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BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN

THE TOP

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Republicans have a new theory, take it for what you will. 

They say President Joe Biden really and truly wants to cut a bipartisan Covid-relief compromise, but Democratic congressional leaders and his own White House staff are holding him back. They say it is Biden’s natural instinct to cut a deal, only he’s not being allowed to do it. The Senate voted Tuesday on a 50-49 party line vote to begin the budget reconciliation process, which gives Democrats the ability to pass a Covid bill without GOP support. They want to finish that by mid-March.

The idea that Biden is torn between his deal-cutting instincts and Democratic lawmakers and staff urging him to tow the line is gaining steam throughout the Senate GOP. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said it. And several of the Republicans who attended Monday’s meeting with Biden told us on the record they thought it to be true, as well.

“Our members who were in the meeting felt that the president seemed to be more interested in [a bipartisan agreement] than his staff did, or it seems like the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

Of course, Republicans have an incentive here. They tried to push Biden on a less costly Covid deal. Biden wants $1.9 trillion, and the Republicans want $600 billion.

“My sense is the president would be more forward-leaning working with both sides, but there are pressures up here on the Hill, including [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer and [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi seem less interested,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told us. “It’s hard to read his staff, but they didn’t seem all that interested in finding common ground.” 

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) had a similar line: “I understand he’s not in an easy place here … He seemed more willing than his staff to negotiate.”

Several GOP senators said privately that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who sat in on the meeting, notably shook his head to agree or disagree with Republicans during the session. 

But the White House and Hill Democrats pushed back hard on the GOP criticism. They say it underestimates Biden’s singular focus on addressing the health and economic crises since his November victory over Donald Trump. Biden and Democratic leaders know these are the issues they will be judged on, both this year and in the 2022 midterms, and their top priority is passing the president’s Covid proposal as quickly as possible.

“The president was polite, but every time he spoke on substantive matters, he was telling Republicans why they were wrong,” a source familiar with the conversation told us. “His politeness shouldn’t be confused for a lack of conviction. He explained why they were wrong about schools, about helping middle class families, about the check size, and about leaving out state and local funding. At the end of the meeting, the president said to them we are very far apart, and I haven’t heard anything tonight that suggests we are moving in the same direction.”  

“Republicans came to the meeting in good faith, but it appears they’d rather play the blame game than have a substantive conversation about this bill,” said a White House aide. “Republicans were good with $160 billion for state and local funding when Donald Trump was president, and that number now is zero. If they want to have a serious conversation about a relief package that gets help to the folks who need it, let’s start with how much in local funding they were willing to give Donald Trump.”   

Here’s some evidence from Democrats that Republicans aren’t series. Biden promised the White House would follow up on some technical questions the Republicans had. That information was provided to the GOP senators at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, and there was no response by the end of the day, a White House official said.

“We have to have a Covid deal,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who voted in favor of a Democratic-only budget resolution on Tuesday in order to get the reconciliation process moving. “The president is using whatever he can to get it done. He wants to do it bipartisan. He really does… But this way, we’re assured of getting something done.”

Other points to consider:

→ Some Republicans want to drive a wedge between Biden and Pelosi-Schumer. Democrats and the White House are aware of this tactic and want to shut it down fast.

→ Biden is popular. It’s very early, but Biden’s poll numbers are good. So Republicans won’t attack him directly, especially in the tense atmosphere following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Going after Pelosi and Schumer is easier, their approval ratings aren’t as high.

→ A fast no. Republicans knew it would be a difficult task to convince Biden to enter into negotiations on the $618 billion GOP package led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Yet they were surprised by the tone of the White House’s rejection of their plan, believing there was room for more talks.

THE HOUSE GOP’S BIG DAY

Cheney, MTG and House R’s big day

Today is a momentous day for the House Republican Conference and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The GOP leadership is expected to render judgement on whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) should lose her committee assignments over racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and conspiracy laced remarks. And Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will appear in front of the House Republican Conference at 4 p.m. as a clutch of the party seeks to remove the third-term lawmaker from her leadership slot after voting to impeach Donald Trump.

Put together, the easy way to look at this is as a battle for the soul of the GOP. And there’s some truth to that. But this is also an important moment for McCarthy, and the Republican leadership writ large.

How will McCarthy handle Greene, a former QAnon devotee and conspiracy theorist who has become an embarrassment for Republicans? And will the GOP dump its No. 3 leader because she wasn’t loyal enough to Trump. 

Of course, no one member controls the 211-person House Republican Conference. But McCarthy is the leader, and this will be an interesting piece of evidence as to how he handles pressure.

McCarthy met with MTG for hours in his office just steps from the floor on Tuesday evening during a House vote series. He then called in the House Republican Steering Committee — a group heavy with his allies that decide committee assignments. Any decision to strip MTG of her committee assignments needs to come through the steering panel. 

