POLITICO Playbook: Could McCarthy face a Cheney backlash?

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DRIVING THE DAY

We’re T minus one day till LIZ CHENEY gets the boot from GOP leadership. And as we enter that crazy news cycle, it’s important to remember that this is about one man’s ambitions. KEVIN MCCARTHY has made a gamble that he needs DONALD TRUMP on his side to win the speakership, and his decision to turn on Cheney is winning him at least some favor with the former president. More on this below, but first …

President JOE BIDEN is meeting virtually this afternoon with a bipartisan group of governors to talk vaccine distribution, a move that comes as the administration is turning on the spigot for state and local pandemic assistance.

WSJ’s in-house tax wonk RICHARD RUBIN has the latest on the Biden move to dole out $350 billion to localities nationwide “to pay for pandemic-related costs, fill revenue shortfalls and pay for water, sewer and broadband projects — but not to cut state taxes.”

As it turns out, though, many of them don’t need the money: “Many state and local governments struggled during the pandemic as tax revenue temporarily dropped and businesses closed. But the shortfalls were, in some cases, not as bad as initially feared or nonexistent, and the federal aid could leave some governments unusually flush. California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM, expecting a $75.7 billion budget surplus, proposed on Monday a $100 billion stimulus and relief plan.” (See Jeremy White’s story: “Newsom wants to hand out cash before California recall election”)

MEANWHILE ON CAPITOL HILL, bipartisan talks seem to be getting some traction on two fronts.

— INFRASTRUCTURE: As our Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine report, Republicans are signaling they’re willing to go higher than their $568 billion initial offer. “The first offer is meant to be countered, so I would imagine that none of those figures are solid,” Sen. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-W.Va.) told them.

In a typical negotiation, one side puts forward an offer, the other side counters, and the back-and-forth continues until there’s a compromise (or not). But Republicans are talking about going higher even before Biden has responded to their counter. If that’s not a sign of wanting a deal, what is?

— POLICING REFORM: A day after House Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.) suggested he could back a police reform bill that did not include changes to qualified immunity shielding cops from lawsuits, another senior Democrat appears to be weighing in endorsing a similar deal. Senate Majority Whip DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday that he was open to Sen. TIM SCOTT’S (R-S.C.) idea of allowing victims’ families to sue departments in civil court instead. If Democrats accept that, we could very well see a deal in the next few weeks.

GRUMBLING WITH MCCARTHY BEHIND THE SCENES — Taking out Cheney (R-Wyo.) as conference chair was never going to be clean and easy for McCarthy. And this week, we’re starting to pick up on a bit of backlash against the minority leader behind the scenes. Some House Republicans are privately griping about how the California Republican has fed a colleague to the MAGA wolves in his quest to become speaker.

And no, we’re not just hearing this from ADAM KINZINGER types.

McCarthy has sought to cast doubt on Cheney’s leadership ability, arguing that it is essentially selfish to call out Trump instead of prioritizing GOP unity. But other House Republicans question his own leadership qualities.

One of them — a Republican long seen as an ally of leadership — told us Monday night he may oppose McCarthy for speaker because of all the recent drama. This person accused McCarthy of having no moral compass as he moves to punish Cheney while allowing members like Reps. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) and MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) to run wild.

“Kevin McCarthy has pissed off enough members of his own conference that he’s going to have to go back to his former days as a whip to try to figure out where his votes are” to become speaker, said the member, who is neither a member of the Freedom Caucus nor a moderate. “I’d be worried if I was him. … You have people like me — who are here to do the right thing for all the right reasons and have an expectation of leadership — that are, shall we say, disgusted with the internal squabbling that results from having weak leadership. And it is weak leadership. Straight up.”

A senior GOP aide to a conservative member put it this way: “He’s flip-flopped on [Jan. 6 and whether it’s] Trump’s fault, it’s not Trump’s fault. … It seems like he doesn’t have the backbone to lead. He bends to political pressure. It’s tough to do when you’re speaker. You have to lead.”

On the other end of the ideological spectrum, a group of conservatives feel like they’ve been boxed in with Rep. ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.), as McCarthy moved to lock her in as Cheney’s replacement. McCarthy’s move to clear the field when others wanted to run for the job has upset some on the right, though Stefanik’s announcement that she would only serve for one term has assuaged some of these concerns.

McCarthy’s move against Cheney has arguably helped his standing with Trump, who was angered by the GOP leader’s initial decision to stand by her. But the former president is still lukewarm on McCarthy, we’re told, and loyalty with Trump often runs only one way.

Of course, the midterms are a long ways away, and helping to lead Republicans back to the House majority could go a long way with his critics. But while Cheney is the one getting canned this week, McCarthy won’t come out unscathed, either.

