POLITICO NIGHTLY: Biden’s unpleasant welcome-home gift

 

BY MICHAEL GRUNWALD Presented by Facebook LEFT HOOK — As President Joe Biden returns from his tense summit with Vladimir Putin to try to cobble together a bipartisan infrastructure agreement, progressive Democrats will greet him with a frustrated message: No Climate, No Deal. These Democrats in Congress see climate change as an emergency for humanity, and while they cheered the clean energy investments in Biden’s $2.5 trillion American Jobs Plan, they’re pressuring him not to sacrifice those climate priorities to secure Republican support for a more modest bricks-and-mortar bill. “There is little appetite in our caucus for an infrastructure plan that ignores the greatest crisis, the most existential crisis that we face,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said last week. This is the headache that awaits the president after he gets back from Europe, and there’s no simple political Excedrin that can relieve it. The climate crisis may be urgent, but like the Covid crisis and the democracy crisis and the border crisis and anything else that politicians deem a crisis, addressing it through legislation requires rounding up the votes. That’s not so easy to do when Democrats have such tiny majorities in Congress. The all-powerful centrist Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been just as adamant about a bipartisan process as Heinrich and other liberals have been about a climate-conscious outcome. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has demanded “an absolute unbreakable guarantee that climate has to be at the center of any infrastructure deal that we cut,” but if Manchin doesn’t want to give that guarantee, there isn’t much that Markey or Biden or anyone else can do about it. The problem, of course, is that climate change is a real crisis. Atmospheric carbon levels just hit the highest level in recorded human history, and the International Energy Agency just warned that humans need to end oil and gas exploration now, sales of fossil-fueled boilers by 2025 and sales of internal combustion engines by 2035 to reach the emissions targets of the Paris accord. The climate didn’t care about congressional gridlock when President Barack Obama failed to pass a climate bill in 2009, and it doesn’t care now. Crises do not have the power to force politicians to solve them. But they do have the power to force politicians to reveal their priorities. President Donald Trump often talked about America’s infrastructure crisis, but it clearly wasn’t a top priority for him or his party, because Republicans never did anything about it when they were in power, despite the Trump administration's series of comically overhyped “Infrastructure Weeks.” By contrast, Trump really did care about his border wall, so much so that when Congress refused to fund it, he diverted billions of dollars from the Pentagon to the wall. Climate is clearly a priority for Biden. He’s set far-reaching climate targets, hired a Dream Team of climate hawks, and made a series of aggressive climate announcements. But it’s not yet clear whether it’s as urgent a priority for him as restoring bipartisanship, or fixing more traditional infrastructure, or indulging Joe Manchin. And no matter how loud the left screams, he might not have a path to a climate bill that doesn’t require him to let the elaborate Washington choreography of bipartisan negotiations play out until Republicans find an excuse to drop out. Then Manchin and other jittery Democrats might agree to pass something green — or at least greenish. Progressives talk a lot these days about learning the lessons of 2009, by which they mean Biden shouldn’t compromise his ambitions the way they think Obama did. But when I interviewed Biden a decade ago about the lessons of 2009, he said the left was crazy to blame Obama for failing to get a bigger stimulus or a more generous health care bill. He thought he and Obama had moved the ball down the field, taking what the defense had given them. He believed they had made things better, and better was better than worse. Perfect wasn't on the menu, so they had tried for good. “Give me a break,” he told me. “I’ve been doing this my whole career. I’m going to say something outrageous: I don’t know anybody who counts votes better than me in the Senate. I love the left saying, Oh, you could’ve done better. Come on. You tell me how you get the votes!” When Biden comes home from Switzerland, he’ll have to try to get the votes again. Whether the bipartisan negotiations on the Hill produce a deal, whether Democrats pursue their own bill that requires only 50 votes, the president won’t get everything he wants for the climate. But it’s quite likely that he’ll get something. And then the left will have to decide whether that’s better than nothing. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. If you’re opening this the second it hits your inbox (and we know you are), go here to tune into the second half of the NYC Democratic Mayoral Debate, co-moderated by POLITICO’s own Sally Goldenberg . We’ll have analysis from our New York team running alongside. Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at mgrunwald@politico.com, or on Twitter at @MikeGrunwald. Programming note: Nightly won’t be publishing Friday, June 18. We’ll be back and better than ever on Monday, June 21. A message from Facebook: The internet has changed a lot since 1996 - internet regulations should too It's been 25 years since comprehensive internet regulations passed. See why we support updated regulations on key issues, including: – Protecting people’s privacy – Enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms – Preventing election interference – Reforming Section 230   AROUND THE WORLD NO CUSSIN’, LIL’ FUSSIN’, SOME BACKTALKIN’ — Aviators and a crystal bison. “Stable and predictable.” Tolstoy quotes. There was a little something for everyone on the shores of Lake Geneva, as the U.S.-Russia summit capped Biden’s European trip. — ‘This is not about trust’: Biden and Putin both described their highly anticipated meeting as an amicable and constructive affair, but they offered few signs of progress in the U.S.