Washington
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Essential U.S. political news & intel to start your day.
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July 30, 2021
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The Trends on Jan. 6 Are in Trump’s Favor
New polling conducted after the first hearing of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 finds 56 percent of voters believe Donald Trump is at least somewhat responsible for the Capitol attack, down 5 points since a survey conducted last month, suggesting that unless the panel, which has subpoena power, is able to unearth some new information about the former president’s conduct, perceptions of his culpability for the riot have likely already hit their high-water mark. Read more here.
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Top Stories
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Both chambers voted overwhelmingly to approve a $2.1 billion supplemental spending bill to shore up funding for the Capitol Police and National Guard for costs associated with the Jan. 6 riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, sending the measure to President Joe Biden. (Roll Call) The measure also included funding for relocating thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the nearly 20-year war there ahead of the arrival of 200 Afghan interpreters and their families in Virginia today. (The Washington Post)
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said all 50 Senate Democrats will support the party’s $3.5 trillion budget vehicle for the party’s social spending package, and believes the chamber is “on track” to advance both the budget resolution and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package before lawmakers leave town for August recess. (The Hill)
- Biden publicly threw his weight behind an effort to include a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants in Democrats’ yet-to-be-written reconciliation bill after meeting with Democratic lawmakers to discuss the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (The New York Times) Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said the reconciliation process appears to be the only viable legislative route to enacting a pathway to citizenship, and said he was “optimistic” the Senate parliamentarian would allow its inclusion. (Roll Call)
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Events Calendar (All Times Local)
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A MESSAGE FROM MORNING CONSULT |
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What Else You Need To Know
White House & Administration
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‘The war has changed’: Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe
Yasmeen Abutaleb et al., The Washington Post
The delta variant of the coronavirus appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal federal health document that argues officials must “acknowledge the war has changed.”
Biden Seeks to Revive Vaccine Effort With New Rules and Incentives
Michael D. Shear et al., The New York Times
President Biden on Thursday sought to revive the nation’s stalled push to vaccinate Americans against the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus, announcing new requirements for federal workers to be vaccinated and urging local and state governments to offer $100 to anyone willing to get a shot voluntarily.
How Biden’s sherpa, Steve Ricchetti, scored the big deal
Laura Barrón-López and Christopher Cadelago, Politico
On Tuesday, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) spent nine hours holed up in a Capitol hideaway room with White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, furiously working through last-minute disagreements in the bipartisan infrastructure deal.
Biden is to meet with top Democrats on voting rights as senators ready a scaled-back proposal
Nicholas Fandos and Nick Corasaniti, The New York Times
President Biden and the top Democrats in Congress are expected to meet at the White House on Friday to discuss their party’s faltering efforts to pass major voting rights legislation, according to two congressional aides familiar with the plans.
Biden will name American historian as ambassador to combat antisemitism
Michael Wilner, Miami Herald
President Joe Biden plans to name Deborah Lipstadt, a historian and expert on Jewish and Holocaust studies at Emory University in Atlanta, as U.S. ambassador to combat and monitor antisemitism on Friday, three sources told McClatchy.
Biden plans to nominate a Cuban American Democrat to be the U.S. ambassador to O.A.S.
Patricia Mazzei, The New York Times
President Biden announced on Thursday that he would nominate Francisco O. Mora, a prominent Cuban American Democrat, as the U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States, a position that would make him a leading administration voice on Western Hemisphere policy, including the civil unrest in Cuba and the aftermath of the presidential assassination in Haiti.
Harris releases strategy to tackle migration’s root causes
Elliot Spagat, The Associated Press
Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that efforts to address root causes of migration from three Central American countries won’t produce immediate results as she unveiled a broad strategy that expands on principles the Biden administration previously outlined.
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Rep. Bass Downplays Role Of Qualified Immunity In Stalled Police Reform Bill
Alana Wise, NPR News
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., a lead negotiator trying to forge an agreement over a policing bill, downplayed the role that the controversial issue of qualified immunity has played in stalled bipartisan talks.
Schumer, a leader more liked than feared, faces test of whether he can deliver the ‘big and bold’ agenda he’s promised
Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post
Just hours after Georgia voters elected two Democrats, flipping the Senate majority, on Jan. 5, Sen. Charles E. Schumer reveled in the victory and said his caucus — handed power for the first time in six years — was “committed to delivering the bold change and help that Americans need and demand.”
Jordan acknowledges talking to Trump on Jan. 6
Caroline Vakil, The Hill
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) confirmed in an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday that he spoke with former President Trump on Jan. 6.
