The Playbook Podcast

In August, former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and his wife Hilary Geary Ross sold their 10,000-square-foot home in Woodland-Normanstone for $13 million, according to D.C. tax records. It is the most expensive D.C. home sale of the last 12 months. The August deal was shrouded in mystery. The purchaser used an LLC called Salona Village Holdings that concealed their identity. The Rosses are...

Donald Trump has been complaining to members and guests at Mar-a-Lago that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis still hasn’t joined the other 2024 hopefuls in pronouncing that he won’t run for president if Trump runs. And, the toughest trial Rep. Kevin McCarthy faces on his way to becoming House speaker isn’t reclaiming the majority. It’s what comes afterward.” That’s the blunt takeaway from Olivia Beavers’...

Earlier this year, the Biden administration forecast that the annual rate of inflation would be 2 percent. On Wednesday the Labor Department reported that inflation hit 6.2 percent, the biggest spike in prices since 1990, and the news is reverberating across every aspect of American politics.  And, while the reconciliation bill, government funding and the debt limit will all play starring roles in...

We spend a lot of time in the weeds of congressional negotiations on the major legislation President Joe Biden, with some bipartisan help, is slowly moving through the system. At times it has all seemed pretty normal: 69 votes for an infrastructure package in the Senate that was hailed by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a less tidy but still pretty typical process of wrangling Democrats together...

All eyes are on Sean Parnell when he testifies today for the second and final time in an ugly child custody battle with his estranged wife, Laurie Snell. Though Parnell unequivocally denied abusing his wife and children on the stand Monday, the Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania is starting to bleed high-level support, two sources familiar with the matter told Playbook.  The Jan. 6 panel...

Congress is out this week and the Biden administration will spend much of the next few days promoting the benefits of BIF, making the case for the reconciliation bill and pushing parents and schools to get kids vaccinated. So enjoy a brief window of calm in between last week’s Virginia and BIF news and the holiday insanity coming to Congress. The must-read of the day to get prepared for what’s com...

The House adjourned just after 10 p.m. on Thursday night as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team struggled to round up votes to pass the twin infrastructure and Build Back Better bills. Democratic leadership announced the House will be back in session at 8 a.m. and votes would happen today. — One reason for Democrats to be optimistic today: “[M]any in the caucus are set to embark on overse...

Following an embarrassing election night for Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her caucus have redoubled their efforts to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill (BIF) and Build Back Better package (BBB) through their chamber this week. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Wednesday night that both bills could even see a floor vote as soon as today. For now, the GOP sweep in Virginia and...

 New Jersey’s gubernatorial race is still too close to call as you wake up this morning. With 88% of the expected vote in, incumbent Phil Murphy is trailing Republican Jack Ciattarelli by just over 1,000 votes.  President Joe returned from Europe overnight to a Washington where politics has been completely upended since he left six days ago.  Before he departed, Biden told House Democrats, “I don’...

Could prescription drug pricing reform make it into the reconciliation bill after all? Senate and House Democrats and the White House came close to reaching a deal on the issue Sunday, report Burgess Everett, Alice Miranda Ollstein and Heather Caygle. The plan in the works would allow some Medicare negotiations with pharmaceutical companies — but if it comes together, it would still be much narrow...

To say Thursday was a roller coaster for President Joe Biden's agenda wouldn’t do justice to how truly head-spinning the day was. The White House releases a Build Back Better (BBB) deal backed by Manchinema (now they’re getting somewhere) — only to watch Bernie Sanders balk (never mind). The president delays his trip to Europe to rally House Democrats behind his plan — then whiffs, somehow neglect...

A senior White House official recently described the reconciliation negotiations as a “nine-way teeter-totter.” Wednesday was a good example. Ever since Sen. Kyrsten Sinema nixed the party’s plan to raise corporate, capital gains and individual tax rates to pay for the bulk of the reconciliation bill, Democrats have been struggling to re-balance the revenue plank. And, House Majority Whip James Cl...

