POLITICO NIGHTLY: Pre-trip rush tests dealmaker Biden

 

BY RENUKA RAYASAM President Joe Biden delivers remarks during the annual U.S.-ASEAN Summit via video link from the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images FIGHT, THEN FLIGHT— White House officials met with Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema this morning for two hours, and President Joe Biden met with Sen. Bernie Sanders this afternoon. Even though these negotiations are inside one party, they test Biden’s reputation as a Senate dealmaker — and he’s in an all-out sprint to salvage his domestic agenda before he heads to Europe Thursday. Nightly chatted with White House editor Sam Stein over Slack today about what’s at stake for Biden with these talks. This conversation has been edited. Biden campaigned on being a dealmaker — how is that going? I believe the technical term is, TBD. Ha! But in an environment where every senator is president, can he actually figure out a middle ground between Manchin and Sanders? I honestly don’t know. I think so. Biden loves to talk! White House aides say they can’t keep him off the phone. That may be self-serving, but there are lots of phone calls and now meetings. Some personal stuff. Nothing earth shattering. He’s a schmoozer. It’s very different from Obama. But that is because he’s known a lot of these players a long time. Ultimately, if they do find some agreement, I think that says as much about Sanders’ pragmatism and Manchin’s unique personal style as it does about Biden’s ability to walk that particular tightrope. What is at stake for Biden in these negotiations? Let’s say he manages to ink a deal. And he turns around and says: I got historic investments in tackling climate change, in bolstering child care and education in this country, in reducing childhood poverty, in bolstering our fading infrastructure and, on top of that, in updating our schools, amplifying testing for Covid and expanding health care to millions. Oh, and I did that all with basically NO margin for error in either chamber. Would anyone turn around and say: “Mr. President, you’re a shitty dealmaker”? Probably not. Then again, if he can’t close the deal, then yes, it’s a major blemish on his record. More important, it leaves huge swaths of the country feeling like government just didn’t work for them. That’s bad for the country. It’s also terrible for him politically and reputationally. Do you have a sense of where Biden is personally on these issues? This is his agenda, but as a self-styled centrist is he actually more sympathetic to Manchin/Sinema? His position has been perfectly opaque. The only red line is not raising taxes on those making above $400K a year, which is not exactly the most awe-inspiring red line ever. Part of this is to ensure that the Sanders and Manchins of the world don’t feel like they have no room to deal. He needs to keep them at the table. But as we get to the 11th, now 12th and perhaps 13th hour, it seems incumbent on Biden to actually say what policies he demands be in the package. He hasn’t done that yet. What about the White House — a detectable split between different advisers? Nothing outwardly detectable. Our sense is that there were some early divisions about splitting this package into two: a human infrastructure and a physical infrastructure deal. But now that it is done, the general consensus seems to be: Let’s just get this bleeding body over the finish line. And he heads to Europe tomorrow — how does he sell these negotiations abroad? Can’t sell negotiations that are incomplete! So ... tick, tock, tick, tock. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at rrayasam@politico.com or on Twitter at @RenuRayasam.   INTRODUCING CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. GET A FIRST LOOK AT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.     WHAT'D I MISS? — Florida bucks Biden, strips federal aid from mask mandate schools: The Florida Department of Education this week stripped a local school board of federal aid money over its masking policy, directly defying the Biden administration , which cautioned the state against the sanctions. Florida officials yanked the federal grant money for Alachua County that was meant to offset penalties for enacting a local mask mandate just one day after the U.S. Department of Education warned that the move would violate requirements in federal law, a clear sign that the state and feds are still at odds over Covid-19 policies. — Former NYT columnist Kristof launches Oregon governor run: Nicholas Kristof, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, announced today that he was joining the crowded Oregon Democratic primary field for governor. Kristof has been making moves to set up for a gubernatorial run for months. POLITICO reported in early September that he has reached out to potential campaign staffers, and he left The Times earlier this month in order to further prepare for a run. — U.S. issues its first passport with ‘X’ gender marker: The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation — a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who don’t identify as male or female — and expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year, the State Department said today. The U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, Jessica Stern, called the moves historic and celebratory, saying they