Attendees of former President Barack Obamas 60th birthday party operate by much the same rules as a proverbial fight club meeting: Dont talk about it. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The Summer Olympics officially ended this morning in Tokyo. But if you miss all the hurdle-jumping, grappling, surprising finishes, rah-rah boosterism and self-important pageantry, youre in luck: All will be on display this week on Capitol Hill as the BIF moves ever closer to the finish line. (Strained? Perhaps. But its Sunday morning!)
The BIF cleared a key hurdle Saturday in the Senate, as a move to end debate passed in a 67-27 vote. Among those 67 were 18 Republicans, including two who previously opposed the measure: Sens. JOHN CORNYN (Texas) and DEB FISCHER (Neb.). Thats notable both as a clear sign of momentum, and in the fact that no Republican supporters jumped ship after this weeks CBO score, which projected that the bipartisan bill will add $256 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
What happens next?
First, the Senate has to sort through the many proposed amendments to the BIF.
One offered by Cornyn and Sen. ALEX PADILLA (D-Calif.) aims to ease restrictions on coronavirus relief aid to local governments.
More contentious are two dueling proposals over how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are reported and treated by the IRS. On one side is a proposal backed by the crypto industry and authored by Sens. RON WYDEN (D-Ore.), PAT TOOMEY (R-Pa.) and CYNTHIA LUMMIS (R-Wyo.); on the other, an amendment backed by the White House and authored by Sens. MARK WARNER (D-Va.), ROB PORTMAN (R-Ohio) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.). More on this from WaPo: Senate sits divided on regulation of crypto industry
As Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett report, a lone Republican is slowing this amendment process down. Sen. BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.) said Saturday that hes not inclined to expedite this process whatsoever, and that theres no purpose, in my view, to allow an acceleration of that. (Worth remembering: In January, Hagerty hired 13 former Trump administration officials for his Senate office.)
What does that mean for timing? Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER is hoping to wrap up the amendment process today, with an eye toward a full and final vote on BIF early this week (exact timing TBD).
One X-factor to keep an eye on: former President DONALD TRUMP, who has vocally opposed the BIF. On Saturday, Trump issued a statement calling the bill a disgrace, and declaring that if MITCH MCCONNELL was smart, which weve seen no evidence of, he would use the debt ceiling card to negotiate a good infrastructure package.
That having been said, heres some food for thought: For all the talk of the GOP civil war carried out in primaries, Republican support for BIF is another way to gauge Trumps influence and among Senate Republicans, the reaction to his opposition was mostly yawns, as NYTs Luke Broadwater and Emily Cochrane write. Substantial Republican support for the measure may signal his waning influence on Capitol Hill, the pair write.
On the other hand: Of the 18 Senate Republicans who voted for the BIF on Saturday, only five are considered likely to run for reelection in 2022: MIKE CRAPO (Idaho), CHUCK GRASSLEY (Iowa), JOHN HOEVEN (N.D.), LISA MURKOWSKI (Alaska) and TODD YOUNG (Ind.). The majority of those GOP incumbents who face voters in 2022 are with Trump on this.
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OBAMAS B-DAY BASH Attendees of former President BARACK OBAMAs 60th birthday party operate by much the same rules as a proverbial fight club meeting: Dont talk about it. Guests to the buzzy soiree on Marthas Vineyard were gasp! even prevented from taking photos and posting on social media from the event. Even so, details were bound to leak out. And when they did, the Daily Mail (who else?) repeated them with tabloid gleefulness.
[D]etails of the exclusive party were revealed after two cannabis-smoking DJs posted a series of pictures and videos to social media, also flouting the rules on posting pictures from the event, the Daily Mail reports in a story that, true to form, has 12 bullet points beneath the headline. Other details from the party:
JOHN LEGEND sang Happy Birthday to Obama. Other guests included: BEYONC and JAY-Z, CBS GAYLE KING, ERYKAH BADU, BRADLEY COOPER, GEORGE CLOONEY, QUESTLOVE and TOM HANKS.
Guests were presented with custom-designed face masks and cocktail napkins emblazoned with a 44x60 logo (Obama being the 44th president, and this being his 60th b-day).
Among the amenities: a specially constructed espresso martini bar, salt station and smores station.
As the party wrapped up, a police officer was heard over the radio describing the resulting traffic situation as a s---show. That may be true, but at least it sounds like a very ritzy s---show.
Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.
9 THINGS WE READ THAT STUCK WITH US
Amid a huge Covid-19 surge, Florida has set a new state record for number of hospitalizations each day for the past six days, reports the Miami Herald.
Over the past three decades, the median net worth of Black households with college grads who are in their 30s fell from roughly $50,400 to $8,200, per a WSJ analysis. (Yes, you read those numbers correctly.)
A contrarian take on the new eviction moratorium: It has neither an economic nor public-health rationale, writes WaPos Megan McArdle.
Get better lawyers. According to a NYT report, thats what Speaker NANCY PELOSI said to a Biden aide after being told that White House lawyers believed a nationwide evictions ban exceeded the governments legal power.
