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We know these emails can be a bit pesky at times — and trust us, the last thing we want to do is ask you for your hard earned money. But the truth is, these messages make a huge difference for our team. Let us explain:

In 2020, we defeated Donald Trump and sent Democratic majorities to Congress thanks to the support of grassroots donors like you who pitched in $3, $10, or $25 along the way.

It was your support that allowed our Democratic majorities to pass the American Rescue Plan — providing COVID-19 relief and strengthening our economy.

And it was your donations that helped us pass the bipartisan infrastructure package last November to rebuild our roads and bridges, expand broadband access, and invest in clean energy.

We truly mean it when we say every dollar you pitch in to emails like this one makes a real difference for our team. And with the Senate majority on the line this November, we’re counting on support from this incredible team once again. That’s why we send these emails around every so often and why your response to them is so important.

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RSN: FOCUS: David Rothkopf | DC Is a Donut. There Is No Center in Washington Politics

 

 

25 January 22

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FOCUS: David Rothkopf | DC Is a Donut. There Is No Center in Washington Politics
David Rothkopf, The Daily Beast
Rothkopf writes: "'Blame the left' is Washington's latest craze."

“Blame the left” is Washington’s latest craze.

It would not be surprising if it were just coming from the GOP. But scapegoating progressives is now an increasingly popular sport among Washington-based pundits—and even some Democratic Party strategists—trying to identify who or what to blame for President Joe Biden’s low poll numbers and the myriad struggles of his first year in office.

Unfortunately, these analyses are based on several fallacies. First, Biden’s poll numbers after one year in office, while undoubtedly sagging, are still substantially ahead of Donald Trump’s.

Next is the obvious but somehow underrated truism that poll numbers after one year in office are fairly meaningless. Comparisons to prior decades—when partisan politics weren’t nearly as divisive—are also not particularly useful.

Biden’s poll numbers cannot be attributed to any specific action he has or has not taken. In fact, it is highly likely that a combination of factors beyond his control—such as the emergence of a highly contagious and vaccine-resistant strain of COVID-19, and the GOP campaign to reject essential public health measures—has had more of an impact on his numbers than anything for which Biden is personally responsible.

President Biden’s achievements, in fact, outweigh his struggles. On his watch, more than 6.5 million new jobs were added to the economy. Over 200 million Americans got vaccinated. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Package lifted half of America’s poorest children out of poverty. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was passed with bipartisan support. Biden appointed more judges than any previous president and ended America’s longest war. He’s brought a semblance of stability back to the White House after four years of chaos, irrationality, and corruption.

Yes, the president’s Build Back Better (BBB) spending bill and voting rights reform have stalled. But there is no reason to define Biden solely in the areas where he has faced opposition, especially given the very slim congressional majorities he inherited.

Furthermore, the argument that Biden’s legislative agenda has been co-opted by progressives at the expense of the support of centrists is based on a fallacy.

Nearly everything Biden has done in his first year has been supported by either all the Senate’s Democrats, or all but one or two of them. Does this mean that 48 out of 50 senators are “far-left” and that Biden needs to tailor his policies to suit the other two? And does it mean that the president should be adjusting his policies in a futile attempt to win the votes of so-called “centrist” Republicans who have voted as a bloc of opposition on nearly everything Biden has sent them?

When it comes to elections—and the politics of the nation as a whole—there is, of course, a center.

Look at polling. Look at the “progressive” ideas discussed or supported by Biden—from protecting the climate to providing child care, from better health care to fairer taxation, from gun control to voting rights, from a woman’s right to choose to education reform—they are all supported by a substantial majority of Americans.

Biden is not advancing a “left” agenda, he is fighting for a majoritarian agenda, for goals sought by the vast majority of us that would, in turn, benefit the vast majority of us.

But the grim reality is that D.C. is a donut. There is no “center” in Washington politics. There are two parties and a tiny handful of people caught between them. The only way for Biden to win legislatively in the nation’s capital is for Democrats to win bigger majorities this November.

The problem is that D.C. politics are increasingly unresponsive to the majority of Americans. The system protects and super-empowers a right-leaning minority. Legislators represent states or congressional districts that either lean toward extremes or are gerrymandered to behave that way.

