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DRIVING THE DAY
SABADO GIGANTE — With just over 12 hours until the government shuts down, House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY is attempting a massive pivot this morning — giving up on his strategy of trying to placate the hard-right rebels in his ranks and instead looking to keep the government open temporarily with Democratic votes.
The latest plan … At the end of a chaotic conference meeting, McCarthy announced the House will vote shortly on a 45-day continuing resolution that would also include $16 billion in disaster aid and extensions for the FAA and the National Flood Insurance Program, but not funding for Ukraine. It will be offered under suspension of the rules, meaning it will need a two-thirds majority for passage. Read the new CR
The implications … McCarthy will likely need scores of Democrats to come along to pass the bill and keep the government open. That appears to be very much up in the air: While Democrats will like that previously negotiated spending levels will remain in place and disaster funding will move, they won’t like Ukraine funding getting left behind after a series of bipartisan votes for it.
The dare … The bipartisan pivot means that McCarthy’s hard-liner foes will be pressed to make good on their threats to attempt to remove him as speaker. “If somebody wants to remove [me] because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” McCarthy said this morning, adding: “If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that.”
The day ahead … The Senate is expected to vote on its own CR — one that includes Ukraine aid — around 1 p.m. But if the House can manage to pass its bill, expect to see an effort to fast-track that bill in the other chamber. With Sen. RAND PAUL (R-Ky.) already indicating he’d be willing to allow quick consideration of a stopgap without Ukraine aid, there is a real possibility a shutdown could be averted.
Stay up to the minute at Inside Congress Live
Now, two scoops for you this morning:
SCOOP: PELOSI’S WARNING ON McCARTHY — With a possible vote to oust McCarthy now looking more likely than ever, expect a ton of attention on whether House Democrats would step in to help save his gavel.
Among those with strong opinions is his predecessor, NANCY PELOSI.
The former speaker, we’re told, has warned her colleagues — including Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES and some in his new leadership team — against rushing to bail out a man whom she argues can’t be trusted. Instead, she’s counseled, Democrats should let Republicans deal with the drama themselves.
Pelosi’s position will not surprise veteran Hill watchers. She’s long had a frosty relationship with McCarthy, who once joked about hitting her in the head with her own speakership gavel.
But Democrats say the ultimate decision about whether to engage will belong to Jeffries, who has yet to weigh in on the question of what Democrats should do if a motion to remove McCarthy is called. Customarily, the minority party acts to elect one of its own as speaker. But Democrats could sit on their hands in this case and deny GOP rebels the votes they need to follow through with an ouster.
Pelosi spokesperson AARON BENNETT said the former speaker “has always said that every Member should follow the direction of our Leader, Hakeem Jeffries.”
Jeffries, who so far has dismissed questions about the situation as hypothetical, has privately told his leadership team that Democrats should stick together on the matter, whatever they decide, we’re told.
While some Democrats have explored whether there’s some agreement to be had, others told Playbook they’re with Pelosi: Jeffries shouldn’t go make any deals with a Republican who almost single-handedly helped resurrect DONALD TRUMP after the Jan. 6 riot, reneged on the bipartisan spending caps deal with the White House and is now trying to impeach President JOE BIDEN.
“Not if he wants to be speaker,” as one senior Democratic aide said.
Related read: “Matt Gaetz is reaching out to Dems about a McCarthy ouster,” by Olivia Beavers, Sarah Ferris, Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu
SCOOP: REPUBLICANS TURN ON COMER — After a dud of a first impeachment hearing Thursday, some House Republicans are pushing to take the Biden inquiry away from House Oversight Chair JAMES COMER (R-Ky.) and put it in the hands of Judiciary Chairman JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio), Playbook has learned.
“People are just not happy,” a senior GOP aide said, adding that Jordan, on the other hand, “been tested on this stuff” because he led Republicans through Trump’s impeachments.
Among those griping are a crop of hardliners — including Oversight member LAUREN BOEBERT (R-Colo.) and Gaetz, who sits on Judiciary — who spent much of Thursday night complaining to colleagues that two of Comer’s witnesses testified that they did not yet see evidence of Biden committing high crimes and misdemeanors. A broader group has been vexed by Comer’s decision to hold a hearing with outside experts, not fact witnesses with new Biden bombshells.
“I wasn’t thrilled with the witnesses,” Boebert acknowledged to Playbook, adding that she thinks the Oversight Committee will improve.