-Russia relationship and made clear there was little trust between the two countries, Anita Kumar and Quint Forgey write. At a pair of solo news conferences, Biden and Putin claimed to have gotten along fairly well during their hours of conversation with senior aides. Still, Biden emphasized that only Russia’s future actions would prove whether Putin heard the message the American president traveled to Geneva to deliver. “It was important to meet in person so there could be no mistake about or misrepresentations about what I wanted to communicate. I did what I came to do,” Biden said. “This is not about trust. This is about self-interest and verification of self-interest,” he added, later citing an expression to paraphrase his post-summit outlook: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We're going to know shortly.” — Hack back tack for future cyber whack? Biden said he warned Putin that the U.S. would use offensive cyber operations in the future unless the Kremlin clamps down on cyber strikes against the U.S., including ransomware attacks and election interference. — ‘That’s a ridiculous comparison’: Biden flatly rejected Putin’s attempt to deflect from Russia’s treatment of human rights by pointing out America’s perceived shortcomings at home and abroad. Following the hourslong meeting with Biden, Putin dodged a question about Russia’s jailing and unsparing treatment of political dissidents by pointing to the months of unrest last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. — Paging embassy cleaning crews: The U.S. and Russia said they would return their ambassadors to Moscow and D.C. , respectively, following the summit. The ambassadors’ return was an anticipated topic of discussion at the summit in Geneva. Russia’s U.S. ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, was called back by the Kremlin in March after Biden called Putin a “killer.” The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, left Moscow in April, publicly stating that the reason for his return to the U.S. was “consultations” with American officials. His departure from Russia came after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia and expelled 10 Russian diplomats — and Russia, in turn, expelled 10 U.S. diplomats.   DON'T MISS THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT: POLITICO will feature a special edition of our Future Pulse newsletter at the 2021 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators who are turning lessons learned from the past year into a healthier, more resilient and more equitable future. Covid-19 threatened our health and well-being, while simultaneously leading to extraordinary coordination to improve pandemic preparedness, disease prevention, diversity in clinical trials, mental health resources, food access and more. SUBSCRIBE TODAY to receive exclusive coverage from June 22-24.     FROM THE HEALTH DESK THE MAINSTREAMING OF ANTI-VAXXERS — Before the pandemic, anti-vaxxers were mostly fringe groups, falsely claiming that shots could cause autism in children. Now, Covid culture wars and red state laws to restrict vaccine mandates are reinvigorating the anti-vaccine movement nationwide — and that's a problem for ending the pandemic, Lauren Gardner reports in the latest POLITICO Dispatch. Listen to the latest POLITICO Dispatch podcast       WHAT'D I MISS? — Manchin privately strategizes with GOP on his party's stalled elections bill: As progressives hammer Manchin for opposing Democrats’ ethics and election reform bill, the West Virginian is busy working behind the scenes. Manchin organized a Zoom meeting on Monday with civil rights groups and a handful of Republican senators to discuss his party's proposals on voting rights and policing, both of which are currently stuck in the upper chamber as Democrats search for the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. — DOJ watchdog: Marshals Service has ‘inadequate’ resources to protect judges: The U.S. Marshals Service doesn’t have the resources it needs to keep federal judges safe, according to a new report from an internal watchdog. The agency doesn’t have sufficient capabilities to monitor threats made on social media, the report found, and the home security system it provides for its protectees offers “limited or outdated equipment.” — Senate will vote to repeal Iraq War authorization, Schumer says: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his support for repealing the 2002 war authorization for Iraq , vowing to hold a vote on scrapping the outdated measure later this year. The announcement from Schumer comes as the House is expected to pass Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-Calif.) bill on Thursday that would repeal the 2002 law, which served as the legal basis for several military operations in Iraq. — EU to open up travel to unvaccinated US citizens: Restrictions on travel to Europe from the United States are set to be eased after EU ambassadors reached an agreement on additions to the EU’s approved travel list, national officials told POLITICO. Countries today agreed to expand the list to include the U.S., North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Taiwan and Lebanon, with a formal sign-off expected at the end of the week.   SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.     NIGHTLY NUMBER 25 million The number of interactions involving critical race theory on Facebook, according to a DNC analysis. The academic concept of civil rights scholars was barely a blip on social media in 2020. The increase in interest illustrates how rampant disinformation has become during the Biden era. PARTING IMAGE Eric Adams in Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn. | Mark Ostow for POLITICO Magazine SCENES FROM A SURREAL MAYOR’S RACE — Coming Thursday in POLITICO: For five days, photographer Mark Ostow followed some of the top New York City mayoral contenders as they pressed their case to voters, block by block. His intimate, almost off-the-cuff style, and his knack for catching politicians and the people around them in unguarded moments, seemed perfectly suited to this most unusual campaign — and to capturing every corner of the city, from Broadway to Brooklyn bodegas. This first look for Nightly readers is of Eric Adams, who has topped most recent polls, in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza this past weekend. A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It’s time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges. See how we’re taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations.   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