The Playbook Podcast

President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a rather daring new strategy Thursday for getting the president’s agenda passed.

The gist is this: If Biden’s proposal for “family infrastructure” and climate change doesn’t pass, then neither will the bipartisan infrastructure deal that senators just struck.

But the Biden-Schumer-Pelosi playbook also has the makings of a serious legislative cluster — and high drama over whether Democrats can actually pull this off — this summer and possibly into the fall.

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.

Joe Biden appears to have all but secured that elusive bipartisan infrastructure deal that both parties have been prattling on about for years. The core group of ten Senate centrists working on the proposal emerged from a meeting with White House officials Wednesday night and declared that they had a working framework.

So now what?

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. 

Infrastructure talks are getting real — but time may be running out.

President Joe Biden's infrastructure negotiating team spent the day on the Hill on Tuesday in three separate meetings with a bipartisan group of 10 senators led by Kyrsten Sinema and Rob Portman.

Forgive us if it seems like Groundhog Day around here, but how to pay for $579 billion in new spending is still the big problem.

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 top legislative priority of progressive Democrats is set to die in the Senate today with barely a whimper of protest from the White House. Republicans will easily filibuster the For the People Act, killing the sweeping elections proposal once and for all.

The left, however, is not happy. Progressives are steaming that President Joe Biden didn’t use his bully pulpit to try to move the needle on the bill — or strike a deal allowing Congress to block GOP legislatures from curbing access to voting. They want to know how Democratic leaders can claim in one breath that democracy is in jeopardy — and in the next let this legislation crash and burn. 

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.

Not to be too dramatic, but this is a big week for democracy.

The Senate is back in session today at 3 p.m., and by the end of the week we’ll know a lot more about how broken the upper chamber is. As legislators headed out of town last week, there was some tantalizing progress on bipartisan legislation across three big issues: infrastructure, police reform and voting rights.

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.

Kyrsten Sinema's advisers heard it constantly from her during her 2018 campaign for Senate: “I want to be the next John McCain.”

After she won, Sinema called the late senator a “legend” and “my personal hero.” This year, when she voted against a minimum wage hike, she rankled the left by mimicking McCain’s iconic thumbs-down that tanked the GOP’s effort to kill Obamacare.

Now Sinema’s commanding the spotlight not only as a rare swing vote in a hyperpartisan Congress but as a lead negotiator on an infrastructure deal that could determine the success of President Joe Biden's first term. If she pulls it off, she will establish herself, like McCain, as a legislative force inside the Senate.

 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.

As he returns from Europe, President Joe Biden faces a major decision that will have consequences for the rest of his agenda: Does he take a bipartisan compromise on infrastructure and hope the rest of his agenda can pass on reconciliation without assurances from Sinema and Manchin? Or does he move on and go for one big Democrats-only proposal?

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 is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for some five hours of talks in Geneva starting at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time. It’s their first meeting in a decade.

On the agenda: cyberwarfare, ransomware, the New START treaty, Syria, Ukraine, climate change, human rights, sanctions, a potential return of ambassadors.

Plus, the latest in bipartisan negotiations over an infrastructure 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.

President Joe Biden's entire agenda appears to be in jeopardy amid Democratic infighting over how to proceed on infrastructure.

That’s a sweeping statement, and it’s possible this all gets sorted out for Democrats after a frenzied Monday in the Senate. But the party ended the day with things looking pretty grim. In short, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is getting squeezed by both ends of his conference.

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.

Senior Democrats were telling us Sunday night they think the White House is actually considering the trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure deal floated by 10 centrist senators Friday.

First, however, they need to see if their own members can swallow it. 

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.