The Playbook Podcast

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser writes that House Democrats have the upper hand over House Republicans in fundraising ahead of the 2022 midterms. A quick look at the numbers:

And, former chiefs of staff to Obama and Bush agree that Ron Klain may be spending too much time on Twitter while managing the leader of the free world.

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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.

 It’s a story we’ve become all too familiar with since Democrats took control of the House in 2019: Lawmakers issue subpoenas to Trump White House officials — who then stonewall at his behest.  

Today, the Jan. 6 committee could find itself hitting the same roadblocks. Steve Bannon and Kash Patel have been subpoenaed for questioning today, and Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino are slated for Friday. Trump has asked them not to cooperate, claiming executive privilege bars their participation — an assertion Democrats call bogus. 

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.

So what’s the state of negotiations between the White House and Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema?

The talks have been shrouded in mystery, but we have some fresh details we can share this morning.

More is known about Manchin than Sinema, and for a good reason: While Manchin has been willing to discuss his priorities in detail with his colleagues in the Senate, Sinema only negotiates with the White House.

Part of solving the Manchinema puzzle is that the 74-year-old former governor from a coal state and the 45-year-old former Green Party activist from Arizona are at odds on some major policies.

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.

With the exception of today — when the House briefly returns to clear the Senate-passed, short-term debt ceiling stopgap — Congress is out on recess this week after lawmakers kicked the can on their entire legislative to-do list.  

The big question on everyone’s mind right now is this: Will the delay help them get it all done, or just make matters worse? 

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.

A shouting match erupted on the Senate floor after the vote to delay the debt limit crisis for two months. Sens. John Thune and Mitt Romney confronted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after he lambasted Republicans in a floor speech right after the vote.

And, it’s no secret that Trump’s endorsements have been impulsive, and it looks like he jumped the gun again by giving an early nod to Sean Parnell in the open Pennsylvania Senate race. Republicans we talked to in Washington and Trump-world are clearly worried since the news broke this week that Parnell requested a gag order on his estranged wife Laurie and her lawyer during their custody battle. Shortly after Trump endorsed Parnell in September, rival Jeff Bartos revealed that Parnell’s wife filed two protective orders against him in 2017 and 2018. Both were expunged, but some Republicans worry that there may be more shoes to drop.

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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.

Donald Trump and Sen. Elizabeth Warren actually agree on something: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell backed down Wednesday when he offered Democrats an extension of the debt ceiling until December. (As of early this morning, the two sides hadn’t finalized the deal.)

“McConnell caved,” said Warren.

“Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again,” said Trump.

Was it the filibuster? McConnell backed down after Democratic threats of nuking the filibuster for the debt ceiling started to become more real. At their Tuesday lunch, Democratic senators discussed how McConnell’s blockade on the debt ceiling was boosting the case of filibuster reformers. Later that day, Biden, generally a skeptic of filibuster reform, said such a change for the debt ceiling was now a “real possibility.”

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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.

Republicans are set to filibuster Democrats’ latest bid to raise the debt ceiling today, just as Mitch McConnell has been saying they’d do since this summer. What is Chuck Schumer's Plan B?

The majority leader, a political animal to his core, never passes up an opportunity to put the GOP on record on issues he thinks make Republicans look hypocritical. But privately, many Democrats acknowledge this isn’t going to get them out of the pickle they’re in because McConnell is seemingly impervious to shame — and Dems are running out of time.

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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.

President Joe Biden summoned progressives to a Zoom meeting to deliver a simple message, per a senior White House official:

“He told them that the end point would be about $2 trillion and he wanted their input on what it should look like.”

It was part of a weeklong project by Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to let it gradually sink in that the reconciliation bill will be dramatically scaled back. Nobody we talked to left the roughly 90-minute call with a detailed understanding of what might be cut or how the new top line would be achieved.

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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.

Now that the dust has settled from last week’s drama on the Hill, let’s take stock of where things stand with President Joe Biden's core legislative agenda.

Oct. 31 is the new Sept. 30: Congress extended the highway bill, which expired Thursday, until Halloween.

“Our goal is to get both bills done in the next month,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at an event in New York on Sunday.

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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.

So much for that make-or-break Thursday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed the roll call just before 11 p.m. after a flurry of late-night meetings trying to strike a deal with Sens. Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin over the still-not-final reconciliation package, Build Back Better, at the heart of progressives’ reluctance to pass the BIF at this moment.

Here are some takeaways from a crazy day on Capitol Hill...

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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.