Voting rights advocates keep heat on Biden

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Jan 21, 2022 View in browser   By Eugene Daniels, Alex Thompson and Max Tani Presented by Walmart Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max Civil rights leaders and advocates have a new message for the Biden administration: get moving on some new executive actions on voting rights and police reform — and do it now. Rev. AL SHARPTON says civil rights leaders are planning to formally ask for a meeting with President JOE BIDEN on both of those issues, as paths to legislative fixes on both were all but cemented closed after failing to advance in the Senate. "With police reform, I'm waiting to see what his executive orders do but there's been no movement really on that. He still has to strive to keep a lot of the commitments he made, particularly to the Black community," Sharpton told our colleague LAURA BARRÓN LÓPEZ. "I look for him to be aggressive on voting rights. I look for him to be aggressive on police reform." Leaders have met with the White House (including with Biden) multiple times and say Biden's team has been "very responsive" in the past when they've requested meetings. And, sure enough, the White House says it's listening. The administration "is going to do another executive order on policing," CEDRIC RICHMOND, senior adviser to the president, said in an interview on the Playbook Deep Dive podcast Thursday. "We have the ability to do some things but some things you can only do through legislation, an act of Congress. We're acting from the executive branch [on policing], so with federal law enforcement, we ban chokeholds, we limited no-knock warrants. We mandated body cameras." A source familiar with the executive order says that the White House has been meeting with civil rights leaders and police reform advocates as they formulate the EO and that it's coming "soon." The White House hasn't released details of what the executive order would address. It's been five months since negotiations on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act crumbled in Congress. Sens. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) and CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) and Rep. KAREN BASS (D-Cali.) couldn't reach a deal on key sticking points, mainly on whether to reform qualified immunity, a legal shield that protects police officers. The issue was eventually taken off the table. But a slimmed down version of the legislation still failed to gain agreement. At the time, Booker told reporters, "The effort from the very beginning was to get police reform that would raise professional standards, police reform that would create a more transparent way, one that would create accountability and we were not able to come to agreements on those three big areas." Ever since that failure, advocates have been waiting for the administration to do more on the issue. Leaders know the White House has only so much power to shape policing policy, and are looking for more aggressive actions and lawsuits from the Department of Justice against states that pass restrictive voting measures. The department, said MELANIE CAMPBELL , Chief Executive Officer of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, must "monitor these elections as they play out to really focus in the state and escalate the pushback on the state level." A DOJ official said that the department doesn't typically preview enforcement actions. "The Department of Justice is committed to making sure that all eligible voters can cast a vote; that all lawful votes are counted; and that every voter can cast a ballot free from discrimination and harassment," DOJ, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division KRISTEN CLARKE said on Monday, "That's why we sued to stop Texas' Senate Bill 1 which impairs the rights of Black and Latino voters, and why we will keep fighting to make sure everyone can vote, all those votes are counted, and the results of those votes are honored." Civil rights leaders are also hoping the administration works to follow up voting rights executive orders, cognizant that they're the main vehicle for reform now that legislation is blocked from going to Biden's desk. The EOs — on voting rights and policing — have to have teeth, they stress. "I am supportive of executive orders that are substantive, I'm not supportive of executive orders that are symbolic," MARC MORIAL , president of the National Urban League said. "They've got to keep this issue elevated and they've got to continue to use the bully pulpit. They cannot let this fall into a second tier issue. The president's got to use his power to continue to educate the people about the importance of voting rights. We think that the president, the vice president, should be talking about democracy every week." SEND YOUR HOT TAKE — We want to incorporate more of your feedback. Is there something we missed in today's edition? Do you have a tip to share or a thought on our coverage? Send us an email or text and we will try to include your feedback in the next day's edition. Can be anonymous, on background, etc. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com or you can text/Signal Alex at 8183240098 or Max at 7143455427. Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you MAJU VARGHESE?   A message from Walmart: Walmart pharmacies have a proven track record in expanding access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing. Recently, the retailer announced that select Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies are ready to receive and dispense the FDA-authorized COVID-19 antiviral medications, Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, as supplies allow. Learn more about Walmart's COVID-19 relief efforts.   