Some Republicans aren’t sure they should be given a chance. They argue not only that Jordan is more experienced, but that the Judiciary panel is a better home for the probe. “It’s just a place that impeachment inquiries have traditionally gone,” said Rep. DAN BISHOP (R-N.C.), a Judiciary member pushing for a Jordan takeover.
Comer’s office declined to comment, though a person defending him said Jordan approved of the witnesses in a meeting last week. Another Republican refuted that, saying Comer’s staff merely told other GOP investigators who would be appearing without getting input from other panels.
“Chairman Comer and his staff are doing a great job,” said Jordan spokesman RUSSELL DYE in a statement.
Beyond the hearing, Comer’s critics have seized on two broader strategic errors:
— They worry Comer has set the bar for impeaching Biden too high by suggesting Republicans must prove that the president personally benefited from his family’s foreign business dealings. There’s a fear that Republicans will never uncover such evidence, if it even exists.
Some GOP investigators have privately encouraged Comer to shoot for a lower threshold: merely proving that Biden engaged in an “abuse of power” by showing that he knew his family was trading off his name and did nothing about it. But Comer, we’re told, hasn’t been willing to go there.
“People’s perception is that Comer doesn’t really take counsel,” a second senior GOP aide said.
— Republicans also have grumbled about what one senior GOP aide called a “disaster of a press strategy” — which has been heavily reliant on feeding exclusives to Fox News that have been frequently ignored by other national outlets.
Rather than catering to conservative viewers who already approve of Biden’s impeachment, Comer’s critics say investigators should be engaging more strategically to give their case credibility with a more skeptical audience.
“The conservative press will write whatever you want them to write — why would you go there first?” said the second GOP aide. “Mainstream media reporting gives credibility to the narrative.”
The ultimate decision belongs to leadership, and senior GOP aides cautioned that it’s unlikely McCarthy would bless a move against Comer — particularly because MAGA members on Oversight such as MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) won’t want to be sidelined.
In any case, Republicans privately agree a “reset” needs to happen
McCarthy’s office said in a statement that “the Speaker has full confidence in all three chairmen who are working together to get to the truth regarding the culture of corruption surrounding President Biden.”
Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
More shutdown reads:
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY
On the Hill
The House and Senate are in. The Senate is meeting at noon to resume consideration of the continuing resolution.
At the White House
President JOE BIDEN and VP KAMALA HARRIS have nothing on their public schedules.
PLAYBOOK READS
9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US
1. THE GOLD STANDARD: Despite all of the in-depth details in the indictment against Sen. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.), the case may “ultimately hinge on something far less flashy: the Supreme Court’s increasingly narrow view of the nation’s anti-corruption laws,” our colleague Erica Orden writes from New York. “In recent years, a string of Supreme Court rulings has severely curtailed what counts as public corruption. Now, Menendez is hoping the court’s new legal landscape will help save him.”
Moving right along: “For Biden, Menendez’s Troubles May Clear Foreign Policy Roadblocks,” by NYT’s Michael Crowley and Karoun Demirjian: “From Latin America to the Middle East, Mr. Menendez has long been among the most hawkish Democrats on Capitol Hill, and never afraid to oppose or criticize members of his own party on issues he holds dear. His replacement as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator BEN CARDIN, Democrat of Maryland, has been vague about his plans but is closer personally to Mr. Biden and likely to be more accommodating of his agenda.”
And FYI: Rep. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-N.J.) will not run for Menendez’s Senate seat, Punchbowl reports. She is widely expected to launch a bid for the governor’s mansion.
2. SCOTUS’ STANDING: The Supreme Court is coming back for a new term on Monday, facing far more public scrutiny than ever before amid an ongoing string of reports highlighting the murky ethics that the justices have invited. “A new POLITICO | Morning Consult poll shows three-in-four voters want the justices bound to an ethics code, the most popular reform proposal in the survey,” Steve Shepard writes. “In addition to the 75 percent of voters — a bipartisan consensus of 81 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of independents — who support a binding ethics code, roughly two-thirds of voters support term limits for the justices (68 percent).”
3. THE TRUMP TRIALS: Special counsel JACK SMITH is renewing his effort to institute a gag order in the federal election interference case against Trump, arguing in a court filing yesterday that the former president has mounted “a sustained campaign of prejudicial public statements regarding witnesses, the Court, the District, and prosecutors,” NBC’s Zoë Richards writes. The judge in the case has scheduled an Oct. 16 hearing to discuss a gag order. In the same filing, prosecutors also wrote that Trump “may have broken the law if he bought a handgun at a recent campaign stop in South Carolina,” as a recent video suggests, WaPo’s Spencer Hsu and Devlin Barrett write.
4. THE GEORGIA INVESTIGATION: “First Trump co-defendant pleads guilty in Fulton election case,” by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman: “Bail bondsman SCOTT HALL on Friday became the first defendant in the Fulton County election interference case to take a plea agreement with prosecutors, signaling the probe has entered a dynamic new phase. During an impromptu hearing before Fulton Superior Court Judge SCOTT McAFEE, Hall, with his attorney by his side, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties.”
Related read: “Federal judge sends four Trump defendants back to Fulton County court,” by the AJC’s Tamar Hallerman and Chris Joyner
Meanwhile in New York: “‘Fantasy world’: Donald Trump faces New York trial Monday for damages after judge finds fraud in real estate empire,” by USA Today’s Bart Jansen
5. WHAT THE DOCTORS ORDERED: “Science vs. ‘wokeism’: The growing tensions between the doctors’ lobby and the GOP,” by Daniel Payne: “The rift over social issues is threatening to undercut the American Medical Association’s clout on the bread-and-butter health care issues it typically lobbies on — such as how much doctors should get paid by Medicare, which the GOP-led House is planning to debate this fall. And it’s tainting the AMA’s relationship with one group it’s long been able to rely on as a staunch ally: Republican lawmakers who are doctors.”
6. OPIOID FILES: “When a Drug Crisis Collides With the Campaign Trail,” by NYT’s Jennifer Medina: “In dozens of interviews with people on the front lines of the fight against fentanyl, a sense of abandonment is pervasive. Many said they believed the federal government did too little to stop the epidemic from happening and that it continues to do too little to try to bring it under control. The candidates’ talk of blockades and military intervention is met with cynicism and a deep distrust that their government can find solutions.”
7. ANOTHER KIND OF INNOVATION HUB: “The MAGAmerican dream lives in Sarasota,” by WaPo’s Kara Voght: “Distrust breeds demand for alternatives. And Sarasota County, a strip of neon sunsets and white sand beaches along the Gulf Coast of Florida, has become a mini-hub for entrepreneurs who are in the business of meeting that demand.”
8. ONE TO WATCH: “Biden campaign to air ad aimed at Black voters during college football game,” by ABC’s Brittany Shepherd: “The 30-second ad, titled ‘Get Ahead,’ is part of the campaign’s big ticket $25 million investment, which includes the largest and earliest re-election ad-buy any campaign has placed in Hispanic and African American media outlets. A source familiar with planning tells ABC News the Biden campaign intends to pepper those advertisements throughout news, entertainment and sports adjacent programming, including the NFL, NBA and NCAA programming in select markets.”
9. FOR THOSE KEEPING TRACK: “Former ABC News journalist gets 6-year sentence in child pornography case,” by WaPo’s Salvador Rizzo
CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 15 funnies
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:
— “How to Quit Smoking When You’re Really, Really Good at It,” by Annie Hamilton for GQ: “New York City writer Annie Hamilton’s fear of cigarettes is beginning to gain on her love of them, so she packed a box of nicotine-free vapes and flew to LA to experiment with (relatively) clean living.”
— “The Dysfunctional Superpower,” by Robert Gates for Foreign Affairs: “Can a Divided America Deter China and Russia?”
— “The Outsiders: Why Black Audiences Love Italian American Screen Icons,” by Vanity Fair’s Morgan Jerkins: Tony Montana. Michael Corleone. Rocky Balboa. Beloved film tropes illuminate a history of race, whiteness, and the fallacy of the American dream.”
— “The Villa Where a Doctor Experimented on Children,” by The New Yorker’s Margaret Talbot: “As a girl in Austria, Evy Mages was confined to a mysterious institution in Innsbruck. Decades later, she learned why.”
— “Got Plastic With a No. 2 Recycling Symbol? Beware a Toxic Problem,” by Bloomberg’s Esmé Deprez: “A little-known American company has been giving plastic a special touch called fluorination for 40 years. After the EPA discovered treated containers can leach “forever chemicals,” the company refused to stop.”
— “‘We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world,” by The Guardian’s Stephen Buranyi: “When a microbe was found munching on a plastic bottle in a rubbish dump, it promised a recycling revolution. Now scientists are attempting to turbocharge those powers in a bid to solve our waste crisis. But will it work?”
