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PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN
WITH MAX COHEN AND CHRISTIAN HALL

THE TOP

Happy Thursday morning. Today marks the one-year anniversary of Joe Biden’s presidency.

About last night: We’ve written extensively on the Senate battle over voting rights and the filibuster during the last two weeks, so we’re not going to go into exhaustive detail on Wednesday’s night showdown. It was a historic moment, there’s no question about that. But did it change anything? And will it mean anything – in the next few weeks, or months, or November? This all has yet to be seen.

Here are the basics: Senate Republicans filibustered a major voting rights package offered by Democrats. The vote was 50-50.

Then, as he promised, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer forced a vote on changing Senate rules to allow the chamber to pass this voting rights bill by a simple majority vote, creating a “carve-out” in the filibuster for this issue. And then, as they promised for months, Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) voted with all 50 Republicans to reject Schumer’s proposal. Thus, Schumer’s attempt to use the “nuclear option” – a party line vote to change Senate rules rather than the required two-thirds – failed 48-52.

To be honest, we still don’t fully comprehend the Democratic strategy here. Schumer, backed by Biden, pushed this fight to the bitter end knowing he was going to lose. How that helps him, Senate Democrats or Biden just isn’t apparent to us. Wednesday’s vote, in fact, cemented Manchin and Sinema as the biggest pariahs in the Democratic Party. So how does it help Schumer get their votes during the rest of the 117th Congress, or further the party’s goals heading into the midterm elections?

Schumer gave an interview to our friends Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine of Politico and explained his thinking during this episode.

Schumer said he used Manchin as an emissary to seek a bipartisan deal with Republicans on voting rights. Manchin’s failure to reach a deal convinced Schumer that it was time to eliminate the filibuster, despite the fact that during his 20-plus years in the Senate, the New York Democrat has relied extensively on the procedure himself. Democrats used it last week. Schumer then worked to sway his fellow Democrats to go along with the plan. 

Early last year, “maybe only half would be for changing the filibuster rule. And by the fall it grew,” Schumer said. “We have 48.”

Yet 48 isn’t 50, meaning Schumer went into Wednesday’s vote knowing there’s no way he could succeed. 

At this point, we’re going to cite Speaker Nancy Pelosi as an authority on this issue. Here’s Pelosi back in September: “I’m never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn’t have the votes.” Schumer clearly has a different view. 

We’ll also bring up two more quotes following Wednesday’s vote as illustrative of where the Democratic Party is at the moment.  

The first is Vice President Kamala Harris: “Every member of the United States Senate – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – takes an oath to preserve and protect our Constitution. It is their duty to safeguard our democracy and secure the freedom to vote. Yet today, senators voted to preserve an arcane Senate procedure rather than secure that fundamental freedom. The American people will not forget this moment. Neither will history.”

The second is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has already threatened to support primary challengers to Manchin and Sinema.

Sanders: “It’s not just this vote. These are people [Manchin and Sinema] who have I think undermined the president of the United States. They have forced us to go through five months of discussions [on Build Back Better] which got absolutely nowhere. And, you know, it’s up to the people in their own states. You know, we Democrats stand up for working families and are prepared to take on special interests. And the people who are not prepared to do that, I think they can expect to find a primary challenger.”

We’ll end with one final thought. Are Senate Democrats in better shape now than they were two weeks ago? No.

THE BIDEN AGENDA

POTUS spoke for two hours. What now?

President Joe Biden said a lot during his nearly two-hour news conference Wednesday afternoon. But for us, nothing was more important than his proclamations about the future of the Build Back Better Act and voting rights.

BBB: Biden said he was in favor of breaking up his top legislative priority and passing it in “chunks.” The idea, according to administration officials, is that Biden would seek to pass what he can now, and then come back later this year and try to pass the rest.

There are a lot of risks here. The idea of putting the BBB in one package was aimed at passing using reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes. If Democrats start to split it up into pieces, it all gets much more difficult. Could they try to get bipartisan support for some of their priorities? Sure, but good luck. We can’t see that going anywhere. 

Do they have time? There’s also the question of whether Democrats would need a new budget resolution come April 1. This is a legislative grey area, the issue has never been resolved by the Senate parliamentarian. They probably wouldn’t, but Democrats can’t exceed or overstep the committee jurisdictions of the reconciliation instructions they already have in place. Republicans could seek to exert pressure on this issue. 

What can they break off? That’s another good question. A bunch of Democratic senators are calling for the climate provisions – some of which have Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) support – to be the basis of the talks. But very important provisions will fall out, including the Child Tax Credit, free community college, paid leave and more.

In other words, Shelby is saying BBB would disrupt the omnibus negotiations and force Congress to pass a CR to keep federal agencies open. Remember, government funding runs out Feb. 18. A bipartisan spending deal is possible, just not with BBB in the picture.

We’ve written a bit about the bipartisan Senate gang that is exploring changes to the ECA coupled with bolstered protection for election workers. This group is led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Here’s some news: Collins has organized for top aides involved in the ECA reform talks to meet today. The senators in the group are expected to meet in the coming days. This represents new movement in Collins’ gang.