POTUS PUZZLER From the University of Virginia's Miller Center Which president often posed before the cameras dressed in farmer overalls, a cowboy hat and chaps, and an Indian headdress? (Answer at the bottom.) Cartoon of the Week Cartoon | Matt Wuerker It's cartoon feature Friday! This one is courtesy of our very own MATT WUERKER. He also publishes a selection of cartoons from all over the country. View the cartoon carousel here. The Oval FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK — DAVID WHITE has returned to the White House's Presidential Personnel Office to be the new lead for national security personnel and will become a special assistant to the president, three people familiar with the matter told DANIEL LIPPMAN. He most recently was a senior adviser at the National Security Council where he worked on Operation Allies Welcome. THOMAS ZIMMERMAN is heading to NASA to be a senior adviser. He most recently led the Nat Sec portfolio at PPO. HALF-BRIEFING: The White House briefing room is going to remain socially distanced for a bit longer. The briefing room was set to return to its regular cramped full capacity on Monday, but in an email Friday afternoon, the organization said it was pushing back the deadline just a bit longer, as the White House itself continues to cap the limits on the number of people in meetings amid a wave of Omicron-fueled Covid infections in D.C. KLAIN RETWEET OF THE DAY: This KIRSTEN POWERS tweet: "My @CNNOpinion piece today. An apparently unpopular opinion: Joe Biden isn't failing or flailing." Here's the piece. EXITING: MAJU VARGHESE , the COO of the Biden campaign and current director of the White House Military Office, is leaving, CNN first reported. TRANSITION: The White House's research director, MEGAN APPER, is moving to the State Department as a senior adviser in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs, National Security Daily scooped. DEFINE "CHUNK": Speaking on "The View," press secretary JEN PSAKI tried to clarify Biden's comments this week about dividing the BBB bill into "chunks." Her spin: "When the president says chunks he means like a mountain-sized chunk, everything we can possibly get in this bill to be in the bill." Still sounds kinda gross. THE BUREAUCRATS DEEP STATE SUBSTACKER — JOEY POLITANO, a young analyst at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Substacker we profiled the other week, appeared on Vox's podcast, "The Weeds." We take royalty payments, Joey. Filling the Ranks NEW COP ON A STAGNANT BEAT— The White House announced on Friday that Biden is nominating a former lawyer for STACEY ABRAMS for a commissioner role with the Federal Election Commission, the government's campaign finance watchdog. The president is tapping DARA LINDENBAUM, Abrams' former general counsel and a former lawyer on MARTIN O'MALLEY's 2016 campaign, to join the six-member FEC board, which is charged with enforcing campaign finance laws and issuing opinions for candidates seeking federal offices. Agenda Setting THE BIG KLAIN THEORY— The president's chief of staff, RON KLAIN, finds himself under the microscope today with a pair of articles about his tenure. Our colleagues CHRIS CADELAGO, Laura Barrón-López and SAM STEIN reported one of those pieces (NBC has the other ), which details, among other things, concerns from the Hill and White House allies that Klain has proven too captive to the left and allowed negotiations over the president's agenda to get bogged down because of it. White House aides pushed back on the notion, noting that the moderate elements of their platform are currently law of the land and the social spending components remain unfinished. But we also got an interesting response from a centrist lawmaker, one not known for being a close Klain ally. Rep. JOSH GOTTHEIMER 's office sent Chris the following statement from the New Jersey Democrat: "I spoke and met with Ron regularly over the last year as we all worked together to pass meaningful legislation, including the bipartisan infrastructure bill." WUT? CDC Director ROCHELLE WALENSKY told reporters today that they aren't altering the meaning of "fully vaccinated" but they are "pivoting the language" around vaccination to encourage people to be "up to date." She explained that "If you are eligible for a booster and you haven't gotten it, you're not up to date."   A message from Walmart:   What We're Reading Trump appointee blocks Biden federal worker vaccine mandate (AP) Biden administration's No. 2 climate diplomat is leaving (NYT's Lisa Friedman) Cyber experts question Biden's tit-for-tat approach with Russia (Cyberscoop's AJ Vicens) What We're Watching First in West Wing Playbook: ANTONY BLINKEN will be on NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET. He will also be on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET. MEHDI HASAN will make his debut as a fill-in host for RACHEL MADDOW on Friday at 9 p.m. ET. Where's Joe Biden met virtually with Japan Prime Minister FUMIO KISHIDA in the morning. He delivered remarks on supply chain management and the administration's efforts to "make more in America," alongside Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO. The president also spoke at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting at the Capital Hilton, before leaving the White House to head to Camp David. Where's Kamala She and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF traveled from Washington, D.C. to San Bernardino, Calif. this morning. Harris attended a wildfire briefing at the Forest Service Del Rosa Fire Station, alongside Agriculture Secretary TOM VILSACK . She and Vilsack also delivered remarks on the bipartisan infrastructure package and how funds will aid wildfire efforts. She heads to Los Angeles this evening. The Oppo Book In grade school, climate envoy JOHN KERRY played bass guitar in a rock band dubbed "The Electras," named after Buick's Electra car. The band, formed in the 1960's, even produced a record and created nearly 500 copies of it — the price of which skyrocketed to over $2,000 when he ran for president back in 2004. JACK RADCLIFFEE, a fellow member of the band, told the AP 2004 that he and Kerry "were probably the best musicians," in the group, though he added that Kerry's "beat wasn't great for a bass player." Oof. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER CALVIN COOLIDGE. Coolidge thoroughly enjoyed what we call the "photo op;" he was an incredibly visible leader, often holding press conferences and speaking on the radio. One survey called him one of "the most photographed persons on earth." For more on Coolidge, visit millercenter.org. Got a better question? Send us your hardest trivia question on the presidents and we may feature it on Wednesdays. Edited by Emily Cadei   A message from Walmart: Walmart is working closely with the federal government and state health departments to provide access to new COVID-19 treatment methods in states where they are needed the most. These FDA-authorized COVID-19 antiviral medications, Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, give customers the option to recover at home and reduce the burden on hospitals and communities. While initial medication supply is limited, the retailer is committed to expanding treatment access nationwide. Walmart is launching a store locator to help customers find their closest store with availability. For customer and associate safety, these medications will be available by curbside pickup or via drive-through pharmacy windows. Learn more about Walmart's ongoing efforts to provide COVID-19 relief to medically underserved communities.     Follow us on Twitter Alex Thompson @AlexThomp Maxwell Tani @maxwelltani Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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