The other “Plan B”

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Mar 16, 2023 View in browser   By Lauren Egan 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 Eli | Email Lauren When the Supreme Court last month appeared skeptical during oral arguments about the legality of President JOE BIDEN’s student debt cancellation plan, the White House could not say what its back up plan would be. Even after Biden acknowledged he was “not confident about the outcome of the [Supreme Court] decision,” the White House had little advice to offer anxious borrowers. In a tense briefing room exchange with NBC’s PETER ALEXANDER, White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE put it plainly: “We do not have another plan.” The reluctance to come up with a “Plan B” has frustrated debt relief advocacy groups. That anxiety has been compounded by a fear that they’ve also lost their biggest and most influential White House allies: Biden’s former chief of staff and his top economic adviser “We had great champions in RON KLAIN and BRIAN DEESE, so I think there’s some anxiety,” said PERSIS YU, deputy executive director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center. “The anxiety is in the unknown.” Some debt relief advocates say the White House has held fewer meetings with advocacy groups and has not been responsive to their behind-the-scenes push to provide borrowers with more clarity on the situation. And while advocates feel like they’ve been good team players by not being more publicly critical of the White House, their patience is running out. “We’re all trying to gauge when to start being more confrontational, and I think we’re nearing that point,” said one debt relief advocate, who asked not to be named to protect their relationship with the White House. The White House is limited in what it can publicly say while the case is before the Supreme Court, according to a person familiar with the administration’s thinking. “But what advocates are essentially asking the Administration to do here is prejudge the outcome and imperil their legal case,” the person said. When asked for a comment, the White House pointed to Jean-Pierre’s briefing room remarks. Before Biden announced his plan in August to cancel up to $20,000 for some borrowers, West Wing Playbook wrote about internal disagreement over how to address the outstanding $1.7 trillion in student loan debt Americans carry. Domestic Policy Council head SUSAN RICE was, at the time, viewed by many outside allies as against aggressive or ambitious debt cancellation. Advocates credited Klain for pushing Biden — who had expressed initial skepticism about canceling debt — to ultimately get behind the idea. So far, advocates say they don’t view Klain’s successor, JEFF ZIENTS, playing that same role. That may simply be because the issue is currently in the hands of the courts. But Zients, they say, also has not made efforts to ease concerns about what comes after a potentially adverse ruling. They note Zients lacks close relationships with progressives, adding to the unease that addressing student debt won’t be a priority for the president. Still, other advocates say that even if the chief of staff isn’t their number one cheerleader, there are other strong proponents of debt cancellation in senior White House roles, like National Economic Council’s deputy director, BHARAT RAMAMURTI. Some advocates also take comfort in the fact that Biden campaigned on debt relief during the 2022 midterms. They feel that no matter what the Supreme Court rules, the White House is locked in to figuring out how to get debt cancellation across the finish line, especially as the 2024 election cycle nears. “We all loved Ron. He was personally invested,” said MELISSA BYRNE, founder of the student debt activist group WeThe45Million who also worked on Sen. BERNIE SANDERS’ 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. “While no one likes changes, the people at the administration work on behalf of the president and implement the president's vision. And the president wants cancellation.” MESSAGE US — Are you A STUDENT WHO COULD POTENTIALLY HAVE THEIR DEBT REDUCED OR CANCELED? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!    LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     POTUS PUZZLER This one’s from Allie. In 1952, Irish ambassador to the U.S. at the time, JOHN HEARNE, sent U.S. President HARRY TRUMAN a small box of what, jump starting a long-standing tradition for an upcoming holiday? (Answer at the bottom.) The Oval BOY BANDER STORMS THE WHITE HOUSE: Irish singer-songwriter NIALL HORAN, a member of the now-defunct boy band One Direction, will perform Friday at The White House for its St. Patrick’s Day celebration. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday tweeted out the news, but then at the press briefing said she would “keep my comments to myself on One Direction — I don’t know who they are.” Mmmmmhhhmmm. LET THE GAMES BEGIN: Biden dropped his NCAA March Madness basketball bracket on Twitter Thursday, predicting that the University of Arizona will win in the men’s tournament and that Villanova University will win the women’s. (Perhaps this may incentivize Sen. MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah) to fill his bracket out.) [Eun, an Arizona grad, agrees with Biden’s picks. Sam, a UCONN diehard, is petrified of what will happen tomorrow.] SPEAKING OF: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS made an unannounced stop Thursday at the NCAA tournament game to cheer on her alma mater Howard University, which was playing No. 1 seed Kansas. NYT’s ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, the print pooler for the VP’s trip to Des Moines, Iowa, shared that the “crowd seemed slightly delayed in realizing that it was indeed the Vice President on the Jumbotron. After a couple seconds the fans erupted in a mix of applause and some boos. Your pooler heard loud cheers coming from seats near Howard’s bench.” Howard did not win. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This opinion piece by WaPo’s JENNIFER RUBIN arguing that Biden has successfully backed Republicans into a corner when it comes to the budget debate. Rubin, a White House favorite, writes that “Biden has skillfully used the contrast between his budget and Republican budget promises to make a values-based argument in favor of Democrats.” “He is for crime-fighting; Republicans are averse to spending to fight crime. He is for responsible budgets; they are hypocrites when it comes to debt. And he is for tax fairness; they are for shielding the rich at the expense of everyone else,” she argues. Office of Management and Budget communications director ROB FRIEDLANDER shared the article on Twitter. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by BRIAN KAREM, writing in Salon, that despite Biden’s best efforts to tame gun violence in the country, including signing an executive order this week to bolster background checks, there’s still “an overall sense of dread that nothing will ever be done.” In his visit to California this week, the president’s “speech was laced with hopeful language, but also reflected the tone of those who wonder, ‘Does anything work anymore?’” THE BUREAUCRATS COMMERCE QUIZ: Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO quizzed staff on the CHIPS and Science Act signed into law by the president last year, playing a game that she likes to call “Gina’s Guessing Game.” Watch the full video here. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON: During a Senate hearing Thursday, Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN aimed to calm concerns around the bank collapses last week, our SAM SUTTON reports. “Our banking system remains sound,” Yellen said in prepared remarks. “Americans can feel confident that their deposits will be there when they need them.” ENGAGING THE BOOK WARS: Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA waded into the ongoing debate in Florida over what should be taught in schools, particularly when it comes to race and gender. In an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times, Cardona writes: “Ironically, some of the very politicians who claim to promote freedom are banning books and censoring what students can learn.” Cardona doesn’t mention Republican Gov. RON DESANTIS by name… but the subtext is clear. Filling the Ranks TROUBLE AHEAD? While Biden’s pick for Labor secretary, JULIE SU, has received a warm welcome from Democrats, TIME Magazine’s PHILLIP ELLIOTT writes that her path to confirmation may be a rocky one. “The math is undeniably tough for her in a closely divided Senate,” Elliott writes. “True, the Democrats have 48 votes and three independents who typically join them, but two moderate Democrats from red states are likely on the ballot next year and may be more skittish: Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana.” Agenda Setting SOME TRULY CRAZY FOOTAGE: The Pentagon released a 42 second video of the Russian fighter jet colliding with a U.S. drone, striking it down over international waters earlier this week. Watch the video and read more from our MATT BERG here. JOHN KIRBY, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, told reporters Thursday that the U.S. cannot say the take down was intentional. “It is not clear to us that the pilots intended to strike the drone,” he said, according to a dispatch from Semafor’s MORGAN CHALFANT.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     What We're Reading Inside the Trump world-organized retreat to plot out Biden oversight (Politico’s Heidi Przybyla) Norman Rockwell Art Stolen and Hidden in White House for Decades, Lawsuit Claims (WSJ’s Kelly Crow) Opinion: Republicans Are Delusional If They Think Biden Will Be Easy to Beat (Rich Lowry for Politico Magazine) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER Hearne gave Truman a box of Shamrocks, starting the tradition of the gift. Last year marked the 70th anniversary of the tradition, Biden said during the St. Patrick’s Day presentation. A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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