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November 11, 2021
Presented by Wells Fargo
At Wells Fargo, we cover more rural markets than many large banks, and nearly 30% of our branches are in low- or moderate-income census tracts. What we say, we do. See how.
 PRESENTED BY BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN  THE TOPHappy Thursday morning. And a salute to all veterans and their families on Veterans Day. Thank you for your service. W.H. wants to call in The Macker  News: The Biden administration is interested in finding a spot somewhere for Terry McAuliffe according to multiple high-level sources familiar with the White House’s thinking. All Cabinet spots are full, for now. And McAuliffe isn’t asking for a job; this seems to be the administration trying to find a place where McAuliffe can serve. McAuliffe, a former governor who just lost a chance for a second term last week, has been in Democratic Party politics for dozens of years, so he has lots of friends in the Biden administration. This would be quite a good landing spot after losing the gubernatorial race. Talks have not yet started at all, but the administration is keen on finding a place for him, multiple sources tell us. McAuliffe ran his campaign in large part on the Biden agenda. The former governor’s allies on Capitol Hill — namely Virginia’s Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — said that Congress’s unwillingness to pass the infrastructure bill harmed McAuliffe. The House cleared the bill shortly after McAuliffe lost. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who represents vote rich and Democratic heavy Northern Virginia, told us in an interview last week that “Democrats right now should be going to DEFCON-2 after the results in Virginia and New Jersey, but I’m gonna focus on the one I know, Virginia. You have some explaining to do that one year after Biden carries the state, how a 10 point margin evaporated. 12 point swing in 12 months. You gotta explain that.” Anyhow, we reached out to McAuliffe about whether he would go into the administration. He didn’t reply. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Punchbowl New AM in your inbox. PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL ExxonMobil is Advancing Climate Solutions: We support the US and EU-led Global Methane Pledge. We must work together to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030, and we encourage others in and out of our industry to join. Learn more. REDISTRICTING Draft California congressional maps could lead to big shakeup The first round of draft congressional maps for 2022 were released by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission on Wednesday night, and let’s just say they set off something of an uproar among political pros in the nation’s biggest state. With California actually losing a House seat for the first time following the 2020 census, the jockeying was bound to be intense around the lines for the new districts. But even veteran California observers were surprised with these draft maps. And yes, the key word here is “draft.” There’s still a long way to go in this process. But what’s happening in California is playing out all over the country as states scramble to put together new congressional maps for the midterm elections. Delays in releasing census data due to the Covid-19 pandemic have forced state officials and lawmakers into a race to get this done. If you want to have an intense conversation with a House member these days, ask them about redistricting. Here’s Seema Mehta and John Myers from the Los Angeles Times with a take on what happened in the Golden State last night:
Dave Wasserman, the highly respected House editor from the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, offered some “big losers” and “big winners.” Overall, he rated the map as a plus for Republicans in this cycle, but could boost Democrats in the long term.
GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, in particular, is someone to watch closely here. Nunes may end up shifting to another, more GOP-friendly district if the proposed map for his district isn’t changed. And this is important. Nunes could end up being chair of the Ways and Means Committee if Republicans win a House majority in the next Congress. Apparently there was a lot of confusion with the draft maps released Wednesday night, including the quality of the documents posted by commission staff, per Mehta and Myers. There will now be a two-week public review period, with final maps will be filed to state officials by the end of December. But a lot is expected to change. THE NEW HOUSE House Democrats gearing up to censure Rep. Paul Gosar  A group of House Democrats will offer a resolution to censure GOP Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) for “posting an edited video on social media depicting himself as murdering Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.” It’s the latest troubling incident involving the hardline conservative GOP lawmaker. Gosar has demonstrated increasingly extremist views in recent years. Gosar’s own sister called him a “sociopath” during a Wednesday interview on CNN, adding “Where is the accountability?” Democratic Reps. Jackie Speier (Calif.), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Brenda Lawrence (Mich.), Sylvia Garcia (Texas), Veronica Escobar (Texas), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Nikema Williams (Ga.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) announced Wednesday night that they would offer the censure resolution against Gosar over the video, which has since been removed. That resolution would only need a simple majority to pass the House. “For a member of Congress to post a manipulated video on his social media accounts depicting himself killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden is a clear cut case for censure,” the Democrats said in a statement. “For that member to post such a video on his official Instagram account and use his official congressional resources in the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials goes beyond the pale.” But as humiliating as a censure vote might be for Gosar personally — a member is required to stand in the “well” of the House while the speaker reads out the censure resolution — it carries no other consequences. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats have called for an ethics investigation into the incident, but that can only happen if Republicans go along with it, which doesn’t appear likely to happen Gosar, first elected in 2010, posted a neo-Nazi themed tweet last month but later deleted it. Gosar has attended events with white nationalists, although he says he doesn’t share their views. Gosar was a strong backer of the “Stop the Steal” effort following the Nov. 2020 presidential election, and he spread the false claim that the FBI was behind the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Gosar claimed the deadly right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 was “created by the left” and “carried out by an ‘Obama sympathizer.’” In this latest episode, Gosar’s congressional staff produced an animated video based on a Japanese anime series. In the video, a character depicting Gosar kills a character with Ocasio-Cortez’s face, and then attacks a Biden character. “The animated scenes of the video are interspersed with real-life footage of Border Patrol officers, some standing shoulder-to-shoulder and others on horseback rounding up migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the Washington Post reported. The video drew millions of views before its removal. Ocasio-Cortez has berated Gosar as a “collection of wet toothpicks” and suggested he “couldn’t add two single digits together if he tried.” But the second-term Democrat, who has emerged as a frequent target for Republicans since coming to Congress, noted on Twitter that she’s had disturbing run-ins with other GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and former Rep. Ted Yoho (Fla.)  PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL  What will it take to achieve a 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030 in line with the Global Methane Pledge? A commitment to working together. Read ExxonMobil’s statement of support. PUNCHBOWL NEWS SNEAK PEEK Ruthless Podcast talks to Bob Dole Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan and Comfortably Smug — yes, we’ll call him that — are the hosts of “Ruthless,” a conservative podcast which has become one of the top political podcasts in America. Holmes and Duncan are in business together at Cavalry — Holmes was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff. They have Bob Dole, the 98-year-old former Senate majority leader, on an episode that’s out this morning and there’s one bite that may interest you.
How about that: Dole is still paying attention to the House! Remember: Dole was a House member before he was in the Senate. Dole served in the House from 1961 to 1969, part of tha time representing the “Big First,”which stretches from west of Wichita all the way to the Colorado border.  Retiring Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) leadership PAC still has $6.5 million in the bank, according to a recently filed report with the FEC. Add that to the $9.6 million he has in his campaign account. Quite the kitty for the retiring 87-year old. Also: Tuscaloosa News: “Retiring Richard Shelby to donate official Senate papers to the University of Alabama” PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL  ExxonMobil supports the Global Pledge. FRONTS   MOMENTS All times eastern 4:55 a.m.: Vice President Kamala Harris participated in an Armistice Day ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe. 9 a.m.: President Joe Biden will host veterans and members of the military. 11 a.m.: Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 11:15 a.m.: Biden will speak at Arlington. 1:05 p.m.: Harris will speak at the Paris Peace Forum. 2:30 p.m.: Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will eat dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron at the Élysée Palace. CLIP FILE NYT → “China and the United States Join in Seeking Emissions Cuts,” by Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman → “N.J. Senate President Blames ‘Red Wave’ as He Concedes to Republican Underdog,” by Tracey Tully → “Ozy Media Faces Federal Investigations,” by Ben Smith and Ben Protess WaPo → “Texas ban on school mask mandates blocked by judge,” by Andrew Jeong, Annabelle Timsit and Reis Thebault WSJ → “Elon Musk Sells Around $5 Billion in Tesla Stock,” by Rebecca Elliott, Rich Rubin and Theo Francis → “Broad Selloff Signals Inflation Fears Are Warming,” by Gregory Zuckerman and Sam Goldfarb AP → “Democrats sell infrastructure bill, push for Biden backup,” by Will Weissert, Thomas Beaumont and Heather Hollingsworth CNN → “Sen. Burr’s brother-in-law ordered to provide testimony in SEC insider trading investigation,” by Kara Scannell Bloomberg → “Inflation Shock Tears Up Trader Playbooks From Stocks to Bitcoin,” by Eric Lam USA Today → “Biden administration calls $90B transit funding ‘transformational.’ But is it enough?” by Rick Rouan PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL No one can solve climate change alone. ExxonMobil supports the US and EU-led Global Methane Pledge, and we are calling on others in and out of our industry to join. By working together, we can help reduce methane emissions more quickly. Sectors such as agriculture, livestock, and landfills can all play integral parts in helping achieve 30% lower methane emissions by 2030. Learn more about ExxonMobil’s innovative solutions.  Enjoying Punchbowl News AM?  Subscribe 10 friends with your unique link (below) and get a Punchbowl News hat! Your referral link is: Or share via You currently have: 0 referrals Editorial photos provided by Getty Images     |
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Presented by Wells Fargo
At Wells Fargo, we cover more rural markets than many large banks, and nearly 30% of our branches are in low- or moderate-income census tracts. What we say, we do. See how.