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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.

The debate over the Build Back Better Act will heat up later this week, but there are two other big issues for the House GOP conference to deal with today: What to do about Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)? And what will happen to the “GOP 13,” the House Republicans who voted for the $1 trillion-plus bipartisan infrastructure bill? Let’s cover the fallout over the 13 Republican “yes” votes first, and then Gosar.

The House GOP Conference will meet for the first time since the House voted two weeks ago to approve the bipartisan infrastructure bill, giving President Joe Biden and Democrats a big political win. Thirteen Republicans voted for the measure. Two even went to the White House on Monday to witness Biden signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law — Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). Reed is retiring, and Don Young, well, he’s Don Young. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks.

But GOP hardliners such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Madison Cawthorn (N.C.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.), among others, have called for retaliation against those 13 Republicans, including stripping their committee assignments or ranking-member posts. Greene posted their office phone numbers online, leading to a wave of vicious or threatening phone calls. Former President Donald Trump branded some — but not all — of the group as “RINOs” who should be “ashamed of themselves.”

Here’s what we expect House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the GOP leadership to say on this today — now isn’t the time for this fight. The Build Back Better Act is going to come to the floor sometime later this week, and House Republicans must be united against this bill. McCarthy will remember who voted for the infrastructure bill and take action at the appropriate time and place, but the middle of a big legislative fight isn’t the right moment.

Senior Republicans also are cautioning privately that the House Freedom Caucus and other hardliners might not want to establish this precedent either. If House Republicans can be punished for voting against the leadership on big issues, then what happens when an HFC member votes against McCarthy’s position in the future? Say in a speaker vote in, umm, January 2023?

So we don’t expect any retaliation on the “Infra 13,” but we will keep an eye on this today.

Now onto Gosar. This is a dicier issue, and it depends on how far Democratic leaders want to push it, to be honest. 

To recap, Gosar tweeted out an edited video (made by his congressional staff) that showed him as an anime character killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and preparing to strike Biden. After a huge public outcry — and millions of views — Gosar pulled the video down. This also followed a call from McCarthy. Gosar later issued a statement on the video. “The hero of the cartoon goes after the monster, the policy monster of open borders,” meaning Ocasio-Cortez, Gosar claimed. Yes, a member of Congress actually said that.

Gosar has a history of extremist views, and he’s attended rallies with white nationalists. He has also defended the Jan. 6 insurrection, calling the rioters “peaceful patriots” and suggested the entire event was due to “antifa provocation.” The GOP leadership has taken no action against Gosar despite this, and he has seats on the Natural Resources and Oversight and Reform committees.

More than 60 House Democrats have backed a resolution by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) to censure Gosar. And as our friends Manu Raju and Melanie Zanona from CNN first reported, there’s discussion inside Democratic circles of stripping Gosar’s committee assignments, as Democrats did to MTG. No decision has been made yet by the Democratic leadership on what their response will be.

We talked to Ocasio-Cortez about Gosar on Monday night. “I do think the House is looking into, certainly, a real consequence,” she said. “I believe this is gonna be a discussion that’s going to be happening over perhaps the next 48 hours or so to really kind of crystallize what direction that’s going in.”

Ocasio-Cortez — who has complained publicly that there’s been no action against Gosar — believes he and other Republicans “are essentially using a national platform to legitimize threats of violence on lower levels, and on the local levels, to intimidate people from participating in our democracy. I believe this is part of a concerted strategy… What we do here, our response, helps inform as a precedent for actions on the local levels.”

Other rank-and-file Democrats are pressing the leadership to move forcefully against Gosar. But as with the MTG situation, Republicans warn there’ll be payback if they take over the House in 2022. That may not dissuade Democrats from acting, although it ensures this won’t be the end of the matter.

Join us today: Anna is interviewing Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) this morning at 9:30 a.m. in a virtual conversation focused on the future of rural America. Afterward, former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, head of the One Country Project, will join her for a fireside chat. Watch! 

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POLLING SLUMP

Is Build Back Better already a loser with voters?

Is the Democrats’ $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act — which the House is preparing to vote on  later this week — already a loser with voters? Republicans definitely think so, and they’ll push new polling from the National Republican Congressional Committee today they say shows that. Here’s a link to a polling memo the NRCC is releasing this morning.

Now before Democrats barrage us with angry responses, yes, we remember Obamacare. It wasn’t popular at first, and now is widely popular. And many of the elements of the Build Back Better Act are really popular as well. There’s an overwhelming amount of polling to show that.