Good Tuesday morning, and thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

BIDEN’S TUESDAY — The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:30 a.m. Biden will meet virtually with a bipartisan group of governors at 1 p.m. in the South Court Auditorium.

— VP KAMALA HARRIS will meet with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus in the Vice President’s Ceremonial Office at 4 p.m.

— Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at noon.

THE SENATE will meet at 10 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., they will vote on the confirmation of ANDREA PALM to be deputy HHS secretary and a motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of CYNTHIA MARTEN to be deputy Education secretary. If cloture is invoked, they will vote on Marten’s confirmation at 2:30 p.m. The Rules Committee will mark up S. 1, the For the People Act, at 10 a.m. ANTHONY FAUCI, CDC Director ROCHELLE WALENSKY and other health officials will testify before the HELP Committee at 10 a.m.

THE HOUSE will meet at 2 p.m. to take up several bills, most focused on mental health, with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. Speaker NANCY PELOSI will swear in new Rep. TROY CARTER (D-La.) at 2 p.m.

THIS WEEK — First lady JILL BIDEN and JENNIFER GARNER will travel to West Virginia on Thursday to visit an elementary school and a vaccination center, the White House announced.

PLAYBOOK READS

PIPELINE HACK

THE DEETS — “What you need to know about the Colonial Pipeline hack,”by Eric Geller: “The cyberattack that forced the shutdown of the East Coast’s largest gasoline pipeline has prompted fresh questions about the vulnerability of the country’s critical infrastructure to cyberattacks.

“The breach at Alpharetta, Ga.-based Colonial Pipeline is the latest in a series of cybersecurity incidents confronting President Joe Biden’s administration — as well as a high-profile reminder that many of the companies operating the nation’s most basic infrastructure, from dams to power plants, remain unprepared to deal with threats posed by malicious ones and zeroes.”

THE CULPRITS — “The F.B.I. confirms that DarkSide, a ransomware group, was behind the hack of a major U.S. pipeline,” NYT: “The Biden administration is expected to announce an executive order in the coming days to strengthen America’s cyberdefense infrastructure.

“President Biden said on Monday that the government had mitigated any impact the hack on the petroleum pipeline might have had on the U.S. fuel supply. He added that his administration had efforts underway to ‘disrupt and prosecute ransomware criminals.’”

CONGRESS

CANCEL CULTURE EVERYWHERE — “Top female GOP senator compares Cheney ousting to ‘cancel culture,’” The Hill: “Sen. JONI ERNST (R-Iowa), the only woman in Senate Republicans’ elected leadership team, compared efforts to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from leadership to ‘cancel culture,’ and argued that the party should be focused on unifying heading into 2022. ‘I feel it’s OK to go ahead and express what you feel is right to express and, you know, cancel culture is cancel culture no matter how you look at it. Unfortunately, I think there are those that are trying to silence others in the party,’ Ernst told reporters on Monday asked about Cheney’s likely ouster.”

PELOSI’S MOST REBELLIOUS HOUSE DEMOCRAT— “‘I just don’t think they get it’: The ex-Marine who holds Democrats’ Trumpiest district,” by Sarah Ferris: “[Rep. JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine)] has opposed his party on pandemic relief and gun control bills, but supports Medicare for All and the public financing of elections. He voted against policing reform, but backs union rights and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

“Fellow Democrats ‘ask me somewhat curiously, like, “How are things back home?” after a tough vote,’ Golden said in a rare interview given to an outlet outside of his home state. ‘Their assumption is that I’m in some kind of hot water, or in trouble with my base, or that I’m fearful of how this is gonna play in a Trump district.’

“Now in his second term, he has honed an independent streak that keeps his party guessing while winning him solid support in the House’s most expansive district east of the Mississippi River. After getting his start in politics working for GOP Sen. Susan Collins, Golden insists that he’s not a ‘centrist,’ despite the conservative lean of his district.”

CRUZ’S FACEBOOK CASH FLOW — “Ted Cruz bets big on Facebook,” by Theo Meyer: “[Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas)] has plowed more than $240,000 into Facebook advertising since the platform started accepting political ads again two months ago. The only sitting senator who has spent more is Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-Ga.), who forked over $335,000 for ads on the social media giant, according to a POLITICO analysis of Facebook advertising disclosures.

“Republicans say the approach will help Cruz raise dollars online and cultivate and collect email addresses of small dollar donors. And while the investment could pay off in what’s likely to be an expensive Senate re-election bid — Cruz’s 2018 race against BETO O’ROURKE was the second most expensive of the cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics — it also could serve the Texas Republican well if he decides to run for president again, which Cruz has said he hoped to do.”

