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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.

 

Top Stories

  • 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)

 

What Else You Need To Know

White House & Administration
 

‘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.

 
Congress
 

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.

 
General
 

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.

 
Campaigns
 

RNC builds army of field staffers to flip Virginia governor’s race
Alex Isenstadt, Politico

National Republicans are making a big investment in the Virginia governor’s race, an indication that the GOP sees an opportunity in a state that many in the party had written off until recently.

 

House primary in Ohio takes nasty turn as national Democrats descend
Henry J. Gomez, NBC News

The two leading Democratic candidates in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District have turned the final days of a special election primary that has captured the national spotlight into a slugfest.

 

Former Gov. Jay Nixon says he won’t run for U.S. Senate following months of speculation
Jonathan Shorman, The Kansas City Star

Former Gov. Jay Nixon will not run for U.S. Senate, removing the possibility that one of Missouri’s most prominent Democrats would enter the 2022 race.

 

Pro-Sanders group rebranding into ‘pragmatic progressives’
Will Weissert, The Associated Press

Stinging from the disappointment of Bernie Sanders’ loss in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, supporters pumped millions into the powerful advocacy group Our Revolution to keep the progressive fight alive and prepare for another swing at the White House.

 
States
 

Florida officials defy DeSantis as infections spike
Matt Dixon, Politico

Florida’s Covid wars are starting again. Local officials across Florida are bucking Gov. Ron DeSantis and his anti-mandate coronavirus strategy as infections soar in the state and nation.

 

Texas Gov. Abbott issues executive order prohibiting cities from requiring masks, vaccines
Amy B Wang, The Washington Post

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday signed an executive order prohibiting cities and other government entities in the state from enacting vaccine requirements or mask mandates to protect against the coronavirus, even as the virus’s more contagious delta variant drives another surge in cases in Texas.

 

Garland urges Abbott to undo executive order aimed at curbing migration
Maeve Sheehey, Politico

Attorney General Merrick Garland urged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to reverse his day-old executive order that aims to restrict migration at the border following a rise in Covid-19 cases.

 

Pennsylvania Republican blasts election audit, rebukes fraud claims
Nathan Layne, Reuters

A Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania has come out against his colleagues’ “forensic” audit of the 2020 election, becoming the party’s first statewide official to publicly call for an end to the effort and warn of electoral consequences.

 
Advocacy
 

How the Head of the N.R.A. and His Wife Secretly Shipped Their Elephant Trophies Home
Mike Spies, The New Yorker

In the early fall of 2013, an export company in Botswana prepared a shipment of animal parts for Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, and his wife, Susan.

 

Exxon sting ensnares think tanks with climate credentials
Corbin Hiar, E&E News

In May 2018, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the geopolitical implications of oil and gas production in the United States. The four witnesses who testified all had one thing in common: Their institutions each had received money that year from Exxon Mobil Corp.

 
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
 

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.

 
Morning Consult