| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower because the first commander in chief to fly in a helicopter. | | |  | The big idea | | Heat wave, flooding: Two of the biggest political stories of the week |  Water can be seen flowing next to a damaged road after flash flooding in Ludlow, Vt., on Monday. (Joanna Slater/The Washington Post) | | | You're probably watching — and maybe living — two of the biggest political stories this week: The punishing heat wave across the West and South, and torrential rain drowning Vermont and upstate New York. But maybe you're not seeing them as political stories. Let's fix that. These two dramatic meteorological events are first and foremost about the lives of the people in physical danger, or who are losing their homes or livelihoods. But because our working definition of politics includes how a society addresses threats, the label clearly applies. Today, we're going to focus on the flooding. | From every level of government | | Just look at the governmental mobilization in response to the dangerous downpour in the Green Mountain State, which includes an international component. | - President Biden called Vermont's Gov. Phil Scott (R) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), as well as FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
| - Bernie tweeted out a useful resource for Vermonters (as well as some sound advice)
| - Sen. Peter Welch (D) flagged Biden signing a federal disaster declaration — a crucial presidential action that empowers the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to respond to the flooding and unlocks copious federal aid for Vermont.
| - Rep. Becca Balint (D) shared information about evacuations and shelters.
| - The international component: The French consulate in Boston (which serves Vermont) highlighted a phone number for French citizens in Vermont and in need of help.
| | So: A natural disaster? Of course. But a huge test of the political system's ability to respond and deliver to its constituents. | | At the intersection of meteorological story and the politics story is The Washington Post's climate coverage. To get a better (and, honestly, smarter) perspective on the flooding in my home state, The Daily 202 reached out to Kasha Patel, who covers weather, climate change, and the environment for The Post. D202: We've all been transfixed by images from the flooding in Vermont and upstate New York. How does this deluge differ from past mass flooding events? Kasha: The heavy rain and flooding caused some of the worst damage since Hurricane Irene in 2011 — but this wasn't caused by a hurricane or tropical storm. It was caused by a more typical summertime weather system, but with some new supercharged elements that can be linked to climate change. For one, a marine heat wave in the Atlantic Ocean — which is part of record-breaking ocean temperatures that we've been seeing worldwide in recent months — likely helped bring more intense rainfall. Warmer water intensifies evaporation and can fuel a storm with more moisture, which can lead to heavier rain. On a similar note, our warmer atmosphere can "hold" more water vapor, which storms can tap into. In fact, a physics equation calculates that heavy precipitation will increase by about 7 percent for every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of warming. The United States has warmed by about 3 degrees Fahrenheit already. D202: What are the ramifications of that evolution? Kasha: In recent years, the number of intense flooding events spawned by strong weather systems has been increasing in the United States. In recent memory, we've seen flooding in New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Ida, the flooding in Tennessee, Kentucky and many more. In many places, the intensity of extreme weather events is taking communities by surprise because they're not used to them. Some of their vulnerabilities are inherent to their location. For instance, cities have impervious concrete sidewalks, which allow rainwater to run off and pool together. In Vermont, valleys surrounded by mountains allow water to pile up faster and higher than just a flat plain. Extreme weather events are hitting communities faster than they are preparing for them. | | D202: What aspects of the policy response do you find particularly important or interesting? Kasha: Climate scientists are capturing these new flood risks in models and observations, but authorities aren't necessarily adapting to the data. A recent analysis by the First Street Foundation found that the U.S. government's official precipitation estimates, which inform planning and infrastructure design nationwide, are underpredicting what the actual flood risk is in many areas because they don't account for climate change. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood maps also fail to capture areas that are now at higher risk for flooding, which leaves people in the dark about the potential dangers they face, the type of insurance they should buy and the kinds of development that should be restricted. Thank you, Kasha! | | |  | Politics-but-not | | | Click through to submit ideas for potential inclusion in our weekly roundup of stories you might not find in other political newsletters. Read more » | | | | | |  | What's happening now | | FBI Director Chris Wray defends agency amid onslaught of GOP criticism |  FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill on Aug. 4, 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | | | "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray is testifying Wednesday before Congress, in a hearing likely to feature extensive criticism from Republicans angry about how federal law enforcement has investigated former president Donald Trump and President Biden's son Hunter," Devlin Barrett reports. | Inflation eased further in June as economy slowly cools | | "A year after inflation soared to the highest level in four decades, price increases are returning closer to normal levels, with families and businesses feeling the difference as policymakers debate how much more to slow the economy," Rachel Siegel and Abha Bhattarai report. | - "Government data released Wednesday showed a notable drop in inflation: Prices rose 3 percent in June compared with the year before, and 0.2 percent compared with May, the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021. That marked progress from the last inflation report, when prices rose 4 percent compared with the previous year."
| G-7 issues declaration of 'unwavering' support for Ukraine | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | Southern border 'eerily quiet' after policy shift on asylum seekers |  Alexander Gonzalez and his daughter Yefreannys, 7, sit under the Paso del Norte bridge between the United States and Mexico in late June in Ciudad Juárez, while waiting for their appointment via the CBP One app. (Danielle Villasana) | | | "Now the administration is allowing tens of thousands of migrants to enter the United States legally each month through the mobile app CBP One, while those who don't follow the rules face ramped-up deportations and tougher penalties," Nick Miroff and Toluse Olorunnipa report. | - "The preliminary result is a nearly 70 percent drop in illegal entries since early May, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. After two years of record crossings and crisis-level strains, the Biden administration appears to have better control over the southern border than at any point since early 2021."
