The Playbook Podcast

President Joe Biden is set to speak with Sen. Joe Manchin as early as today in what Hill sources tell us will be a make-or-break moment for passing the Build Back Better Act (BBB) before Christmas. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been adamant that his chamber will clear the party’s $1.7 trillion social spending package before senators leave for the holidays. Yet everyone knows that won’t happen without the stubborn West Virginia Democrat — and Democrats are looking for some presidential arm-twisting to get him there. 

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Thursday was a double-whammy for former President Donald Trump. First, New York state A.G. Tish James announced that she was suspending her campaign for governor and would instead run for reelection. That all but assures the law enforcement officer who has been perhaps the most aggressive in investigating Trump will continue to focus her attention on the ex-president. 

Then, a federal appeals court flatly rejected that Trump’s claims of executive privilege, which he used to block the National Archives from turning over documents to the Jan. 6 committee. It’s not the final word on the matter — the Supreme Court could still intervene this month — but it’s a big win for the select committee. 

If Trump had a bad day Thursday, it might be Joe Biden's turn on Friday. A pair of critical reports out today could cause a spate of negative headlines just as the White House is looking to push Build Back Better (BBB) past the finish line. 

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Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Former Rep. Renee Ellmers announced on Twitter Wednesday that she’s running for Congress again in North Carolina’s 4th district — and sent the House GOP gossip mill into overdrive.

Ellmers, you’ll recall, lost her primary in 2016 following allegations that she was having an extramarital affair with Kevin McCarthy, who also lost his bid for speaker around that time in part due to the controversy. (Both denied the allegations.) Oddly enough, her foray back into politics comes as McCarthy is in his best position yet to attain the job he’s wanted for years.  

And, President Joe Biden will open his two-day Summit for Democracy with opening remarks at 8 a.m. Watch live here.

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Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

The idea started out promising, at least from the GOP’s perspective. Over the summer, Mitch McConnell surprised much of Washington when he drew a bright line on the debt ceiling, demanding Democrats use reconciliation to raise the borrowing cap on their own. The idea was to force President Joe Biden's party to vote to increase the $29 trillion debt by a specific number — then hammer them for out-of-control spending on the camping trail. Republicans cheered.

But while McConnell struck a deal with Chuck Schumer on Tuesday that will ultimately achieve the same result, his method of getting there has left many of his own rank-and-file members unhappy. Instead of gumming up the works by forcing Democrats to use reconciliation, he agreed to a convoluted strategy that enables Democrats to bypass the filibuster.

It goes like this: At least 10 Republicans will have to join Democrats as early as Thursday in approving new legislation allowing Schumer’s party to temporarily raise the debt ceiling by a simple majority vote. Maybe they’ll get more GOP backing; but maybe not.

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Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Omicron variant: It could be like Delta and current vaccines will offer robust protection. But there’s also a chance that Omicron could be vaccine resistant, so vaccine makers are readying a booster to protect against the new variant, just in case.

That could be the future: a new variant, followed by a new vaccine booster to defend against it, followed by a new variant… Rinse. Repeat. It’s what we do to fight the annual flu. But it all takes time, and a new coronavirus variant can spread rapidly and kill a lot of people during the process.

And, ahead of President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sources tell NYT’s David Sanger and Eric Schmitt that the president is “expected to encourage diplomatic de-escalation over the conflict in Ukraine,” and warn Putin that “if he orders the Russian forces poised at the border to invade Ukraine, Western allies may move to cut Russia off from the international financial system and seek direct sanctions on Mr. Putin’s closest associates.” How BIden handles this meeting could mean the difference between a free and independent Ukraine and one overrun by Russian troops. No pressure. 

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Congress’ holiday season theme of governing by crisis continues this week, as lawmakers return to Washington to address what could be the trickiest issue of the month: the debt ceiling.

House Democratic leaders have discussed adding a provision addressing the debt ceiling to the final National Defense Authorization Act and voting on it as soon as this week, according to a senior Democratic aide. That’s assuming, of course, that compromise NDAA language is ironed out between the two chambers. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has privately signaled to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he could go along with this idea, which would end their months-long stalemate. 

But, there are serious questions about whether this defense-debt ceiling sandwich could pass the House. And much of that is because of one man who might typically be aligned with McConnell, but on this issue appears opposed: Kevin McCarthy.

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Congress avoided a government shutdown after Senate conservatives dropped their demands to nix President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates in the funding bill — and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave them a way out. 

Conservatives will argue they got something out of this drama: a vote on their issue. In reality, it was a face-saving measure. The far-right started out demanding that Congress effectively scuttle the mandates, then reduced their ask to a mere vote they knew would fail, ensuring smooth passage of a continuing resolution a full 30 hours before the shutdown deadline. 

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Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Symone Sanders, a senior adviser and chief spokesperson for VP Kamala Harris, “is expected to leave the White House at the end of the year,” Eugene Daniels, Chris Cadelago and Daniel Lippman reported Wednesday night. “It was not immediately clear where Sanders is heading next or when she will be leaving the vice president’s office. 

Sanders, a 31-year-old African-American strategist and one of the admin’s most recognizable advisers, leaves amid a flurry of stories about internal frictions and disorder in the VP’s office. Sanders was often the aide who pushed back on those storylines, defending the VP and advocating for her both publicly and in one-on-one dealings with reporters.

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Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Friday's shutdown showdown is about to get real — conservatives on both sides of the Capitol are privately plotting to force a government shutdown Friday in an effort to defund the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate on the private sector, multiple GOP sources told Playbook.

Capitalizing on a last-minute scramble to fund the government, a group of Senate conservatives is planning to object to quick consideration of a stopgap measure to extend funding into early 2022 unless Democratic leaders agree to deny money to enforce the mandate. Because of the tight schedule — and Senate rules that require unanimous consent to move quickly — the senators believe they’ll be able to drag out the process well past midnight on Friday, when funding officially expires.

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Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.