POLITICO NIGHTLY: Biden's plan is pocked with potholes

 

BY MICHAEL GRUNWALD Presented by PL+US and Paid Leave For All With help from Myah Ward BRIDGES TO NOWHERE — Infrastructure is often described as the ultimate bipartisan policy, so Republican opposition to President Joe Biden’s new $2 trillion infrastructure plan will inevitably be described as the latest proof that bipartisanship is dead. But it’s really just the latest proof that infrastructure has become the ultimate partisan battleground. In fact, bipartisanship is only mostly dead. It’s still possible on low-profile legislation, like the extension of small business assistance that overwhelmingly passed Congress last month. It’s even possible on popular progressive legislation under Republican presidents, like the criminal justice reforms and the $4 trillion worth of Covid relief that President Donald Trump signed into law. It might be possible on some foreign policy issues, too. But it’s probably no longer possible on infrastructure, even though infrastructure is still one of those motherhood-and-apple-pie issues that everyone claims to support. The problem: Democrats and Republicans now have very different ideas of what counts as infrastructure, not only because of their very different political philosophies and policy goals, but because they now live in very different places with very different needs. In general, Republican politics seem to require all-out obstructionism under Democratic presidents, so GOP lawmakers probably wouldn’t support even a GOP-tailored infrastructure bill under Biden. They’ve made it clear they don’t want any deficit spending or any new taxes, which would make it challenging to support any new public works spending. But they almost certainly won’t support the kind of public works spending Biden proposed today in Pittsburgh. As the GOP has increasingly become a party of white families who live spread apart in rural communities and exurbs, Republican lawmakers have increasingly equated infrastructure with new highways that connect rural communities and promote exurban sprawl. Some of them also support dams, drainage projects and rural development programs that help farmers and farm towns. But they see most of what Biden proposed as “Democratic infrastructure,” supporting Democratic policies, Democratic interest groups and Democratic voters who overwhelmingly live close together in racially diverse cities and transit-friendly inner-ring suburbs. It’s true that much of Biden’s plan is not traditional infrastructure. It proposes huge investments in scientific research, clean energy research and medical research — although of course it refers to that spending as “research infrastructure.” It would subsidize electric cars and buses as well as electric “charging infrastructure,” while investing in energy-efficiency upgrades for homes and schools, semiconductor manufacturing, affordable housing, new child care facilities and “community college infrastructure,” more commonly known as “community colleges.” It is supposed to help eliminate racial and gender inequalities in STEM programs and help home health care workers join unions, which arguably doesn’t have much to do with infrastructure. Whether you believe Biden’s rhetoric about his plan helping America compete with China for the industries of the future, or the Republican rhetoric about his plan paying off Democratic unions and sucking up to Democratic voters of color, it’s certainly not a classic asphalt plan. It does call for investments in fixing roads and bridges, but it doesn’t call for new sprawl-inducing roads and bridges, and it focuses far more on new rail lines, better airports and seaports, more bike lanes, more pedestrian-friendly streets and better transit. It even includes $20 billion for dismantling highways that have divided minority communities in cities like New Orleans and Syracuse, undoing the infrastructure of the past. The partisan divide over infrastructure is in one sense a predictable divide over the spoils of government. Democrats want to send money to the metropolitan areas where most economic activity happens and most Democrats live. Republicans want to prop up the nation’s more Republican outskirts. But in our shirts-and-skins political culture where how you vote has become so intricately connected to where you live, infrastructure has really become a fight over how Americans will live in the future. New highways help connect hollowed-out rural areas to the global economy and encourage migration to Republican exurbs. The Biden plan would make cities more attractive by investing in their competitiveness and connectedness. Vibrant cities aren’t just full of Democrats; vibrant cities create Democrats by drawing newcomers into the urban way of life that seems to make Americans feel more positive about diversity and government and other Democratic values. Similarly, propping up rural areas makes it more likely for rural children to become rural adults who seem much more likely to vote Republican. When Republicans fight the Biden bill, they won’t just be fighting investments in blue areas of the country. They’ll be fighting to prevent the blue areas of the country from getting ahead, getting more attractive and converting their kids. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news and tips at mgrunwald@politico.com and rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @mikegrunwald and @renurayasam. A message from PL+US and Paid Leave For All: Over 200 businesses large & small are coming together to urge Congress to pass a national paid leave policy. We can build stronger & more equitable workplaces for families and businesses, securing our nation's economic recovery. More than 8 in 10 Americans support paid leave. And over 75% of businesses agree that paid leave is care infrastructure that can help them weather future public health emergencies and economic crises. See the businesses supporting paid leave.   FIRST IN NIGHTLY WIND’S WINDFALL — Northeastern governors are seeing green when it comes to offshore wind energy. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo boasts of making the Empire State a “global wind energy manufacturing powerhouse.” His New Jersey counterpart, fellow Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, dreams of making his state the “national capital” for offshore wind. And Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, is banking on an offshore wind boom capable of powering his state's net-zero climate ambitions. The only problem: All three governors need help from Washington to realize their goals. Offshore wind has the potential to slash greenhouse gas emissions, create union jobs and breathe billions of dollars into rusting ports along the Atlantic. But the industry and the governors backing it face a series of formidable obstacles ranging from opposition from the fishing community and beach dwellers to logistical challenges like building out port infrastructure and connecting to the Northeast’s collection of aging grids. Offshore wind isn’t just a jobs boon for Northeastern states. It’s the clincher for ambitious policies aimed at tackling climate change and expanding the economy, a solution to the problem of building renewables in a densely populated region where power demand is high but open land is scarce. Success means the Northeast goes from energy buyer to energy supplier.   JOIN THE CONVERSATION, SUBSCRIBE TO “THE RECAST” Power dynamics are shifting in Washington, and more people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. “The Recast” is a new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear from new voices that challenge business as usual. Don’t miss out on our latest newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.     FROM THE HEALTH DESK ALL AGES — Pfizer/BioNTech announced today that their vaccine is 100 percent effective at preventing Covid infection in children between 12 and 15 — suggesting at least one vaccine could be available for middle and high school students before the next school year begins. The companies also launched a global study last week to test the vaccine in children 6 months to 11 years. Still, it will be at least a year before the vaccine is available for all children, Mark R. Schleiss, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota Medical School, told Nightly’s Myah Ward. That shouldn’t keep schools from returning to full in-person learning this fall, as long as mitigation measures like masks and social distancing are in place, said Kristin Moffitt, a physician of infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital. It’s true that most children suffer only mild Covid infections or are asymptomatic, but nearly 300 people under 19 have died from the disease, Moffitt said. “If we were thinking about comparing it to a really, really bad influenza season, we’ve already surpassed what we would see from pediatric influenza deaths in a year,” she said. Doctors have also seen close to 3,000 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children — a Covid-linked illness that causes symptoms like rashes, conjunctivitis and severe abdominal pain. Once a vaccine is approved for children, convincing hesitant parents to give their kids a shot is the next big hurdle. The excitement and relief you feel when older people are vaccinated are unlikely to be there when it’s time to vaccinate children, said Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. And because Covid hasn’t hit children as hard as it attacked older adults, parents may not rush to get their kids vaccinated. That’s a problem, Faust said. The longer this virus has to circulate and use children as a vector, the greater chance we face a new, more dangerous variant that could evade adult vaccines, or even cause severe infections in children.       WHAT'D I MISS? — Democrat drops election contest in Iowa House race: Rita Hart, a former state senator, said today she is withdrawing her contest with the House Administration Committee , which she had asked to review the November election. Hart argued that roughly two dozen ballots were improperly rejected by local officials and would have flipped the result. — J&J subcontractor ruins 15 million vaccine doses: Future shipments of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine will be delayed after one of its subcontractors ruined 15 million doses at a Baltimore factory over the last several weeks, according to two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation. J&J had hired the company, Emergent BioSolutions, to manufacture the active ingredient, or drug substance, of the vaccine at its plant in West Baltimore. Workers at the facility mistakenly mixed ingredients for the J&J vaccine with those of another manufacturer’s coronavirus shot, according to the two officials. — Reversing Trump, Pentagon releases new transgender policy: The new department regulations allow transgender people who meet military standards to enlist and serve openly, and they will be able to get medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law, Pentagon officials said. — Cuomo signs bill legalizing adult-use, recreational marijuana in New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to create the country’s second-largest recreational marijuana market. With the governor’s endorsement of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, New York joins 16 other states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts, that have embraced full legalization. — Russia’s Navalny on hunger strike in prison: In a statement posted today on Instagram, opposition leader Alexi Navalny complained about prison authorities’ refusal to give him the right medicines and to allow his doctor to visit him behind bars. ASK THE AUDIENCE Nightly asks you: We want to hear from people experiencing anxiety about heading into post-pandemic life. Maybe you’re an introvert nervous about returning to the office, or maybe you’re broadly concerned about large social situations. Or maybe you’ve never struggled with social anxiety before and are about to face a new challenge. Tell us what you’re thinking in our form. We’ll share a few responses in our Friday edition. THE GLOBAL FIGHT THE FRENCH SHUT DOWN, AGAIN — Lockdown-like restrictions will apply across France and schools will be closed for three weeks in April in an attempt to contain the coronavirus , French President Emmanuel Macron announced this evening. “You know we have done everything to make these decisions as late as possible,” said Macron, addressing the nation on television. “These last few weeks, we have faced a new deal,” he added, referring to the spread of new variants. “We have a entered a race [between] on the one side the deployment of vaccination [and] on the other the spread in all of Europe of a new form of virus,” he said, referring to the variant originating in the U.K., which he called “an epidemic within the epidemic.” NIGHTLY NUMBER 96 percent The rate of decline in new Covid cases among nursing home residents since the peak during the week of Dec. 20, according to recent CMS data referenced in a new American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living report.   JOIN PLAYBOOK FOR A CONVERSATION WITH RON KLAIN ON THURSDAY : The Biden administration is full speed ahead with an ambitious vaccination timeline, the deployment of $1.9 trillion in pandemic relief, and a multitrillion dollar infrastructure plan. But the White House is also dealing with a mounting crisis at the border, the aftermath of back-to-back mass shootings, and a looming showdown over the Senate filibuster. Join Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza for a conversation with White House chief of staff Ron Klain to discuss Biden's agenda in the coming months and how the administration plans to address the challenges facing the nation. REGISTER HERE.     PARTING WORDS GAETZ RUNS THE TRUMP PLAYBOOK — A person in serious legal jeopardy tends to, per their lawyer’s advice, shut up. Matt Gaetz is handling his current problems a little differently, Kyle Cheney and Matt Dixon write. Trying to deflect from the threat of a federal criminal investigation for potential trafficking of a minor, Gaetz raced to Twitter, Fox News and other outlets seeking maximum exposure — a flood-the-zone approach reminiscent of Trump’s strategy for talking his way through scandal. And so the GOP congressman from Florida, to the bewilderment of legal experts, made himself unavoidable for comment as the threat to his political career began to metastasize. “My hope is that the truth will set me free, so I’m trying to get as much truth out as possible,” Gaetz, who represents a Florida panhandle district, said in an interview today. It’s an unorthodox strategy that former prosecutors and defense attorneys described as dubious and perhaps even counterproductive, since Gaetz’s interviews this week risk handing fodder to prosecutors as they build a possible trafficking case against him. But Gaetz’s path, they said, is well-worn by politicians who are more concerned about the court of public opinion than the courtroom — none more visibly than the former president whose politics Gaetz has championed. “It would seem to me that he is digging himself a deeper hole,” David Weinstein, a former assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of Florida, said of Gaetz. “His statements yesterday seem to have given credence to the allegations, not defeated them.” A message from PL+US and Paid Leave For All: Large & small businesses are coming together in an unprecedented effort to urge Congress to pass paid family and medical leave as part of the next recovery package. This crisis has provided a unique opportunity to build stronger and more equitable workplaces for working families and businesses, while investing in our nation’s economic recovery. We cannot emerge from this pandemic and remain one of only two countries in the world with no form of national paid leave. We need a policy that is inclusive and protects all businesses and working people equally. Paid leave is care infrastructure that contributes to greater stability and viability for our businesses and a stronger recovery for our country collectively. Join the the businesses supporting paid leave including Diageo North America, Levi Strauss & Co, Pinterest, Salesforce, Atalassian, Spotify, Nextdoor, Patagonia, Danone, Stitch Fix, Eventbrite, Etsy Inc, Lime, Rent the Runway, Thumbtack, Sunrun and +190 more.   Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA