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PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN

THE TOP

Good morning from sunny Orlando. We sat down separately yesterday with the three top House Republican leaders — Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Steve Scalise (La.) and Liz Cheney (Wyo.) — for bonus episodes of our podcast, the Daily Punch. We’ll release the first installment — our chat with McCarthy — at noon today. We’ll be doing more of these bonus episodes as time goes on, so send us a note if you have an idea for a cool chat. Subscribe to the podcast here

Here’s McCarthy on how he sees the House Republicans’ political standing.

Jake: “So give me your back-of-the-napkin 2022 analysis sitting here, you know, April of 2021.”

McCarthy: “Majorities are not given, they are earned. This is not like 1994 and 2010.”

Jake: “Why is it not like 1994 and 2010?” 

McCarthy: “Because you had to win 40 seats in 2010. …  I think everybody knows the majority is in play. So the reason why it’s different, the majority is in play. In ‘94 and 2010, at the beginning of those years, they didn’t believe the majority was at play in the nation. I believe it is, and the Democrats, I think, believe it is too, that’s why they’re going so far left, knowing that they’re gonna lose it.”

“You look at retirements that have already happened … You look at somebody like [Democratic] Congresswoman [Cindy] Axne in Iowa thinking, running for Congress reelection is her third choice. You look [at Florida Democratic Rep.] Stephanie Murphy [and she is going to] run maybe for the Senate.  … Ron Kind, either he’s going to lose his career in Congress or he’s going to think about running for the Senate or retiring. The number of these people are going to come up with these very tough decisions whether they run for re-election, and I believe a lot it’s going to happen after Thanksgiving.  …

“In 2018 [Republicans] had the largest number of retirements that we’ve had before. I believe that same thing is going to happen to Democrats or they’re going to lose, and they’re going to have to run in new districts and explain why they’re condoning the language of Maxine Waters, they’re voting for the most socialist agenda they’ve seen. They’re unpopular in the aspects of it, and they’re ignoring the crisis along the border. Those are not prospects of why they can win reelection.”

→ Today at the GOP retreat in Orlando: Frank Luntz, Myra Miller and Dave Winston will speak about party messaging at 9 a.m. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will speak about the economy at 10 a.m. Matt Lira, Zac Moffett and Tom Newhouse will speak about “building your online presence at 11:15 a.m. Eliot Berke and Erin Clark will host an ethics session at 11:15 a.m. And at 12:30 p.m., there will be a members-only lunch.

→ Color us surprised​ that former President​ Donald Trump did not show up at this retreat. Cheney made it abundantly clear that he was not invited. We thought that would draw him in. Guess he’s lost his flare for the fireworks.   

→ FWIW: If you’re in Florida this week, you may see some House Republicans bouncing around. The NRCC’s annual retreat in Miami is this weekend. 

POLICY

Dems make two big policy moves

→ House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richie Neal (D-Mass.) is unveiling a new proposal today called the “Building an Economy for Families Act.” Neal wants to create a new entitlement giving up to 12 weeks paid family and medical leave for all workers. The program would be administered by the Treasury Department. Those at the lower end of the income scale would receive higher benefits, while private employers could be partially reimbursed for the costs if they provide the benefit to their employees.

Neal would also create a “Child Care Information Network” for families to get the most up-to-date information on child care options available to them, any subsidies that may be available and help figuring out how to apply.

And Neal wants to permanently extend three tax credits included in the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress: a child tax credit of up to $3,600 per child; an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit; and the Child and Dependent Care Credit of up to $8,000 for one child, $16,000 for two or more.

While there are no cost estimates for Neal’s plan, the proposal will clearly run into the hundreds of billions of dollars, and could exceed $1 trillion. Neal intends for this proposal to be a “discussion draft,” although he clearly wants to see the Ways and Means Committee move in this direction. 

Neal released his proposal just one day before President Joe Biden is set to unveil his $1.5 trillion-plus “American Family Plan” to a joint session of Congress. Neal spoke with Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, on Monday about the proposal, and he’s briefed his own leadership on it as well.

“For our economy to fully recover from this pandemic, we must finally acknowledge that workers have families, and caregiving responsibilities are real,” Neal said in a statement. “Through sensible, but bold investments, we can put workers’ minds at ease and ready our country to come roaring back. All while lifting millions out of poverty by permanently extending the hugely popular expansions that the Ways and Means Committee made to key tax credits in the American Rescue Plan.”

→ The White House has raised the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15. Here’s the fact sheet. The current minimum wage for federal contractors is $10.95 per hour, which is far higher than the $7.25 per hour received by non-federal contractors. But this would still be a big pay hike for the roughly 700,000 federal contractors who would be covered under this order. The new wage will come into effect next year.

What’s more, Biden’s order will index that pay rate for inflation. And it gets rid of a “carve out” implemented under former President Donald Trump for “seasonal recreational services” on federal lands, such as “river running, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, camping, mountaineering activities, recreational ski services, and youth camps.”

“This executive order will promote economy and efficiency in federal contracting, providing value for taxpayers by enhancing worker productivity and generating higher-quality work by boosting workers’ health, morale, and effort It will reduce turnover, allowing employers to retain top talent and lower the costs associated with recruitment and training,” the Biden administration said. “It will reduce absenteeism, a change that has been linked to higher productivity, not just by the employees who are more present, but by their co-workers, too.”

