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Presented by U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Feb 07, 2019 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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BULLETIN ... DREAM TEAM: BURGESS EVERETT, HEATHER CAYGLE and SARAH FERRIS: "Congress nears border security deal, but Trump's support unclear": "Democrats and Republicans have been trading offers all week, with any deal likely to provide more funding for technology and perhaps some new money for fencing on the southern border with Mexico, according to senators and aides. Republicans were preparing a counter-offer to the latest Democratic proposal on Wednesday night, according to one senator familiar with negotiations.

"Whether Trump will sign off on an agreement that's sure to give him less than the $5.7 billion he previously demanded for a border wall during the recent 35-day partial government shutdown is not yet clear on Capitol Hill. But he's likely to be presented with few other options: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes a short-term funding bill to extend talks and there's no desire for the president to declare a national emergency among GOP leaders.

"'Everybody is feeling increasingly upbeat about the possibility of getting a deal. The question is whether it's something the president can sign,' Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the GOP whip, said in an interview Thursday. 'I don't think anyone knows the answer to that.'" POLITICO

PELOSI PASSES ON TRUMP ... SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI doesn't appear interested in a tit-for-tat with PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. Here's what she said at her weekly news conference today about the president's insistence that Congress take a pass on investigating him: "I am not commenting on what the president has to say about our work. ... I always think that whatever the president says about us, he's projecting his own unruliness. ... We will not surrender our constitutional responsibility for oversight."

... PELOSI also reiterated her confidence in the border security conference committee's ability to reach an agreement if left to its own devices, and said she was asking the White House "to be as non-interventionist as I am." Full news conference

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK ... REPUBLICANS ASK DEMS TO DROP THEIR QUEST FOR TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS... WAYS AND MEANS REPUBLICANS sent a letter to Chairman Richie Neal (D-Mass.) saying they are "deeply concerned" that Democrats are seeking TRUMP'S tax returns. "This is about protecting the private tax returns of every American." The letter

-- PELOSI this morning said, "Overwhelmingly the public wants to see the president's tax returns." As for perceived criticism that Democrats have not been fast enough in getting results, Pelosi said: "It's not a question of just sending a letter, you have to do it in a very careful way."

THE LATEST IN VIRGINIA ... JUST POSTED ... NYT'S ALAN BLINDER and JONATHAN MARTIN in Richmond: "On Thursday morning, Mr. Northam was planning to telephone the lieutenant governor and the attorney general to offer his best wishes about their own troubles, according to an adviser to the governor, who reaffirmed that he had no plans to step down. ...

"Mr. Northam, whose staff and political advisers have been working around the clock since this story erupted on Friday afternoon, has hired a Washington-based communications firm led by African-Americans to help him weather the gravest challenge of his political career. The company's chairman, Jarvis C. Stewart, was hoping to sit down Thursday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has come to Richmond to discuss racial reconciliation at Virginia Union University, an historically black college here." NYT

-- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT'S KATHERINE HAFNER and ELISHA SAUERS: "Virginia Sen. Tommy Norment was an editor for VMI yearbook filled with racist photos and slurs": "The revelation about one of Virginia's most powerful Republicans comes as the state's Democratic governor and attorney general are facing calls to resign." Virginian-Pilot

-- MARC CAPUTO and ANITA KUMAR: "Virginia lieutenant governor hires law firm that represented Kavanaugh"

-- PELOSI: "Virginians will resolve their issues that they have there. It's sad because there's some very talented leaders there, but they have to have the confidence of the electorate and they have to have the confidence of the legislature."

Good Thursday afternoon. SPOTTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE, per the eagle-eyed Kaitlan Collins of CNN: Paul Ryan.

ANDREW DESIDERIO: "House judiciary panel gives chairman subpoena power over Whitaker": "The subpoena will only be issued if Whitaker does not show up for the [Friday] hearing or claims executive privilege to refuse to answer certain questions about his conversations with President Donald Trump, Nadler said during a contentious committee meeting that ended with a party-line vote on a resolution formally authorizing the chairman to issue a subpoena." POLITICO

-- THE DAILY BEAST'S BETSY WOODRUFF (@woodruffbets): "NEW: DOJ tells House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler that Matt Whitaker ***will not testify*** unless Nadler promises in writing by 6pm that he won't subpoena him."

A.G. UPDATE -- MARIANNE LEVINE: "Trump's attorney general nominee clears Senate Judiciary Committee"

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

A new HHS proposal would import foreign drug pricing policies that block access to life-saving drugs, inhibit R&D necessary to discover new drugs, and threaten our nation's free-market health care system. Tell HHS: Protect America's free-market healthcare system!