There are a handful of ways for McCarthy to play this. He can say that Democrats are hypocrites and are seeking to sanction MTG — “cancel” her, some Republicans say — for behavior from before her time in Congress. Or McCarthy can cave to Democratic pressure and take MTG off her committees. That’s bowing to the inevitable, since Democrats can remove her without McCarthy. He can try to put her on lower-level committees instead to tamp down the partisan fury. 

McCarthy has already shown he isn’t going to make a snap decision about MTG, and he’s looking for buy in from the steering committee. 

How McCarthy handles the furor over Cheney is also instructive. At 4 p.m. today, the House Republican Conference will meet and Cheney will be a main topic of conversation. Cheney is expected to say her vote to impeach Trump was a personal decision, and House Republicans should stay united to take back the chamber in 2022. This, of course, is an oversimplification. Cheney is in charge of the entire House GOP messaging apparatus, and her opponents argue she’s no longer the right fit for a party that’s loyal to Trump. 

McCarthy has offered Cheney his qualified support as she has twisted in the wind, saying he is in favor of her remaining in the leadership but at the same time suggesting that it is legitimate to have questions about her vote. McCarthy is stuck in the middle of two poles, and it’s an unenviable position — we’ll give him that. Cheney is a member of his leadership team, and represents the Republican Party that a lot of people pine for. But the Republican Party that exists is much different. It’s loyal to Trump, it’s bombastic and it’s far closer to MTG and the Cheney opposition. The House GOP has toyed with holding a vote on Cheney’s future during the meeting today. 

McCarthy has two things in mind at all times. He wants to win back the House in 2022, and he wants to become speaker in 2023. Everything he does is driving toward those two goals. He needs both the Republican Party the establishment wishes for, and the Republican Party that exists today to get there.

Remember: McCarthy was elected in 2006 and almost became speaker in 2015. Six years later, at 56, he’s closer than he’s ever been. 

INSIDE THE SENATE

The Old Bulls push back

There’s a generational fight taking place inside the Senate Democratic Caucus right now, and it will play out in a party meeting today.

The topic sounds wonky: subcommittee assignments. But it’s actually quite important for power in Washington, especially with Democrats in the majority. Following the November election, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) pushed to allow junior senators to choose their subcommittee assignments before committee chairs get to pick. Committee chairs already have control over money and staff; Murphy’s amendment allowed younger senators to have some power too. 

But the old bulls — senior committee chairs — are saying “not so fast.” They want a chance to voice their continued opposition to Murphy’s amendment. It’s a bid to get back some of the power that they have lost. These chairs — who already rule over the whole panel — want to be able to rule over the subcommittees too. 

It’s not clear whether Senate Democrats will vote on the issue today, but it’s taken on even more importance since Democrats are in the majority. We’ll fill you in on what happens.

PHOTO OF THE NIGHT

Biden pays respects in the Capitol

Getty Images

President Joe Biden visited the Capitol late Tuesday night to pay his respects to the late Capitol Police officer Brick Sicknick. Sicknick was murdered in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

MOMENTS

9:30 a.m.: VP Kamala Harris will hold a ceremonial swearing in for Pete Buttigieg as Transportation secretary.

11 a.m.: The Covid-19 response team will brief.

1:30 p.m.: Jen Psaki will brief.

5:30 p.m.: President Joe Biden and Harris will receive the daily briefing

12:15 p.m.: House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries and Vice Chair Pete Aguilar have their weekly news conference.

4 p.m.: House Republican Conference meeting.

CLIP FILE

NYT: “Under Pressure to Rebuke Their Own, G.O.P. Leaders Face a Critical Test,” by Catie Edmondson

“Bannon, Pardoned by Trump, Now Faces Manhattan D.A. Investigation,” by Jonah Engel Bromwich, William K. Rashbaum and Ben Protess: “Stephen K. Bannon, who received a last-minute pardon from former President Donald J. Trump after being indicted on federal charges of defrauding donors to a border wall, may yet face state charges in connection with the same scheme.

“The Manhattan district attorney’s office has begun investigating Mr. Bannon’s role in the fund-raising project for the wall and is also considering opening an investigation into Ken Kurson, who was also pardoned by Mr. Trump after he was charged with federal crimes related to cyberstalking and harassment, according to three people familiar with the matter.”

“Liz Cheney Chooses Her Own Path, and It’s a Perilous One,” by Jeremy Peters in Cheyenne, Wyo.

WaPo: “Senate Republicans move against ‘nutty’ House member in widening GOP rift,” by Mike DeBonis and Paul Kane 

“Sean Hannity is the face of the post-Trump identity crisis at Fox News,” by Sarah Ellison and Jeremy Barr

WSJ: “Janet Yellen to Meet With Regulators on GameStop, Market Volatility,” by Kate Davidson

Axios: “Schiff lobbying Newsom to be California’s next AG,” by Hans Nichols and Kadia Goba 

POLITICO: “Trump aides made a late request to Team Biden to extend their parental leave. They said no,” by Daniel Lippman

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