— “Battling a Cartel in a Horrifying Quest to Find Her Daughter,” by NYT’s Azam Ahmed: “Karen Rodriguez was kidnapped by Mexico’s Zeta cartel. Her mother would stop at nothing to find out exactly what happened to her.”
— “Finding My Roots,” by Henry Louis Gates Jr. for the NY Review of Books: “The storytellers who taught me over the course of my career all knew how to bring Black history vividly to life.”
— “A Southern Rebellion in 1948 Almost Threw American Democracy into Disarray,” by Jeff Greenfield for POLITICO Magazine: “The 1948 presidential election almost became a constitutional crisis.”
— “Possibilities & Probabilities,” by Bruce Mehlman: “A dozen questions about the next thirteen months.”
PLAYBOOKERS
OUT AND ABOUT — At the Congressional Football Game at Audi Field on Thursday night, the Capitol Police officers retained the trophy, beating the members of Congress 16-14 after going ahead on a pass interference call in the final seconds of the game. The game had its largest attendance ever and raised nearly $500,000 for charity. SPOTTED: VA Secretary Denis McDonough, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Don Davis (D-N.C.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Ken Harvey, John Booty, Jason Wright, Joe Maloney, Josh Norman, Gus Frerotte, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, Jim Davis, Pete Spiro, Tasha Cole, Ken Edmonds, Jamie Gillespie, Bret Manley, Matt Van Blargan, Blair Gladding, Lyndon Boozer, Bill Sells, Joe Harris, Frank Girardot, Fred Sottnick, James Farrell, Paul Swartz, Ryan Eaton, Jimi Grande, Alex Gleason, Bill Taylor, Scott Greenblatt, Brian Johnson, Shawn Friesen and Doug Williams.
— SPOTTED at Latino Victory Project’s Hispanic Heritage Month reception in D.C.: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Luis Miranda Jr., Sindy Benavides, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Cristóbal Alex, Erika Gonzalez-Reyes, Shekar Narasimhan, Veronica Duron, Maria Cardona, Majo Urbina, Silvina Alarcón, Johanny Adames, Estuardo Rodríguez, Luisana Pérez Fernández, Francisco Pelayo and Adrian Saenz.
MEDIA MOVE — Will Federman is now VP of audience content and strategy at The Hill. He previously was senior director of AP News. The announcement
TRANSITION — Frederick Hill is returning to the House Oversight Committee as senior adviser. He previously was managing director at FTI Consulting.
WEDDING — Carlos Paz Jr. and Abigail Diaz, via NYT: “Mr. Paz [is] the chief of staff for Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat from California … She is currently a customer adviser at Amazon Business. … They married Sept. 1 at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House in Houston.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) … NPR’s Ari Shapiro … Nate Tibbits of Qualcomm … WaPo’s Perry Bacon Jr. … POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg, Brendan MacArthur and Josh Sisco … Greg Mecher of FTI Consulting (47) … Edelman’s Emily Lippard … AT&T’s Lin Whitehouse … Mike Henry of Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-Va.) office … Tom Johnson … Harrison Fields of Rep. Byron Donalds’ (R-Fla.) office … Bobby Donachie … Maggie Rousseau Sunstrum of Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-Ore.) office … former Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) … Craig Minassian of the Clinton Foundation and Minassian Media … Victor Melara of Leidos … Courtney Sanders Felts of the U.S. Chamber … Kodiak Hill-Davis … Jeff MacKinnon … Bradley Akubuiro of Bully Pulpit Interactive … WSJ’s Steve Russolillo … Shawn VanDiver … Slingshot Strategies’ Alyssa Cass … Sue Andres
THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):
ABC “This Week”: OMB Director Shalanda Young … Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) … Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.). Panel: Donna Brazile, Sarah Isgur, Rick Klein and Rachael Bade.
CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) … Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) … Mark Esper … Diane Swonk.
CNN “State of the Union”: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). Panel: David Urban, Mia Love, Jamal Simmons and Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.).
CNN “Inside Politics Sunday”: Panel: Amy Walter, Seung Min Kim, Melanie Zanona and Jeff Zeleny.
FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) … Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) … Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Nikki Haley. Panel: Julia Manchester, Jason Rantz, Kevin Roberts and Juan Williams.
MSNBC “Inside with Jen Psaki”: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Michael Cohen.
Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producer Bethany Irvine.
