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PRESENTED BY

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

THE TOP

Happy Tuesday morning. 

Briefly noted: Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) became the 24th House Democrat to retire this cycle when he told Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday night he wouldn’t seek another term. Good trivia: Rush is the only person to beat Barack Obama in an election. Obama challenged Rush in a 2000 House Democratic primary and Rush won by more than 30 points. Only 11 Republicans have announced they won’t return for the 118th Congress. Rush’s district is solidly blue, but, again, it’s not a great sign that 24 Democrats are retiring.

Inside Pelosi’s private supporter call

News: We reported in yesterday’s morning edition that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was going to brief her donors Monday afternoon. Pelosi previously had to cancel a local holiday party because of Covid.

We weren’t on the call, but we spent the afternoon reporting out what Pelosi said to donors and supporters. And we’re able to give you a rare peek inside what the speaker of the House is telling her top allies outside the Capitol. She called supporters on the call “VIPs.”

→ Pelosi told this group that Democrats need to be more boastful about the Build Back Better Act and what President Joe Biden has accomplished thus far. She said Democrats have to “brag about what we have been doing.”

Here’s Pelosi:

"And we have to [brag] in a more forceful way, in a more unified way. Under his leadership, President Biden has already produced 6 million jobs. His predecessor was producing 30,000 jobs a month, he’s [Biden] already produced 6 million jobs with his initiatives."

This is interesting. We hear a lot from Democrats that they are drowning out Biden’s successes with constant bellyaching and infighting about the BBB and the challenge of getting it through a 50-50 Senate. Clearly Pelosi agrees, to some degree – and that’s new, at least to us.

→ There has been an ongoing debate inside the Democratic Party about whether lawmakers should say that the BBB is “transformative” or “transformational.” Those who are opposed to that kind of verbiage say that Americans don’t want their lives transformed and would prefer more modest changes and lower prices on items they use every day. 

Pelosi acknowledged that she hears that criticism in some quarters. Here’s what she said:

"So this is transformative. But people tell me, don’t use the word transformative. Just say it lowers costs. It lowers costs for health care whether it’s home health care — costs for families across America, it lowers cost of child care, it enables so much more to happen. So we’re very, very proud of the legislation. Now we just have to get it passed. And what all that I said about it: it creates job,  it lowers taxes for families, it lowers costs for families, and it is fully paid for by making everyone – wealthiest and corporate America – pay their fair share."

Fascinating. 

Pelosi also noted that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6. They will speak from Statuary Hall.

Schumer’s tricky 2022

We wanted to take some time this morning to zoom into what we’re referring to internally as Senate Majority Chuck Schumer’s “Mission Impossible.” Or at least “Mission Really Super Hard.”

The New York Democrat is up to his trademark eyeglasses in ridiculously difficult priorities for which he doesn’t have an immediate, obvious or even stealth path to success. And don’t forget that Schumer is up for reelection in just 10 months. He doesn’t forget it for a moment.

Think about all that’s on his plate:

→ Election overhaul: Schumer sent a letter Monday to Senate Democrats with some of his most forceful rhetoric about possibly changing the chamber’s rules to circumvent the filibuster in order to reform the nation’s voting laws.

The Senate was designed to protect the political rights of the minority in the chamber, through the promise of debate and the opportunity to amend. But over the years, those rights have been warped and contorted to obstruct and embarrass the will of the majority – something our Founders explicitly opposed. The Constitution specified what measures demanded a supermajority – including impeachment or the ratification of treaties. But they explicitly rejected supermajority requirements for legislation, having learned firsthand of such a requirement’s defects under the Articles of Confederation. The weaponization of rules once meant to short-circuit obstruction have been hijacked to guarantee obstruction. 

We must ask ourselves: if the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, then how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the State level with only a simple majority vote, but not allow the United States Senate to do the same? 

We must adapt. The Senate must evolve, like it has many times before. The Senate was designed to evolve and has evolved many times in our history. As former Senator Robert Byrd famously said, Senate Rules ‘must be changed to reflect changed circumstances.’ Put more plainly by Senator Byrd, ‘Congress is not obliged to be bound by the dead hand of the past.’

The fight for the ballot is as old as the Republic. Over the coming weeks, the Senate will once again consider how to perfect this union and confront the historic challenges facing our democracy. We hope our Republican colleagues change course and work with us. But if they do not, the Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to protect the foundation of our democracy: free and fair elections. 

