Good morning. It's Friday. President Biden is set to visit South Carolina today with Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.); Omicron is rapidly spreading in the U.S.; and Melania Trump wants you to gift her NFT for Christmas.
On the Hill
BBB negotiations stall in the Senate, could drag into next year
A lump of coal for Christmas? Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill might be going home empty-handed after months of negotiations on their $2 trillion package to overhaul the country's health care, child care, climate, immigration and tax laws before the end of this year.
The pivot from the Build Back Better Act (BBB) to another long-stalled priority earlier this week — reforming the nation's elections and voting laws — foreshadowed the potential for a major political setback.
President Biden himself, seeking to manage expectations Thursday evening, suggested that negotiations could drag into next year.
- “We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead,” Biden said, adding that he and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are “determined to see the bill successfully on the floor as early as possible.”
What happened, in a sentence: “When Senate leaders sought to speed up their efforts entering this week, [Sen. Joe] Manchin [(D-W.Va.)] appeared to double down in his criticism,” our colleague Tony Romm reports.
- “Days of private talks between Manchin and Biden ultimately produced no truce, illustrating instead the widening gap between the moderate lawmaker and many in his party," per Tony. “With so much in limbo, some Democrats appeared newly resigned on Thursday to the growing prospects of another delay, perhaps into next year, in a debate that has already experienced no shortage of them.”
Yet another roadblock popped up for Democrats Thursday night: the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the bill's immigration provisions don't comply with rules of reconciliation, the budget process Democrats are using to pass the bill to evade the threat of a filibuster, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to our colleague Marianna Sotomayor.
Plus, without BBB, the souped-up child tax credit Democrats passed earlier this year will expire on Jan. 1 unless Congress passes standalone legislation to extend it, which the White House ruled out doing on Thursday.
And there are few signs the party is about to “defang the filibuster in order to pass their elections bill via a simple majority, with the party several votes short of changing the Senate rules,” Politico's Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine report.
Still, the House wants the Senate to stick around and figure it out: "The House did our work, and now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs. They must stay in session until Build Back Better is passed," Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told Politico.
Outside the Beltway
We talked with outgoing DGA head and ex-Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham
Eleven Questions for … New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: We chatted with the outgoing chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association about lessons from Virginia, mask mandates and smoking cigars with Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
The Early: What lessons do you think Democratic governors should take from Terry McAuliffe’s loss in Virginia last month as well as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's closer-than-expected reelection race? And what lessons have you taken as you run for reelection yourself?
Lujan Grisham: We'd like a chance to brag about all of the incredible quality of life and economic improvements that we've been making, and following the science and saving lives from covid. But is it being felt by our voters? And have we done enough to bridge gaps between [Democrats’ policy] priorities and how people feel about their opportunities, between rural and urban voters? And are we messaging in a way that gives people a sense of optimism?
The Early: So are you saying this is chiefly a messaging problem?
Lujan Grisham: No. It is a messaging problem and a connection to the people who are really struggling.
The Early: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis defended his move to end his state's statewide mask mandate last week by saying the emergency is over. “You don't tell people to wear a jacket when they go out in winter and force them to [wear it],” he told Colorado Public Radio. “If they get frostbite, it's their own darn fault.” What do you make of his view?
Lujan Grisham: You know, they don't give somebody else frostbite, in that context, when they make that personal decision. It's only about them. And if you had a family who knowingly would not provide warmth and coats purposely for their kids, it would be a child abuse case. So while I would never attack a governor for their reviews of both the science and their state of emergency, analyzing their health care access, I'm the kind of governor that follows the science not just some of the time, but all of the time.
The Early: Who is your closest friend on the other side of the aisle?
Lujan Grisham: I really got to know [former Rep.] Will Hurd [(R-Texas)] when we were working on immigration reform. He is smart, funny, kind, effective, hard-working. I was so impressed by John McCain and by Colin Powell. It pains me that we have lost them both. [When she was in Congress,] I went to Tom Cole's office nearly every morning with breakfast — and he doesn't really eat breakfast — working to get the invitations maybe for a little cigar smoking in the evenings, to talk about long-term care and caregiving.
Edward Lujan was the former chair of the [New Mexico] Republican Party. He’s my cousin. He's the kind of Lincoln, straight-shooting, fair, nothing-but-integrity person who inspires me to work harder and do better and to be inclusive every single day. So I have a lot of Republican friends. My husband was Republican, my late husband. And my fiancé until last year was also Republican. I don't know how you can get more bipartisan than me.
The Early: Speaking of Lujans, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and three other Democratic senators sent a letter to President Biden last month expressing concern that none of the 19 top White House staffers who carry the title assistant to the president are Latino and urging him to hire more senior Latino staffers. Do you think Latino representation in the White House needs to be improved?
Lujan Grisham: I think it can be better, right? It's really important to me to make sure that we keep fighting those fights.
The Early: You told NPR in August of 2020 that you’d give the Democratic Party a C+ if asked to grade its outreach to Latinos. Democrats dramatically underperformed with Latino voters in the 2020 election. Do you think the party’s done enough to fix its problems with Latino voters?
Lujan Grisham: I think it's still a C+ but with a footnote: We don't have the tools and the infrastructure to get to an A. It's not a lot of trying or a lack of understanding. We're gonna have to rebuild these communication systems and these strategic ways in which to reach people where they are.
The Early: What was the last book you finished? And what are you reading now?
Lujan Grisham: Everyone in Santa Fe’s gonna get mad at me but my favorite bookstore is Bookworks in Albuquerque. It was right down the street. I could ride my bike, buy a book and take it home. The last book I read was “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah. And now I'm really interested in reading [former New York Times columnist] Nicholas Kristof’s book, “Tightrope.”
The Early: What do you make of Kristof's campaign for Oregon governor?
Lujan Grisham: I think you better ask the new DGA chair. [Laughs.] I think it's an indication that we've got lots of really great candidates are running all across the country.
The Early: To steal a question that New York magazine used to ask New Yorkers: Who is your favorite New Mexican, living or dead, real or fictional?
Lujan Grisham: I'm gonna go familial. My father, [Llewellyn “Buddy” Lujan], was a well-known dentist. He held his license for one of the longest — if not still the longest — period of time ever. More than 50 years of constant practice. And when I'm out on the campaign trail or doing official work as governor, nine times out of 10 I'm in a community where somebody tells me that my father came to their house and did their dental work for free. He never charged, never billed them and he always made them laugh. He's my favorite.
The Early: New Mexico has expanded early-childhood education and child care assistance programs during your tenure. What would the child care and pre-K provisions in BBB allow you to do that you're not already doing?
Lujan Grisham: Already New Mexico is well on its way to universal child care. Early childhood [education], I already have the funding for every three- and four-year-old. We're two years ahead of schedule. Now I have a way to actually invest in endowing child care, education opportunities. We're already doing it now because Build Back Better's coming. So leap of faith.
The Early: Manchin has pushed repeatedly to cut the number of programs included in the bill and focus on funding the ones that are included for the full 10 years. What is your view on that as a governor? Do you think he has a point?
Lujan Grisham: The notion that you ask people to wait their turn, when we have the ability and resources to meet all of the needs at once, seems to me the way in which we keep dividing the country. New Mexicans want us to address as many of their issues at once as we can, because it builds and protects their families in the way that they deserve. So I disagree with Sen. Manchin and understand his point of view because I've had to work with many that have that point of view.
The Media
Weekend reeeads:
- Migrants in ‘Remain in Mexico’ bemoan confusing process. By The Post’s Arelis Hernández.
- Biden’s stand on Ukraine is a wider test of U.S. credibility abroad. By the New York Times’s Michael Crowley.
- More than 60,000 interpreters, visa applicants remain in Afghanistan. By the Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Donati.
ICYMI, 2021 in review:
- The lasting images of 2021. By Post Staff.
- Stories of the year: A look back at the biggest moments of 2021. By USA Today.
- The 10 best pop-culture moments of 2021. By Vogue’s Michelle Ruiz.
Viral
The bipartisanship we’ve been waiting for
I trust any man old enough to have fought the Bolsheviks.. https://t.co/WszYCgWiGH
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) December 16, 2021
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