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PRESENTED BY

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

THE TOP

Happy Wednesday morning. 

Last year, we wrote this about President Joe Biden’s first speech to a joint session of Congress: "Joe Biden made a speech that progressives have been waiting years to hear. He laid out an agenda so ambitious that it would remake America if enacted.”

Just 10 months later, in his first State of the Union, the nation’s 46th president tried to provide the reset that Democrats were seeking. Gone were the bold proclamations that Washington, under Democratic control, would seek to remake America. Instead, Biden offered a catalog of what he sees as his successes, and a plea to get the rest done – somehow.

If we could name the speech, here’s what we’d call it: “Build Back Sorta. And save Ukraine too.”

Without mentioning the Build Back Better Act once – bowing to reality that the package he envisioned is all but dead – Biden offered a deconstructed laundry list of the policy priorities he’d like to see get passed.

But in doing that, Biden also offered a harsh reminder to Democrats about just how much of his agenda has been left undone, stymied by a Congress he can neither convince nor control. 

Here’s a list of the priorities Biden rattled off that he hasn’t been able to enact: the Paycheck Fairness Act, lowering prescription drug prices, paid leave, expanding background checks on gun sales, the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act and immigration reform.

In truth, Biden offered an interesting dichotomy last night.

He embraced his progressive credentials, calling for increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour and setting aside more money to fight climate change. Biden still wants universal pre-K, higher taxes on corporations and the rich, and more affordable housing and better health care. He scolded CEOs to “lower your costs, not your wages.” Biden’s plan to fight inflation is to spend.

Yet in some parts of the speech, Biden sounded awfully close to a Republican. For instance, Biden said the answer to crime and problems with the criminal justice system isn’t to “defund the police.” 

“The answer is to fund the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities,” Biden said to widespread Republican applause. 

Biden also said the United States needs “to secure the border and fix the immigration system.” If you were looking for a pivot to the center, you found it right there.

The president played up his bipartisan successes too, such as the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. And Biden badly wants Congress to pass a high-tech research and manufacturing package that’s gotten hung up in squabbling between the House and Senate. If you’re keeping track, the bill meant to combat the rise of China got a new name: the Bipartisan Innovation Act. It’s the fifth name assigned to this stalled piece of legislation.

However, it was Ukraine – the issue he started his address on – that got the most applause, yet the least explanation. 

Biden lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he “badly miscalculated” by ordering the bloody invasion of Ukraine.

Biden also promised that Russia will suffer even more economically the longer the conflict goes on. This hard line played well to a Congress that’s equally hawkish on the issue.

Biden didn’t spend much time explaining why Americans should care about the deadly war in Eastern Europe, although he did warn that the country faces risks both economically and militarily. 

“But I want you to know that we are going to be okay. When the history of this era is written. Putin’s war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger,” he said.

So here’s the impact of Biden’s speech: Biden has a pretty bad hand at the moment. His approval ratings are in the gutter. He faces a bitterly divided Congress that has proven both unwilling and unable to move, and he’s not been able to break that logjam or even win over all the Democrats. Covid remains a huge problem although this latest Omicron wave is receding. Biden warned it could flare up again if a new variant emerges, and he said the country must be ready. There’s a war in Europe that’s worsening by the day, soaring inflation, rising crime and an ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Yet politicians have to live and operate in the political moment they’re given. And Biden tried to do that by reminding Americans that not all is bad. His administration has steered past the worst of Covid, jobs and economic growth are strong, there have been some significant legislative successes on his watch, and the White House is leading NATO and other U.S. allies in punishing Putin for invading a sovereign Ukraine.

Will any of this turn his party’s lousy political standing around? Probably not – not without the help of the unmovable object that is the Democratic Congress. But, again, that’s the political reality that Biden has been given, and it’s a reality that he’s been unable to change.

Four other important items today:

→ Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will make her first appearance as a Supreme Court nominee on Capitol Hill today. Here’s her schedule:

10 a.m.: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

11 a.m.: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

2 p.m.: Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin

3:30 p.m.: Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley 

Coming with KBJ to the Capitol: Former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who is her sherpa; Louisa Terrell, the White House legislative affairs director; Reema Dodin, the White House’s top Senate legislative affairs aide; Dana Remus, the White House counsel; and Andrew Bates of the White House press office.

→ Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell will be in front of the House Financial Services Committee today at 10 a.m. Remember: Powell was renominated for a second term, but is stuck behind a Republican blockade in the Senate.

→ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will hold a news conference today to introduce a resolution calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin “to be held accountable for the numerous acts of war, aggression, and human rights abuses that have been conducted under his watch.”

→ The House Administration Committee will host its first hearing today on Hill aides unionizing. John Uelmen, the general counsel of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, will testify, as will Mark Strand, the president of the Congressional Institute. Here’s Uelmen’s testimony and here’s Strand’s.

FRONTS

Did the State of the Union even happen?

Look at the front pages of today’s newspapers. The State of the Union is there, but the covers are dominated by the war in Ukraine. 

Punchbowl News is going to SXSW!

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DEPT. OF GETTING OUT OF THE WAY

Poised for a big November, GOP keeps stepping on their own message

Republicans are likely to do very well in November, at least based on history and President Joe Biden’s terrible poll numbers.

But if it wasn’t for the crisis in Ukraine, all we might be talking about this week is the Republicans’ disastrous run recently.

First there’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The two are openly fighting over Scott’s proposed 11-point plan (“What Americans Must Do To Save This Country”) released last week. Democrats have seized on the Scott proposal for campaign ads, especially the part where it raises income taxes on lower-income Americans. A number of Scott’s Senate Republican colleagues have complained about it too, saying this is more about Scott’s own political ambitions than his job as NRSC chair.

McConnell let loose on Tuesday, using his weekly Q&A with reporters to bash Scott’s plan, saying if Republicans take back the majority he will be majority leader and he’ll decide what’s on the floor. And it won’t be what Scott is proposing:

“We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of a Republican Senate majority agenda. We will focus instead on what the American people are concerned about: inflation, energy, defense, the border and crime.”

Scott hasn’t backed down, even after McConnell’s public rebuke.

“I agree with Senator McConnell that this election will primarily be about Joe Biden and the Democrats’ failures, but have been clear that I also believe Republicans should talk about a plan for turning this country around,” Scott said in statement on Tuesday, “I’m a business guy and I’ve always believed in making plans in order to get things done. Republicans, and really all Americans outside of Washington, are demanding it.”

And then there’s House Republicans. Where do we even start here?

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) spoke at a meeting of white supremacists last weekend. Following a public uproar over this, MTG and Gosar – who has a history of being involved with the white supremacist movement – defended their actions. Greene said she wasn’t going “to turn down the opportunity to speak to 1,200 young America First patriots because of a few off-color remarks by another speaker, even if I find those remarks unsavory.” Again, yes, this was a white supremacist conference and she’s defending her appearance. You read that right.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who badly wants to be the next speaker of the House, said he was appalled and would talk to Greene about it.

Then GOP Reps. Chip Roy (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Ga.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.) voted against a bill that that would make lynching a federal hate crime. The final House vote was 422-3, and it came on the last day of Black History Month. Roy complained the bill was part of the “woke agenda.” Massie is opposed to making lynching a hate crime, among other things. Clyde noted that lynching is already a crime.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) got some headlines too. She voted against a Democratic bill to ban discrimination based on hair styles being pushed by Black lawmakers. Boebert mocked it on the floor as the “bad hair bill” while casting a proxy vote for another member.

Boebert also interrupted Biden’s State of the Union speech, a move that resulted in her getting booed down twice by Democrats.

Biden was speaking about toxic fumes from “burn pits” used in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. forces. Biden was referring to illnesses – including cancer – caused by this practice. Biden has suggested repeatedly that his son Beau got cancer from burn pits while serving in Iraq.

"A cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin," Biden was saying. "I know —"

"You put them in, 13 of them!" Boebert then yelled out. Boebert was apparently referring to 13 American service members killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul. Democrats booed her.

Boebert and Greene also began a “Build the wall!” chant at one point when Biden was talking about immigration, but this got booed down as well.

