| | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Tara Palmeri, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | GOOD NEWS FOR MCCONNELL: The latest weekly POLITICO/Morning Consult poll is out this morning and finds that more voters would blame Democrats than Republicans if the U.S. were to default on its debt. The finding comes as Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL is rallying his members to oppose raising the borrowing cap. Asked which party they would blame more, 33% said Democrats, 42% said both parties, and only 16% said Republicans. Nine percent didn't know. One note of caution: The crisis point is still weeks away, and the blame game has hardly begun. Toplines … Crosstabs CAN THE HOUSE GET TO 218 ON BIF? That's the big question on Capitol Hill after Speaker NANCY PELOSI made clear Tuesday her team would not delay a Monday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, aka BIF. Here's what we're watching as Pelosi's whipping operation gets underway for what promises to be a close vote. FOR THE DEMOCRATS: — How many progressives play hardball? Progressives have long claimed they have the numbers to tank legislation they think is too accommodating to centrists. With leadership decoupling the left's prized $3.5 trillion reconciliation package from BIF, now is their moment to flex — or look like pushovers. But how many will defy Pelosi? A dozen? More than 20? Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) said half of her 95-member group will oppose BIF without the reconciliation package. But until those members go on record, we won't know what the actual number is. Whatever it ends up being, Democratic leaders will need GOP members to make up that difference. (More on why that's problematic in a second …) — Can JOE BIDEN get the job done? The president ran on his four decades of experience in the Senate and ability to work with Congress to get stuff done. But there are real questions about his sway in the House, where he is not as well-known. Just a few weeks ago, he tried but failed to whip House moderates to support their party's budget. Pelosi ended up striking the deal. This time, he needs to win over progressives, who were never huge fans of Biden to begin with. Add to that his administration's handling of migrants at the border — which has infuriated many liberals — and he's starting from a very difficult spot. We should get an initial read on this today: Biden is meeting with a group of House Democrats from across the caucus, to try to find a path forward before Monday. Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris have a preview. | | A message from Facebook: Internet regulations are as outdated as dial-up
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– Setting rules that allow people to safely transfer data between services | | | FOR THE REPUBLICANS: — Does KEVIN MCCARTHY whip his members against it? The House minority leader has made clear he opposes BIF, but he's also under increased pressure to take the next step and urge his members to oppose it. On Tuesday, one of his allies, Republican Study Committee Chair JIM BANKS (R-Ind.), became the latest member to call on McCarthy to muscle votes in opposition. McCarthy is also getting an earful from the House Freedom Caucus, whose support he needs to become speaker someday. And don't forget about DONALD TRUMP, who ironically called for a big infrastructure bill as president but is now demanding they oppose the one Democrats are pitching. Will Trump lean on McCarthy to do more? — Problem Solvers have got problems. Earlier this year, a host of GOP lawmakers in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus endorsed BIF. But now even moderate Republicans who helped craft it are concerned about voting with a president whose poll numbers have taken a significant dip the past few weeks. As our colleague Olivia Beavers reported Tuesday, Republicans say as few as a half-dozen, and as many as two dozen or three dozen, could support this depending on whom you speak with. Complicating matters, the group's GOP leader, Rep. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-Pa.) — who would traditionally take the lead keeping PSC Republicans together on this — is new to this. He was thrust into the job this spring after his predecessor, longtime PSC co-leader TOM REED (R-N.Y.), stepped down amid scandal. We're told Fitzpatrick doesn't have the relationships with his members that Reed did and will have his work cut out keeping them together. — The business community jumps in. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are blitzing the offices of House Republicans this week, working behind the scenes to get them to "yes" on BIF. (POLITICO Influence's Caitlin Oprysko dug into this Tuesday.) Good Wednesday morning, and thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. | | | |   | | | BIDEN'S WEDNESDAY: — 9:15 a.m.: The president will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 11 a.m.: Biden will convene a virtual Covid summit on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly. Biden will also meet with members of Congress in the Oval Office in the afternoon to discuss the BIF and his agenda. VP KAMALA HARRIS' WEDNESDAY: — 1:30 p.m.: The VP will lead a session at the virtual Covid summit. — 5:15 p.m.: Harris will meet with Zambian President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 1 p.m. The HOUSE will meet at 10 a.m. DHS Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS and FBI Director CHRISTOPHER WRAY will testify before the Homeland Security Committee at 9 a.m. The SENATE is in. | | | | INTRODUCING CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. GET A FIRST LOOK AT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO OF THE DAY: White flags on the Mall commemorate the Americans who have died of Covid-19, in Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's temporary installation. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo | CONGRESS CHAMBER WARNS DEM ALLIES ON RECONCILIATION — Last year, the U.S. Chamber took heat from GOP allies for endorsing several moderate Democrats up for reelection — a break from the group's categorical alliance with Republicans. This week, the business lobby is putting some of those same Democrats on notice: If they vote for reconciliation, they will lose their endorsement. "No member of Congress can achieve the support of the business community if they vote to pass this bill as currently constructed," reads a "key-vote" notice sent to Hill offices. Verbal warnings are also being delivered, we're told. Why it matters: A lot of these Democrats tout the Chamber's backing to bolster their bipartisan cred in swing districts. Related: This morning the Chamber will announce six-figure ads in the districts of five of those Democrats urging them to vote "no": CINDY AXNE (Iowa), ANGIE CRAIG (Minn.), ANTONIO DELGADO (N.Y.), JOSH HARDER (Calif.) and ELAINE LURIA (Va.). View the ads here 'F---ING HATES HER' — KYRSTEN SINEMA's latest enemy is Los Altos, Calif.-based megadonor KARLA JURVETSON, who has the ear of Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER. Puck's Theodore Schleifer writes : "What makes it feel more personal is that Jurvetson helped raise money for Sinema's tough campaign in 2018. But the two have since fallen out. On a brusque private call in May that included Jurvetson and the Arizona senator, the two clashed over how Democrats could move on the filibuster, I hear, with the call ending rather abruptly." SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN — The House advanced a stopgap funding bill in a 220-211 vote Tuesday evening. But the "party-line outcome foreshadowed its doomed prospects in the Senate, where Republicans have pledged to oppose it, threatening to leave Congress with little time to resolve a set of disputes that could destabilize global markets," WaPo's Tony Romm writes. The bill passed after Democrats pulled $1 billion in funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. House progressives threatened to vote against the funding bill earlier Tuesday if it included such funds, Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and Anthony Adragna reported for Congress Minutes. — Conservatives pounced. "Supporters of Israel should take note. If Iron Dome can lose Democratic Party support, then there is nothing pro-Israel that won't be in jeopardy in Congress," WSJ's editorial board wrote. ALL POLITICS — In Wyoming, GEORGE W. BUSH is backing Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) with his first fundraiser of the 2022 cycle, WSJ's Mike Bender and Kristina Peterson report. The event Oct. 18 in Dallas will draw a stark battle line between Trump and Bush in the hotly contested proxy primary for the GOP's future. Among the co-hosts for the Cheney fundraiser: KARL ROVE and former Sen. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, who served in the Trump administration. THE WHITE HOUSE — The Haitian migrant crisis at the border has backed the Biden administration into an impossible spot, taking fire from all sides politically and facing few good options to solve the problem, Natasha Korecki and Laura Barrón-López report. — WaPo's Widlore Merancourt, Anthony Faiola and Nick Miroff report that the administration plans to double the amount of Haitians being deported from the border "starting Wednesday, raising alarm that thousands of cash-strapped migrants will add a new dimension to the humanitarian crisis in a country torn apart by violence, natural disaster and political strife." — First lady JILL BIDEN will travel to Michigan on Friday to visit a community college with Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA and Rep. ANDY LEVIN (D-Mich.), the White House announced. | | A message from Facebook: Facebook's Industry-leading investments are stopping bad actors
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"The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Dutchess County, New York, by attorney ALINA HABBA, alleges that the newspaper convinced Mary Trump to 'smuggle records out of her attorney's office and turn them over to The Times' despite her having signed a confidentiality agreement in 2001 after settling a contentious legal battle over the will of FREDERICK TRUMP, Donald's father and Mary's grandfather. … 'I think he is a f---ing loser, and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can,' said Mary Trump of her uncle's new suit." The Times called it "an attempt to silence independent news organizations and we plan to vigorously defend against it." AMERICA AND THE WORLD BLINKEN ON DEFENSE — Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN held a tense meeting with U.S. diplomats who have suffered from the Havana syndrome earlier this month, NBC's Josh Lederman and Brenda Breslauer scoop. The diplomats conveyed their "growing dismay over continuing stigma and disbelief within the U.S. government about their injuries" to Blinken, who in turn "spent more than an hour offering reassurances and fielding questions." — The House passed legislation Tuesday that would provide financial support to those who have been affected by the syndrome, sending it to Biden's desk for his signature, Lederman also reports. The move comes a day after it was revealed a member of CIA Director BILL BURNS' team was showing symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome after traveling to India. VALLEY TALK — NYT's Ryan Mac and Sheera Frenkel have a deep dive on Facebook's "Project Amplify," a company plan to promote pro-Facebook news on the website's newsfeed: "The idea was that pushing pro-Facebook news items — some of them written by the company — would improve its image in the eyes of its users … But the move was sensitive because Facebook had not previously positioned the News Feed as a place where it burnished its own reputation. Several executives at the meeting were shocked by the proposal." — WSJ's Kate O'Keeffe, Aaron Tilley and Dawn Lim report that "a Justice Department-led panel is investigating Zoom Video Communications Inc.'s deal to buy an American customer-service software company, citing potential national-security risks posed by the U.S. videoconferencing giant's China ties." | | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A WOMEN RULE CONVERSATION ON ENDING SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY: Sexual assault in the military has been an issue for years, and political leaders are taking steps to address it. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) proposed bipartisan legislation to overhaul military sexual assault policies, but still face opposition. Join Women Rule for a virtual interview featuring Sens. Ernst and Gillibrand, who will discuss their legislative push and what it will take to end sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Cliff Sims, the former deputy DNI and Trump White House alum, is out with a new single: "U, Ur Mom & Me." Sims was previously the frontman for two bands, "Moses" and "Colour Academy," which landed him on MTV. "Well, he's dead, so…" -Bill Gates when pressed by Judy Woodruff on the lessons he learned from spending time with Jeffrey Epstein. Jerome Adams, the former surgeon general, had trouble refinancing his mortgage because HHS "was unwilling" to verify his past employment. "Apparently they won't accept Wikipedia as a reference," Adams followed up. Kara Swisher is selling her D.C. townhome. Meghan McCain has harsh words about the performance of Biden, a "man I once considered a friend and confidante." Arne Duncan's name is in the mix for the role of National Basketball Players Association executive director, per Marc Stein. Space Force unveiled new uniforms and the internet exploded. SPOTTED: Jon Voight, Chris Ruddy and Steve Lauren at lunch at media hotspot Michael's in midtown Manhattan. … Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Melinda Gates and Evan Ryan dining together at Zaytinya on Tuesday night. Pic SPOTTED at a happy hour hosted by New Dems for its comms director Natasha Dabrowski, who's moving to the Biden administration, at Dacha Navy Yard on Tuesday evening: Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), Helen Milby, Cindy Brown, JD Grom and Aaron Schmidt. Pic FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — John Steitz is now a managing director at FTI Government Affairs. He most recently was deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), and is a David Vitter alum. — Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) will be honored with an Order of Australia today by Australian PM Scott Morrison and Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos at an investiture ceremony at the Capitol. MEDIA MOVE — Alyson Shontell will be the next editor-in-chief of Fortune, the first woman to lead the magazine. She currently is editor-in-chief of Business Insider. Announcement TRANSITIONS — Brian Krebs is now head of elections and advocacy at Flytedesk. He previously was VP at Rising Tide Interactive and is a DCCC alum. … Kate Bernard is now VP of advocacy comms at Arnold Ventures. She previously was comms director for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. … Makeba Clay is now VP of inclusion, diversity, and equity at the Pew Charitable Trusts. She previously was the inaugural chief diversity officer at the Phillips Collection. … … Lee Brenner is now head of public policy for digital assets at Goldman Sachs. He most recently helped lead global public policy and external affairs for Facebook Financial. … Thad Inge is now a VP at Van Scoyoc Associates. He previously led government relations at Paychex. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jeffrey Goldberg … CNN's Gloria Borger and Jamie Crawford … Kelly Coldiron … POLITICO's Stephanie Murray, Jeremy Siegel and Kelsey Powers … HHS' Kirsten Allen … Rich Meade of Prime Policy Group … Katie McBreen of the Consumer Brands Association … Edelman's Kelsey Cohen … former Sen. Tim Wirth (D-Colo.) … former Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and Bill Enyart (D-Ill.) … Tommy Burr … Sandra Smith of Fox News … Joe Van Wye … Josh Nerpel of Graphicacy and The American Independent (4-0) … Will Hadden of Shirley & McVicker Public Affairs (28) … Monument Advocacy's Matt McAlvanah (42) and Winda Wanikpun (24) … Amy Chozick … Carl Cameron (6-0) … Terry Delahunty … Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. (7-0) … Kate Karnes … Locust Street Group's Hayley Zachary … Stacy Kerr … Reta Jo Lewis ... Bill Middendorf … Benjamin Leonard … TJ Ducklo ... Garrett Stephens of the Pivot Group … Facebook's Dara Levy … Jennifer Bishop … Jenner & Block's David Pressman ... Brett Broesder ... Heather Dawn Thompson … Jack Pagano … Lyndsay Keith … Washington Examiner's Katherine Doyle Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross. | | | | Sponsored Survey SHARE YOUR OPINION: Please take a short, 3-question survey about one of our advertising partners. | | | | | | | 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 political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