Some ideas associated with progressive causes haven’t been great for Democrats. Defunding the police is one such idea. This was not a good framing of the need for police reform. It may have done some damage, electorally. But it’s not an idea endorsed in any way by Biden, his administration, or Democratic leadership.

However, many of Biden’s biggest triumphs were seeded by the progressives, and thus should be praised as essential to his success. Conversely, many of the things opposed by the GOP—as well as the centrist Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema—actually transcend politics. Ensuring the right to vote or combating the climate crisis or granting families and working mothers protections every other developed country in the world gives them are all broadly popular with Americans, and not at all “leftist” initiatives.

But advancing those policies does not require a more centrist president. What’s needed is fewer Republicans and their “centrist” allies in the House and Senate. That will mean embracing Democratic candidates who share the values and goals that are in tune with their states and districts. Once you’re outside of D.C., one size definitely does not fit all in politics. In some states that will mean candidates that are more centrist, though it just as likely could mean turning out more of the left-leaning Democratic base.

Of all the national leaders in the Democratic Party, the reality is that there is one who is best positioned to lead the campaign to achieve that kind of success in November. It just so happens to be the one whom Democrats chose as their candidate for president in 2020 and who, by virtue of his broad national appeal and his commitment to a majoritarian agenda, won by eight million votes.

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Saving taxpayer money

 

Last week marked the one year anniversary of President Biden taking office, and Katie’s been talking about how far our economy has come since then—and the work we still have to do. 

First, the good news:

That’s thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which helped families recover from the economic hardships caused by the pandemic. But even with the fastest growing economy we’ve had in decades, there are still structural problems. If we do not pass legislation to address these issues, we will continue wasting trillions of taxpayer dollars each year.

Katie was proud to be a leader in the House’s passage of the Build Back Better Act, which would save taxpayer money by:

All of this legislation is held up in the Senate, blocked by Republicans and Joe Manchin. 

Katie will keep fighting to save taxpayer money and for an economy that works for working people. Thanks for being a part of our movement. 

—Team Porter

Paid for by Katie Porter for Congress

To contribute via check, please address to: Katie Porter for Congress, PO Box 5176, Irvine, CA 92616

 

Baker administration changes the rules on offshore wind and clean energy

Doug Fraser Cape Cod Times 

Published Jan 12, 2022 

BOSTON — Testifying before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy on behalf of his legislation that commits $750 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to invest in the clean energy industry, Gov. Charlie Baker said it was time for the state to move into a new phase.

"We filed this legislation back in October of 2021 so that we could build on the progress we've made together and ensure that, at this pivotal moment for our economic recovery and our environment, that Massachusetts has the tools it needs to remain on the leading-edge of climate action in the United States," Baker told the joint committee Tuesday.

Translation: Baker has heard the criticism about the state's solicitation process in awarding offshore wind energy contracts that favored low prices over economic benefits. 

While that approach has worked in generating power contracts with offshore wind developers whose power generation prices are far below those in competing states like Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, the Baker administration has been criticized for not creating incentives that would attract offshore wind manufacturing and developers and manufacturers to the state.  

Vineyard Wind:The nation's first utility-scale wind farm is being built off Cape Cod

"We have been dismayed by the level of investment, some 10 years into our effort now, to attract (manufacturing) here," New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell told the joint committee. "What has been missing from the Commonwealth's efforts ... is a set of policies aimed at out-competing other states for industry investment."

Mitchell said New York, for instance, assigns 20% of a bid score to economic development.

"Now that may strike some folks as just overly aggressive, but we've got to do something different. As we watch, the (manufacturing) industry has gone to other states that have governors who have said 'we're going to be the center of offshore wind,'" he said.

Offshore wind touted as economic development engine

Although construction of the wind farms creates far more jobs than manufacturing or operations and maintenance, they are ephemeral. Manufacturing jobs last longer and employ far more people than operations and maintenance. They are considered by experts to be the golden goose of the offshore wind economy.

Energy boost:Massachusetts doubles offshore wind in power pipeline with new projects

A few years ago, Connecticut partnered with Bay State Wind to invest $93 million to develop a state pier in New London into a facility similar to one the state developed on New Bedford's Marine Commerce Terminal. Last August, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities awarded over 3,700 megawatts to two companies contingent upon them building new manufacturing facilities at what is called the New Jersey Wind Port.