House Freedom Caucus wants Cheney, Kinzinger kicked out of Republican conference
Teaganne Finn, NBC News
The conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling for the removal of Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois from the Republican caucus, an effort to punish the pair for joining the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee arrested at voting rights protest on Capitol Hill
Vanessa Williams, The Washington Post
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) became the third member of Congress to be arrested during nonviolent protests aimed at rallying support for federal voting legislation that activists say are necessary to push back against new restrictive state laws.
Gaetz, Greene and Gohmert turned away from jail to visit Jan. 6 defendants
Lexi Lonas, The Hill
Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Majorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas) on Thursday were turned away from the D.C. Department of Corrections where they tried to visit accused Jan. 6 rioters.
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Census won’t release key annual survey because of pandemic’s impact on data
Michael Macagnone, Roll Call
The Census Bureau announced Thursday that it will not produce its annual American Community Survey, which provides detailed demographic data widely used for research and billions of dollars in federal funding decisions, because of how the coronavirus pandemic skewed survey results.
US economy surpasses pre-pandemic size with 6.5% Q2 growth
Martin Crutsinger, The Associated Press
Fueled by vaccinations and government aid, the U.S. economy grew at a solid 6.5% annual rate last quarter in another sign that the nation has achieved a sustained recovery from the pandemic recession. The total size of the economy has now surpassed its pre-pandemic level.
Carl Levin, Michigan’s longest serving U.S. senator, dies at 87
Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press
Carl Levin, a liberal Democrat who rose from a prominent Detroit family to become Michigan’s longest-serving U.S. senator and helped set military priorities and investigate corporate behavior for decades before retiring in 2015, died Thursday. He was 87.
Chief DC federal judge questions misdemeanor deals for US Capitol rioters
Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
The chief judge in DC’s federal court questioned the Justice Department’s decision to offer misdemeanor plea deals to nonviolent US Capitol rioters, saying at a hearing Thursday that the relatively light punishment might not be enough to deter similar attacks in the future.
Trump: Jan. 6 Cops Who Spoke to Congress Are ‘Pussies’
Asawin Suebsaeng and Sam Brodey, The Daily Beast
In the months since the U.S. Capitol assault, Donald Trump has led the GOP efforts to distort and dismiss the realities of the anti-democratic and deadly riot that the former president himself instigated.
Did Trump follow his pledge to donate the last 6 months of his presidential pay? It’s a mystery.
David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post
Donald Trump promised to give away his $400,000 presidential salary. And he kept that promise, publicly announcing each gift — at least, for his first three and a half years in office. Then, in the middle of last year, the announcements stopped.
MyPillow to Pull Ads From Fox News in Disagreement With Network
Alexa Corse and Benjamin Mullin, The Wall Street Journal
The chief executive of MyPillow Inc., one of Fox News’s big advertisers, said he is pulling his ads from the network after a disagreement over a proposed commercial.
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Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
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How Much America’s Lack of Child Care Infrastructure Is Costing Women
Liuba Grechen Shirley (Vote Mama), Morning Consult
The pandemic has taken a toll on working moms, especially when it comes to child care. America was on the verge of a child care crisis before the pandemic, but the past year tipped us over the edge. When schools and child care centers closed last spring, almost 5.1 million women left the workforce, largely due to the economic burden of child care.
On Jan. 6, I feared for my country, my colleagues, my husband. I had no idea how bad it really was.
Connie Schultz, USA Today
Before I share my thoughts about the House select committee’s first hearing on the violent Jan. 6 attack on our Capitol, I owe you three disclosures: I am an American who believes that, despite its many flaws, our democracy is worth preserving.
Donald Trump Would Have Made a Great House Republican
Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker
For the past few years, it’s become a political truism to speak of two Americas—the Red America of Donald Trump, the Blue America of Joe Biden—and their parallel, nonintersecting realities, which shape everything from party preferences to belief in the basic principles of science.
The MyPillow Guy Really Could Destroy Democracy
Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic
When you contemplate the end of democracy in America, what kind of person do you think will bring it about? Maybe you picture a sinister billionaire in a bespoke suit, slipping brown envelopes to politicians.
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Research Reports and Polling
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Gerrymandering Potency Raises the Stakes for the 2020s
Kyle Kondik, Sabato’s Crystal Ball
While partisan gerrymandering is nothing new in American politics, it has become easier to find examples of states where gerrymanders are consistently effective and harder to find examples of “dummymanders” — gerrymanders that fail.
What’s in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act?
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators announced they reached a deal on an infrastructure spending package – the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – that would add nearly $550 billion in new spending, including $284 billion for transportation infrastructure and $264 billion for other infrastructure areas such as power, broadband, and water. These figures come on top of extensions of current highway and other funding.
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