WHAT ELSE IS ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:35 a.m.: "Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia. If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken. Virginia will come back HOME Republican) in 2020!"

... at 7:37 a.m.: "PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT! It should never be allowed to happen again!"

TRADE WARS -- CNBC'S KAYLA TAUSCHE: "Trump is 'highly unlikely' to meet Chinese President Xi before March trade deadline"

COMING ATTRACTIONS -- ZACK COLMAN: "Green New Deal resolution calls for 'national mobilization' on climate, economy": "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will release a blueprint for a Green New Deal on Thursday urging a '10-year national mobilization' for a speedy shift away from fossil fuels and calling for national health care coverage and job guarantees in a sweeping bid to remake the U.S. economy. ...

"The resolution advocates for eliminating fossil fuels pollution and greenhouse gas emissions 'as much as technologically feasible' in agriculture and transportation, two of the major sources of climate change gases." POLITICO

-- ANTHONY ADRAGNA and SARAH FERRIS: "Pelosi announces Dems for new climate panel": "Speaker Nancy Pelosi built out the Democratic roster for her special select panel on climate change, pulling from a mix of old and new lawmakers but leaving off the highest profile freshmen like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). ...

"The new House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will be led by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) ... The other Democratic members of the panel are Reps. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Julia Brownley (Calif.), Sean Casten (Ill.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Mike Levin (Calif.), Donald McEachin (Va.) and Joe Neguse (Colo.)." POLITICO

-- PELOSI, asked about the "Green New Deal" resolution at her weekly press conference, said: "Quite frankly I haven't seen it, but I do know that it's enthusiastic and we welcome all the enthusiasms that are out there."

HEADS UP -- ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION'S TAMAR HALLERMAN: "U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall will not seek reelection"

2020 WATCH -- YIKES ... "Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Mistreatment Of Staff Scared Off Candidates To Manage Her Presidential Bid," by HuffPost's Molly Redden and Amanda Terkel: "At least three people have withdrawn from consideration to lead Sen. Amy Klobuchar's nascent 2020 presidential campaign - and done so in part because of the Minnesota Democrat's history of mistreating her staff ... [S]ome former Klobuchar staffers, all of whom spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity, describe Klobuchar as habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty that make it difficult to work in her office for long.

"It is common for staff to wake up to multiple emails from Klobuchar characterizing one's work as 'the worst' briefing or press release she'd seen in her decades of public service, according to two former aides and emails seen by HuffPost. ... Adding to the humiliation, Klobuchar often cc'd large groups of staffers who weren't working on the topic at hand, giving the emails the effect of a public flogging. ... From 2001 to 2016, she ranked No. 1 in the Senate for staff turnover." HuffPost

-- DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "'Elephant in the room': 2020 Dems can't avoid Mueller forever": "Behind the scenes, the candidates, campaign aides and consultants are already plotting how to publicly address the scandal that has consumed President Donald Trump. They know the campaign that gets it right could break free from the cluttered 2020 pack." POLITICO

-- Jason Noble is now the Iowa communications director for Elizabeth Warren. He most recently was comms director for Let America Vote and is a Des Moines Register alum.

THE INVESTIGATIONS -- WAPO'S ROZ HELDERMAN and TOM HAMBURGER: "Sergei Millian, identified as an unwitting source for the Steele dossier, sought proximity to Trump's world in 2016"

-- CBS' OLIVIA GAZIS: "Richard Burr on the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation, 2 years on": "Burr said the committee is 'close to pushing out the door' an assessment of the Obama administration's response [to Russian interference], estimating that it would be a 'matter of weeks.' ...

"[W]as there collusion? For now, Burr appears to have arrived at his answer. 'If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,' he said." CBS

IMMIGRATION FILES ... NBC'S MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR (@MariannaNBCNews): "Senate Judiciary Chairman @LindseyGrahamSC announces that they will hold a hearing investigating the deaths of migrant children under CBP custody on March 5th."

-- DAN DIAMOND: "Democrats at hearing attack 'abhorrent' family separations policy"

-- AP'S ELLIOT SPAGAT: "New U.S.-Mexico border barrier charts tricky course near homes": "The U.S. faces a ... delicate dance as it charts a course to extend or replace barriers that blanket nearly one-third of the border. The path of the San Diego replacement cuts through a gated Tijuana subdivision of luxury homes with pink stripes on Spanish tile roofs to mark the official border. It collided with old trees that sprout on the Mexican side.