New York has invested $644 million in port and infrastructure upgrades and a year ago, the city of Albany partnered with the Norwegian wind development company Equinor, which is building the Empire Wind Farm off Long Island. The state also partnered with two Danish and U.S. companies to manufacture wind towers at a factory in Bethlehem, New York, that will create 500 jobs in the construction phase and employ 300 at the factory.

Virginia's Dominion Energy unveiled plans in October to team up with the Spanish blade manufacturer Siemens Gamesa to spend $200 million to build the first U.S. offshore wind turbine factory as part of their plan to install 180 turbines off the Virginia coastline.

Speaking to the committee Tuesday, Massachusetts Secretary for Energy and the Environment Kathleen Theoharides said Baker's legislation would remove the price cap from future energy contract bids in the hope it would encourage wind developers to submit bids that included plans for local manufacturing and other job creation. 

Citing competition among developers and technology advances that promise to open up deepwater areas and build more efficient turbines, Theoharides said the offshore wind industry has demonstrated it can produce power at low cost.

Baker pointed out the price cap was removed on the state's second round of bids, and they received bids that were lower than the first round.

"We feel now is the right time to adjust our procurement process so we can capture important additional benefits for Massachusetts ratepayers," Theoharides said. 

The Baker legislation creates a new Clean Energy Innovation and Investment fund administered by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center that would provide research and development money to universities, community colleges, vocational schools and other entities for new clean energy technologies and workforce development.

Baker said the bill also transfers the authority to award energy contracts from the Department of Public Utilities to the Department of Energy Resources, which critics had said was needed to focus the offshore wind industry on economic development in the state.

Barrett: Keep price caps

Committee co-chair Sen. Michael Barrett was critical of removing the price cap. Barrett felt that with only two bidders in the last round in which both received contracts, and just a handful of developers on the East Coast, there was too little competition to ensure a lower price without a cap. 

"We are stuck in a situation where we're going to have to deal with a very small universe of potential players," said Barrett, who noted that with no price limit on their bids, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey energy contracts were 43%, 68%, and 100% higher, respectively, than what Massachusetts obtained with an upper limit on pricing.

Barrett was also critical of a process in which the economic package proposed by a developer is kept secret until the contract is signed, making it hard for the public, media and legislators to determine if there was benefit. 

Theoharides said the administration would work with the legislature on improving that aspect of the process.

Mitchell told the panel that the offshore wind industry and the state investments in infrastructure needed to benefit so-called Gateway Cities like New Bedford, which suffered as once-thriving industries faded or located elsewhere.

"It would be consistent with state economic development policy, after all, to provide some preference for Gateway Cities," he said.     

RSN: FOCUS: Bernie Sanders | The Time for Senate Talk Is Over. We Need to Vote

 

 

21 January 22

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FOCUS: Bernie Sanders | The Time for Senate Talk Is Over. We Need to Vote
Bernie Sanders, CNN
Sanders writes: "The Republican Party is working overtime to suppress the vote and undermine American democracy."

The Republican Party is working overtime to suppress the vote and undermine American democracy. It is a party which ignores climate change, the existential threat to our planet and represents the interests of the wealthy and the powerful while turning its back on struggling working-class families. The GOP is the party that gives tax breaks to billionaires while pushing for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs desperately needed by ordinary Americans.

And yet, despite the outrageous behavior of leading Republicans and their reactionary and unpopular agenda, recent polling suggests that Republicans stand a strong chance to gain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate and pick up additional seats in state legislatures throughout the country.

Why is this happening? Why, despite the horrendous Republican record, are Democrats losing support among Latinos, young people and African Americans? How does it happen that a party that is supposed to stand for working families was rejected by over 75% of White voters without college degrees in the most recent gubernatorial race in Virginia?

Democrats cannot ignore these realities and continue traveling down a failed road which will only lead to disaster.

Now is the time for a major course correction. Now is the time for Senate Democrats to put legislation on the floor that addresses the needs of working families and challenge Republicans to vote against these important and popular initiatives. Now is the time to rally the American people around an agenda that works for all, not just the 1%.

The Democratic Party, with very slim margins, controls the House and the Senate as well as the White House. And we should be very proud of what we've managed to accomplish this past year, including the enormously successful American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. But the reality is very little has been achieved in the past several months and the American people know that. And they are becoming demoralized.

