| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of conspirators, among them Brutus and Cassius. | | |  | The big idea | | The humanitarian crisis has, so far, not turned into a political crisis | | Forget the pros and cons of imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or giving its forces more fighter jets. There's another front in the unfolding war that could have wide-ranging effects on all of Europe: The nearly 3 million refugees who've fled from the Russian invasion to date. It's a staggering number. Based on reporting in The Washington Post, it has passed the astonishing flow of Syrian refugees into Europe in 2015 and 2016. The United Nations says as many as 4 million people could ultimately leave Ukraine, a country of about 44 million. There's an immediate concern: the humanitarian crisis. The number of refugees is larger than the population of Chicago. Ukraine's neighbors have taken in the overwhelming majority and have been pleading with the European Union and America for help to meet their needs. | - "We'll have to do more in terms of meeting the needs of some of the 2.7 million refugees now," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday, deploring "a number that is almost incomprehensible and not finished yet, sad to say."
| The weaponization of refugees | | Over the medium and long-term, nobody knows for sure what kind of geopolitical effects to expect. Much depends on whether and when Ukrainians can return home to rebuild, something hard to imagine amid daily images of Russians shelling apartment buildings. | | | | | | | | Altria's companies are responsibly leading the transition of adult smokers to a smoke-free future – by developing and investing in potentially reduced harm alternatives. | | | |  | | | | | But Europe has seen efforts to use refugees as weapons before. The successful Brexit campaign played heavily to British fears about Syrian migrants as a way of convincing voters to embrace right-wing populism and break out of the European Union. And last year, Belarus brought in thousands of migrants, including many Iraqi Kurds, and tried to push them over the border into Poland. The European Union denounced this as a "hybrid attack." So far, Europe has welcomed a population of mostly women and children fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces. In Britain, the government's response has drawn criticisms of too little, too slowly — but Britons seem eager to take in refugees. As my colleagues Annabelle Timsit, Timothy Bella, Max Bearak, Zoeann Murphy and Dan Rosenzweigh-Ziff reported earlier this month: "The European Union has enacted unprecedented measures to help the new refugees within its borders. Under rules announced last week, Ukrainian nationals will be offered temporary protection anywhere within the 27-country bloc for up to three years, depending on conditions. They will have the right to live, study and work within the E.U." "Although Europe appears united in its desire to help Ukrainians, the welcoming tone has led to questions about why the same rules were not used to assist fleeing Syrians, Afghans and others. Some of the same governments that were most resistant to previous waves of asylum seekers are now opening their doors." And that's important: This is not like Syrian or Afghan refugee flows. For one thing, those fleeing are White Europeans for the most part, not Syrians or Afghans who faced discrimination and bigotry as they tried to find safe haven. And we've seen what happens when Black Ukrainian refugees try to seek shelter elsewhere. Race and national origin are factors. Next, Ukraine's neighbors also share the refugees' fear and loathing toward Russia, a shared experience with modern roots in the Soviet Union's domination of Eastern Europe. Finally, there's the expectation, including among some inside President Biden's administration, that Ukrainian refugees aspire to return home. They aren't Afghans or Syrians seeking to put down roots elsewhere. This is a serious problem, but temporary. | | Whether their stay is actually temporary will of course depend on Putin, how far he pursues his campaign of destruction, and whether he forces Ukraine to capitulate to his demands. | | Which gets us back to the current problem, the massive humanitarian needs, chiefly clustered in Poland (more than 1.7 million Ukrainian refugees), Romania (more than 400,000), Moldova (330,000), and Hungary (255,000). Vice President Harris recently traveled to Poland and Romania, where she delivered assurances the United States would help. She pointed to congressional approval of a $13.6 billion emergency package to arm and equip Ukraine and aid Ukraine's neighbors. | - "We stand together, Romania and the United States, in ensuring that we will do all that is required to put resources into the humanitarian piece of this, understanding that the needs are significant and immediate," she declared in Bucharest.