Finally, there’s Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas). Well, you’re going to have to read this one on your own. We’re warning you that it’s pretty graphic. We normally wouldn’t link to anything like this, but we only became aware of the story because Republican lawmakers pointed it out to us. Since they’re clearly talking about it, we figured you should know too.

PRIMARY NIGHT

What you need to know about the Texas results

Last night was also primary night in Texas. There are a few big results from the Lone Star State worth mentioning:

→ Longtime Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is locked in a tight contest with progressive Jessica Cisneros. 

Here’s Abby Livingston of the Texas Tribune:

It was too close to call early Wednesday morning to determine whether embattled U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar will be forced into a runoff election with progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros. At 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, there were still unreported votes in Webb and Bexar in the tight race which has attracted national attention.

→ Republican Rep. Van Taylor is on the brink of being forced into a runoff as well. Republicans supportive of Taylor believe if he’s forced into a runoff, he could lose. Here’s the Dallas Morning News’ Todd Gillman: 

Keith Self, who served 12 years as Collin County judge, forced two-term congressman Van Taylor into a runoff. Taylor, a Plano Republican, was one of four Texas Republicans who rejected Donald Trump’s claims that Democrats stole the presidential election through fraud. Self and another challenger, businesswoman Suzanne Harp, had blasted him over his vote to certify President Joe Biden’s victory the day of the U.S. Capitol riot, turning the primary into a referendum of sorts on Trump’s baseless claims.

→ Morgan Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL, seems to be winning the primary to replace Rep. Kevin Brady in the district north of Houston. Wesley Hunt, a West Point graduate who is a favorite of House Republican leadership, cruised to a victory in a Houston seat that he’s favored to win in November. Monica De La Cruz also won the GOP primary in a competitive seat that runs from east of San Antonio to the border with Mexico.

What to make of this: Taylor’s race will obviously be interesting to watch, given the story we mention in the item above. Conservatives are gunning for him. But House Republican leadership will be happy with getting Luttrell and Hunt through. Remember, though, the NRCC doesn’t play in primaries. So they don’t get credit here. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the House GOP super PAC, spent on behalf of Luttrell and Hunt.

→ Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Jim Lamon remixes Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) words against him in a new ad. Kelly cut an ad last month empathizing with Arizonans affected by inflation.

Lamon is having none of it. “Mark Kelly, you rubber stamp Joe Biden’s agenda, shutting down pipelines, spiking gas prices, causing rampant inflation, hurting Arizona families,” the Republican says in the ad. Watch it below, courtesy AdImpact.

MOMENTS

8:30 a.m.: Vice President Kamala Harris will leave for Raleigh.

9:15 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his daily intelligence briefing.

10:15 a.m.: Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will leave the White House for Andrews, where they will fly to Duluth, Minn. Karine Jean-Pierre will brief en route to Duluth. 

10:25 a.m.: Harris will get a tour of the IBEW local 553 apprentice program at Durham Technical Community College.

11 a.m.: Harris will speak about the administration’s “historic investments” in American workers.

1:15 p.m.: The Bidens will arrive in Duluth.

2 p.m.: Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, will speak about Ukraine. 

3:15 p.m.: The Bidens will speak about “Building a Better America” and the bipartisan infrastructure law at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

5:10 p.m.: The Bidens will leave for D.C., where they will arrive at 7:20 p.m.

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ “News Analysis: “Unity in a Foreign Policy Crisis, but Questions Still to be Answered,” by David Sanger

WaPo

→ “‘We will save democracy’: Biden offers hope to resilient Ukrainians in war with Russia,” by Dan Balz 

→ “Biden’s State of the Union applauds unity against Russia, seeks more unity at home,” by Annie Linskey and Tyler Pager

WSJ

→ “Stocks Fall, Oil Again Tops $100 Amid Sanctions,” by Hardika Singh and Will Horner

→ “Fallout From Judges’ Financial Conflicts Spreads to Appeals Courts,” by James V. Grimaldi, Joe Palazzolo and Coulter Jones

AP

→ “‘Minister No’: Lavrov embodies Moscow’s steely posture,” by Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow

Politico

→ “Marco Rubio is tweeting through the Russia-Ukraine war — for a reason,” by Andrew Desiderio

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