bring the government documents in line with the “lived reality” that there is a wider spectrum of human sex characteristics than is reflected in the previous two designations. — U.S. says Assange could go to Australian prison if convicted: U.S. authorities launched a new battle today to make Julian Assange face American justice, telling British judges that if they agree to extradite the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges, he could serve any U.S. prison sentence he receives in his native Australia. — Garland defends $700K McCabe settlement: The Justice Department agreed to pay former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and his attorneys over $700,000 because lawyers for the government concluded that they were likely to lose a lawsuit McCabe filed over his firing by the Trump administration just hours before he was set to retire, Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers today. During a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) expressed outrage over the settlement, calling the move “beyond incredible” and noting that a Justice Department inspector general review found McCabe lied to investigators on seven occasions. AROUND THE WORLD Representatives of the European Union, Iran and others attend the Iran nuclear talks at the Grand Hotel in April in Vienna, Austria. | EU Delegation in Vienna via Getty Images IRAN READIES A WALTZ BACK TO VIENNA — Iran is ready to return to nuclear talks in Vienna before the end of November , Ali Bagheri Kani, the country’s deputy foreign minister, said today after meeting with EU officials in Brussels, Stephanie Liechtenstein writes. “Had a very serious & constructive dialogue with @enriquemora_ on the essential elements for successful negotiations,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to Enrique Mora, the chief EU coordinator for the talks. “We agree to start negotiations before the end of November. Exact date would be announced in the course of the next week,” he added. Mora did not immediately confirm the statement but two Western diplomatic officials said Bagheri Kani’s announcement was correct. The development paves the way for a resumption of talks between Iran and six world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the Iran nuclear deal is officially called. Negotiations have been stalled since June, when Iran elected hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi to the presidency. FAUCI FIGHTS ‘EITHER-OR’ — The U.S. has a “moral responsibility and a practical responsibility” to both vaccinate its own population against coronavirus with standard and booster doses, while working towards equitable access elsewhere, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said today. Speaking at POLITICO Europe’s Health Care Summit , Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, backed the U.S. approach of rolling out booster doses even though the World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on these shots until the end of the year. As a rich country, the U.S. has “a moral obligation” to help ensure that low- and middle-income countries “also have a degree of equity in their accessibility and availability of doses of vaccine,” Fauci said in an interview. This should not be an “either-or” choice, he added.   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.     NIGHTLY NUMBER 11 points The size of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s lead over former Assemblymember Jack Ciattarelli in the latest Monmouth poll of the state’s gubernatorial election . The highly anticipated poll with less than a week to go before Election Day comes after two other recent surveys showed a single-digit race. PARTING WORDS Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks about digital sustainability during the Digital X event in Cologne, Germany. | Andreas Rentz/Getty Images CONAN THE CONTRARIAN — Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today criticized the upcoming U.N. climate talks, saying they promote countries’ empty promises on emissions reductions and funding, Debra Kahn writes. Speaking at an environmental justice conference put on by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Schwarzenegger — who signed California’s first economy-wide greenhouse gas mandate in 2006 — said the international climate process was largely an exercise in futility. “What does a promise and a pledge mean in the end?” he asked. “Nothing. Over and over, year after year, they make these pledges and they come out to declare victory, but then nothing is getting done.” Schwarzenegger said he wanted the international community and environmentalists to take a different approach than the annual Conference of Parties, which is taking place next week in Glasgow, Scotland. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and 15 lawmakers are planning to attend. “I think it’s set up the wrong way,” Schwarzenegger said. “Every time you meet and you meet and you meet, and now decades later, you have the same problems as you have had decades before, you ask yourself, ‘How much longer do you want to go and do the same thing?’ Remember what Einstein said, ‘The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.’ You’re not going to get different results.”   Follow us on Twitter Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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