THE POST JAN. 6 WORLD

Bill to bolster Capitol security going nowhere fast​

House Democratic leaders have been pushing a roughly $2 billion security supplemental bill designed to “harden” the Capitol in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The money would go to hiring more U.S. Capitol Police, building “retractable fencing” around the Capitol complex, expanding security for lawmakers back home and when they travel, and other security upgrades.

But Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) isn’t having it. He wants a commission to look at what happened on Jan. 6, what went wrong and what security upgrades are needed. And he doesn’t sound like he’s in a real hurry to act without some more info.

“I haven’t seen a number that I’ve agreed on,” Leahy told us in an interview on Monday afternoon. “If we need money, of course the money will be there. But I don’t like numbers just for the sake of numbers.”

“We should’ve had an independent commission to look at what went right and what went wrong,” Leahy added.

There’s all sorts of rumbling that lawmakers are looking at attaching different measures to the security supplemental, since it’s seen as a “must-pass” bill. And there’s chatter that party leaders may try to bypass the committee process and bring it right to the floor.

Leahy, for his part, isn’t interested in attaching any extraneous legislation to the security supplemental, whatever it turns out looking like in the end.

“They might want to talk to me before they start talking about that,” Leahy said of possible additions to the legislation. “There’s not going to be anything added to an appropriations bill that I haven’t looked and agreed to.”

When asked what that timeline for the package is, Leahy quipped: “Maybe they’d like to talk to me, whoever is talking like this.”

PSA

GOP doc caucus cuts vaccination ad

We thought this was interesting. The Republican Doctors’ Caucus has a new PSA, suggesting Americans take the Covid-19 vaccine. 

This ad is online only for now, but they may put it on TV. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) led the push to make it.

The caucus is chaired by GOP Reps. Brad Wenstrup (Ohio), Andy Harris (Md.) and Michael Burgess (Texas). It has 18 members.

MOMENTS

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

11:30 a.m.: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to speak in Orlando. 

12:30 p.m.: The Covid-19 response team will brief.

1:15 p.m.: Biden will speak about Covid-19 on the North Lawn.

1:45 p.m.: Jen Psaki will brief reporters.

4 p.m.: Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in a virtual roundtable with Guatemalans involved in community organizations.

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ “John Kerry denies ever having discussed Israeli strikes in Syria with Iran’s foreign minister,” by Michael Crowley, Nick Fandos and Farnaz Fassihi 

→ “Cuomo, in Rare Public Appearance, Says: ‘I Didn’t Do Anything Wrong,’” by Jesse McKinley in Syracuse: “[Cuomo] promptly made news, flatly denying that he had ever sexually harassed anyone or had done “anything wrong” — a subtle shift from previous remarks where he acknowledged making statements that might have made employees uncomfortable or been perceived as ‘unwanted flirtation.’

“Standing outside on a brisk, sunny day, Mr. Cuomo, 63, also addressed the ongoing investigation by the state attorney general, Letitia James, who has hired two outside lawyers to run the inquiry into the sexual harassment claims. He predicted her report would not find any wrongdoing. ‘The report can’t say anything different,’ said Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, ‘because I didn’t do anything wrong.’”

→ “Supreme Court Wary of Donor Disclosure Requirement for Charities,” by Adam Liptak

→ “D.C. Police Department Data Is Leaked in a Cyberattack,” by Nicole Perlroth and Julian E. Barnes: “Hacked data from the Washington, D.C., Police Department started leaking onto the internet on Monday, making it the third police department in the United States to be hit by cybercriminals in six weeks.

“A group that emerged this year called Babuk claimed responsibility for the leak. Babuk is known for ransomware attacks, which hold victims’ data hostage until they pay a ransom, often in Bitcoin. The group also hit the Houston Rockets N.B.A. team this month.

WaPo

→ “Fresh off election falsehoods, Republicans serve up a whopper about Biden,” by Ashley Parker: “By the time President Biden’s aides gathered for their morning meeting on Monday, the juicy whopper of a mistruth making its way around the conservative ecosphere — that Biden’s climate plan would significantly limit America’s hamburger consumption— had officially entered mainstream public discourse.

“Biden’s team looked for an opportunity to quickly debunk the falsehood. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain retweeted a CNN fact check titled, ‘No, Biden is not trying to force Americans to eat less red meat,’ while several press aides tweeted a photo of a grinning Biden flipping burgers at a 2019 Iowa steak fry, along with the caption, ‘White House to the fact-challenged: where’s the beef?’

“To White House aides, the wholly fictional Biden-will-ban-hamburgers story line was in part an amusing flare-up perpetuated by Republicans who have struggled to find ways to successfully attack the president. They joked privately that White House press secretary Jen Psaki should start her daily press briefing by eating a burger.”

AP

→ “Iran, US warships in first tense Mideast encounter in a year,” by Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

→ “Cooling the temperature: Biden faces fractious Congress,” by Mary Clare Jalonick and Josh Boak

Politico

→ "McCarthy-Cheney divide deepens at GOP retreat," by Melanie Zanona in Orlando

→ “‘Never heard of them’: Arizona GOP audit firm unknown even in home state,” by Marc Caputo

LAT

→ “Column: Caitlyn Jenner wants to be California governor. But she’s no Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarzenegger,” by Mark Z. Barabak

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