Yet Schumer faces two difficult – and some would say unmovable – objects: Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). Both of these Democratic senators have declared publicly – Manchin literally dozens of times – that they won’t support efforts to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for cloture. 

So where does Schumer go from here? Of course, the promise that he’s made is for a debate on the floor over changing the rules during the next two weeks. This puts Manchin and Sinema squarely on the spot, but this is far from guaranteed to work.

Here’s what Schumer said about the pair during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Reid Out” with Joy Reid on Monday night. Reid asked the Senate majority leader whether there was “any evidence that they [Manchin and Sinema] actually have more support for voting rights and democracy than they do for the filibuster?” Both Democrats back the Freedom to Vote Act, which Manchin helped put together.

Schumer: “We are having active discussions with them, several a day. I just spoke to Senator Manchin three or four hours ago, and even over the holiday break, the New Year’s and Christmas break, we’ve been talking constantly, not just me, but just about every one of the 48 Democratic senators who supports not only the proposal, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Restore the Voting Rights Act, but changing the [Senate] rules.”

More Schumer:

“Well, we’ve got to keep pressing them and pressing them and pressing them until they do. There is too much at risk here. If obviously they were saying yes to us, we wouldn’t have to worry about this. 

“But we do have to worry. And we have to keep pushing. But when senators go to them and say, ‘I will lose my election unless we do something about voting rights,’ when senators come to them and say, ‘We will not have a democracy anymore,’ not just for two years but for 10 years, and constant senators of all different stripes, including some of our most moderate senators – we have a group of three senators who is constantly talking to them … Angus King, Jon Tester and the senator from Virginia [Tim Kaine] – as well, saying to them …  ‘We were not for changing the rules but we’ve changed our mind.’ Too much is at stake.”

This tactic of using other Democrats and outside groups to pressure Manchin and Sinema is exactly what happened in December. It didn’t work.

One other point worth noting is that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who injured his shoulder in a fall in mid-December, won’t be in D.C. this week. Menendez had surgery on Dec. 31 and is still recovering. The New Jersey Democrat, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is doing well, we’re told. But this means Schumer isn’t going to go ahead on any showdown over voting rights and the filibuster this week. That leaves next week for the rule-change debate if Schumer is to meet his MLK Jr. Day deadline.

→ The BBB: Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better Act has been derailed thanks to Manchin’s opposition. Schumer hopes to be able to pass something on this soon, but in the meantime, the New York Democrat has clearly shifted focus to voting rights and the filibuster.

We’ve heard various groups of Democratic senators are attempting to craft a package that Manchin can support, but there’s no indication that a deal is imminent. The pressure here on Schumer is enormous. This is Biden’s top legislative priority, and it’s hanging by a thread.

→ USICA: Remember Schumer’s top priority from last summer? The U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act, which started off as the Endless Frontiers Act (a much cooler name, in our opinion). That bill, aimed at combating the rise in technological and innovative prowess in China, is completely stalled at the moment after it passed the Senate with a big bipartisan margin. Senate and House leaders haven’t been able to come to agreement on how to move forward on the legislation, and the House passed a radically different package. Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised in mid-November to set up a House-Senate conference to deal with the issue, but that hasn’t happened yet. So the whole issue, worth tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. semiconductor industry, remains deadlocked.

→ Budget deal: As we noted yesterday, federal agencies are funded through Feb. 18, so there’s time for an omnibus budget deal. Add that to the list. 

And if BBB isn’t actually going to happen, Republicans may be open to a broader spending agreement, especially if it includes more money for the Pentagon. There are various ideas being floated on and off the Hill, including a possible supplemental package. But we don’t think anything will gel for a bit, at least until the outlook for a slimmed-down BBB package becomes clear.

So all that said, the pressure is on Schumer in a very big way — especially after Manchin blew up his arbitrary Christmas BBB deadline. Election years are often slow from a legislative perspective. Not this one.

LEADER LOOK

McConnell to Atlanta on Jan. 6 for Isakson’s funeral

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will lead a delegation to Georgia Jan. 6 for former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson’s funeral, an aide to the Kentucky Republican told us.

Isakson was a close friend and ally to McConnell during their 15 years together in the Senate. He died Dec. 19 at 76. His funeral is Jan. 6 in Atlanta.