How the White House is marking Year One

We wanted to flag a few ways the White House is seeking to highlight Biden’s first year in office:

Here’s how Senate Republicans see Biden’s first year, via Sen. John Barrasso’s Senate Republican Conference: 

CONGRESS VS. BIG TECH

Today’s the day: Senate Judiciary taking up Big Tech bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up a major antitrust bill today aimed at U.S. tech giants Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO), authored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), would bar these companies from favoring their own products or platforms in order to stifle potential competitors. The House Judiciary Committee has already passed a slightly different version of this legislation, yet the stakes are higher in the Senate.

We wanted to look at how senators on the Judiciary Committee handled two sensitive issues – their own holdings in companies that could be impacted by this legislation, and what about campaign donations from employees of these companies? We ended up focusing on two senators in particular, Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), which we’ll explain in more depth.

The issue of stock trading by lawmakers is a hot one. A number of senators faced allegations of insider trading on transactions they made following classified briefings early in the Covid pandemic. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and his brother are currently under investigation by the SEC. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said he will seek to ban stock trading by members if he’s speaker next year, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) – who has been criticized for her remarks on this issue – has asked the House Administration Committee to increase fines for lawmakers who fail to comply with federal law in reporting transactions.

Ossoff’s financial disclosure report lists holdings of Apple stock worth between $1 million to $5 million. Ossoff, who hasn’t taken a position on the Klobuchar-Grassley bill, has been lobbied by Apple CEO Tim Cook on this legislation. And Ossoff received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees of the companies impacted by the bill. In fact, five of the six top contributors to Ossoff are employees of the tech giants, according to Open Secrets, the campaign watchdog group.

Yet Ossoff has taken a number of moves that wall him off from criticism on this front. Ossoff has placed his Apple stock in a blind trust. He has no control over the assets or awareness of how much Apple stock he has. Ossoff and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) have introduced a bill that would require lawmakers, their spouses or dependent children to place their stock portfolios in a qualified blind trust or divest themselves of the asset within 120 days of taking office.  

“Sen. Ossoff took the extraordinary step of moving his stocks into a blind trust precisely to ensure there can be no conflict of interest – and that’s why he’s leading the charge to hold all members of Congress to the same standard,” said Jake Best, Ossoff’s spokesperson.

Ossoff also doesn’t take corporate PAC money or donations from lobbyists. And Ossoff aides note that he received more than two million individual donations during his Senate campaign, which raked in a staggering $160 million. So the donations from tech employees are from people backing his campaign.

Whitehouse, one of the wealthiest senators, reported extensive holdings in four of the tech giants in his most recent financial disclosure report. Whitehouse and his wife Sandra own Apple stock worth between $750,000 and $1.5 million; Amazon stock worth between $350,000 and $700,000; Google stock worth between $280,000 and $600,000; and Microsoft stock worth between $350,000 and $750,000.

We asked Whitehouse, who hasn’t taken a position on the Klobuchar-Grassley legislation whether it was appropriate to vote on the bill given his personal financial holdings in these companies. “It’s my job to,” Whitehouse said on Wednesday night. “I need to do my job and I need to do it right.”

We tried to follow up with Whitehouse’s office on this topic, but they declined to add anything beyond the senator’s terse response.

THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE

FBI raids Rep. Henry Cuellar’s home, campaign office

Check this out from Valerie Gonzalez of the McAllen Monitor in southern Texas: 

The FBI conducted what it described as “court-authorized” law enforcement activity at the Laredo home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar on Wednesday.

Agents were also present at his downtown campaign office in Laredo.

Although FBI spokesperson Roseanne Hughes did not identify what the agency is investigating, she did issue a statement acknowledging the activity. Asked for a statement about the FBI’s presence at Cuellar’s home, Hughes confirmed law enforcement activity in the area. … 

In a statement Wednesday night, the congressman’s office attributed the following to Cuellar: “Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld.”

Well, this is new. We were unaware the feds were conducting a criminal probe involving Cuellar, a 16-year veteran of Congress. This comes at a very inopportune time for the Texas Democrat. Cuellar is facing Jessica Cisneros in a primary March 1. Cisneros has been endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Emily’s List, NARAL and Planned Parenthood. Cuellar defeated Cisneros by 3.6 points in 2020.

FRONTS

Check out the front pages of the three major national newspapers today, the anniversary of President Joe Biden’s one year in office. Voting bill dies. Russia potentially invading Ukraine.

MOMENTS

9:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his intelligence briefing.

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

11:15 a.m.: Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with their infrastructure task force.

11:30 a.m.: The House Republican leadership will hold a news conference.

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

4:15 p.m.: Biden will meet with his President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

7 p.m.: Biden and Harris will speak at a virtual DNC grassroots event

CLIP FILE

NYT

WaPo

Politico

LAT

USA Today

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images