| Welcome to The Daily 202 newsletter! Tell your friends to sign up here. It has been one long, tumultuous year since George Floyd died at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Lawmakers of both parties support it. President Biden wants to sign it. Senators added unrelated provisions to it — NASA funding, a ban on some shark-fin sales — which is often a show of confidence in a bill's odds of becoming law. But getting the sprawling "U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021" through the Senate this week will test the ability of the self-anointed World's Greatest Deliberative Body ™ to work through significant policy differences to reach what is supposedly a shared bipartisan goal: Giving America an edge over China. "There's a lot of consensus on the China issue," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told Politico last month. "If we can't agree on a bill regarding China, we should probably close this place."  Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he witnesses the ground-breaking ceremony of a bilateral nuclear energy cooperation project. (Huang Jingwen/Xinhua New Agency/AP) | The thing is, they may not, even though the measure benefits from two important bipartisan dynamics: Rising concern about China and worries about American supply chains sorely tested by the pandemic. Exhibit A: Microchip shortages. The legislation presents Biden with the best opportunity for a significant bipartisan legislative success early in his term — GOP opposition to his major proposals makes those pretty scarce. It would also let Biden say he's making good on a core campaign promise by shoring up American business and innovation to take on China. First, a broad overview of what's in the bill, courtesy of my colleague Tony Romm last night: "The bill centers on $120 billion in new spending, spread across the next five years, that aims to boost work at top science, space and research agencies. [Senate Majority Leader Charles E.] Schumer [N.Y.] and his Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Todd C. Young (Ind.), say the funding could spur new advancements in quantum computing, artificial intelligence and the ultrafast wireless service known as 5G. In doing so, lawmakers also see the investment as critical to prevent the United States from falling behind China, particularly in manufacturing the tools and devices that are critical to dominating these emerging tech fields. The Senate bill, in response, includes additional money to expand the country's capability to produce technology such as semiconductors at a moment when the world is short on such chips, while helping to train a new generation of diverse scientists and researchers in these fields." The original timetable for approval slipped — supporters had hoped for a final vote in April — and the legislation picked up a few hundred additional pages before getting the Senate Commerce Committee's approval in a more-than-comfortable 24-4 vote. (Among the new provisions: That shark-fin proviso, labeling requirements on king crab, a call for a "diplomatic boycott" of the Winter Olympic Games in China. These aren't poison pills: Lawmakers often try to attach favored measures to legislation seen as must-pass.) Then Senators voted 86-11 last Monday to hoist the legislation over a procedural hurdle in what should be a good sign for eventual passage, just perhaps not this week, as had been pushed by Schumer. And the White House signaled its support again on Thursday, with press secretary Jen Psaki telling reporters Biden's "legislative team is closely involved with members and with their staff on moving it forward." "We're absolutely involved. We're strong supporters," Psaki said. "And we are hopeful and looking forward to signing it into law." But things look newly complicated, Tony reported: "Democrats and Republicans are racing to revise key components of an approximately $250 billion bill to boost U.S. science and technology, proffering last-minute tweaks that threaten to dramatically alter the bipartisan measure — and set the tone of the Senate's work in the months to come." Schumer, Tony reported, "has opened the measure to amendments in an attempt to build broad political support, yet Democrats and Republicans alike have filed hundreds of potential changes that could reshape the bill — or hamstring its prospects." It's not even necessarily the content of the amendments that could do the hamstringing — though of course that could happen. Senators will want their proposals to be discussed and get a vote. That takes time. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who declared last Tuesday the legislation was "not ready for prime time" and would need "a healthy series of amendment votes," pumped the brakes again last night. "We should not close debate on this bill until those amendments are addressed," Tony quoted McConnell as saying. It's also not just Republican proposals, Tony reported. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) "proposed strict new limits on a roughly $53 billion fund that would bolster U.S. chipmakers, seeking to ensure companies that receive the aid don't use it to purchase back their own stock or pad executive pay. Sanders also has sought to eliminate a new, $10 billion lunar-landing program that widely is seen to benefit Blue Origin, the space company run by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (Bezos also owns The Washington Post.) The provision was included in the legislation at the behest of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee, who represents the state where Blue Origin is based." Then there are Republican concerns. Daniel Flatley of Bloomberg noted Democratic language meant to help the auto industry deal with chip shortages also requires federal contractors to pay prevailing wages. "Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Republican who sponsored the semiconductor funding legislation, took to the Senate floor last week to rail against the provision and warn that its inclusion could cost GOP votes. Cornyn [on Monday] proposed an amendment to strike the prevailing wage requirement from the bill." Which leaves us with a lot of questions. Which amendments will end up getting votes? How elastic is the bipartisan support — will the GOP still line up behind the bill if its amendments fail? Answers will come soon. | | | What's happening now Biden and Putin will meet next month in Geneva, the first face-to-face session between the two adversaries. "The day-long summit is scheduled for June 16, according to an official familiar with the meeting, and will cover a wide range of topics including nuclear proliferation, Russian interference in U.S. elections, climate change and covid-19," Matt Viser reports. "Biden is also expected to raise concerns over Russian troops amassing at the Ukrainian border, as well as Russian ally Belarus forcing down a civilian jetliner flying over the country and arresting an opposition journalist on board. U.S. officials are not expecting the meeting to produce major breakthroughs, nor do they view it as a reset in relations between the two countries in the same way that President Barack Obama had hoped early in his administration to usher in a new era of cooperation between the two longtime adversaries." The Department of Homeland Security will issue its first-ever cybersecurity regulations for pipelines after the Colonial hack. "The Transportation Security Administration, a DHS unit, will issue a security directive this week requiring pipeline companies to report cyber incidents to federal authorities, senior DHS officials said. It will follow up in coming weeks with a more robust set of mandatory rules for how pipeline companies must safeguard their systems against cyberattacks and the steps they should take if they are hacked, the officials said. The agency has offered only voluntary guidelines in the past," Ellen Nakashima and Lori Aratani report. Airlines are shunning Belarus airspace, leaving locals feeling more trapped than ever. "Belarus's skies were conspicuously clear Tuesday morning as many airlines purposefully avoided the country — the result of an international punitive stance against President Alexander Lukashenko," Isabelle Khurshudyan, Michael Birnbaum and Mary Ilyushina report. "But on the ground, ordinary Belarusians braced for a new reality: Less than a year after mass protests to contest the strongman's rule, it is now harder than ever to escape him." | Meanwhile, breaking from the Middle East |  | | | To start your day with a full political briefing, sign up for our Power Up newsletter. | | | Lunchtime reads from The Post - "Dylann Roof appeals death sentence in Charleston church slayings," by Ann E. Marimow: "Roof was the first person sentenced to death for a federal hate crime for killing nine Black parishioners as they prayed during Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Roof's lawyers say the trial judge was wrong to find Roof competent to stand trial and to represent himself. … His death sentence could pose a challenge for the Biden administration. President Biden is opposed to capital punishment and as a candidate said he would seek to end federal executions."
- " 'The final straw': How the pandemic pushed restaurant workers over the edge," by Eli Rosenberg: "In interviews with The Washington Post, 10 current and former workers expressed a wide range of reasons they are or were reluctant to return to work. Some ... have left the industry or changed careers, saying they felt like the industry was no longer worth the stress and volatility. Others said jobs that didn't pay enough for them to make ends meet no longer felt appropriate to them. … All described the pandemic as an awakening — realizing that long-held concerns about the industry were valid, and compounded by the new health concerns."
| | | … and beyond - "Hospitality workers struggle to find reliable, affordable ways home," by the Washington City Paper's Laura Hayes: "Friday should have been a night for hospitality workers to celebrate alongside their patrons. After operating at reduced capacities and under strict social distancing restrictions for 14 months, servers and bartenders returned their tape measures to the tool box and geared up for more lucrative shifts. But server Chablis Owens was exasperated with her transportation options. She got off work at 11:45 p.m. on Capitol Hill and didn't get home to Northern Virginia until 3 a.m. She took Metrorail to work for $6, but taking it home wasn't an option since trains currently stop running at 11 p.m., even on weekends."
- "USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack hit the road in rural Georgia to talk about historic debt relief for Black farmers. The audience was skeptical," by the Counter's Neesha Powell-Twagirumukiza: "For tens of thousands of Black farmers and ranchers of color who've lived under the crushing burden of discriminatory loans for decades, there may be light ahead. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced it'll begin issuing relief payments next month as part of a $4 billion program included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Congress passed in March."
