| | | | |  | | By Alex Thompson and Max Tani | | | Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max In each White House, there are a select few. By law, a handful of employees in the Executive Office of the President are eligible to receive full concierge treatment to-and-from the White House each day – usually in a black SUV driven by non-commissioned Army officers from the White House Transportation Agency. According to the statute, the president designates who gets it and who doesn't. Some in the White House covet the service — and people inside the White House notice who gets the sign off. To some, it's a status symbol that signals respect. Others roll their eyes at what they consider an ostentatious luxury. They appear content driving to work themselves. There are currently six who get the service: chief of staff RON KLAIN, National Security Adviser JAKE SULLIVAN, counselor STEVE RICCHETTI, homeland security adviser LIZ SHERWOOD-RANDALL, and head of the Domestic Policy Council SUSAN RICE, according to people familiar with the matter. Sullivan's deputy JON FINER, recently joined the club as well. Many of Biden's top aides choose, instead, to either commute on public transit or park on the White House complex (a lot of sedans and hybrids). That includes deputy chiefs of staff JEN O'MALLEY DILLON and BRUCE REED, senior advisers MIKE DONILON and ANITA DUNN, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, and communications director KATE BEDINGFIELD. It's normal for the NSA and the chief of staff to receive the car service but not for the head of the DPC. But Rice is juggling different factors than her predecessors. "Susan Rice did not negotiate a car service, she was given a security detail," a White House official said. Rice receives Secret Service protection. The transportation arrangement skews toward those who handle intelligence and other sensitive matters. But the White House declined to provide any information on why some officials received the service and others do not. As for those who drive to work, the White House provides parking for all "commissioned officers" — those with the title of "assistant to the president," "deputy assistant to the president," or "special assistant to the president." For the rest of the White House officials, each office is allotted a certain number of parking spots, which they dole out how they wish. MESSAGE US — Are you someone with a parking spot at the White House? We want to hear from you! And we'll keep you anonymous if you'd like. Or if you think we missed something in today's edition, let us know and we may include it tomorrow. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com .
| | | | A message from Demand Justice: President Biden set records on judges in his first year, but with new judicial retirements, there are now 120 vacancies, and the clock is ticking. Democrats are on track to leave more than 60 seats open at the end of this Congress, so we need more nominations and more hearings, to lead to more confirmations. 30+ organizations are calling on Biden and the Senate to do whatever it takes to fill every seat. Join us. | | | | | | Since we are on the topic of cars and parking, Alex has today's trivia. What year did Congress create the White House garage, which was to be part of the White House stables. Bonus point if you can name the make and model of the three cars in the first White House fleet. We'll give you a hint: one of them was a White Steamer. (Answer at bottom.)
| | | DUNN'S REVAMP: NBC News published a story Tuesday about White House adviser Anita Dunn's interviews with candidates to serve as the new communications director. The report confirmed several of the internal candidates the White House has been considering for the gig including: assistant Secretary of State for global public affairs LIZ ALLEN, deputy communications director KATE BERNER, and ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, communications director for first lady JILL BIDEN. As reported last week by West Wing Playbook, many in the White House hope Dunn takes the recent high-profile departures as an opportunity to overhaul the comms shop. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: The sign at your local gas station, which almost certainly displays lower prices than from last month. Numerous White House communications officials on Tuesday retweeted stats noting the 30-day-plus streak of falling gas prices, as did high profile administration officials from multiple federal agencies. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ: Coverage of the high numbers of migrant crossings at the southern border. "Border officials encountered migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2022 more times than any other June on record, according to Customs and Border Protection ," The Houston Chronicle's ELIZABETH TROVALL reports. "[T]he addition of June's border arrest numbers has caused the 2022 fiscal year to surpass every other year on record for border encounters, beating out the 1.7 million arrests record made in 2021 with three more months left in the fiscal year." She also reports that roughly half of the 207,416 border encounters in June ended in a Title 42 expulsion , the Trump-era immigration policy.
| | | | STAY UP TO DATE WITH CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android . CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | | DEPARTURE LOUNGE: DILPREET SIDHU, who served in the White House since Day One as the National Security Council's principal deputy executive secretary, recently departed the White House to become deputy chief of staff to deputy Defense Secretary KATHLEEN HICKS, our DANIEL LIPPMAN reports. — DAN KOH, the Labor Department's chief of staff, will be moving into a White House deputy Cabinet secretary role that oversees operations, Boston Globe's JIM PUZZANGHERA reports. Koh replaces CRISTÓBAL ALEX, who left the job in May. A SPICY PETE-BALL: Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG and Rep. TROY NEHLS (R-Texas) got into a heated exchange during a transportation hearing Tuesday afternoon. When asked by Nehls if he had spoken to other Cabinet members about Biden's fitness for office, Buttigieg replied: "I will look behind the insulting nature of that question and make clear to you that the president of the United States…" At this juncture, he was interrupted by Nehls, who repeated the question. The two went back and forth in an inaudible exchange, though we did make out a Buttigieg response: "Of course not."
| | | | A message from Demand Justice:   | | | | | | GRINER LATEST: The ongoing detention of WNBA superstar BRITTNEY GRINER has brought increased attention to the several dozen Americans who are currently being held abroad by foreign actors. On Tuesday, the White House announced that it was updating several policies around detention of U.S. citizens, including a federal government warning for those traveling in countries that have been known to detain Americans, and a pledge to impose bans and sanctions on individuals involved in hostage-taking. While advocates for those detained abroad acknowledged that Tuesday's moves indicated a more aggressive posture from the White House, not everyone was pleased. Some advocates for families of those detained felt the moves didn't go far enough, and were unhappy that families were put on mute during an administration call on Monday announcing the plans. CLIMATE CHAOS : Chastened in his attempts to legislatively fight climate change, Biden is plotting his next steps. How big those steps will be is unclear. On Monday, the Washington Post reported that Biden was considering declaring a climate emergency in order to use federal resources to address the issue. But as POLITICO Pro noted , he's not expected to make an announcement when he gives a climate address on Wednesday in Massachusetts. As our colleagues ADAM CANCRYN and JONATHAN LEMIRE wrote on Tuesday , the White House is fuming once again at Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) for his refusal to support the inclusion of the administration's climate policies in a larger domestic spending bill. But it's also worried that if moves too aggressively on climate executive actions it could alienate the West Virginia Democrat even further, right when the administration needs him to stay on board a bill to address prescription drug and health care insurance prices. There is also some faint hope at 1600 Pennsylvania that Manchin might change his mind. PAY BACK: ROHIT CHOPRA 's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues its high-profile crackdowns, this time against the growing money-transfer markets. According to the Wall Street Journal , the CFPB is planning to encourage banks to better support the victims of money-transfer scams on platforms like Zelle and possibly Venmo.
| | | | HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT ROE BEING OVERTURNED? JOIN WOMEN RULE ON 7/21: Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade , abortion policy is in the hands of the states and, ultimately, voters. Join POLITICO national political correspondent Elena Schneider for a Women Rule "ask me anything" conversation featuring a panel of reporters from our politics and health care teams who will answer your questions about how the court's decision could play out in different states, its impact on the midterms and what it means for reproductive rights in the U.S. going forward. SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS AND REGISTER HERE . | | | | | | | | Homeland Security advisers say 'no need' for disinformation board (WaPo's Maria Sacchetti) Jill Biden, education chief to kick off summer learning tour (AP's Darlene Superville) John Kerry's family private jet emitted over 300 metric tons of carbon since Biden took office (Fox News' Thomas Catenacci) Biden to visit closed power plant in Somerset, Mass., Wednesday for event on climate crisis (The Boston Globe's Travis Andersen)
| | | Secretary Buttigieg will appear at the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Summit tomorrow morning at Nats Park, where he will speak to 2,500 small business owners from across the country.
| | | The White House garage was created in 1909, according to the U.S. Army's timeline of the White House Transportation Agency. On Feb. 25, 1909, Capt. Archibald Willingham Butt accepted the first White House vehicle. The fleet included a 1909 White Steamer, a 1908 Baker electric, and two 1908 Pierce-Arrow Vandelettes. There were two Secret Service motorcycles as well. A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a more difficult trivia question? Send us your best on the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.
| | | | A message from Demand Justice: If Republicans take the Senate in the midterms, Mitch McConnell will not hesitate to blockade President Biden's judicial nominees –– just as he did President Obama's. So President Biden and Senate Democrats need to do whatever it takes to fill all judicial vacancies before this Congress ends. We need the White House to nominate more judges, and then we need to ensure the Senate Judiciary Committee does not serve as a bottleneck. The Committee must hold more hearings and add more nominees to each hearing, so that all of Biden's nominees can be confirmed. This starts with holding hearings in August. Leaving 60 vacancies at the end of this Congress is not an option.
Join more than 30 organizations calling on Biden and the Senate to redouble their efforts to quickly fill every judicial vacancy with outstanding and diverse judges. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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