"The Rio Grande marks the border between Texas and Mexico, ensuring that any land barrier on the U.S. side creates space between the wall and demarcation line established in bilateral treaties. One treaty limits construction on the Rio Grande flood plain, trapping homes in a no man's land between a wall built in the 2000s and the river." AP

WSJ'S RICHARD RUBIN: "Trump Tax Law Spurs Job Creation...for Tax Lawyers and Accountants": "The overhaul continues to generate thousands of jobs for tax professionals as companies analyze the law, restructure operations and rely on tax experts to do all the work flowing from the legislation and IRS regulations, according to lawyers and executives at tax firms. Business is unusually strong and should remain robust for years as a result of the law, they say." WSJ

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- "Exclusive: Top EPA official leaves to start new advocacy group," by Axios' Amy Harder: "Mandy Gunasekara, who has been instrumental in crafting President Trump's regulatory rollbacks on a range of air pollution standards, is leaving the [EPA] to start a new political advocacy group defending those policies. ...

"In her letter to Trump, Gunasekara didn't get into details about her new organization other than to say it will defend 'you and the many energy, regulatory and economic successes of your bold and pragmatic agenda.' It's expected to be a nonprofit with a c(4) tax status, which means, among other things, that its donors can be anonymous." Axios

-- NYT'S KATIE ROGERS (@katierogers): "NEW: WH says Dr. Ronny Jackson, recently promoted to WH chief medical advisor, 'will transition from providing medical care to using his extensive medical expertise to provide technical policy advice,' an administration official says. (Pentagon investigation still ongoing.)" ... "Jackson will focus on veterans' officials, opioid crisis, health issues at the border, admin says. POTUS physical still scheduled for Friday at Walter Reed."

-- "New Trump rules make it easier for U.S. gun makers to sell overseas," by NBC's Josh Lederman

CLICKER -- "Death rates, bedsores, ER wait times: Where every VA hospital lags or leads other medical care," by USA Today's Donovan Slack, John Kelly and James Sergent: "At roughly 70 percent of VA hospitals, the median time between arrival and admission was longer than at other hospitals, in some cases by hours ... The USA TODAY analysis provides the most comprehensive picture to date of how 146 VA medical centers compare to other health care facilities on an array of factors. ...

"[A] majority of VA hospitals reported lower death rates than other facilities. Many VA medical centers also stacked up better on prevention of post-surgical complications such as blood clots. At the same time, dozens had higher rates of preventable infections and severe bed sores - a sign of potential neglect. And nearly every VA performed worse than other medical providers on industry-standard patient satisfaction surveys." USA Today

WAPO'S EMILY WAX-THIBODEAUX: "The parking lot suicides: Veterans are taking their own lives on VA hospital campuses, a desperate form of protest against a system that they feel hasn't helped them." WaPo

THE LILY'S CAROLINE KITCHENER: "Politicians cut deals in Congress's gym. But it's not a welcoming place for women: The co-ed gym at the U.S. House of Representatives still has no women's locker room." The Lily

OUT AND ABOUT -- SPOTTED at a symposium Wednesday on the future of diplomacy at Georgetown University: Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Bagley, Michael Posner, Bernadette Meehan, John Negroponte, Melanie Verveer, P.J. Crowley, Barbara Bodine, Ben Chang, Jake Sullivan, Don Baer, Tom Nides, Rich Verma, Dana Shell Smith, Suzanne Nossel, Ryan Crocker, Toria Nuland, Tomicah Tilleman, Roberta Jacobson, Andrew Albertson, and Jeff Feltman. Pic

-- SPOTTED at the annual Chinese New Year celebration Wednesday co-hosted by the Meridian International Center and the Chinese Embassy: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai, Ray Washburne, Carlos Gutierrez, Stuart Holliday, Stephanie Grisham, Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan, Steve Clemons, Eli Miller, Tony Sayegh, Meridith McGraw, Jackie Alemany, John Hudson, Kate Bennett, Matt Pottinger and Lyndon Boozer.

SPOTTED: Anthony Scaramucci in first class on an American Airlines flight this morning from DCA to Dallas, where he will give investor presentations on a new Skybridge product and also hold a book signing.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- NSC ARRIVAL LOUNGE: Peter Metzger is now at the NSC, where he works on Levant issues, according to two sources familiar with the matter. He has prior experience on working on those issues at the Pentagon. David Ehredt also recently started at the NSC as director for Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and the South Caucasus. Neither of the individuals responded to a request for comment, and an NSC spokesman, Garrett Marquis, said, "We don't comment on personnel."

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Nick Vinocur, editor of Pro technology at POLITICO Europe and a Reuters alum, and Giulia Buttini, government affairs manager for EU and Italy at HP, on Wednesday welcomed Sophia Claudia Vinocur. Pic ... Another pic

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:


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