- "Other regimes will hijack planes too," by the Atlantic's Anne Applebaum: "The Belarusian regime abused air-traffic-control procedures that are designed to inform pilots about genuine emergencies in order to kidnap a dissident. In other words, this is a story that belongs alongside the Russian use of radioactive poisons and nerve agents against enemies of the Kremlin in London and Salisbury, England; Saudi Arabia's brutal murder of one of its citizens inside a consulate in Istanbul. ... All of these cases form part of what is becoming a new norm: Authoritarian states in pursuit of their enemies no longer feel the need to respect passports, borders, diplomatic customs, or — now — the rules of air-traffic control. In this new world, dictators are ever more prepared to arrest or murder political dissidents anywhere."
| | | The Biden agenda Biden and Harris will meet with George Floyd's family on the anniversary of his death. - It will be Biden's first in-person meeting with the family since they buried Floyd, Cleve R. Wootson Jr. notes. "While White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden is 'eager to listen to their perspectives and hear what they have to say,' an unfulfilled promise looms over the meeting as progress on police reform has stagnated, including legislation bearing Floyd's name that Biden had hoped would be law on the anniversary of his death," Wootson writes. During his first joint address to Congress, Biden urged lawmakers to pass police reform by May 25, but a criminal justice reform bill that passed the House has stalled in the Senate.
- " 'While I do believe that flying [Floyd's family] up and stuff like that, it's a nice gesture, but it's not the change that we need,' said Bernice Lauredan, an organizer with Tampa Dream Defenders, a group aimed at ending police and prisons that formed after the killing of Trayvon Martin. 'We need deep, deep shifts in just how we view public safety in these cities.' "
Floyd's family members plan to also meet with lawmakers key to negotiations over the policing bill. - "Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), among others, have been trying to negotiate a version" of the House's policing bill "that can attract enough Republican votes to pass the Senate," John Wagner reports.
- "Our message is let's don't squander this moment," Ben Crump, the family's attorney, said during an appearance this morning on CNN. "Now is the time to act. Let's do it in the name of George Floyd."
- Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) said "she remains optimistic that a compromise on policing legislation can be reached but said she considers it 'essential' to include changes to qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that shields individual officers from lawsuits," Wagner reports. Bass made the comments during a Post Live conversation this morning. "Her view is at odds with that of House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who said earlier this month that he would be willing to support a bill that didn't address qualified immunity."
- "More broadly, Bass struck an optimistic tone about negotiations with key senators ... 'Even though we have not passed the bill yet, I'm very positive that we will,' she said. 'I don't think it's months away. I do think we'll be able to get it across the finish line.' "
| | | Quote of the day "This will be one of the best things that you can pass across America," Philonise Floyd, a brother of George Floyd, said about the policing reform bill. "People shouldn't have to live in fear." The Biden administration will rein in street-level enforcement by ICE as officials try to refocus the agency's mission. - "At the detention centers and county jails that the Trump administration once filled with immigrants facing deportation, thousands of beds are now empty. The ICE officers that Trump lavished with praise have far less to do on the streets of U.S. cities these days," Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report. "Under new Biden administration rules curtailing immigration enforcement, ICE carried out fewer than 3,000 deportations last month, the lowest level on record."
- "ICE under President Biden is an agency on probation. The new administration has rejected calls from some Democrats to eliminate the agency entirely, but Biden has placed ICE deportation officers on a leash so tight that some say their work is being functionally abolished."
- "The Biden administration is preparing to release its first DHS budget, and immigrant advocates want deep cuts to ICE. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced plans last week to shutter two ICE detention centers, but in an interview he said he does not want to reduce ICE staffing or funding. He wants to reorient ICE, not shrink it, he said."
Infrastructure talks are hitting a wall as the Senate GOP and the White House exchange blame. - "The prospects for a bipartisan infrastructure deal dimmed even further Monday, as Senate Republicans alleged that the White House had agreed to narrow the scope of its $2.2 trillion plan — only to reverse course days later," Romm and Seung Min Kim report. "Republicans say Biden agreed earlier this month to seek what they describe as 'social' spending as part of another legislative effort, only to have his top aides take the opposite approach during the latest round of talks Friday."
- "Asked about the GOP's characterization of Biden's position, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the president would not 'negotiate through the press.' 'But after making a good faith, compromise offer that moved over 10 times as much toward his Republican colleagues' position as they did toward his, the president's view is that the onus is on them to make a counter offer,' he added."
Some Democratic senators say it's "time to move on" from infrastructure talks. Republicans negotiators say they're "not going to walk away." - "Democrats are increasingly calling for Biden to consider going it alone rather than see the GOP water down his agenda," Politico's Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine report.
