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Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent President Joe Biden a letter today requesting a discussion over the debt limit debate. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | The political standoff over the looming debt limit deadline ratcheted up this morning as House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY sent President JOE BIDEN a letter calling on him to pick a date to continue talks over raising the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt limit before the U.S. faces a potentially catastrophic default. “With each passing day, I am incredibly concerned that you are putting an already fragile economy in jeopardy by insisting upon your extreme position of refusing to negotiate any meaningful changes to out of control government spending,” McCarthy wrote. “Mr. President, simply put: you are on the clock. … Please have your team reach out to mine by the end of this week to set a date for our next meeting.” Read the full letter Notably, McCarthy laid out five broad demands for what Republicans want in exchange for a vote on the debt ceiling — the clearest expression to date of the GOP position. The five ideas: 1. “Reducing excessive non-defense” spending
2. “Reclaiming unspent Covid funds”
3. “Strengthening work requirements” for entitlement programs
4. Enacting “measures to lower energy costs”
5. Securing the border “from the flow of deadly fentanyl” “What’s missing: A lot,” writes our own Jennifer Scholtes. “McCarthy’s letter doesn’t say how substantially House Republicans want to cut domestic spending, which programs they want to curtail with work requirements ... or what energy and border security policies they seek. The White House response, in a statement from press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: “It’s time for Republicans to stop playing games, agree to pass a clean debt ceiling bill, and quit threatening to wreak havoc on our economy. And if they want to have a conversation about our nation’s economic and fiscal future, it’s time for them to put out a Budget — as the President has done with his detailed plan to grow the economy, lower costs, and reduce the deficit by nearly $3 trillion.” The GOP view: Despite Republicans having yet to release a budget proposal, “McCarthy and his team still believe that they have the upper hand on the debt ceiling in the sphere of public opinion if they continue to show a pattern of trying to get Biden to sit down and he refuses to do so,” writes CNN’s Alayna Treene. “Republicans believe that if this does go to the brink, they need to show that they’ve tried repeatedly to talk.” COMING TO AMERICA — Biden plans to host Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU at the White House in the coming months, the White House said today. “The possibility of such a meeting, long coveted by Mr. Netanyahu, came after other shifts in tone overnight from the Biden administration, as Washington signaled its support for Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to delay the divisive judicial plan,” NYT’s Patrick Kingsley writes from Jerusalem, while noting that the news “did not suggest a complete reset.” NEXT MONTH IN JERUSALEM — “DeSantis heading to Israel ahead of likely 2024 bid,” by Gary Fineout: “The Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem announced Tuesday that [Florida Gov. RON] DeSANTIS will head to Israel, where he is expected to deliver the keynote address on April 27 for an event titled ‘Celebrate the Faces of Israel.’ His trip abroad will come after swings through several states next month, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Utah.” NEW SBF CHARGE DROPS — “Prosecutors: Bankman-Fried bribed Chinese officials in 2021,” by Sam Sutton: “U.S. prosecutors slapped FTX founder SAM BANKMAN-FRIED with a new criminal charge alleging he bribed Chinese authorities with tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency after they froze accounts controlled by his personal hedge fund. The superseding indictment filed Tuesday morning in New York alleges that Bankman-Fried, a one-time political megadonor who’d been a key player in Washington policy circles, ordered employees at his trading firm Alameda Research to pay $40 million to a digital wallet controlled by Chinese authorities in 2021.” Clicker: See the list of 23 websites that SBF asked to retain access to for his personal use. Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. What’s on your list of websites you can’t live without? Drop me a line: gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from TikTok: TikTok is building systems tailor-made to address concerns around data security. What’s more, these systems will be managed by a U.S.