The good news is that the House and an overwhelming majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus -- as many as 48 out of 50 members -- are prepared to pass strong and popular legislation that addresses the long-neglected needs of the working class. At a time when the top 1% is doing phenomenally well, we are ready to reform our regressive tax system and demand that the very rich and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

We want to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially lower prescription drug prices, expand Medicare to cover hearing, dental and vision, address the crisis of childhood poverty and a dysfunctional child care system, improve the quality of home health care, build the affordable housing we desperately need and create millions of good jobs by combating the existential threat of climate change.

The bad news is that two members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have withheld their support. For six months, President Biden and many of us have engaged in endless negotiations with these senators. These never-ending conversations, which have gone nowhere, must end. The time for voting must begin.

In my view, we must schedule a vote in the immediate future on a version of the Build Back Better bill that strengthens, not weakens, what the House has already passed. Surprising things occur when a bill comes to the floor and I am not convinced that we cannot get the 50 votes we'd need to pass the Build Back Better bill when the roll call takes place in the light of day.

If, however, we cannot pass a comprehensive piece of legislation, we should then divide it up into separate bills and members of the Senate should have to vote on the very popular agenda that we are fighting for.

To my mind, in a democratic society, constituents have a right to know how their senators vote on some of the most important issues facing the country.

If Manchin, Sinema and Senate Republicans want to sink the Build Back Better package and then go on vote against individual bills that do exactly what the American people want: lowering prescription drug costs, demanding the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, expanding Medicare, improving home healthcare, extending the Child Tax Credit, building affordable housing, addressing the crisis of childhood poverty, making a wildly expensive child care system affordable and combating climate change, they should have that opportunity. And then they can go home and try to explain their votes to their constituents. That's what democracy is supposed to be about.

Democrats will not win in 2022 with a demoralized base. There must be energy and excitement. Today, in these difficult times, the American people want to know that their elected officials have the courage to take on the powerful special interests and fight for their needs.

And, when we do that, the fundamental differences between the two parties will become crystal clear. That's how you win elections.

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POLITICO NIGHTLY: Biden gets his annual review

 