President Joe Biden was hoping to announce a deal on his legislative agenda before he heads to Europe on Thursday. But it’s Wednesday already, and so far this week, it’s been two baby steps forward, one giant leap backward for Democrats. We’re not saying a deal won’t materialize; odds are it will — eventually. Here’s a look at the state of play. And, A local TV station in Nevada took down a pro-Ca...

President Joe Biden might be finally homing in on a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin, but a sense of discontent is starting to bubble up among progressives on the Hill, and it threatens to impede what the White House hoped would be a big week for the Biden agenda.  As the reconciliation bill’s provisions on Medicare, climate and family leave get watered down — if not axed entirely — progressives who ini...

The next nine days are the most important of Joe Biden’s young presidency: He needs to rescue his legislative agenda in Congress, rescue his party’s political candidates in two states and rescue America’s leadership on climate policy in Scotland. The White House is hoping for a virtuous cycle of developments that will help accomplish all three goals: Securing a deal on the reconciliation bill coul...

Taking questions at a live town hall in Baltimore, Biden got into the nitty-gritty of the reconciliation negotiations, speaking about his mix of frustration with and respect for Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) with surprising candor. He also made some news about the particulars of the bill/framework at this point in time. Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook....

The Joe Manchin news that shook Washington on Wednesday was David Corn’s report in Mother Jones that the West Virginia senator is considering motoring his houseboat out of the Democratic dock: “In recent days, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has told associates that he is considering leaving the Democratic Party if President Joe Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill do not agree to his demand to cut the...

President Joe Biden began pitching lawmakers on an outline for his Build Back Better plan Tuesday night. The proposal, pegged in the range of $1.75 to $1.9 trillion, is far from a done deal: Moderates and progressives will have plenty to say before giving anything their blessing. But Hill Democrats are relieved that Biden is getting his hands dirty after sitting on the sidelines for weeks.  “This...

An unusual confluence of factors have brought back a climate-change fighting policy that many Democrats saw as politically toxic: the carbon tax. While the idea has long been the favored tool of economists (Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is a strong supporter), some Republicans (like Sen. Mitt Romney) and the American Petroleum Institute, the Biden White House has always opposed pricing carbon. T...

Congress returns from recess today with 13 days until Speaker Nancy Pelosi's new Halloween deadline to pass the party’s package of infrastructure and social services legislation. One problem: The latter has yet to be written — or really even outlined. And yet: A series of calls Sunday with sources we trust to give us an honest read on the state of play turned up some genuine optimism they can get...

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser writes that House Democrats have the upper hand over House Republicans in fundraising ahead of the 2022 midterms. A quick look at the numbers: In September: DCCC raised $14.5 million; NRCC raised $12.2 million In Q3 (July-Sept.): DCCC: $35.8 million; NRCC: $25.8 million In the first nine months of 2021: DCCC: $106.5 million; NRCC: $105 million BUT BUT BUT… cash on hand:...

 It’s a story we’ve become all too familiar with since Democrats took control of the House in 2019: Lawmakers issue subpoenas to Trump White House officials — who then stonewall at his behest.   Today, the Jan. 6 committee could find itself hitting the same roadblocks. Steve Bannon and Kash Patel have been subpoenaed for questioning today, and Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino are slated for Friday. Tr...

So what’s the state of negotiations between the White House and Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema? The talks have been shrouded in mystery, but we have some fresh details we can share this morning. More is known about Manchin than Sinema, and for a good reason: While Manchin has been willing to discuss his priorities in detail with his colleagues in the Senate, Sinema only negotiates with the White H...

With the exception of today — when the House briefly returns to clear the Senate-passed, short-term debt ceiling stopgap — Congress is out on recess this week after lawmakers kicked the can on their entire legislative to-do list.   The big question on everyone’s mind right now is this: Will the delay help them get it all done, or just make matters worse?  Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's...

A shouting match erupted on the Senate floor after the vote to delay the debt limit crisis for two months. Sens. John Thune and Mitt Romney confronted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after he lambasted Republicans in a floor speech right after the vote. And, it’s no secret that Trump’s endorsements have been impulsive, and it looks like he jumped the gun again by giving an early nod to Sean P...