| | |  | BY ELANA SCHOR | | With help from Tyler Weyant BIDEN LIKES HIS PLAN AND TRIES TO KEEP IT — 2021 is not 2009, many allies of the Biden White House volunteered earlier this year when discussing Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill. The new president, they said, had learned the lessons of the Obama years and was ready to go big on economic recovery, then spend real time selling his plan. And when the American Rescue Plan passed in March, it seemed like Team Biden was right. Nearly five months later, the lessons look a lot less clear. President Joe Biden’s early pandemic relief plan could be compared to Barack Obama’s post-financial crisis stimulus bill, also passed into law within weeks of Democrats taking full control of Washington. And the current infrastructure debate can be likened — purely politically speaking — to the next big lift Obama took up. I’m referring, of course, to the Affordable Care Act. Just like Obama did on health care, Biden has sought to bring Republicans into the fold on infrastructure to the extent he can, appearing alongside five of them at the White House and later walking back his own remarks on legislative strategy to assuage GOP senators. Just like Obama did on health care, Biden made his first foray on infrastructure in the spring only to find himself on the doorstep of August and still waiting for his former colleagues in Congress to shape a durable agreement.
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A pedestrian walks past the Leading Insurance Agency, which offers plans under the Affordable Care Act, in Miami. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images | Obama’s health care push took until 2010 to complete, after an August 2009 recess when constituent pushback at lawmakers’ town halls portended the tea party wave that crashed in the next midterm elections. There’s no way to tell now whether Biden’s infrastructure push will meet a similar fate. Polling suggests that its core components, particularly spending to shore up the nation’s rickety roads and bridges, are popular with voters. Still, the infrastructure proposal doesn’t need to spark 2009-style fury in battleground congressional districts to remain a touchy issue on Capitol Hill. Twelve years and two presidents ago, the House and Senate didn’t end up passing their respective health care bills until November and December of 2009. Obama seemed on the verge of a major first-term achievement, passed by his filibuster-proof Senate majority. Then former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) scored a shocking 2010 victory in a special election to fill Democrats’ 60th Senate seat, held by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) until his death the previous summer. Democrats ended up having to push their entire health care package through using — here’s a familiar term — the budget reconciliation process. The Democrats are planning to use that same tactic this year to pass much of Biden’s domestic agenda without needing a single GOP vote. But what if we are a few months away from a Scott-Brown-type shocker that pushes the infrastructure debate well into 2022, or kills it entirely? It’s extremely possible. And it’s worth remembering that the March 2010 signing of the Affordable Care Act didn’t stop Obama’s Democrats from suffering huge defeats in that fall’s midterms. Which brings us to the most important calendar comparison of the first two years of the Biden presidency: not whether 2021 is 2009, but how much 2022 will be like 2010. Biden and his party are hoping they can avoid unforeseen obstacles, beat the clock and sell their infrastructure plan — both the concrete-project component that’s wobbling ahead of a test vote later this week , and its $3.5 trillion social spending counterpart — a lot better this year than the last Democratic administration did 11 years ago. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author directly at eschor@politico.com or @eschor.
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A message from AARP: Americans are sick of paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs — more than three times what people in other countries pay for the same medicine. The President, members of Congress in both parties, and the people agree: we must cut drug prices. By giving Medicare the power to negotiate, we can save hundreds of billions of dollars. Tell Congress: Cut prescription drug prices now. | | | | | — McCarthy zeroes in on his GOP picks for Jan. 6 select committee: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has homed in on five Republicans whom he’s looking to tap for the Democrat-led select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. While McCarthy took his time deciding between naming more experienced members to the probe, filling his seats with firebrands, and refusing to tap any members at all, he ultimately chose to go with the former route. His anticipated selections have the committee leadership and oversight chops to counter Democrats, who are expected to use the select panel to hammer Donald Trump and the GOP for fueling the deadly assault on the Capitol. — U.S. to begin housing Afghan refugees at Virginia military base: Some of the Afghan nationals who aided the U.S. war effort will be temporarily housed at a U.S. Army base about 140 miles south of Washington while they await approval of their visas. The first round of applicants will be taken to Fort Lee, Va., according to a congressional official who viewed a National Security Council notification sent to Capitol Hill today. — Biden recasts criticism of Facebook over vaccine misinformation: Biden today walked back his declaration that Facebook is “killing people” by not acting forcefully enough to combat vaccine-related misinformation. “I’m trying to get people to look in the mirror, think about that misinformation going to your son, your daughter, your relative, someone you love. That’s what I’m asking,” Biden said following a speech touting the economic recovery and making his case for the infrastructure proposals being negotiated in Congress.
