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PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN

THE TOP

A few nuggets to get you started this morning.

→ President Joe Biden is considering an address to a joint session of Congress near the 100-day mark of his presidency, which is April 30, multiple senior administration officials and Capitol Hill aides tell us. This is later than previous new presidents have done, but they still have to figure out pandemic-related logistics. 

→ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet virtually with House Democrats Tuesday at 4 p.m. to talk about the American Rescue Plan. Speaker Nancy Pelosi

→ The White House is already searching for Republicans who might be amenable to a deal on the infrastructure package. Biden wants to have Republicans to the White House to talk. They’ll have to look hard.

Quick interlude: We are looking forward to hosting former Speaker John Boehner for a discussion about his book, “On the House” on Sunday, April 25 at 6 p.m. All three of us covered Boehner’s speakership — and in many ways, Boehner was a central character in the story of Congress for several decades. There may or may not be red wine poured during this one. Sign up

THE GOP ROADMAP

Inside the Republican attacks on the American Jobs Plan

President Joe Biden launched the American Jobs Plan on Wednesday, his massive $2.5 trillion infrastructure initiative. And the first people who should thank him are all the Republican and conservative communications consultants who are going to get contracts to blow up this proposal. K Street salutes you, Mr. President!

Wednesday’s speech marked the beginning of a huge legislative and political fight. The American Rescue Plan, Biden’s Covid relief package, had many elements developed by Democrats on Capitol Hill throughout 2020. That was relatively straightforward compared to what we’ll see with the American Jobs Plan. The tax provisions alone will spur enormous opposition from Republicans and Corporate America.

This proposal is all Biden. He’s working hard to portray this as a seminal moment for the country: “It is a once-in-a-generation investment in America. Unlike anything we have seen or done, since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades ago. In fact, the largest American jobs investment since World War II.”

There’ll be a lot of discussion of taxes, deficits and climate change, but the way many on Capitol Hill see it, this is an existential fight over the role of government in society, how government impacts the economy and the structure of the U.S. tax code. Both sides view this as an ideological showdown over core principles.

So let’s look at how Republicans will attack the Biden plan and what it will mean for them:

→ Taxes. If there’s one thing that Republicans agree on — and there’s really only the one thing post Donald Trump — it’s low corporate and individual taxes. It’s no surprise that Trump’s signature legislative win was the 2017 tax cut bill. So Republicans and business groups will just pound the message that the higher taxes Biden is proposing to pay for his plan means fewer jobs, a slower economy and bigger government. And pound it. And pound it. And pound it. … Whether they’re right or wrong, Republicans are very eager to run against higher taxes in 2022.

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, called the Biden plan “the biggest economic blunder of our lifetime,” while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wondered whether it was a "Trojan horse for a massive tax increase." "Raising taxes in the middle of an economic crisis is incredibly misguided,” said Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho), top Republican on the Finance Committee. “Hastily changing the tax system purely for purposes of raising revenue will bring back inversions and foreign takeovers of U.S. companies, cost jobs, shrink domestic investment and slow down wage growth, ultimately crushing ordinary workers and the middle class.” 

Republicans will target Senate Democratic moderates on this front. This includes the usual suspects of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), but also Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) — the most vulnerable Democrat up this cycle — and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). In the House, they’ll target Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and other Blue Dogs or moderates who position themselves as pro-business. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has a razor-thin margin of control, so Republicans don’t need to move a lot of votes to make the White House nervous. There’s time and lots of money to do this. Democrats counter that making corporations pay their fair share is actually quite popular. We will see!

→ “Green New Dealing” it. Dozens of Republicans are already trying to label this Biden plan as the Green New Deal “disguised” as an infrastructure bill. “Let’s be clear: Biden’s radical $2 trillion ‘infrastructure” bill is just the Green New Deal under a new name,” tweeted House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). “This proposal starts with the punishing policies of the #GreenNewDeal and builds back worse from there,” Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso (Wyo.) said. “Biden’s new ‘infrastructure’ plan is really a backdoor Green New Deal,” added Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.). Now multiply this times 1,000, and, well, you get the idea.