| Tax prep sites gave millions of taxpayers' info to Facebook and Google | | "About 10 million people type their personal financial information into H&R Block, TaxSlayer and TaxAct websites every year to prepare their taxes, trusting the companies to keep their information safe. Instead, the companies shared that personal information with Google and Facebook, some going as far back as 2011, members of Congress wrote in a new report," Julie Zauzmer Weil reports. | Chinese hackers breach U.S. government email through Microsoft cloud | | "Chinese cyberspies exploited a fundamental gap in Microsoft's cloud, enabling them to conduct a targeted hack of unclassified U.S. email accounts — a troubling vulnerability officials said was discovered by the U.S. government. The security problem was discovered last month after the U.S. government identified a hole in Microsoft's cloud security, which affected unclassified systems, according to the White House," Ellen Nakashima, Joseph Menn and Shane Harris report. | Farmers Insurance is leaving Florida in latest blow to homeowners |  Foundations and supports, destroyed by the storm surge of Hurricane Ian, are seen along the beachfront on Oct. 7, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) | | | "Another insurer is leaving Florida, where homeowners are paying more than ever for insurance, despite the state's attempt to shore up the wobbling market. On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance informed the state it was dropping home, auto and umbrella policies across Florida, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people. It's the fourth company to leave the Florida market in the last year — most citing rising risks from hurricanes," Alex Harris and Lawrence Mower report for the Tampa Bay Times. | How China and Chinese mafias overseas protect each other's interests | | |  | The Biden agenda | | Biden, G-7 leaders to announce major security assurances for Ukraine |  President Biden attends a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Vilnius on Wednesday. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images) | | Joe Biden's new student debt relief plan might actually work this time | | "Shortly after the court struck down his plan to forgive $430 billion in student debt, Biden announced that he will pursue an alternate legal pathway to large-scale cancellation. Although the details remain hazy, it's clear that the administration will attempt to use its powers under the Higher Education Act—a route that many progressives favored in the first place," Mark Joseph Stern writes for Slate. | - "The trillion-dollar question, then, is whether SCOTUS will look any more favorably upon this fallback plan. There may be some modest reason for optimism. But as ever with this court, any hope must be tempered with doubt and distrust."
| Biden vs. Coach: White House relishes matchup against Tuberville | | "Biden rarely gives so much real estate behind the presidential podium to a single, rank-and-file lawmaker. But there's little love lost between the two. Biden rarely mentions Tuberville by name and doesn't even use the polite Senate-speak of calling him 'my friend.' The president mocks the senator's former life, referring to him as 'the former football coach from Alabama, who was a better coach than he's a senator,'" Politico's Jennifer Haberkorn and Burgess Everett report. | | |  | The U.S.'s annual inflation rate, visualized | | | "As has been the case for months, housing costs continue to be the main driver of inflation. Rising rents and other shelter costs accounted for more than 70 percent of the June increase. Rent is up 8.3 percent compared to last year, and 0.5 percent compared to May. There are signs that rents on new leases are finally falling from their pandemic highs, but it will be months before that progress shows up in the consumer price index, which lags real-time indicators," Rachel Siegel and Abha Bhattarai report. | | |  | Hot on the left | | Bernie Sanders is personally stopping Biden's top medical research nominee — and he's not budging |  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks with reporters during a vote on an amendment to the Fiscal Responsibility Act at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 1. (Elizabeth Frantz for The Washington Post) | | | "[Monica Bertagnolli's] candidacy is stalled indefinitely, caught up in a standoff between the administration and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over Biden's drug pricing agenda," Politico's Adam Cancryn reports. | - "A second senator, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), has made her own demands, pressuring Bertagnolli to sign expanded ethics agreements that include swearing off working for or on behalf of major drug companies for four years after leaving NIH. Bertagnolli has so far resisted over concerns about the scope of those commitments, two people familiar with the matter said."
| | |  | Hot on the right | | Murdochs start to sour on DeSantis: 'They can smell a loser' |  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his family take part in the Fourth of July parade in Wolfeboro, N. H., on July 4. (John Tully for The Washington Post) | | - "'[Rupert's] understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway,' a senior Fox source tells Rolling Stone. 'And DeSantis is underperforming. Anybody can see that …[and the Murdochs], they're seeing it, too.'"
| | |  | Today in Washington (all times eastern) | | | At 2:10 p.m., Biden will depart Lithuania for Helsinki, Finland. He is scheduled to arrive at 3:35 p.m. | | |  | In closing | | JWST keeps finding cosmic gems, black holes and surprising galaxies |  The first anniversary image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope displays the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. (NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Klaus Pontoppidan) | | - "The dramatic, somewhat hallucinatory image captures the dynamism of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth, where planetary systems like our own could be in the initial stages of forming."
| | Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. | | |
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