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| — Canada to open border Aug. 9 to fully vaccinated U.S. travelers: Canada will ease border restrictions for fully vaccinated, discretionary travelers from the United States on Aug. 9 before loosening the Covid-19 measures for those from other countries on Sept. 7. The Trudeau government’s announcement today followed months of pressure on Ottawa and Washington to ease the rules on nonessential travel at the Canada-U.S. frontier. — Senate Democrats propose requiring women to register for military draft: Senate Democrats are proposing a sweeping rewrite of the military draft laws to require women to register for the Selective Service System, according to a draft authored by Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed and obtained by POLITICO. The bill would reignite a contentious debate over whether women should be required to register for the draft, a move the House and Senate have each considered in recent years, though the change has never become law.
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| | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | — Christie nabs role courting big donors for Republican governors group: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been tapped to co-chair a new fundraising program aimed at helping Republicans in 2022 governor races , a role that will allow him to maintain his national profile as he weighs a 2024 presidential bid. Christie will help to spearhead the Republican Governors Association’s Victory 2022 Board, an enterprise devoted to expanding the committee’s donor network. He will be joined by Michelle Malek Olson, the finance chair for Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Glenn Youngkin and the daughter of Fred Malek, a major GOP financier who died in 2019. — Attorney general sets new limits for when DOJ can seize reporters’ records: The Department of Justice will no longer use compulsory legal processes to seize information from people working in the news media who are acting “within the scope of their newsgathering activities,” Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in a memo today.
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| | | | | COALITION OF THE CONDEMNING — The EU, the U.K. and NATO joined the White House today in condemning cyberattacks on Microsoft servers by hackers based in China , though the EU stopped short of blaming the Chinese government. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Canada also joined the coalition, as Biden's administration opened a new front against China by mustering a wider network of like-minded partners. ‘STRONGER THAN IT WAS BEFORE’ — That’s Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, in reference to gains by the hardline Taliban insurgents as the U.S. withdraws. POLITICO's newest newsletter, National Security Daily, has much more from Khalilzad and other experts on the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. Sign up today to receive the latest on defense, national security and foreign policy.
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| | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | | |
| | | SHOWSTOPPER — Nightly’s Tyler Weyant emails from the shores of Assawoman Bay in Ocean City, Md.: I went to my first concert since being vaccinated last night. It was at Seacrets, a popular Ocean City night club, and yes, it was the suspendered and straw-hatted cover band The Amish Outlaws. Through the rapidly changing genres of songs and falling confetti, I kept thinking about one thing: the Delta variant. At this point, you may have questions. Tyler, you were at a crowded concert, even though you synthesize Covid coverage every day? Weren’t you worried or afraid? Not really, because I trust the vaccines. Are the Amish Outlaws real? Yes, they are quite real. A follow-up, then: If you weren’t afraid, why were you thinking about the Delta variant? It’s a good question. I hadn’t thought about it on my way there. I was focused on a fun night out with family members whom I haven’t been able to see much during the throes of Covid. I’d say it was sometime between “We Are the Champions” and “Blinding Lights” that I began to grapple with a set of realizations in my mind. They went something like this: “Oh dear goodness, this crowd is screaming lyrics to songs left and right, and I bet a good portion aren’t vaccinated, and holy cow, look at that woman just screaming and sloshing her drink around, goodness, let me pull up the New York Times map of vaccination rates, but wait I probably shouldn’t, but it will only take a second, first hold on a second … PAAAAAANAMA. PANAMA-A-A-A-A-A.” To answer another follow-up, yes, I am considered fun at parties. But more seriously, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about my moment of panic. It was a sharp reminder of the risk assessments even the vaccinated have to make if we want to return to the things we loved before March 2020. We all have a choice to make: Either we trust the vaccines, and go out and live our lives, or we revert back to the state of isolation and fear that none of us cared for before our shots. I am trying to choose the former. At the end of the night, my family and I donned our masks and hopped in an Uber, the only time in my entire evening I saw anyone wearing them. I was still a little nervous, but in my mind I recited a mantra: “You’re vaccinated, you’re fine, you need to relax.” As I got ready for bed, listening to David Lee Roth in my headphones, I thought two things: Gosh, wasn’t it nice to be with family again. And gosh, I hope there are no breakthrough cases.
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A message from AARP: It’s outrageous that Americans pay more than three times what people in other countries pay for the same medicine. And these unfair prices keep going up. Even during the pandemic and financial crisis, the prices of more than 1,000 drugs were increased. It’s time for the President and Congress to cut prescription drug prices.
Currently, Medicare is prohibited by law from using its buying power to negotiate with drug companies to get lower prices for people. This must change. Giving Medicare the power to negotiate will save hundreds of billions of dollars.
And the American people agree. In a recent AARP survey of Americans 50+, a vast majority supported allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices, including 88% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans.
Tell Congress: Act now to lower prescription drug prices. Let Medicare negotiate. | | | Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. | |
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