Yet it’s also true that Democrats have spent months battling over the topline number for BBB and other provisions in the legislation, with moderates and progressives repeatedly clashing. Lost in this dispute is how the bill will help average Americans, who face rising inflation, higher gas and heating costs, and continuing supply chain problems. President Joe Biden’s poll numbers have plummeted, and Republicans are growing more confident of big gains next year. 

Democrats blame the media coverage for the poor perception of the BBB proposal, and there’s some truth to that. But it doesn’t change the reality that it’s not a good outlook right now for them.

We wanted to highlight bullet points from the GOP memo. They surveyed 1,000 likely voters in 85 battleground districts:

* When asked “would you say you support or oppose President Biden’s new spending package also known as Build Back Better,” a plurality (46%) say they are opposed, and only 39% support. 

* Independents are a net 18-points opposed to BBB, 49% opposed to 31% support. 

* Undecided voters on the generic ballot oppose BBB by a 14-point margin, 39% opposed to 25% support.

* Voters concerned about the economy are 59% opposed, with only 27% supporting BBB. 

* After hearing a series of informative messages related to policies within BBB, opposition reaches 57% with only 37% supporting.

Now some of the memo includes sharply partisan questions that aren’t very useful. But the data showing Republicans ahead on economic questions jibes with other recent polls, and it should set off alarm bells among Democrats.

→ On another GOP note: On Monday night, the House Freedom Caucus elected Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) as its new chair for 2022. Perry, in his fifth term, emerged as one of former President Donald Trump’s staunchest defenders following last year’s presidential elections. A Senate Judiciary report released last month “zeroes in on Perry as a key player in Trump’s attempts to pressure the Justice Department to support his false voter fraud conspiracies, which Trump had hoped would lead to Congress overturning his 2020 loss to Joe Biden,” according to CNN.

DOWNTOWN

Two big K Street pickups

First in Punchbowl News AM: Joseph Vaughan, senior diversity and inclusion policy advisor to Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, is joining Democratic power lobbyist Heather Podesta’s firm Invariant. Vaughan will advise the firm’s clients on environmental, social, and governance and diversity, equity and inclusion issues. Vaughan previously founded and served as executive director of the Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Forum. He also has worked at the Williams Group and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. 

Devin O’Malley, a top communications aide to Virginia Gov.-Elect Glenn Youngkin’s campaign, is joining Narrative Strategies as managing director. O’Malley previously served as press secretary to former Vice President Mike Pence and as special adviser to Pence on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. He also has worked as principal deputy to the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department, and as principal deputy director for the Justice Department’s office of public affairs.

Equality PAC is revving up its fundraising efforts. The group, which is the political arm of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus, held its annual donor retreat in Palm Springs over the weekend. Two dozen members including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Equality PAC co-chairs David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.), DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.), and Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) showed up for the festivities. All attendees (donors came from Florida, San Francisco, Texas and beyond) had to show proof of vaccination and get tested 72 hours prior to arrival. 

The group and its members have raised $3.8 million this year and they are on pace to beat their 2020 fundraising numbers. Tonight, Equality PAC is hosting its fall gala with more than 30 members confirmed. The dinner is expected to raise $250,000, according to a source familiar with the event.

FRONTS

MOMENTS

9:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden will receive the daily brief.

10:00 a.m. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

11:15 a.m.: Biden leaves the White House en route to Manchester, N.H. Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates will gaggle aboard Air Force One.

2:25 p.m.: Biden will deliver remarks in North Woodstock, N.H., on the bipartisan infrastructure law and its impact on roads and bridges.

3:25 p.m.: Biden will depart and travel back to Washington, D.C.

6:25 p.m.: Biden will arrive at the White House.

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ “Biden Got His Bipartisan Win. Now, Reality Sets In,” by Michael D. Shear

→ “Steve Bannon turns himself in on contempt of Congress charges,” by Katie Benner

Bloomberg

→ “Biden’s Fed Chair Pick Is ‘Imminent,’ Senate Banking Chair Says,” by Steven T. Dennis, Jennifer Jacobs, Nancy Cook, and Saleha Mohsin

WaPo

→ “In first, Russian test strikes satellite using Earth-based missile,” by Paul Sonne, Missy Ryan and Christine Davenport

→ “Who was at the infrastructure bill signing at the White House,” by Eugene Scott

WSJ

→ “Resurgent Oil Supply Expected to Soothe Tight Market,” by David Hodari

AP

→ “Biden, Xi try to tamp down tension in long virtual meeting,” by Aamer Madhani and Colleen Long

Texas Tribune

→ “Beto O’Rourke enters 2022 a weaker candidate with a harder race,” by Patrick Svitek

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images