From Chalkbeat, the staggering full extent of learning loss in Newark, N.J., schools over the pandemic: Just 9% of students in grades 2-8 met state expectations in math, and 11% met expectations in reading.
Our national conversation has reached the point where many Americans are done with any and all excuses offered by the unvaccinated, writes Sarah Smarsh in a NYT op-ed on Covid rage.
Charlie Sykes in POLITICO Magazine on what he describes as the one place where GOP leaders take the spread of Covid very seriously: the border.
In a twist, activists opposed to abortion rights are citing an unlikely authority for their arguments that Roe v. Wade is a misguided ruling, writes WaPos Robert Barnes: RUTH BADER GINSBURG.
We dont actually own the digital books or movies we buy online from places like Amazon or Apple; we rent them. And that poses a cultural, a political, even a civilizational danger, Maria Bustillos writes in The Nation.
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SUNDAY BEST
Senate Judiciary Chair DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) on what former acting A.G. JEFFREY ROSEN told the committee, on CNNs State of the Union: He told us a lot. Seven hours of testimony. What was going on in the Department of Justice was frightening from a constitutional point of view. I would like to bring in JEFFREY CLARK He was the heir apparent in Trumps mind if Rosen was not going to do his bidding. And Rosen stood fast and didnt.
DANA BASH: The key question is whether the former president, when he was still president, tried to get Jeffrey Rosen to overturn the election results. Durbin: It was not that direct, but he was asking him to do certain things related to states election returns, which he refused to do. It was real. Very real. And it was very specific. This president is not subtle when he wants something.
Sen. BILL CASSIDY (R-La.) on the infrastructure timeline, on State of the Union: Probably its going to pass well have a vote tonight [at] 7:30, and then another vote, if you just look at the clock playing out, sometime on Tuesday. So, it could go quicker, but its going. And thats the good thing. Its going.
Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) on the 2024 presidential race, on Fox News Sunday: Im not planning to run.
Rep. CORI BUSH (D-Mo.) on whats next for the eviction ban if courts strike it down, on State of the Union: We have to do the work now to get this money out into the hands of the people who need it the most. So were telling tenants, were telling landlords to go online, or show up at the clinics that are happening around the country and apply for this money. Sixty days we may not have. So we are pushing really hard to make sure that people apply.
RANDI WEINGARTEN, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on vaccine mandates for teachers on NBCs Meet the Press: As a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers, not opposing them, on vaccine mandates.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDENS SUNDAY The president has nothing on his public schedule.
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) rides a Senate elevator Saturday as he slows the progress of the infrastructure bill through the chamber. | Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
THE WHITE HOUSE
NO SUMMER VACAY Always working: Biden eyes 1st summer getaway as president, by APs Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani: After more than six months of work combating the coronavirus, negotiating a bipartisan infrastructure bill and repairing the U.S. image abroad, Biden should be heading out on vacation and a traditional August break from Washington. But with legislative work on the infrastructure bill keeping the Senate in session for a second straight weekend, and likely through next week, Biden hasnt gone far just home to Wilmington, Delaware, as he has done most weekends since taking office.
Biden will spend some of next week at the White House before he decamps again, either for Delaware he also owns a home in Rehoboth Beach or Camp David, the official presidential retreat in Marylands Catoctin Mountains, [press secretary JEN] PSAKI said.
CONGRESS
WHERE MANCHIN STANDS Sen. Joe Manchin signals he wont back renewal of federal jobless aid for gig workers and long-term unemployed past Labor Day, by Insiders Joseph Zeballos-Roig: Sen. JOE MANCHIN of West Virginia indicated on Saturday he would not back including an extension of federal aid for gig workers and long-term unemployed Americans past Labor Day in a Democrat-only package.
Im done with extensions, he told Insider. The economy is coming back. Manchin went on: Look guys, read your own print. Read your own print. The economy is stronger now, the job market is stronger. Nine million jobs we cant fill. Were coming back.
The West Virginia senators opposition would effectively kill the renewal of those federal aid programs, given all 50 Senate Democrats need to back the party-line bill for it to clear the upper chamber. Democrats are drafting the initial bill, which will pass through the reconciliation process requiring only a simple majority vote sometime this fall.
POLICY CORNER
DEEP DIVE Why OSHA wont protect workers from climate change, by Ariel Wittenberg and Zack Colman: There is no federal standard protecting [laborers] from heat, which killed 815 workers between 1992 and 2017 and seriously injured 70,000 more, according to federal records. More heat deaths are likely in the coming years as climate change turbocharges temperatures to make heat waves even hotter and last longer.
PANDEMIC
THE HOT ZONE Florida adds 134,506 coronavirus cases, 616 deaths in the past week, by Tampa Bay Times Ian Hodgson: Floridas positivity rate rose to 18.5 percent in the past week, up from 18.1 percent the week before. Before reopening, states should maintain a positivity rate of 5 percent or less for at least two weeks, according to the World Health Organization. A positivity rate of 5 percent or less indicates testing is widespread enough to capture mild, asymptomatic and negative cases.