-based team specifically tasked with managing all access to U.S. user data and securing the TikTok platform. It’s part of TikTok’s commitment to securing personal data while still giving the global TikTok experience people know and love. Learn more at http://usds.TikTok.com. | | | CONGRESS HAPPENING TOMORROW — “No Longer at Starbucks Helm, Howard Schultz Is the Focus at Labor Hearing,” by NYT’s Noam Scheiber and Julie Creswell: “The Capitol Hill appearance, which [HOWARD] SCHULTZ had resisted until faced with the possibility of a subpoena, comes the week after he handed the top job to an outside recruit, LAXMAN NARASIMHAN. How much control will actually be yielded by Mr. Schultz — who is still a board member and a major shareholder — is unclear.” Related read: “Starbucks’ Union Fight Moves to Congress,” by WSJ’s Heather Haddon MAJORITY RULES — “House GOP to subpoena Blinken over Afghanistan dissent cable,” by AP’s Farnoush Amiri: “House Republicans plan to deliver a subpoena to Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN on Tuesday for classified cables related to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, marking an unprecedented effort to force the release of sensitive documents to Congress. Rep. MIKE McCAUL, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that he had spoken with Blinken earlier in the day when he was notified the agency would not be turning over a so-called dissent cable written by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul shortly before the August 2021 withdrawal.” WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU — “‘Justified anger’: Senators target executives, regulators in SVB collapse,” by Zachary Warmbrodt: Senate Banking Chair SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio) “announced the plan at Congress’s first hearing on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Brown unleashed fierce criticism of the bank’s executives but also slammed venture capitalists — its key clientele — for driving the run that took down the lender when they encouraged companies to pull out their money. Some of those investors later demanded that the government rescue SVB.” DEF SEC ON THE HILL — “Austin admits admin should’ve notified Congress ‘earlier’ about Syria strike,” by Alexander Ward and Lara Seligman … “‘It’s a powerful effect’: Austin fires back at GOP senator’s blockade of military promotions,” by Connor O’Brien 2024 WATCH TOP-ED — NIKKI HALEY writes for National Review: “Ending the Fentanyl Crisis Starts by Securing the Border” Notably, Haley will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border on April 3, where she will appear with Rep. TONY GONZALES (R-Texas). Haley will be the first of the declared GOP presidential contenders to appear at the border. (Gonzales’s stance on the border has led some fellow Republicans to criticize him from the right.) READY FOR ROUND 2? — “Veterans of Ted Cruz's 2016 campaign sign up to help DeSantis beat Trump,” by Yahoo’s Tom LoBianco: “The question now is whether they can draw on that experience — the failures, the successes, the lessons learned — in order to beat Trump next year. Their time in the trenches fighting for Cruz could be all that more valuable as the former president attacks DeSantis, another 40-something conservative policy wonk and Harvard-educated lawyer, in explicitly personal terms.” MORE POLITICS MUCK READ — “Activist group led by Ginni Thomas received nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations,” by WaPo’s Shawn Boburg and Emma Brown: “The previously unreported donations to the fledgling group Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty were channeled through a right-wing think tank in Washington that agreed to serve as a funding conduit from 2019 until the start of last year, according to documents and interviews. “The arrangement, known as a ‘fiscal sponsorship,’ effectively shielded from public view details about Crowdsourcers’ activities and spending, information it would have had to disclose publicly if it operated as a separate nonprofit organization, experts said. The Post’s investigation sheds new light on the role money from donors who are not publicly identified has played in supporting GINNI THOMAS’s political advocacy, long a source of controversy. The funding is the first example of anonymous donors backing her activism since she founded a conservative charity more than a decade ago.” A KEYSTONE COMEBACK — “Dave McCormick Poised to Mount Another Senate Run,” by The Dispatch’s Audrey Fahlberg
