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PRESENTED BY

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

THE TOP

Here’s an interesting dynamic we’ve noticed over the last few months: House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries of New York has been absolutely unsparing and unrelenting in his criticism of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). 

It’s nothing at all new for politicians to be nasty to each other. In fact, it’s commonplace. But there’s something unique about Jeffries’ constant slagging of McCarthy. He’s the only person in his leadership doing it on a day-to-day basis.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tends to just look past McCarthy, although her staff likes to take shots at the California Republican. The only person we’ve seen Pelosi truly go after is former President Donald Trump. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has a good working relationship with McCarthy and these types of attacks aren’t his style. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is the same way — old school. Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) speaks out on nearly every big topic, and she certainly isn’t afraid to bash Republicans. But most of the anti-McCarthy shots inside the Democratic leadership seem to come from Jeffries.

Jeffries insists he hasn’t gone out of his way to hit McCarthy, but he won’t avoid the topic either when reporters bring it up.

“If I get asked a question, I respond to the question. If I get asked about Leader McCarthy, I’ll respond to the question about Leader McCarthy,” Jeffries said in an interview on Monday. “I’m going to get asked about [McCarthy], and I’m going to give a straightforward answer like someone who was raised in certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn.”

This is pretty good internal politics for Jeffries, however. The New York Democrat is going after the top House Republican, someone who may be the next speaker. That puts Jeffries on the same level as McCarthy, which is smart. And today’s politics isn’t about niceties or subtlety.

Also, McCarthy and Jeffries are peers in some ways that may not translate with the Pelosi-Hoyer-Clyburn septuagenarian troika. McCarthy is 56, Jeffries 50. They both could be speaker someday. (For the record, Clark is 57, Steve Scalise is 55 and Elise Stefanik is 36.) 

Jeffries insists he isn’t trying to raise his own profile by going after McCarthy. “Invoking his name does nothing in terms of elevating me one way or another,” Jeffries said.

When asked what his opinion on McCarthy or how he’s doing as minority leader, Jeffries offered this: “It’s not my job to really rate what he’s doing. My biggest concern with the House Republican Conference is they continue to deny reality as it relates to President Biden’s election and obstruct, with respect to getting things done on behalf of everyday Americans. Nothing more, nothing less.”

But let’s check the record:

→ June 26: "It’s not my expectation, given Kevin McCarthy’s past practice, that he will do anything other than bend the knee to Donald Trump.”

→ May 24 on Twitter: “Kevin who? Marjorie Taylor Greene is running the House Republican Conference.”

→ May 18: “It’s hard to take Kevin McCarthy seriously at this point. It’s just hard. He can’t take yes for an answer.”

→ May 16 on “Who Kevin McCarthy is?” during MSNBC interview: “At the end of day, he’s a riddle wrapped in an increasingly corrupt and incompetent enigma.”

→ April 20: "Lauren Boebert is a mess. Matt Gaetz is a mess. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a mess. Clean up your mess, Kevin. Sit this one out. You’ve got no credibility.”

→ Feb. 24, after saying McCarthy “doesn’t always operate in good faith”: [McCarthy] set a bad tone on Jan. 3 by delivering an egregious speech on the floor and then, of course, has continued to provide aid and comfort to the insurrectionists, including by voting with those [Electoral College] objections.”

→ Feb. 3 on Taylor Greene’s violent comments: "This is not a partisan issue about precedent that may be established. If we’re compelled to act to address a situation that Kevin McCarthy should address himself.”

→ Jan. 28 on CNN after McCarthy met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago: “Eight days into the Joe Biden presidency, in the midst of a deadly once-in-a-century pandemic, [McCarthy] is talking to the twice impeached, xenophobic, seditious former president in connection with taking back the House and the Senate in 2022? You can’t make this stuff, [Wolf Blitzer.] It is a dramatic failure of leadership. Shame on Kevin McCarthy.”

We asked McCarthy’s office for a comment, but they declined.

THE BOUNCEBACK … IS BACK

Our second installment of The Bounceback is live. This edition is focused on mayor of San Francisco, London Breed. 

Breed took the extraordinary step in March 2020 of shuttering all nonessential businesses and banning nonessential travel. The aggressive move was one of many that Breed employed to try and keep her city’s residents safe while having to face the dire economic implications and exodus of people who left San Francisco. Check out the full profile.

CHECKING IN ON THE LEFT

W.H. tries to work the room, and what AOC and Jayapal are thinking

President Joe Biden and House Democratic leaders’ biggest task of the moment is to keep the left in line. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House are asking progressives to keep faith that they will push for a large reconciliation package focused on social programs at the same time as they pass the bipartisan Senate “hard” infrastructure bill. 

Practically every rank-and-file Democrat has and will continue to have an inordinate amount of leverage. Leadership is using a complex procedure to try to pass this two-part package. And, as you may have noticed, Democrats have narrow majorities in both chambers. We’re going to be very, very interested and pay close attention to what everyone says.

We have a bunch of news from all the stakeholders here — so check this out:

→ The White House, behind the scenes: We got some details about what the White House is doing to push the infrastructure and reconciliation process. First of all, Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) will be with Biden in Wisconsin today. 

Outreach: White House officials spoke to all Democratic chiefs of staff in the House and Senate Monday. Administration officials also had calls with more than 60 Democratic and Republican members, chiefs of staff and staff directors. And they also spoke to Senate Democratic comms staff.

