time affording homes than teachers anywhere else in the nation.A new report from the online broker Redfin highlights a Silicon Valley housing paradox: good public schools drive up home prices, while high home prices drive out teachers. Read more from the Vallejo Times-Herald. Stricter plastic ban: With single-use plastic bans already banned, the city of Berkeley is considering also prohibiting the use of thicker, reusable plastic grocery bags as well as the thinner plastic bags used in the produce aisle, Berkeleyside reports. Chinook salmon: The drought and heat waves that have plagued California this year have been disastrous for the state's Chinook salmon, which have been dying before spawning in massive quantities, reports The Washington Post. Ryan Liebe for The New York Times What we're eating These cobs borrow the flavors of cacio e pepe, a traditional Italian pasta made with pecorino, Parmesan, and black pepper. A chardonnay vineyard near Santa Rosa, Calif.George Rose/Getty Images Where we're traveling My colleagues asked readers to tell them about places that delighted or comforted them in a dark year, and pulled together 52 of those suggestions "to remind us that the world still awaits." On that list is Santa Rosa, a place full of resilience and majesty. Read more. Tell us about the your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. Tell us Between the wildfires, pandemic and drought, this summer in California hasn't been easy. So with Sept. 22 marking the end of the season, I'm asking for you to share what has helped you make it through. Maybe it was a vacation you had postponed, a trashy TV show, a delicious meal you cooked or your nightly stroll. Email me your favorite summer memory at CAtoday@nytimes.com along with your name and the city where you live. If you want to include a picture, please make sure it's oriented horizontally. And before you go, some good news In Volcano, a town of about 100 people an hour's drive from Sacramento, an all-volunteer theater company is rekindling joy in a dark year. The pandemic, the fires — all of it fades away on the stage, the actress Brenda Metzger told The Los Angeles Times. In the Volcano Theatre Company's production of Noel Coward's "Hay Fever," Metzger plays the flirty flapper Myra Arundel. "When you're performing, you have to stay in the moment," Metzger told the newspaper. "When I'm onstage, I'm Myra. And the thing Myra cares about the most is getting laid." Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Participate in a democracy (4 letters). Steven Moity and Mariel Wamsley contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for California Today from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018