| | In Poland, President Andrzej Duda told reporters he had told Harris "in a very blunt way, that today we are seeing a refugee crisis" and said his country would be "hugely grateful for any form of support because we have to survive this difficult time." "Unless we receive international assistance, then, given further influx of refugees to Poland on this scale, this will end up in a refugee disaster," Duda warned. Harris acknowledged the "extraordinary burden on Poland and the people of Poland" and promised "we will continue with the support that we can give you, Mr. President." | | |  | What's happening now | | Three E.U. leaders to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv |  Ukrainian soldiers pay the last tribute to Col. Valeriy Gudz who was killed in a battle against the Russian invaders in a cemetery in the town of Boryspil close to capital Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) | | | "The visit, at a moment when Europe is engaged in an extraordinary effort to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin, is meant to 'confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,' the Czech prime minister said in a Facebook post," Kareem Fahim, Rachel Pannett and Jennifer Hassan report. | Speaking to Canadian Parliament, Zelensky repeats his plea for the West to 'close the skies' over Ukraine | | A soundbite from the Ukrainian president's speech: "Can you imagine when you call your friend, your friendly nation, and you ask, 'Please close the sky, close the airspace. Please, stop the bombing. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities until you make this happen?' And they in return, they express their deep concerns about the situation." "Basically, what I am trying to say [is] that you all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine, and by doing that to protect Europe from [the] Russian threat, they're destroying everything." | VA reveals sweeping plan to shutter aging facilities in favor of new ones | | "The Biden administration released a sweeping plan Monday to reposition the sprawling veterans' health-care system to confront demographic changes and shifts in medicine, recommending the closure of hundreds of hospitals and clinics and construction of new ones in areas with greater demand," Lisa Rein reports. | Lawmakers push for pandemic probe modeled on 9/11 Commission | | "A Senate panel is to vote Tuesday on whether to establish an independent task force to probe the U.S. response to the pandemic — the closest lawmakers have come to supporting such an investigation, two years into the crisis," Dan Diamond reports. Context: The vote "comes as Democrats and Republicans have pursued their own probes seeking to shape public perceptions ahead of midterm elections that could alter the balance of power in Washington." | Senators push for U.S. to offer cash rewards in hunt for Russian oligarchs' assets | | "A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday will release legislation calling for the Treasury Department to offer cash rewards for information that leads to the seizure of assets held by sanctioned Russian oligarchs," Jeff Stein reports. | Fed wrestles with how quickly to raise interest rates | | "Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took much of the suspense out of this week's policy meeting when he said recently he would propose raising interest rates by a quarter percentage point from near zero, which would be the first increase since 2018," the Wall Street Journal's Nick Timiraos reports. "The harder part of Fed officials' deliberations might be agreeing on how to signal the likely path of rate increases in the months to follow." | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | From the front lines: How Kyiv has remained in Ukrainian hands |  A Ukrainian firefighter walks inside a large food products storage facility which was destroyed by an airstrike in the early morning hours in Brovary, north of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday. (Vadim Ghirda/AP) | | | "A visit to two active front lines — Irpin and near Brovary, northeast of the capital's center — offered insights into the strategies, tactics and capabilities of Ukrainian forces defending Kyiv as well as apparent Russian tactical errors and miscalculations of Ukraine's resistance," Sudarsan Raghavan reports. Key takeaway: "To be sure, most military analysts and Western officials still predict that Russian forces will eventually encircle Kyiv and push into the capital, possibly aided by airstrikes. While this could prove true, it's far from clear whether Russia will prevail." | A lesson in impunity: What Putin learned from watching Syria | | "As the world takes in the grim realities of Russia's invasion of Ukraine — the once-vibrant neighborhoods bombed out, the civilians killed by shells while trying to flee, the speculation about whether Russia will use chemical weapons — many Syrians have watched with a horrifying sense of déjà vu and a deep foreboding about what lies ahead," the New York Times's Ben Hubbard reports. "The legacy of Syria's war, and Russia's role in it, looms large over Ukraine, offering potential lessons to Mr. Putin, analysts said: that 'red lines' laid down by the West can be crossed without long-term consequences; that diplomacy purportedly aimed at stopping violence can be used to distract from it; and that autocrats can do terrible things and face international sanctions — and still stay in power." | | |  | The Biden agenda | | Would shutting down the Iran deal actually be a good thing for Biden? |  President Biden speaks at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference on Monday. (Patrick Semansky/AP) | | | Maybe, Politico's