Today, Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, White House Legislative Affairs Director Louisa Terrell and the White House’s top House liaison Shuwanza Goff will meet with groups of House Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said she and other progressives would be meeting with Ricchetti today.

→ AOC A-OK, for now: We caught up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who seemed relatively comfortable with the infrastructure and reconciliation process at the moment. This interview was edited for length, because we chatted for a while. 

AOC on how she feels about how the process is going: “I don’t know what’s a good adjective. I know ‘good’ isn’t a great adjective. But I still feel good about the prospect of a two-track [process]. And I think it’s gonna be really important that we continue to pursue two tracks.”

Punchbowl News: How about what Biden said late last week, the ‘I-won’t-sign-but-actually-I-will-sign’ thing?

AOC: “I think Biden can say what he needs to say and what he’d like to say. And he has his strategy. There’s three steps to this, right? So the White House can have a position, the Senate can have a position and the House can have a position.”

Punchbowl News: What size budget are you looking for?

AOC: “I get asked this question a lot and for me, it’s not a quantitative line as much as it is a qualitative line. And I know that … it’s easier to be like: ‘Oh, if it’s three [trillion] or if it’s four [trillion], if it’s less than this, if it’s more than that, I won’t vote for it.’ …  You can have something that’s workable, you can have a huge number that has investments that are completely intolerable, that has tons of pipeline funding and infrastructure funding… fossil fuel funding, that would not be tolerable for us. You can have a number that’s just too low, that doesn’t do enough. You can have maybe something ‘Goldilocks’ in the middle, where you have ambitious investments that aren’t… being destructive.”

Punchbowl News: And what do you need to see in the process to feel comfortable with voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill? 

AOC: “I need to see progress on both. And I personally, you know, it’s not just about putting faith in leaders. It’s like, ‘Show me the beef.’ And to me, the beef is passing reconciliation in the Senate. And if we can get these folks secured in the Senate, then I’ll entertain a bipartisan bill …  I believe that keeping the consensus in the House, as we’ve seen, has been more reliable….”

“[U]ltimately, we make our lines clear on the substantive needs that we have in policy. And when those things are met, we let them know pretty far out in advance, we let them know what is critically important to us. In my case, climate is something that I’m really looking at. And then, you know, have that brought forward. … [T]he standards that we have are not as mercurial as ‘Oh, can we get Mitch McConnell to feel like he’s supporting this today?’ And so the Senate is the least stable piece in all of this. So if they can get it together enough to send us two bills, then we have two bills.”

→ Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus: “The people who want to do a bipartisan deal — that’s fine. But they have to understand that there’s other people in the caucus who are not going to do that without a reconciliation bill.” 

Jayapal said progressives will meet this week with House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), as well as other committee chairs who will draft portions of the reconciliation package.

Jayapal wants that package to include both Biden’s American Jobs Plan — minus infrastructure provisions included in the Senate bipartisan deal — plus the American Families Plan. Jayapal didn’t want to focus on a number yet, however. Last week, she told us the package could be between $6 trillion and $10 trillion, so she’s clearly changing her tune a bit.

“Yes, it will need to be both, and it will need to contain enough flexibility to cover our priorities,” Jayapal said. “The way I’ve been thinking about it is ‘What do we need to deliver?’ And then let’s come to a number from that. We obviously like the $6 trillion number, but we understand that might be too for some people. We’ve got to back out whatever is in the bipartisan bill from that topline number.”

Speaking of Yarmuth, the Kentucky Democrat — who’ll be in charge of both drafting an overall number for and then assembling the reconciliation package — privately warned some of his Democratic colleagues Monday to remain flexible, not to issue too many “red lines” in coming days and weeks.

NOTABLE FRONT

MOMENTS

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

10 a.m.: Biden will leave the White House for Andrews, where he will fly to La Crosse, Wis. Jen Psaki will brief reporters en route. … House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik will talk to reporters after a closed GOP meeting.

10:15 a.m.: House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries and Vice Chair Pete Aguilar will talk to reporters after the closed Democratic meeting.

12:20 p.m.: Biden will arrive in La Crosse and tour the La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility.

2 p.m.: Biden will speak about the bipartisan infrastructure bill in Wisconsin.

3:45 p.m.: Biden will leave La Crosse for D.C., where he’ll arrive at 5:45 p.m..

First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in Texas. They’ll hold a vaccination event with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. In Dallas, they’ll hold a vaccination event with former NFL star Emmitt Smith.

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ News Analysis: “Biden Faces Intense Cross Currents in Iran Policy" by David Sanger

→ “House Passes Bills to Bolster Scientific Research, Breaking With Senate,” by Catie Edmondson

WaPo

→ “Biden tries to move beyond flubbed rollout of infrastructure deal,” by Seung Min Kim and Sean Sullivan

→ “Trump attorneys meet with New York prosecutors to argue that his company should not be criminally charged over its business practices,” by David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Shayna Jacobs

→ “Arizona’s Maricopa County will replace voting equipment, fearful that GOP-backed election review has compromised security,” by Roz Helderman

WSJ editorial board

→ “It’s the Entitlements, Stupid: The guaranteed nature of Biden’s spending is the real threat to America’s economic future.”

AP

→ “Biden taking bipartisan infrastructure deal on the road,” by Josh Boak

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