BY MYAH WARD Presented by AT&T President Joe Biden answers questions during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT — President Joe Biden gives his presidency pretty high marks at the one-year mark. “I think the report cards look pretty good, if that’s where we’re at,” Biden said during today’s press conference, when asked about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s comment that the midterm elections would serve as a report card for Biden’s performance on key issues. That’s the self-evaluation. What does the rest of the class think? Nightly reached out to a panel of insiders and experts and asked them to evaluate the Biden administration’s first 365 days. The assignment: How would you assess the Biden administration’s first year? Give the administration’s performance a letter grade and point out any areas that have room for improvement. These answers have been edited. “On the plus side, I strongly believe we are in an AI and semiconductor arms race to be the dominant military and economy of the world. It is a zero-sum game we have to win. The Biden administration is technologically literate and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and the NDAA will make a huge difference and hopefully allow us to win this race. “On the downside, while there have been plenty of mistakes made and policies I disagree with, as in any administration, I think the glaring problem is that there is absolutely zero charisma in the Biden administration. It may be unfortunate that it is even a consideration, but in a social media and sound-bite world where everyone is a performer, someone has to have some charisma that connects to people and overwhelms memes, headlines and soundbites as a source of information.” Grade: B — Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks “Biden may have had some very ambitious promises on his website, but he was elected to be a reassuring, competent, moderate caretaker president — a “bridge” to the next generation as he put it — who would 1) not be Donald Trump, 2) handle the pandemic, and 3) turn down the temperature of American politics by working on a bipartisan basis. He achieved #1 easily enough. But he has failed to one degree or another on the rest. “It didn’t have to be this way. He defeated Sanders, Warren, and the other progressive primary candidates. He was under no obligation to take up the base’s agenda. But misled by a surprise victory in the Georgia senate runoffs, he let himself be convinced that he had a mandate to be a ‘transformational’ FDR-style president, despite the fact Democrats had the narrowest congressional majority in history. So instead of declaring victory after passage of his $1.9 trillion Covid relief package and his traditional infrastructure bill (achieving what Trump could not: “infrastructure week!”), he caved to the demands of Blue Checkmark Twitter liberals and Democratic congressional leaders and swung for the fences, even accusing his opponents of racism in furtherance of a failed project, while letting Covid, inflation, Afghanistan and the confidence of the voters get away from him. He took his eyes off the ball because he had his eye on history.” Grade: D+ — Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch “After the four most egregious years of racism and hateful rhetoric we’ve ever seen come out of the White House, the fabric of our democracy is worn thin. The fault lines in our society are exposed, and Black Americans are harmed the most. Our nation is in dire need of course-correcting legislation. To do nothing would be a betrayal of the principles America claims to stand on. The Biden presidency has an opportunity to move us forward and ensure equitable treatment of all Americans. “Congress and the Biden Administration must be committed to delivering federal policy in favor of the people who elected them: communities of color. But, unfortunately, we’ve yet to see that happen in a real and meaningful way when it comes to voting rights, police reform, educational outcomes for debt-laden college graduates, and economic opportunities for small businesses. President Biden has made progress on racially diverse appointments in the executive and judicial branches — more than we’ve ever seen. However, it has yet to translate to policy and implementation to detect, address and remedy systemic racism. The real mark of his presidency lies in the outcomes, not the optics.” Grade: B — Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Plenty more insiders pulled out their red pens and graded Biden’s first year as president. Read on to see what Donna Brazile, Alicia Garza, Pat Toomey and more had to say. And reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at mward@politico.com, or on Twitter at @MyahWard.   A message from AT&T: Accessible, affordable broadband helps communities reach their American Dream. That’s why we’re making a $2 billion, 3-year commitment toward helping close the digital divide, so more low-income families have the ability to succeed. Learn more.   WHAT'D I MISS? — Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to shield records from Jan. 6 committee: The Supreme Court rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to use executive privilege to block a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection from accessing a trove of records created by Trump’s White House. Investigators have sought the documents to determine Trump’s actions and mindset in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, as well as what he did as his supporters were rioting at the Capitol. — CDC: Vaccinated Americans with a prior infection fared the best during Delta: Americans who received their primary series of vaccines and previously contracted Covid-19 had the highest protection against reinfection and hospitalization during the Delta variant-fueled outbreak, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, published Wednesday, looked at four categories of people in New York and California — individuals who were unvaccinated with and without a prior infection and vaccinated people with and without a prior infection. — Chaos in the skies averted — for now — as 5G switches on: Today’s debut of new 5G wireless arrived with some isolated diversions or delays of air traffic — but so far, no signs of mass chaos. The single largest disruptions so far appear to involve international airlines, a handful of which had canceled some or even all of their flights to the U.S. starting Tuesday. Among domestic flights, a handful of large cargo jets that were already midair when 5G went into effect overnight ended up diverting to another airport, according to the plane-tracking website FlightRadar24.   BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now.     — Gorsuch, Sotomayor deny beef over masks on the bench: The U.S. Supreme Court sought to defuse speculation of tensions between two of its sitting justices following a recent NPR report that chronicled divisions over Covid protocols within the nation’s highest court. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor, in an unusual joint statement released today, insisted that Sotomayor had not asked Gorsuch to wear a mask during court proceedings. But the statement issued today diverged on key details from the NPR report and denied events that don’t actually appear in the report that the justices seemed to be rebutting. — Top donors threaten to cut off funding to Sinema: A group of big-dollar donors who have spent millions electing Kyrsten Sinema and other Democratic senators is threatening to sever all funding to her if she doesn’t drop her opposition to changing Senate rules in order to pass voting rights legislation. In a letter to the Arizona lawmaker, which was first obtained by POLITICO, 70 Democratic donors — some of whom gave Sinema’s 2018 campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law — said they would support a primary challenge to Sinema and demanded that she refund their contributions to her 2018 campaign if she doesn’t budge.   A message from AT&T:     BIDENOLOGY AND NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY — More Biden grades from our insiders: Grade: A- “Looking back on President Biden’s first year in office, I think his most important accomplishment was securing the passage of the American Rescue Plan, which I was proud to support. Covid-19 has wrought a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, and President Biden, along with congressional Democrats (and not a single Republican) met the moment by acting quickly to get shots in arms, put checks in pockets, support our small businesses, and help our economy get back up and running. Not to mention, slashing child poverty in half and creating more than 6 million jobs. “President Biden showcased tremendous leadership in muscling through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is nothing short of a historic investment in our nation’s future. And President Biden has already done more than any previous administration for our nation’s cybersecurity, which is among the most pressing threats of the 21st century. Between Chris Inglis, Jen Easterly and Anne Neuberger, the team he has assembled is the most talented I’ve ever seen. It’s no secret that I disagreed with how President Biden handled the Afghanistan evacuation, but prior administrations also left him few good options.” — Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) “Biden entered office facing a Category 5 storm of bad news: the worst pandemic in 100 years; a weak economy and high unemployment; razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate; Republicans opposing almost every administration initiative; two Democratic senators determined to preserve the filibuster; a defeated former president spreading the Big Lie that Biden-Harris didn’t really win the election; and a still dangerous anti-government insurrection. “Given these obstacles, Biden deserves credit for remarkable achievements including: enactment of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that funded the successful rollout of U.S. vaccines while putting money in the pockets of most families and state and local governments; enactment of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law; winning confirmation of 41 federal judges; repairing U.S. relations with allies; and issuing 76 executive orders and 46 memoranda to make progress on climate change and other major areas. “Even their shortcomings highlight the heroically ambitious nature of their agenda. The biggest disappointments have been the failure to win enough Senate support to pass the Build Back Better Act or voting rights legislation, and the collapse of Afghanistan’s government as a result of former Trump’s failed peace deal. The challenge ahead is to elect more Democrats to overcome congressional obstruction.” — Donna Brazile, former DNC chair Grade: D+ “The Biden administration started off strong: Covid-19 vaccine distribution and child care tax credits. Infrastructure was a significant concession to white communities on economic relief, and the stimulus package was an important first step. Making Juneteenth a federal holiday and speeches (though contradictory) on police reform and voting rights amount to symbolic victories. “Yet attempting to govern like the 1990s in the 2020 political landscape has been disastrous, as evidenced by little progress made to hold white nationalist insurrectionists accountable for attempting to overthrow the government, concessions to obstructionist Democrats on bread and butter issues that matter, immigration reform disasters with no clear policy aims (i.e. don’t come here), too few executive orders to address the failures of Congress, no substantive action on policing and democracy reform, backward motion on Covid relief and economic recovery, and a failed strategy of back-room bipartisanship that has more than earned the low grade. “Black communities, a critical component of the Biden/Harris victory and the slim majority in Congress and its most consistent and active base, gave a mandate for action on issues that matter to America, but have been sorely disappointed and disregarded, spelling disaster for the midterm elections.” — Alicia Garza, principal, Black Futures Lab and cofounder of the Black Lives Matter movement President Joe Biden delivers an opening statement during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Grade: D “In only one year, the Biden administration has squandered majority job approval and an opportunity to lessen some of the country’s divisions. The president was nominated and elected as a competent moderate, but he has governed as an incompetent liberal. “The administration was initially successful in passing massive bipartisan Covid relief and infrastructure bills. Rather than go on the road to sell those bills to the country, the president linked the infrastructure bill to a massive BBB bill that obviously had no chance of passing the Senate. By continuing to fruitlessly beat its head against the BBB and voting rights bills in an effort to kowtow to his party’s left wing, the President does three things: raise expectations of the left wing before dashing them, look impotent before Congress, and make many voters believe they were sold a bill of goods when they voted for what they thought was moderate governance. Coupled with the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the administration’s decisions have driven the president’s job approval down to one of the lowest ratings in modern times. That’s quite an accomplishment in only 12 months. — Whit Ayres, political consultant for the Republican Party and president of North Star Opinion Research Grade: F “I am not submitting as a partisan, since I’m retired, but judging from the polls and just from talking to normal people in