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PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN

THE TOP

Steve Ricchetti is one of the most powerful people in the Biden White House, and therefore, one of the most powerful political figures in America. His title is counselor to the president, and if you talk to people in President Joe Biden’s orbit, they’ll tell you that Ricchetti is one of the aides who understands the 46th president best. Ricchetti will have a massive hand in positioning this White House over the next four years. He’s worked for Biden for nine years, including serving as Biden’s chief of staff for three years when he was vice president.

We spoke to Ricchetti last night to chat about Biden’s legislative priorities.

→ We asked Ricchetti what are the president’s “must-haves” in the Covid-relief package: “The checks and the direct assistance, you know the the additional $1,400 in the checks is vitally important and was really certainly at the top of the list for us in terms of what we think is important and was a campaign commitment. And the president [has] talked about this over and over and over again. The extension of …  unemployment insurance is really, really … important.”

→ How about an increase in the minimum wage?: “The minimum wage piece — the provision itself is embedded in our proposal. And we know that there’s a dimension to this that will be considered, as you know, in reconciliation so I think that there’s some of the mechanical considerations about where and how it will be treated [that] are still to be determined. … 

“Again, helping people in the near term, making sure that they have the kind of wages and support so that they can live a comfortable, secure and healthy life, that’s why that’s fair and that’s what that provision is. But you all are sophisticated observers of the process and there’s still some process pieces ahead of us that are going to determine where and how minimum wage is handled in reconciliation.”

→ We quoted Republican senators Wednesday morning saying Biden was driven by his staff and Congressional leaders — and that’s why he won’t cut a deal on the Covid package with the GOP. Ricchetti pushed back hard on that: “It’s just absurd that like he’s — how do I politely say this. Look, the president is leading this dialogue, he thought carefully about every element that was contained in this proposal. … 

“You also know the president well enough to know that he is anxious for a polite and even a robust dialogue. And fair, honest respectful consideration of other points of view. And so that’s why he invited the, you know, the Republicans in response to the letter that he received from Sen. [Susan] Collins, and the other nine Republican senators who asked for him to consider an alternative approach. … 

“He did say to them: Look, there’s probably a number of these things, the differences between our point of view with respect to the urgency of this crisis and the nature and the extent of the support that is required. Then we just, you know, we’re probably going to have to agree to disagree about a number of these things, but I have committed to you and it is my intention to have an open dialogue about each one of these things and any idea that you have I want to hear.” 

→ We asked Ricchetti about Biden’s other legislative priorities. He stressed that Covid relief is far and away the top issue now, and emphasized the executive actions the administration has taken. 

Ricchetti added this: “There’s a variety of other things where there’s opportunities to work on issues that aren’t the kind of the kind of, and are certainly of the magnitude that the COVID package represents or any one of the elements of the Build Back Better, there will be pieces that will be able to work on — national service, on the opioid crisis on a range of other things, where there’s already been some, a lot of work in Congress and, in particular, bipartisan work really amongst [the] House and senators. So, those kinds of things are going to percolate again. we’re two weeks in. There’s a heck of a lot coming.”

THE ESTABLISHMENT STRIKES BACK

What the Cheney win means

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The Trump wing of the House GOP was dealt a blow Wednesday night when Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) trounced her opposition to retain her role as the House Republican Conference chair. 

Cheney gambled and won: Cheney voted to impeach former President Donald Trump and still kept her post. She won 145 to 61 with one abstaining. That is a big victory. 

A few observations:

→ Don’t make a move on someone in leadership unless you can beat them. The Trump wing of the GOP Conference took a shot at Cheney and missed. This calls into question not only their numbers and counting ability, but their sway. And it highlights once again the hardliners’ weakness in leadership races. This is a trend that goes back many years to when the Freedom Caucus tried to strike deals that gave them a position in the leadership. They could never execute on these big internal plays. Hardliners have proven they can defeat leaders yet they still can’t put someone in the job.

→ Cheney, of course, is validated in a big way. A secret ballot is oftentimes the purest method of figuring out where the conference really is. And Cheney was stronger than many Republicans thought. Her whip operation — which some Republicans doubted — was spot on. They had 142 yesses on their whip sheet. They got 145. Cheney may not be able to move up in leadership after this, but her place is secure right now.

→ Kevin McCarthy deserves major credit for Cheney’s win. After dawdling for weeks, declining to fully embrace the Wyoming Republican, McCarthy gave an impassioned speech on her behalf Wednesday night in the closed meeting. McCarthy started out by reminding Republicans that a lot of his colleagues gave him flak for making Rep. Jim Jordan — once a sworn enemy — the top lawmaker on the House Oversight Committee. But Jordan was the right person at the time, he said. And McCarthy said he felt the same way about Cheney.  “You elected me leader. Let me lead. We didn’t lose one seat. Let me have my team, and we’ll win the majority. I’m not going to ask Liz to help me with Judy’s Valentine’s Day card.” The room laughed. But after that, the Cheney opposition considered backing off their demand for a vote. 

Punch Line: McCarthy got his mojo back after a rough few weeks. Cheney cemented her power — she’ll have a primary challenge, but that’s 18 months away. 

WaPo’s Mike DeBonis and Paul Kane: “McCarthy moves to keep splintering GOP intact, with protection for both Cheney and Greene”

THE SPEAKER

Pelosi flexes her power in the Capitol

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Nancy Pelosi is going where no speaker has gone before. Since the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Pelosi has flexed her political muscle in a way that no speaker ever has. But Pelosi is managing a situation without precedent.

Let’s take stock of what Pelosi has changed in the House since that day:

→ In the most aggressive move, Democrats are getting ready to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her seats on the Education and Budget committees. This is an unprecedented play by the majority party. Democrats, though, are incensed about Greene’s long history of hate-filled comment. She has approved of threats of violence against Pelosi. And after Jan. 6, Democrats are not going to let it go.

→ Pelosi helped push through impeachment proceedings against now former President Donald Trump in one day. There weren’t any hearings, Trump didn’t get to call any witnesses, and Trump’s lawyers didn’t submit anything in his defense. Democrats still picked up 10 GOP votes for impeachment, including GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.), who survived a leadership challenge on Wednesday night over this issue.

→ Pelosi installed magnetometers outside the House floor without even telling Republicans what she was planning to do. This was in response to concerns from her members that some Republicans had — or planned to — bring guns to the floor. When GOP lawmakers wouldn’t comply with the screening protocol, Pelosi and her leadership pushed through a rules change setting a $5,000 fine for a first offense, $10,000 for a second. That money will be taken right from lawmakers’ salaries.

→ Pelosi has sought to keep a big National Guard presence on Capitol Hill; those troops are expected to be in place for several more weeks. Pelosi ordered a security review by retired Lt. General Russel Honoré​ that will be completed in March, and she’s called for new spending for security for rank-and-file members. Pelosi also wants to create a 9/11-style commission to review what happened in the deadly Capitol incident.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other top Republicans are angry about what Democrats are doing to Greene. They say it goes far beyond anything the majority party has done to a lawmaker who is not under criminal or ethical investigation. 

“Proceeding down the current path establishes a new standard not only for what members of Congress say before they are elected but also what rights the majority party has to dictate the committee assignments of minority members,” said Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), top Republican on the Rules Committee, despite finding Greene’s remarks “repugnant.”

Yet Pelosi’s allies say she’s justified in everything she has done or is doing. Many Democrats, in fact, want to go a lot further than Pelosi. They’d like to see Greene expelled from Congress, or Democratic leadership move against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and other lawmakers who have ties to groups linked to the Jan. 6 attack, such as Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).

“Speaker Pelosi is not dictating anything to the minority,” Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) told us. “Steny Hoyer had a conversation with Kevin McCarthy and said to him, ‘You should do the right thing here with respect to the appointment of Majorie Taylor Greene to the Education and Labor Committee so that we don’t have to make a decision on the House floor.’ The ball is now in Kevin McCarthy’s court.”

“I think that after this assault on the Capitol, we need to have a lot of these measures in place,” Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told us. “You have Republican members who want to bring guns into the chamber … They don’t listen. A lot of the Republicans don’t listen. That’s why you need these mandates.”

MOMENTS

9:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris will receive their intelligence briefing.

10:45 a.m.: Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold her weekly news conference.

11:30 a.m.: Jen Psaki will brief. 

1:15 p.m.: Biden and Harris will head to Foggy Bottom to visit the State Department.

1:30 p.m.: Biden will speak to State Department staff.

2 p.m.: Biden and Harris will meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

2:45 p.m.: Biden will give a foreign policy address.

3:20 p.m.: Biden will leave the State Department for the White House. 

CLIP FILE

NYT: “Justice Department Unveils Further Charges in Capitol Riot,” by Katie Benner and Alan Feuer

“Biden to Welcome More Refugees, but Far From All Will Get In,” by Lara Jakes, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Maggie Haberman and Mike Shear

“‘It’s Embarrassing’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Tests the Limits of Some Voters,” by Rick Rojas in Summerville, Ga.

WaPo: “GameStop frenzy leaves behind a mess for Wall Street regulators,” by Tory Newmyer and David J. Lynch

“Fearing violence and political uncertainty, Americans are buying millions more firearms,” by Hannah Denham and Andrew Ba Tran

WSJ: “Parler CEO Says He Was Fired as Platform Neared Restoring Service,” by Jeff Horwitz and Keach Hagey: “Parler, a moderation-light social-media network that was forced offline last month by tech giants over how it policed its content, has fired its chief executive amid a dispute over the platform’s future.

“John Matze, the former CEO, said he was fired on Friday by the company’s board as the platform was within days of restoring service to its roughly 15 million users. He said the board is currently controlled by conservative political donor Rebekah Mercer.”

AP: “Stuck in DC, Biden team pitches rest of US on big virus aid,” by Josh Boak: “Even as President Joe Biden gathers with senators and works the phones with Capitol Hill to push for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters.

“His administration has done 60-plus interviews with national TV and radio shows. There have been spots on local TV news and briefings last week with more than 50 groups that ranged from General Motors to Meals on Wheels America and Planned Parenthood. One of the main goals is to stop people from getting bogged down in the tangle of partisan deal-making and convince them that every penny of the ‘go big’ package is needed.”

POWER PLAYS

Old Bulls get a vote on pushing aside junior Dems

We first told you about this yesterday. Some of the committee chairs in the Senate Democratic Caucus are upset about a new rule authored by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) that allows junior members to get to pick subcommittee assignments before they do. These committee chairs want to delay implementation of the change for two years. Again, this seems wonky, but it’s really about senior Democrats trying to exert their power over more junior colleagues. 

Led by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee, these “Old Bulls” are pushing for a vote today inside the caucus on the issue. Supporting Reed are Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairs of the Appropriations and Environment and Public Works committees respectively. These senior Democrats argue that it’s no time to change the rules with a new Democratic president just coming into office. They want to not only have power over the full committees, but also the subcommittees. We will tell you how this plays out. 

One other committee note — this time for Senate Republicans. GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso was added to the powerful Finance Committee, which oversees tax, trade, and health-care policy. Barrasso is the only Republican addition to Finance for this Congress. The Wyoming Republican is also the ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a big plus back home.

DEMOCRATIC MOVES

Big shakeup in Bernie world

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There’s been a shakeup in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) office that could have a broader impact on the Senate. In a move first reported by Politico, Sanders’ “chief of staff, legislative director and top communications staffer are on their way out or have changed roles,” according to multiple sources. Sanders 2020 campaign aides are taking over.

Caryn Compton, Sanders’ chief of staff, is being replaced by Misty Rebik, who was executive director of the presidential campaign. Ari-Rabin Havt is the new legislative director, replacing Lori Kearns, who is moving over to serve as staff director for the HELP Committee. Communications Director Keane Bhatt is leaving “imminently.”

Sanders also brought in Bill Dauster — pictured above — as chief counsel for the Budget Committee, which Sanders now chairs. Dauster, who worked for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is a widely respected Senate hand who understands legislating as well as anyone in Washington. He’s also an outspoken advocate for getting rid of the legislative filibuster, which progressives have been pushing pretty hard for.

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