RETURN OF THE MASK Top U.S. chains are reinstating their mask requirements, by CNNs Nathaniel Meyersohn
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
PULLOUT FALLOUT The Taliban seize Kunduz, a key city in northern Afghanistan, by NYTs Christina Goldbaum, Najim Rahim, Sharif Hassan and Thomas Gibbons-Neff: The Taliban seized the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said. It is the first major city to be overtaken by the insurgents since they began their sweeping military offensive in May. It was also the third provincial capital to be overtaken by [the] Taliban in three days.
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BEYOND THE BELTWAY
CUOMO LATEST In public, Cuomo cast himself as an advocate of women. In private, women say, he was harassing them at the same time, by WaPos Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey: Over and over again, the investigation found, [New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO] behaved in private exactly in the manner that he repeatedly condemned in public making lewd comments to young women, kissing aides on the mouth, having others sit on his lap and repeatedly touching women inappropriately. Some of the alleged harassment happened in chance encounters: An employee of a utility company said that when she went to shake his hand on a rope line after an event, the governor traced his fingers along a logo printed across the chest of her shirt, leaving her feeling profoundly humiliated.
Through it all, the governor publicly maintained the posture of a crusader for womens rights, leading what he called a societal change in the way powerful men treated women. His administration, according to the attorney generals office, broke the states own laws that the governor had hailed by retaliating against a victim. In all, he harassed 11 women in violation of state and federal laws, the investigation found.
Albany sheriff says he wont rush or delay Cuomo investigation because of who he is, by NBCs Minyvonne Burke
DESPITE THE NEW SESSION Texas Democrats continue holdout, dont show for new session, by APs Acacia Coronado and Paul Weber: Texas Democrats still refused to return to the state Capitol on Saturday as Gov. GREG ABBOTT began a third attempt at passing new election laws, prolonging a monthslong standoff that ramped up in July when dozens of Democratic state lawmakers left the state and hunkered down in Washington, D.C.
But there were also signs the stalemate may be thawing. Two of the Democrats who decamped last month returned to Austin Saturday, and one of them said enough of his colleagues may also begin trickling back to secure a quorum next week. And, notably, Republicans did not invoke a procedural move that would give [state House Speaker DADE] PHELAN the authority to sign arrest warrants for missing lawmakers, as they did when the Democrats left town.
IN CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS Dixie Fire becomes largest single wildfire in California history, by Colby Bermel: The fire, which has burned for 23 days and forced mass evacuations, razed the Gold Rush town of Greenville on Thursday, destroying 91 buildings and damaging five others. Smoke from the blaze has blown to lower parts of Northern California, including the state capital of Sacramento where the air quality index on Friday reached unhealthy levels.
TRUMP CARDS
YIKES Trumps Repeating Donation Tactics Led to Millions in Refunds Into 2021, by NYTs Shane Goldmacher: The aggressive fund-raising tactics that Trump deployed late in last years presidential campaign have continued to spur an avalanche of refunds into 2021, with Mr. Trump, the Republican Party and their shared accounts returning $12.8 million to donors in the first six months of the year, newly released federal records show. The refunds were some of the biggest outlays that Mr. Trump made in 2021 as he has built up his $102 million political war chest and amounted to roughly 20 percent of the $56 million he and his committees raised online so far this year.
SPOTTED: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angus King (I-Maine), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) at dinner together outdoors at La Collina on Saturday night. Chasten Buttigieg and Emily Voorde at The Duck and The Peach on Saturday morning.
TRANSITION Blake Ruppe is joining Fox News as media guest greeter for the D.C. bureau. He previously was scheduler for Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).
WEDDING Adrienne Jackson, a lobbyist at Arnold and Porter, and Andrew Neely, deputy policy director of the Senate Commerce GOP, got married July 31. They met working in Sen. Jim Inhofes (R-Okla.) office in 2015; he was on the EPW Committee staff at the time and she was in the personal office. Instapics
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin White House chief of staff Ron Klain CNNs Kylie Atwood Virginia Heffernan ... Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group Will Caggiano Jay Gertsema ... Dee Ertukel ABCs Claire Brinberg ... Tyler Bowders ... Emily Rogers ... Jonah Seiger ... Samantha Cantrell of Rep. Carol Millers (R-W.Va.) office George Paul Tzamaras of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (61) Joanna Duchesne of Rep. Ted Lieus (D-Calif.) office David Friedman Mike Biundo Catharine Cypher WaPos Jackson Diehl ... James Feinstein Hayley Matz Meadvin Michael Toner POLITICOs Abigael Khuu, Daniela Falvo, Matt Trujillo and Trent Hunter Mike Dankler ... Jonah Seiger ... Jeff Chu ... CBS Lance Frank ... DLA Pipers Jim Blanchard ... Habib Durrani ... Kristina Dei ... David Bass of Raptor Strategies Josh Sternberg ... Mike Schwartz Teach for Americas Joe Walsh ... Saint Vincent and the Grenadines PM Ralph Gonsalves Marc Ambinder
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POLITICO Playbook: What happened at Obama's 60th b-day bash - POLITICO - Politico