| | | | GO INSIDE THE 2023 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is proud to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage, insider nuggets and unparalleled insights from the 2023 Global Conference, which will convene leaders in health, finance, politics, philanthropy and entertainment from April 30-May 3. This year’s theme, Advancing a Thriving World, will challenge and inspire attendees to lean into building an optimistic coalition capable of tackling the issues and inequities we collectively face. Don’t miss a thing — subscribe today for a front row seat. | | | | | THE WHITE HOUSE DISPATCH FROM AFRICA — “Harris in Africa looks to painful past, innovative future,” by AP’s Chris Megerian: “Harris pledged a new era of partnership with Africa, envisioning ‘a future that is propelled by African innovation.’ Much of her remarks focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, part of her effort to spotlight Africa as a place for American private-sector investment. It’s something that Ghanaian President NANA AKUFO-ADDO said he hopes to see after years of being overlooked.” KNOWING ASHLEY BIDEN — “Ashley Biden Knows Who She Is,” by Elle’s Kayla Webley Adler: “The First Daughter is using what she’s learned from her own trauma to help other women heal from theirs.” BEYOND THE BELTWAY ABORTION FALLOUT — “Dem AGs clash with Biden admin over abortion pill restrictions,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein: “Lawyers representing the FDA are expected in court on Tuesday to defend the agency’s authority to place certain restrictions on mifepristone, which is typically used to end a pregnancy during the first 10 weeks. The case before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington was brought by more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general who say the requirements around the drug, including a certification process for anyone prescribing it, place an undue burden on patients and providers.” THE REAL WORLD IMPACT — “‘We’re Going Away’: A State’s Choice to Forgo Medicaid Funds Is Killing Hospitals,” by NYT’s Sharon LaFraniere in Greenwood, Miss.: “Mississippi is one of 10 states, all with Republican-led legislatures, that continue to reject federal funding to expand health insurance for the poor, intensifying financial pressure on hospitals.” MEGATREND — “U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022,” by AP’s Isabella O'Malley AMERICA AND THE WORLD DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — “For Chip Makers, a Choice Between the U.S. and China Looms,” by WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi and Jiyoung Sohn: “The Biden administration last week proposed new rules detailing restrictions chip companies would face on operations in China and other countries of concern if the companies accept taxpayer funding. Some of the proposed restrictions, known as the China guardrails, were tougher than industry executives, lawyers and national-security analysts say they had expected.” AD ASTRA — “Pentagon Prepares for Space Warfare as Potential Threats From China, Russia Grow,” by WSJ’s Doug Cameron WAR IN UKRAINE SHARING SUSPENSION — “U.S. suspends sharing nuke information with Russia,” by Paul McLeary THE BRAVE NEW WORLD — “Facial recognition is helping Putin curb dissent with the aid of U.S. tech,” by Reuters’ Lena Masri
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 4/5 FOR THE 2023 RECAST POWER LIST: America’s demographics and power dynamics are changing — and POLITICO is recasting how it covers the intersection of race, identity, politics and policy. Join us for a conversation on the themes of the 2023 Recast Power List that will examine America’s decision-making tables, who gets to sit at them, and the challenges that still need to be addressed. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | POLICY CORNER CORRUPTION CRACKDOWN — Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN pledged her department would maintain the new database on small business ownership proposed by the Biden administration called the beneficial ownership registry, AP’s Fatima Hussein reports: “The registry will contain personal information on the owners of at least 32 million U.S. businesses as part of an effort to combat corruption. Colombia, Malta and Japan are some of the countries included in the commitment.” PLAYBOOKERS IN MEMORIAM — “Gladys Kessler, Judge Who Curbed Deceptive Tobacco Ads, Dies at 85,” by NYT’s Richard Sandomir — “Richard Berendzen, AU president who resigned in scandal, dies at 84,” by WaPo’s Harrison Smith MEDIA MOVES — Nicholas Nehamas is joining the NYT as a campaign reporter covering Ron DeSantis. He previously was an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald. The announcement … Carol Lee is now managing Washington editor at NBC. She previously was a national political reporter and White House correspondent. … Hanna Rosin is now the host of The Atlantic’s weekly podcast, Radio Atlantic. She most recently was the editorial director for audio at New York magazine. The announcement … Brian Reisinger is now a contributing columnist for USA Today Network’s Ideas Lab for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is president and chief content officer of Platform Communications. The announcement Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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