POLICY CORNER

LAST MAN STANDING — “The Fed chair has an army of Biden fans. Liberal groups have other dreams,” by Victoria Guida and Ben White: “[T]he biggest force standing between Federal Reserve Chair JEROME POWELL and a second term leading the central bank may be an activist left prepared to create a spectacle in the coming months before the critical decision by Biden.

“Some progressive groups are mobilizing against Powell’s reappointment, calling on Biden to pick a more liberal candidate for the country’s most important economic policy job. The groups acknowledge that he has steered the Fed toward promoting ‘broad-based and inclusive’ job gains, a historic shift for the central bank. But they have a litany of complaints: He hasn’t done enough to prepare banks to deal with the financial risks posed by climate change, he has eased regulations on the largest lenders, and he has fallen short on closing the racial wealth gap.

“The Fed appointment will be the most consequential personnel decision left for Biden in his first term.”

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

HOSTILITIES MOUNT IN ISRAEL — “Hamas launches new attack on Israel after Jerusalem clashes,” AP: “The Hamas militant group on Monday launched a rare rocket strike on Jerusalem after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at an iconic mosque, as tensions in the holy city pushed the region closer to full-fledged war.

“Israel responded with airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, where 20 people, including nine children, were killed in fighting. More than 700 Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem and across the West Bank, including nearly 500 who were treated at hospitals. It was a long day of anger and deadly violence that laid bare Jerusalem’s deep divisions, even as Israel tried to celebrate its capture of the city’s eastern sector and its sensitive holy sites more than half a century ago.”

POLITICS ROUNDUP

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The crowded Maryland governor’s race is getting another Democratic candidate: MIKE ROSENBAUM, an entrepreneur from Baltimore, is announcing today. The name might not ring a bell because it’s been a while since he’s been in politics; Rosenbaum previously worked for the State Department and as an economist in the Clinton White House.

Current Republican Gov. LARRY HOGAN is term-limited and is out in less than two years, leaving a wide open race. Rosenbaum joins several other candidates in the Democratic primary, including former Obama education secretary JOHN KING JR. Two names to keep an eye on are former RNC Chair MICHAEL STEELE and former DNC Chair TOM PEREZ, who have both floated runs.

LATEST ON NEW YORK’S MAYORAL RACE — The NYT editorial board Monday evening endorsed KATHRYN GARCIA, a six-year sanitation commissioner for New York City, to be the city’s mayor. The endorsement … ANDREW YANG has lavished praise on Garcia and said he’d want her to serve in his administration, prompting her allies to say New Yorkers should just elect her.

VIRGINIA GOV. WATCH — “Youngkin wins Virginia GOP nomination for governor,” by Zach Montellaro: “GLENN YOUNGKIN, a former CEO at the private-equity firm Carlyle Group, emerged as the victor in Saturday’s firehouse primary after a full day of tabulation of ranked-choice ballots. The second-place candidate, businessman and former political consultant PETE SNYDER, conceded defeat late Monday after the two candidates advanced to a final round of counting in the party’s ‘unassembled convention.’”

MEDIAWATCH

MURDOCH ONCE COURTED OBAMA — A fun nugget from Vanity Fair’s Joe Pompeo’s latest piece on cable news’ post-Trump travails: In August 2008, ahead of the presidential election, RUPERT MURDOCH tried to court BARACK OBAMA over a series of Sunday night phone conversations. Murdoch “had long desired a relationship with a sitting U.S. president of the kind he’s had with leaders in the U.K. and Australia,” Pompeo writes. The 45-minute calls ranged from education to the economy. Apparently Murdoch was smitten, telling Pompeo’s source he was impressed with Obama and “saw the benefits of access to power and what it could mean for his company.” Clearly that style of courtship worked better with the next president, who frequently consulted with Murdoch during his time in office.

UPHEAVAL AT THE APPEAL — “Staff in The Appeal’s Crusading Newsroom Spent Years Fighting Its ‘Cruel’ Culture,” The Daily Beast: “The publication’s editorial staff announced on Monday morning that they were forming an editorial union, partially as a response to what they said was ‘demeaning’ treatment by managers and high turnover, particularly among nonwhite staff. The announcement was public for less than ten minutes before the organization had an announcement of its own: The Appeal would be laying off staff, and many top leaders in its executive suite, including executive director ROB SMITH and its general counsel JAKE SUSSMAN, would be stepping back into advisory roles.”

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

EPSTEIN CHRONICLES — “Palm Beach County’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t corrupt, Florida investigation finds,” Miami Herald: “The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has cleared Palm Beach state prosecutors and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office of any wrongdoing in connection with the lenient criminal prosecution and liberal jail privileges received by sex trafficker JEFFREY EPSTEIN.