Nahal Toes and Stephanie Liechtenstein report. Russia might have derailed the president's effort to revive the Iran nuclear agreement, but Biden is already facing growing pressure in Washington to abandon it. The shift: "Some career staffers at the State Department and others who work on Iran issues — including those who supported the original deal when it was struck in 2015 — are wary of restoring it now, according to current and former U.S. officials. They worry it is weaker today and that reviving it could involve giving Iran undeserved sanctions relief." | Drilling permits spiked under Biden — then plunged | | "Although the Biden administration last year approved more permits to drill oil and gas wells on public lands than the Trump administration in its first year, Interior Department data shows approvals have been more modest for months," E&E News's Heather Richards reports. The numbers: "The Bureau of Land Management in January approved just 95 permits for oil and natural gas wells across federal lands in the United States, an 85 percent drop from a zenith of 643 issued last April." | On Equal Pay Day, Biden to address the gender pay gap for federal workers | | "The Office of Personnel Management is expected to propose a resolution to eliminate the use of salary history in setting pay for federal workers, a practice that has been known to carry over discriminatory pay practices from job to job," the 19th's Chabeli Carrazana reports. Additional efforts: "Biden also signed an executive order directing the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, which helps direct government procurement, to consider limiting the use of salary history for federal contractors. And the Department of Labor issued a directive reinforcing federal contractors' annual obligation to conduct pay equity audits." | White House: Expect 'severe consequences' if Congress can't pass more covid funding | | After covid provisions were stripped from the omnibus, "House Democrats have introduced a standalone Covid relief bill, but it does not currently have the votes to pass both chambers," CNN's Betsy Klein reports. White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients on Monday said that Congress's failure to act would "'result in severe consequences' for efforts toward treatment, testing, vaccines, efforts to help deliver more vaccines globally and fight future variants." | Biden might make a trip to Europe | | |  | What's at risk in Chernobyl, visualized | | | "Chernobyl has once again resurfaced in the headlines. First Russian forces occupied the nuclear plant, and then on March 9 they damaged a high-voltage line that connected the reactor site with the electricity grid." Our colleagues Steven Mufson and Aaron Steckelberg explain why this is important and what's at risk at the plant. | | |  | Hot on the left | | The Biden administration has hired 28 people with ties to Saudi Arabia and the UAE | | A broken promise: In November 2019, then-candidate Joe Biden said in a primary debate that he would make Saudi Arabia "pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are." But, the American Prospect's Sarah Lazare writes, "the administration has kept Saudi Arabia close, along with the Gulf kingdom's junior partner, the United Arab Emirates." (Despite the Gulf monarchies' involvement in the war against Yemen.) "According to the Prospect's analysis, at least 28 top Biden officials—some of whom wield considerable influence—came to the administration by way of groups that have been funded by, work directly with, or have financial relationships to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or both." | | |  | Hot on the right | | The Senate is a symptom of a deeper problem |  The U.S. Capitol is seen at sunset before the State of the Union on March 1. (Alex Brandon/AP) | | | For the Bulwark, the American Enterprise Institute's Adam J. White argues that the Senate's appointments process is breaking down because of much deeper constitutional problems. The argument: White says Congress has delegated too much power to the agencies, which sharply escalates the stakes of their appointments. And despite those high stakes, the pace of confirmations had slowed to a crawl. "We already have seen the growth in Supreme Court power transform judicial confirmations. Now, in an era of agencies' assertions of unprecedented or transformative powers, we see the Senate confirmation of regulatory officers starting to look like judicial confirmations." | | |  | Today in Washington | | | Biden will sign the omnibus into law at 2:15 p.m. Harris and Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young will also attend. At 5:30 p.m., Biden, Harris and first lady Jill Biden will speak at an Equal Pay Day event. Several other members of the Biden administration and players for the U.S. women's soccer team will also attend. | | |  | In closing | | Today is Equal Pay Day. Why did it fall earlier this year? |  (iStock/Washington Post illustration) | | | Equal Pay Day marks how far into the new year the average woman must work to match what her male counterparts made the year before. This year, it's earlier than ever, Anne Branigin reports. | - "This means that in 2020, the average woman working full-time, year-round, made 83 cents to a typical man's dollar — up one cent from the previous year."
| | Black Women's Equal Pay Day won't come until Sept. 21: "Even deeper disparities exist when factors like race or disability are taken into consideration. In 2020, Black women made 63 percent of what White, non-Hispanic men made." | | Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. | | |
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