- "Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Republicans won't come up 'anywhere near the number the White House has proposed,' and Democrats are even more skeptical that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will green-light a deal they find palatable. 'We're too far apart. Because I think Mitch's ultimate purpose is not compromise but delay and mischief,' said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) ... Biden is 'entitled to his judgment on this but if I were in a room with him, I'd say it's time to move on,'" Whitehouse said.
- But Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the lead Republican negotiator, said she's "not going to walk away," Bloomberg News's Erick Wasson and Steven Dennis report. Wicker said the GOP would be "willing to spend $1 trillion over eight years — a figure well above what they said past. He said Republicans are 'fleshing out the numbers' and hopes to have 'a sensible offer' by the end of the week."
- "Privately, members of both parties acknowledge that the most likely outcome is that Democrats will end up passing Biden's $4 trillion infrastructure proposal along party lines, using the so-called reconciliation process," Everett and Levine write.
The Senate is expected to narrowly confirm Kristin Clarke to lead the Justice Department's civil rights division. - "Clarke is poised to become the first woman confirmed to lead what former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. has called the agency's 'crown jewel,' returning to the office where she began her professional career two decades earlier as a line attorney," Wagner and David Nakamura report.
| | | The pandemic Vice President Harris faces a complex role amid India's anguish. - "As India has taken on the dubious title of worldwide coronavirus epicenter ... Harris, the highest-ranking U.S. official of Indian descent in history, is navigating an issue simultaneously personal and political. And the verdict from the Indian American community is mixed," Wootson and Fenit Nirappil report. "Harris has said little publicly about the devastation in India; her few brief comments have often come during events on other subjects, and she has rarely referred to her personal connection to the country during the crisis."
- "More than 20 Indian Americans interviewed for this story — including community leaders, political activists, public officials and others — said conversations about Harris's role in response to India's suffering, and whether she should be doing more, have intensified in tandem with the crisis. Some are disappointed that she has not been a more prominent advocate, especially after she celebrated her identity while wooing Indian American voters in 2020."
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra pushed for further investigation into the pandemic's origins at a key WHO meeting. - "Phase 2 of the COVID origins study must be launched with terms of reference that are transparent, science-based, and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreak," Becerra said this morning, per Reuters. The secretary didn't mention China directly.
The Japanese government is pushing ahead with the Olympics even as the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning. - "For now, we don't expect any impact," Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said, Katerina Ang reports.
- "The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee said that it intended to participate in the Games, which begin July 23."
 Relatives stand next to the burning pyre of a man who died from the coronavirus during his cremation at a crematorium ground in Srinagar. (Danish Ismail/Reuters) | | | | Covid-19 risk for unvaccinated people, visualized The country's declining covid-19 case rates present an unrealistically optimistic perspective for half of the nation that is still not vaccinated. The Washington Post adjusted its case, death and hospitalization rates to account for the unprotected population and found that in some places, the virus continues to rage among those who haven't received a shot. See what the data looks like in your state. | | | Hot on the right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) drew a rebuke not only from Democrats but also members of her own party after she continued to press comparisons of masking policies to Nazi Germany. This morning, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Greene is "wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling." McCarthy also said the House Republican conference "condemns" the language used by Greene, John Wagner reports. "In a morning tweet on Tuesday, Greene linked to a news story about a Knoxville, Tenn., grocery store at which fully vaccinated employees will have a vaccination logo displayed on their name badge and be allowed to go maskless. 'Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi's forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,' Greene wrote." Other Republicans also criticized Greene's comments: | Some, however, avoided naming her: |  | | | | | | Hot on the left The QAnon crowd is convinced UFOs are a diversion from voter fraud. 'There's no doubt that this mainstream UFO disclosure push is offering a convenient distraction for the Deep State to turn our attention away from important issues like the Scamdemic and the election fraud getting exposed,' Jordan Sather, a UFO and QAnon conspiracy theorist, complained on social media network Telegram on May 19," the Daily Beast's Will Sommer reports. "Conspiracy theory hub InfoWars often posts articles about UFOs. But more recently, InfoWars has started to see the prospect of extraterrestrial revelations as a deep state plot. ... The claims that an evil cabal is behind the new wave of interest in UFOs reflects the growing overlap between the UFO 'disclosure' community and other conspiracy theory movements, especially QAnon." | | | Today in Washington Biden and Harris will meet with George Floyd's family at 1:30 p.m. The president will visit Delaware this evening but will return to the White House at night. | | | In closing | Seth Meyers said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) comparisons of masking policies to Nazi Germany are "insane" and "grotesque":  | | | | | | |
Email 
No comments:
Post a Comment