→ The "Missed Opportunity." Republicans will blame Democrats for not negotiating in good faith on this, and there may end up being some truth to that. Biden talks about inviting Republican leaders to the White House for infrastructure negotiations, and says he’s open to other options for paying for the package. Yet Pelosi is already setting July 4 target date for passing a bill, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is making appeals to the Senate parliamentarian for authority to do additional reconciliation bills. Those two messages don’t add up, and GOP leaders will push this line. “Our nation could use a serious, targeted infrastructure plan. There would be bipartisan support for a smart proposal,” McConnell said in a statement Wednesday. “Unfortunately, the latest liberal wish-list the White House has decided to label ‘infrastructure’ is a major missed opportunity by this administration.”

→ The Rick Scott Method: Say something way over the top, and then repeat versions of this endlessly. “Biden’s Disastrous Tax & Spend Agenda is Killing America” was the headline on one of Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott’s press releases Wednesday. “Killing America” seems a little too far — although we understand that you’re a “no.”

THE MONEY GAME

First-quarter fundraising news

We have a bunch of news on the fundraising front here on the first day of the second quarter. 

→ Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is wrapping up his biggest fundraising quarter since 2018, when he ran for this seat in the first place. Final numbers aren’t in yet but he raised $500,000 over the last four days in Missouri. He made stops in Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia and Springfield. Hawley, of course, led the charge in challenging the election results in January, and there were questions about whether he would be able to raise big money. But it’s clear his grassroots and big-donor money has not slowed down.

→ Alex Lasry, the leading Democratic candidate for Senate in Wisconsin, raised at least $1.78 million this quarter. Lasry loaned himself $50,000 — so he raised more than $1 million in his 43 days in the race. Two thirds of his donors are from Wisconsin, and 85% were from small donors. He raised money from 69 of the 72 counties in the state.

→ Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) raised $2.2 million — $1.1 each to his re-election and Country First leadership PAC. The campaign total is three times what he raised in the first quarter of 2019, and more than three times what he raised in the first quarter of 2017. Of course, Kinzinger voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, and has been a staunch critic. Kinzinger donated $10,000 to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler and raised her $46,000. We asked him if he’ll contribute to the NRCC: “If I can I will. It’s not going to be the highest priority in my efforts.”

MOMENTS

9:15 a.m.: VP Kamala Harris will meet virtually with stakeholders to discuss Covid-19 education efforts.

10:15 a.m.: President Joe Biden and Harris will receive the daily intelligence briefing.

Noon: Biden will have lunch with Harris.

12:15 p.m.: Biden and Harris will have lunch.

1:15 p.m.: Biden will hold a Cabinet meeting.

5 p.m.: Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will fly to Los Angeles through Easter Sunday.

CLIP FILE

NYT: “40 Years After Reagan, a Bet Big Government Can Get Something Done,” by David Sanger

“Biden’s Big Bet: Tackling Climate Change Will Create Jobs, Not Kill Them,” by Coral Davenport, Noam Scheiber and Lisa Friedman

“Biden Says He Would Support Moving All-Star Game Over Georgia Voting Law,” by Zolan Kanno-Youngs

WaPo: “Biden’s infrastructure plan aims to turbocharge U.S. shift from fossil fuels,” by Steve Mufson and Juliet Eilpren

“Gaetz investigation complicated by overture to his father about ex-FBI agent who went missing,” by Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett

“In new memoir, Hunter Biden chronicles addictions and defends time on Ukraine company board,” by Tyler Pager and Ashley Parker

WSJ: “New York Attorney General Says NRA Boss Kept Board in Dark on Planned Bankruptcy,” by Jonathan Randles

AP: “Company at heart of J&J vaccine woes has series of citations,” by Richard Lardner and Linda Johnson

NPR: "Obama Transportation Secretary Hid Foreign Cash Loan," by Jaclyn Diaz

RIDING THE RAILS

Amtrak releases map of growth

The American Jobs Plan sends $80 billion to Amtrak, and Amtrak has plans to vastly improve its existing network and add additional city pairs. 

IT’S OPENING DAY!!

Go Nats! The Washington Nationals will play the New York Mets this evening at 7:09 p.m. at Nationals Park. The Nats will raise their World Series flag before the game. Remember that? Nats won the World Series. Click on the sports front above for The Post’s great Nats coverage. 

That was awesome. Bres is a Yankee fan. So, there’s that too.

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images