D.C. and New Orleans and Mauertown, Va., under 50 percent is an F. “Decreasing confidence in every institution, every hallmark of a representative republic from free speech to objective media to equal justice under the law, has accelerated at warp speed under this administration. Not one single kitchen table issue has escaped the wretched fallout of failed so-called progressive policies. “The likely resultant Republican resurgence will not restore confidence or hope in our institutions; the GOP should not presume a victorious political season is the equivalent of support or trust. The only way forward is less federal foolishness and more Federalism. Results will triumph, regardless of their party label.” — Mary Matalin, former Republican Party strategist “President Biden has mistaken a narrow election victory for a mandate to transform America, but his far left agenda fails to align with the majority of Americans. In his inaugural speech, President Biden promised to unify our country, yet, in contrast to his inaugural speech, has pursued divisive policies and rhetoric. “He started with an untargeted and unnecessary $1.9 trillion spending blowout deceptively marketed as Covid relief and that supercharged inflation, which is now at a 40-year high. This was followed by an attempt to ram through the largest tax increase since 1968; create enormous new middle class entitlements; and enact a radical climate plan. All of these have been opposed even by members of his own party. “At the same time that the president was prioritizing polarizing legislation and nominees, he ignored the crisis at the southern border, made a misguided re-engagement with Iran, launched a deadly and humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, and did nothing to keep Russian aggression at bay.” — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) The Hampshire College professor: No letter grade “The combination of the Covid virus, razor-thin majorities in Congress, and the likelihood of unyielding Republican opposition gave the new president the toughest set of conditions of any incoming chief executive since Lincoln. “That unhappy reality has defined the first year of Biden’s tenure. Apart from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, much of what has gone wrong this first year is linked directly to the conditions Biden faced when he was sworn in: a Democratic base that did not understand the fragility of Democratic majorities, leading to legislative overreach; a false dawn of a post-Covid nation that did not anticipate new variants and a political resistance to vaccinations and masks; a failure to understand just how committed the ‘loyal opposition’ was to a narrative that defined the new president as an illegitimate usurper, and that clung to the ex-president even after his (potentially criminal) attempt to cling to power. “Since it is unlikely that Biden and company can travel back in time to avoid the strategic and tactical failure to deal with the hand they were dealt, the question that remains is: Do they have a coherent plan for the next three years?” — Jeff Greenfield, five-time Emmy-winning network television analyst and author   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     AROUND THE WORLD BLINKEN SIGNIFIES SOLIDARITY IN KYIV — Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visiting Kyiv today, called on Ukrainians “to stick together,” warning that — with 100,000 Russian troops massed on the border — one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aims was to provoke internal divisions, David M. Herszenhorn writes. “Our strength depends on preserving our unity, and that includes unity within Ukraine,” Blinken said, appearing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy before a meeting. “One of Moscow’s longstanding goals has been to try to sow divisions between and within countries, and quite simply we cannot and will not let them do that. “So our message to all of our friends here and to all of Ukraine’s global leaders, to its citizens alike, is to stick together and to hold on to that unity, to strengthen it. It’s never been more important, particularly as the country faces the possibility of renewed Russian aggression.” Blinken noted that he was among a parade of Western officials to make appearances in the Ukrainian capital in recent days. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was there Monday, ahead of a visit to Moscow Tuesday. NIGHTLY NUMBER Unknown The number of hospital workers who remain unvaccinated, according to U.S. officials, a blind spot that makes it difficult for public health officials to predict and assess vulnerabilities at facilities already facing staffing crises. PARTING WORDS Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey speaks during a press conference. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images DEMOCRATS GO FOR CLEAN SWEEP IN BEANTOWN — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a progressive lawyer known for taking on former President Donald Trump and Purdue Pharma, will launch her campaign for governor on Thursday, according to two people familiar with her planning. Healey’s entrance could maximize Democrats’ chances of retaking the office the party has so rarely held in recent decades, Lisa Kashsinky writes. It’s also likely to keep another potential contender, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, out of the open-seat race. Walsh has been weighing whether to return home and run, but people close to the former Boston mayor have repeatedly said he was unlikely to enter the fray if Healey did, despite the more than $5 million that remains in his campaign war chest. Healey, who’s been “seriously considering” running for governor for the better part of a year, has long been viewed as Democrats’ best shot at reclaiming the governor’s office. Republicans have held the position for most of the past 30 years, a streak broken only by former governor and presidential hopeful Deval Patrick. Her path became much clearer after GOP Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito both bowed out of the 2022 contest in early December, tipping the race toward the Democrats.   A message from AT&T: Jenee Washington saw tech as the gateway to a brighter future for herself and her family. Growing up, financial hardship caused Jenee to leave school and accept dead-end jobs just to make ends meet. But with the help of accessible and affordable broadband, she discovered her passion for tech and secured a coding scholarship. Now, she's thriving as a QA analyst, pursuing the career of her dreams. That’s why AT&T is dedicated to helping close the digital divide with a $2 billion, 3-year commitment, so more low-income families like Jenee's can achieve their American Dream. Learn more.     Follow us on Twitter Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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