Of course, the funeral falls on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection With the House out and McConnell in Atlanta, it seems like no senior GOP leader will be in the Capitol on this first anniversary.

BIG JOB MOVE

Pelosi’s executive director is leaving

Here’s something for all the Nancy Pelosi watchers out there – which means all of you, essentially. Jorge Aguilar, the executive director of Nancy Pelosi for Congress, has left the speaker’s employ and is heading to theGroup, a strategy and communications shop. Aguilar will be advising clients on “navigating the intricacies of the Democratic Caucus and stakeholder organizations.”

Pelosi, of course, hasn’t announced whether she’ll try to remain as the top House Democrat next Congress. And one staff departure can’t foretell the future of the 81-year-old California Democrat. But take it as you will – her re-election campaign’s executive director has left.  

Also: Amena Ross, the former chief of staff to Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), is joining Block as the head of policy for Cash App. Block, of course, is the company formerly known as Square.

→ The Real Recovery Now coalition – an assortment of progressive groups – has a new ad with an explicitly dark tone, urging Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act. They are spending $100,000 on D.C. cable. Members of the coalition include CAP Action, Community Change Action, MoveOn, National Domestic Workers Alliance/Care in Action, SEIU and Working Families Party.

→ America First Policy Institute is the latest outside group to spend money in West Virginia in opposition to the Build Back Better Act. The group was founded last spring by several top aides to former President Donald Trump with the aim of furthering Trump’s policy goals.

The new ad claims BBB “increases the cost of our gas and groceries, ignores Chinese slave labor that undercuts American workers, destroys energy jobs and our West Virginia economy.”  

“This is a big government socialism bill that will kill America,” the ad – courtesy AdImpact – concludes. Watch it below.

→ Republican Lindy Blanchard is out with her first ads in her bid to be the next governor of Alabama. Blanchard was former President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Slovenia and most recently was running for Senate in the state. 

Blanchard ended her Senate bid in December and is now challenging incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey in the GOP primary. Watch one ad below, where she positions herself as a “conservative outsider” who will block vaccine and mask mandates. 

In a longer, biographical ad, Blanchard vows to “restore election security” if elected governor.

This is interesting: In her short-lived Senate campaign, she was Lynda Blanchard. Now, she’s signing her ads off with “Lindy.” Thanks to AdImpact for these spots.

→ Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe – who was also a Republican congressman – gave New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign $10,000. The money came from Ratcliffe’s (R-Texas) old reelection account.

NEW YEAR. NEW SITE.

Looking for an archive of all Punchbowl News content? A one-stop shop for all Punchbowl News events? You can find it all and more at the new punchbowl.news

FRONTS

MOMENTS

10:10 a.m.: President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will get their daily intelligence briefing.

2 p.m.: Biden and Harris will meet with their Covid-19 team. Biden is expected to make brief remarks. … Senate leaders will hold their post-party lunch briefings.

2:30 p.m.: Jen Psaki will brief. … The U.S. Capitol Police Board will hold a rare news conference to discuss “the improvements made to secure the U.S. Capitol and protect our democratic process.”

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ NYT Magazine: “The Capitol Police and the Scars of Jan. 6,” by Susan Dominus and Luke Broadwater

→ “In the Capitol’s Shadow, the Jan. 6 Panel Quietly Ramps Up Its Inquiry,” by Luke Broadwater and Alan Feuer

→ “Another Far-Right Group Is Scrutinized About Its Efforts to Aid Trump,” by Alan Feuer 

→ “Federal judge blocks the Defense Dept. from punishing Navy forces who refuse the vaccine,” by Livia Albeck-Ripka

WaPo

→ “AG Merrick Garland plans speech on Jan. 6 investigation for Wednesday,” by Matt Zapotosky

WSJ

→ “Bridgewater Names New Co-CEOs as McCormick Steps Down for Possible Senate Run,” by Juliet Chung

Bloomberg

→ “White House Likely to Nominate Philip Jefferson for Fed Seat,” by  Katia Dmitrieva and Jennifer Jacobs

AP

→ “Insurrection prompts year of change for US Capitol Police,” by Michael Balsamo and Farnoush Amiri

Politico

→ “Why DOJ is avoiding domestic terrorism sentences for Jan. 6 defendants,” by Josh Gerstein

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images