The Playbook Podcast

No matter what happens to BIF, Pete Buttigieg has already won.

The Iowa caucus winner-turned-Transportation secretary has redefined the backwater Cabinet position where Democrats typically plant their obligatory Republican senior official and vice versa (e.g. Obama/LaHood, Bush/Mineta). Buttigieg has assumed celebrity status in D.C., a mainstay of Playbook “spotteds”: In the past six months we’ve seen him riding his bike to work, hanging with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the dog park, waiting in line for ice cream, sitting next to President Joe Biden in the Oval Office and beamed into our living rooms giving off warm fuzzies about a pretty non-ideological issue: infrastructure.

It’s a posting that has never led to the presidency, yet some say Buttigieg has positioned himself well by taking the gig, right when fixing roads and bridges is the issue. 

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 should be among the most important oversight investigations Congress has ever conducted. But the select committee on Jan. 6 hasn’t even had its first hearing and it’s already consumed by drama after Speaker Nancy Pelosi decision to reject two GOP appointees, Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks.

And, we told you Wednesday about how GOP leaders are going on offense against Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package by framing it as a “reckless tax and spending spree.” Well today, White House senior adviser Anita Dunn is going to the Hill to arm Democrats for the messaging war ahead.

Dunn will appear at Senate Democrats’ caucus lunch and the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, we’re told. According to a copy of the presentation obtained by Playbook, her talk will encourage Democrats to argue that Build Back Better will usher in “more jobs,” “tax cuts” and “lower costs for working families.”

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.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wanted today to be the GOP’s moment to put up or shut up on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. But based on our conversations with sources involved Tuesday night, it probably won’t be. Republicans will vote against a motion to proceed to the BIF if the text isn’t done by the time of the vote. 

But members of the bipartisan group are optimistic that if the BIF is within striking distance — Schumer and President Joe Biden will have to give the deal a few more days to gel.

And over the weekend, aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso and NRSC Chair Rick Scott huddled to devise a counterattack against Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation behemoth.

Expect to hear one phrase in particular from Republicans over and over this summer: “reckless tax and spending spree.”

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.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework has had an entire political life that few pieces of legislation enjoy: a much-ballyhooed agreement after months of closely watched discussions, a ceremony at the White House, a presidential trip to a swing state where BIF was celebrated.

Yet after all of that drama, it could be as if BIF never existed.

And, it’s no secret that Rep. Jim Banks is ambitious. The Indiana Republican and leader of the Republican Study Committee has had his eye on the House Republican Conference chairmanship for a while now and would likely make a play for the post if Elise Stefanik only serves one term, as she has said she would.

Now House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is giving the third-term lawmaker and member of the U.S. Navy Reserve an audition: ranking Republican on the Jan. 6 select panel. 

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.

Chuck Schumer seems to be channeling Mitch McConnell these days. The Senate majority leader is taking a gamble worthy of the last guy to have his job by scheduling two major deadlines this week to force action on President Joe Biden's agenda.

It’s a hardball move meant to test whether Republicans who say they want bipartisanship mean it — but also to strong-arm his own ideologically diverse caucus into line on the massive, Dem-only reconciliation bill.

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 fair to wonder whether Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of California or filming another reality show. Well, it turns out she’s doing a little bit of both. Jenner is showing up at campaign events and rallies with a film crew like famous candidates often do — but she’s also brought the crew to an interview with Sean Hannity and to an appearance at CPAC.

And, a pair of stories up from CNN and POLITICO spotlight Democrats’ upcoming gambit to back-door immigration reform through the reconciliation process — Senate parliamentarian be damned. “Top Democrats, with the support of the White House, are planning to tuck a handful of immigration measures into their forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending bill. The tactic — which just months ago seemed like a long shot even to liberals — is now widely seen as President Joe Biden's best shot at confronting one of Washington’s policy leviathans and delivering on a decades-long party promise."

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.

Back in 2019, when the House Intelligence Committee was about to kick off public hearings for Donald Trump's first impeachment, Trump and his allies pressed Kevin McCarthy to yank centrist Republicans from the panel and install the president’s most vocal allies instead.

McCarthy wouldn’t do it.

A year-and-a-half later, McCarthy is in essentially the same position: about to decide which Republicans to appoint to the special committee on the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol.

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.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer proclaimed Tuesday night that Democrats are “very proud” of the $3.5 trillion budget agreement he had just unveiled, before adding: “We know we have a long way to go.”

“Long” is one way to put it. “Painstaking” and “treacherous” are a few others. Here are the dynamics we’re watching as the whipping operation gets underway.

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 was after 9 p.m. on Friday, and staff for the bipartisan Senate infrastructure working group were hammering out legislative text over Zoom. Suddenly, the girlfriend of a staffer for Sen. Angus King walked into the room to announce they had a visitor. In walked the senator himself to thank those on the call for their hard work.

Thought No. 1: These people really know how to live it up on a Friday night.

Thought No. 2: This could all be for naught. Here’s why.

And, it's Groundhog Day for the Democratic Party when it comes to voting rights. Once again, civil rights leaders and the left are clamoring for President JOE BIDEN to nix or alter the filibuster in order to pass the party’s voting rights bills. And once again, Biden is likely to disappoint. 

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.

The Uprising’s Hunter Walker scooped that the likely next mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, is headed to the White House today to meet with President Joe Biden, Attorney Garland Merrick Garland and other local leaders to discuss what the White House calls its “comprehensive strategy to reduce gun crimes.”

And, another story to keep an eye on this week: the ongoing struggle by the administration to break through vaccine hesitancy among the remaining third or so of American adults who’ve refused the shot. In a story that posted Sunday night, the NYT’s Tiffany Hsu called out Fox News — specifically Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson — for feeding into the problem. We know from our own conversations with White House officials that they see the anti-vax rhetoric as a real problem amid the spread of the Delta variant. 

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.