View in web browser

PRESENTED BY

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

THE TOP

A new strategy is emerging among Democrats at the White House and on Capitol Hill as they scramble to put together an agreement on the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, a multi-trillion dollar reconciliation package focused on new social spending programs.

They want to isolate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

After months of talks that have alternated between productive, maddening, fruitful and deadlocked, White House officials and Capitol Hill Democrats now believe it will be easier to find agreement with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) than Sinema. 

So while the Biden administration and Senate Democratic leadership plan to work with both Sinema and Manchin, they now believe it would be more productive to seek a deal with Manchin, bring House and Senate progressives on board and then dare Sinema to block it. 

This is partially a recognition of the bind that Democrats find themselves in. They’re locked in a tough negotiation with both Manchin and Sinema — two Democrats who have different priorities, but have been tied together in the public consciousness because of their qualms with the multi-trillion dollar Biden proposal. 

Thus top Democrats seem to want to recalibrate by cutting a deal with one — Manchin — and leaving Sinema alone on an island. Can she withstand that pressure? Sinema’s office declined to comment for this report.

To be sure — we journalists love that phrase — reaching a deal with either Sinema or Manchin won’t be easy. And while a major piece of the reconciliation puzzle, they’re only one of the internal party factions that Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have to deal with right now. 

But here are the dynamics in dealing with Manchin and Sinema:

→ Democrats are struggling to figure out where Manchin will land on climate change provisions, paid leave and Medicare expansion. Machin’s opposition to the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) has jeopardized Biden’s goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2030, but administration officials and congressional negotiators are trying to come up with other ways to reach that target. Manchin has expressed opposition to expanding social safety net programs and creating new ones because be believes the existing structures are on the brink of insolvency. 

→ No one knows where Sinema will land on taxes. As we and others reported last night, Sinema is pushing back against higher individual and corporate rates, but she seems open to soaking the rich with a “mark-to-market” scheme that would tax investments yearly at market rate instead of at the sale of the asset. This could net hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.

But the problem with Sinema’s opposition to rate increases is that Democrats see hiking taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans as a political winner. So giving into Sinema over her opposition to corporate and individual rate hikes will be seen as giving away a potentially big political boost for the party. Furthermore, Biden wants a deal here by next week so we just find it hard to believe that Democrats are going to introduce new tax structures at this point.

In addition, many House and Senate Democrats have promised to “unwind” the 2017 GOP tax cut, which provided huge benefits to the wealthy and corporate America. Sinema’s position won’t allow Democrats to do that.

Those who have spoken to Sinema frequently throughout the reconciliation process say that the first-term senator views herself as an heir to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) legacy — a self-styled “maverick” who bucks their party. 

Yet some Democrats in the Biden administration and on Capitol Hill believe if they can get a deal with Manchin and progressives, Sinema will have no choice but to come along.

The Coverage:

→ WaPo: “White House considers new taxes on billionaires, stock buybacks as higher corporate rate appears to fall out of economic package,” by Tony Romm and Jeff Stein

→ WSJ: “Sinema’s Opposition Stymies Democrats’ Planned Tax-Rate Increases,” by Andrew Duehren, Richard Rubin and Kristina Peterson

→ NYT: "Biden Backs Compromise to Win a Vast Social Agenda," by Michael Shear, Emily Cochrane and Jim Tankersley

JAN. 6 PROBE

House ready for vote on Bannon contempt resolution

The House will vote this afternoon on a resolution to hold Steve Bannon in contempt. The former aide to President Donald Trump and conservative activist has not cooperated with the Jan. 6 committee, and this is the highest-profile moment thus far in the investigation into the deadly attack on the Capitol.

While we expect all 220 Democrats to back the resolution, there will be some GOP support for the measure as well beyond Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who are serving on the select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.

More than 30 House Republicans voted for a proposal in May to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack, but Senate Republicans blocked the legislation.

Potential GOP votes for the Bannon contempt resolution will come from this group of Republicans, although it’s difficult to get a sense of how many GOP members may cross party lines on this issue. Neither side is whipping this vote, so the vote count right now is fluid.

Bannon has refused to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee, with his lawyer telling Democrats on the panel that Trump’s lawyers have instructed him not to do so on the grounds of executive privilege.

However, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the select committee’s chair, and other Democrats on the panel call Bannon’s response woefully inadequate. They note Trump has never formally asserted an executive privilege claim to the panel, although he has sued to block the select committee from obtaining Trump administration records from the National Archives.

Democrats also note that Bannon wasn’t working for the administration at the time of the attack and there are no grounds to claim executive privilege here, despite several conversations between Bannon and the former president following the November elections.

Once the House approves the contempt resolution, it will be sent to Channing Phillips, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Phillips and other Justice Department officials will decide whether to bring criminal contempt charges against Bannon. 

But that could take months to play out, which, of course, will stymie the Hill probe. 

Democrats, though, feel that they must do so in order to preserve the investigative authority of Congress.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will testify today at an oversight hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, so we expect questions about Bannon and DOJ’s prosecution of Jan. 6 defendants. More than 600 people have been charged in the attack so far, with more cases expected in coming months.