“FDLE investigators found no evidence that BARRY KRISCHER, who was the Palm Beach state attorney when the case was investigated in 2005-2006, or his assistant state attorney on the case, LANNA BELOHLAVEK, committed any crimes, accepted any bribes or gifts, or did anything improper in their handling of the case, according to a 24-page summary of the state probe into their actions obtained Monday by the Miami Herald. FDLE’s criminal investigation was ordered by Gov. RON DESANTIS following a series of stories in the Miami Herald, beginning in 2018.”

MISCELLANY

HONORING AMERICA’S CHANGEMAKERS —“Maya Angelou and Sally Ride Will Be Honored on Quarters,” NYT: “Each woman will be honored on the reverse, or tails, side of the coins, which will enter circulation in January as part of the American Women Quarters Program. The heads side of the coin will feature a new design of GEORGE WASHINGTON. [The program] will feature as many as 20 women ‘from a wide spectrum of fields including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts,’ the U.S. Mint said in a statement, adding that the women would be from ‘ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds.’”

D.C. IS HEALING — “Vaccinated but wary, Washingtonians start to emerge from isolation,” WaPo: “Home is still the center of daily life for many, with a preponderance of offices closed and most children attending school via Zoom several days a week. In many neighborhoods, the masked far outnumber those whose faces are bare. But on U Street on a recent Saturday night, the sidewalks were crowded outside Ben’s Chili Bowl and Nellie’s Sports Bar, and there was even a line to get into El Rey, a bar featuring what it touts as a ‘margarita garden.’ … If nothing else, the pandemic inspired a new appreciation for rituals as mundane as shopping for groceries, sitting in a movie theater, and socializing with friends without the threat of contracting a lethal disease.”

PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and his wife, Ann, on a flight from Palm Beach to DCA on Monday.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Best byline in the biz Molly Jong-Fast of The Daily Beast and Vogue signed a book deal with Atria for “The Last Good Time,” which will cover all things ’90s “from the Clintons to ‘Sex and the City’ to the dot.com boom.”

— Jill Biden recorded a message for PBS thanking the network for their work, which will be played during their annual board meeting today. Video

— TRUMP ALUMNI: Dolly Moorhead is now chief product officer at Mediportal Technologies. She most recently was senior adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General.

MEDIAWATCH — Lauren Gardner is now an FDA reporter for POLITICO. She previously was a reporter for POLITICO Canada.

STAFFING UP — Charisma Troiano is now deputy press secretary at the Energy Department. She previously was comms director at Democracy Forward. … Tammy Kupperman Thorp is now director of public affairs for the CIA. She most recently was director of media relations for BAE Systems.

TRANSITIONS — Dean Heyl is now VP of government affairs at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. He most recently was director of the Department of Labor’s Office of Public Liaison. … Brian Montgomery, Hunter Kurtz, Michael Marshall, Keith Becker and Dror Oppenheimer have launched Gate House Strategies LLC, an advisory venture focused on FHA/Ginnie Mae/HUD/Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac compliance and support. They’re all former executives at these agencies. … John Kelly is now SVP for corporate affairs and communications at Roku. He most recently was head of global corporate affairs and social impact at Starbucks and is a Microsoft alum.

ENGAGED — Ben Cavataro, senior associate at Covington & Burling, and Erin Dunne, account supervisor at Levick, recently got engaged. They met at the University of Michigan, and Ben proposed in a quiet park near Erin’s grandmother’s house in Bryn Mawr, Pa., underneath a bright azalea bush. Her grandmother gave him a family diamond to use for the engagement ring. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Karen Skelton … David Castagnetti … WSJ’s Daniel Nasaw … Andrew Binns … GMMB’s Danny Jester … Sarah Schmidt … Sam Mulopulos … Bethany Little … Angie Alfonso-Royals … José Cunningham … Logan Gibson of Booz Allen Hamilton … Patrick Kane of the British Embassy … Microsoft’s Fred Humphries … retired Gen. John Kelly … former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) … former Rep. David Young (R-Iowa) … Brian Walsh … Travis Lumpkin … Alex Dease … Michael Pregent … POLITICO’s Allison Davis and Haley Siddall … Molly Drenkard … MSNBC’s Alex Roberts … State Department’s Chris Landberg … Ian Gray … Garrette Turner … Marissa Astor … Alden Schacher … Shauna Daly … Alex Wagner of the Aerospace Industries Association … Ali Adkins … George Hadijski … Cami Connor … Brandon Lorenz … Tim Daly of Western Union … Austin Cantrell … NBC’s Jo Ling Kent

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