FRONTS

Biden backs compromise vs. agenda hits a snag

THE WORKFORCE

Rep. Bobby Scott on the need to fund job training programs 

In our first profile of The Workforce, we interviewed Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), chair of the Education and Labor Committee. Scott has been involved in workforce issues for decades, having first focused on labor as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Now, Scott believes Congress’ biggest challenge is funding workforce development programs. Across the country, job training programs can only accommodate about one-third of the people who come to them due to lack of money. Here’s Scott on the importance of investing in workforce training:

You don’t really see the benefits of a good job training program until after you’ve recruited the trainees and after they’ve completed their training and gotten on the workforce. That could be a year or two down the line. But if you don’t make those investments, people are wondering why we can’t find those skilled workers and that’s because we didn’t make the investments in workforce development that we needed to make in a timely fashion.

Watch and read more from Scott’s interview here!

BLAST FROM THE PAST

MTG brings back scandal-plagued DeLay aide as chief of staff

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has hired Ed Buckham, former chief of staff to ex-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), as her top aide.

Buckham’s hiring was first reported by the Washington Examiner. Greene’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“What I am more interested in doing is bringing on a chief of staff that will help me achieve the things that I think need to be done for our country,” Greene told the Washington Examiner. “And that is forcing the Republican Party to be the Republican Party they say they are on television and on the campaign trail, but actually doing it in action in the conference.”

This is an unusual hiring, to say the least. Buckham was once a power player in Washington thanks to his ties to DeLay, racking in millions of dollars in lobbying fees from corporate clients including the American Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Microsoft, and PHARMA.

But his lobbying firm — Alexander Strategy Group — collapsed during the Jack Abramoff scandal in the early 2000s. Both Buckham and DeLay were subpoenaed as part of the criminal investigation into Abramoff, a corrupt lobbyist who built a Washington empire in large part due to his ties to DeLay. Abramoff’s fall helped bring down both DeLay and Buckham.

"Reports in the press have made it difficult to continue as a lobbying/political entity," Buckham told the Washington Post in 2006 as ASG imploded.

And a Maryland pastor accused Buckham — an ordained minister —  of using a non-profit group the pastor was tied to as a way to accept donations from individuals seeking to influence DeLay.

“[Chris Geeslin] says Ed Buckham deceived him, and used him as a front for unethical, and possibly illegal activities involving political corruption, Russian oil magnates, and sweatshops,” NPR reported at the time. “And [Buckham] said, that money came from Russian energy magnates, or oil magnates, who wanted to influence Congressman DeLay so that he would not vote against the IMF funding of the bailout of Russia. And again he said, that’s the way Washington works. It runs on money.”

Buckham attempted a Capitol Hill comeback in 2016, interviewing for a post as executive director of the House Freedom Caucus. But following a Politico story  [Jake and Bres worked on that report] disclosing he was interviewing for the post, the Freedom Caucus passed on his hiring.

In recent years, Buckham has sold RVs, among other occupations, according to sources who know him.

MOMENTS

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

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

11:30 a.m.: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will hold his weekly news conference.

11:55 a.m.: Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at the 10th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. 

2 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre will brief.

6:40 p.m.: Harris will speak at a voter mobilization event for Terry McAuliffe in Dumfries, Va. 

6:45 p.m.: Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will leave the White House for Baltimore. They will arrive at 7:05 p.m.

8 p.m.: Biden will participate in a town hall on CNN.

10:10 p.m.: The Bidens will leave Baltimore for the White House. They’ll arrive at 10:30 p.m..

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ News Analysis: “Democrats Search for Path on Voting Rights Amid Republican Blockade," by Carl Hulse

→ “Fed Ethics Office Warned Officials to Curb Unnecessary Trading During Rescue,” by Jeanna Smialek

→ “Stymied Before, Trump Finds Backing for His Own Media Venture,” by Jeremy Peters and David Enrich

WaPo

→ “Biden abruptly accelerates his involvement in agenda talks,” by Annie Linskey, Sean Sullivan and Matt Viser 

→ “All eyes on Manchin after Republicans again block voting rights legislation,” by Mike DeBonis

WSJ

→ ​​”New U.S. Rule Would Limit Sales of Hacking Tools to Russia and China,” by David Uberti

Politico

→ “Dems toil to save SALT following last-minute scare,” by Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and Burgess Everett

→ “Weary Dems not keen on another party-line spending bill before the midterms,” by Caitlin Emma

Arizona Republic

→ "ASU police: 4 should get misdemeanor charges after activists confront Sinema in bathroom," by Athena Ankrah

AP

→ “Virginia gives Democrats a test of Black turnout before 2022,” by Will Weissert in Norfolk, Va.

Enjoying Punchbowl News AM?

Subscribe 10 friends with your unique link (below) and get a Punchbowl News hat!

Your referral link is: 

You can see all the rewards in here!

Or share via

You currently have: 0 referrals

Editorial photos provided by Getty Images