Biden's surrogate shortage

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

May 26, 2023 View in browser   By Sam Stein, Eli Stokols and 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 Programming Note: We’ll be off this Monday, May 29, for Memorial Day but we’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday, May 30. We hope absence makes the heart grow fonder.  As we reported here yesterday, there appears to be a brewing sense of frustration — which, frankly, has grown quite palpable — among Democrats over the lack of a public presence from the White House during the debt ceiling fight. Officials in the party, especially lawmakers in the House, have been wondering why the president and his team aren’t out there more, trying to frame the contours of the debate. The matter may be one of strategic vision: Biden world simply thinks it’s wiser to not talk, do the work, and come off as the mature negotiator when a deal is done. But privately, even administration officials concede another problem: they’re lacking a roster of effective communicators. The top ranks of the White House have lost the individuals who were best suited to conduct public combat for it. RON KLAIN’s departure as chief of staff has proven critical in that regard (his replacement JEFF ZIENTS rarely engages in the type of public-facing politicking that Klain did). But the absences are clear elsewhere. Office of Management and Budget director SHALANDA YOUNG, a frequent briefing room guest, had not recently spoken with reporters about the debt ceiling, according to White House scribes. Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE has had notable stumbles at the lectern. BRIAN DEESE, the former National Economic Council director and frequent Biden surrogate, is gone. Economic adviser JARED BERNSTEIN, another public presence on economic matters for Biden, is keeping a low profile as he awaits Senate confirmation to run the Council of Economic Advisers. And, of course, there is President JOE BIDEN, who has been media averse during this process, engaging the press only on occasion. Part of the approach is cultural. A White House with a comms shop that believes the online conversation doesn’t reflect reality isn’t jumping at the opportunity to engage more aggressively in that conversation. A number of Democratic operatives who routinely get talking points from the White House say they have not been as forthcoming in the past weeks — a signal, they believe, of the just how close to the vest they are trying to keep details of the negotiations. But this is also a president who frequently complains about the dearth of surrogates making his case on television, so much so that his nascent campaign has rolled out a 50-member advisory board of elected officials who will be tasked with carrying the president’s reelection message across multiple media platforms. Yet in the immediate term, as the White House is waging perhaps the most consequential political battle of the second half of Biden’s term, there is little organizational effort behind the scattered media appearances by Democratic lawmakers and other administration officials. Deputy Treasury Secretary WALLY ADEYEMO did appear Friday morning on CNN, emphatically asserting that Biden will not be invoking the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally, a move the president said Sunday he might consider more seriously if there was time to assess its legality ahead of the early June “X-date” when government funding could run out. But the White House decided against holding the usual daily briefing on Friday, pulling Jean-Pierre off the podium as a tenuous agreement between Biden and McCarthy appeared to be close at hand. That didn’t stop the press secretary from responding to the speaker on Twitter, where she countered his claims about the national debt increasing under Biden by asserting that the debt went up far more during the DONALD TRUMP presidency. MESSAGE US — Are you JOE BIDEN? We want to hear from you. But we won’t keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!    DON’T MISS POLITICO’S HEALTH CARE SUMMIT: The Covid-19 pandemic helped spur innovation in health care, from the wide adoption of telemedicine, health apps and online pharmacies to mRNA vaccines. But what will the next health care innovations look like? Join POLITICO on Wednesday June 7 for our Health Care Summit to explore how tech and innovation are transforming care and the challenges ahead for access and delivery in the United States. REGISTER NOW.     POTUS PUZZLER With help from the White House Historical Association  Under which presidency did Army Gen. ORVILLE BABCOCK assume responsibility for improving the grounds of the White House? (Answer at bottom.) Cartoon of the Week Cartoon by Rick McKee | Courtesy It’s about that time of the week when we feature a cartoon! This one’s by RICK MCKEE. Our very own MATT WUERKER publishes a selection of cartoons from all over the country. The Oval President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden get jerseys from the champion Louisiana State University Women's Basketball Team at the White House. | Jim Watson/Getty Images BIG DAY FOR SPORTS: The president and first lady hosted the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team at the White House to celebrate their 2023 NCAA title. (The leadup to the event got a bit spicy after JILL BIDEN suggested that runner-up Iowa should also be invited, prompting LSU’s star player, ANGEL REESE, to initially say that the team would not participate.) The first lady, appropriately attired in LSU purple, kicked off the event by celebrating how far women’s sports had come in her lifetime. “I grew up before Title IX and young women in my day just didn’t have the same opportunity to play sports,” she said. Reese, for her part, presented her with a team jersey with “FLOTUS” on the back. And Biden joked that his money would be on Reese in a one-on-one matchup against her cousin JORDAN HAWKINS, a player on the No. 1 UConn men’s team. Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young, one of the White House negotiators on the debt ceiling and a Louisiana native, took a break from debt talks to attend the event, as did Louisiana Rep. GARRET GRAVES, one of the Republican negotiators. Partway through the celebration, SA'MYAH SMITH, the LSU forward, fainted on the stage. Coach KIM MULKEY assured everyone that she was okay. And as Biden noted, it’s not the first time that’s happened during an East Room event. The room can get crowded and hot and honorees often have to stand on stage for a long time. The president and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF later hosted the UConn men Friday evening for their victory celebration. A BRIEF SIGH OF RELIEF: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN on Friday afternoon extended the projected debt ceiling deadline to June 5, giving lawmakers an additional four days from the previous projection. But Yellen continued to urge Congress to act swiftly and warned that failing to raise the debt ceiling before the “X-date” would lead to “severe hardship.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This NYT opinion piece by ELENI SCHIRMER and LOUISE SEAMSTER about how the fight “against student debt relief barely even pretends to make sense.” The pair dove into the lawsuit against the president’s student debt relief plan and “found that the states’ most fundamental justification for bringing the case — that canceling student loans could leave a Missouri-based loan authority unable to meet its financial obligations to the state — is false.” Research by the pair found that “even with the new policy in place, its revenues from servicing loans will increase.” Former White House chief of staff RON KLAIN shared the piece on Twitter. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Anything about how inflation increased in April. CNBC’s JEFF COX reports that “the personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures a variety of goods and services and adjusts for changes in consumer behavior, rose 0.4 percent for the month excluding food and energy costs, higher than the 0.3 percent Dow Jones estimate. On an annual basis, the gauge increased 4.7 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than expected.” FLOTUS ON THE MOVE: First lady Jill Biden kicks off a six-day international trip next week. She leaves Wednesday to promote empowerment for women and young people in Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Portugal. She also will be attending a Jordanian royal wedding, AP’s DARLENE SUPERVILLE reports. THE BUREAUCRATS SMOOTH FLYING AHEAD … HOPEFULLY: Ahead of the busy holiday weekend travel, Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG expressed confidence in the airline industry’s ability to handle the crowds. “We’re a long way from saying we’re out of the woods, or we’re fully comfortable, but we’ve seen a lot of progress,” Buttigieg told MSNBC on Friday. “This is a big stress test to the system, we’re seeing a huge, huge demand. But so far this holiday weekend appears to be headed in a good direction.” The comments come after the industry has had a whirlwind of a year — with mass cancellations, system malfunctions and aircraft near misses. TAI’S TAKE: U.S. Trade Representative KATHERINE TAI said the U.S. and China must solve “critical imbalances” in their trade relationship that have resulted from Beijing’s unfair market practice, our STEVEN OVERLY reports for Pro subscribers. Speaking during a meeting Friday with Chinese Commerce Minister WANG WENTAO, Tai cited concerns about recent actions taken by China against U.S. companies. The meeting follows one Wentao held with Commerce Secretary’s GINA RAIMONDO, a discussion her department described in a readout as “candid and substantive.” WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT: NEERA TANDEN will officially take over for SUSAN RICE as director of the Domestic Policy Council on Saturday. STEFANIE FELDMAN will also officially step into Tanden’s current role as staff secretary. Agenda Setting LOOKING TO 2024: The president faced blowback from environmentalists after he signed off on a series of major fossil fuel projects earlier this year, despite the administration’s ambitious goals to tackle climate change. As the 2024 presidential race heats up, questions arise about how the approval of those projects will affect Biden’s candidacy, our E&E News’ BRIAN DABBS reports. “Is Biden living up to his clean energy promises, or exacerbating the climate crisis by bolstering fossil fuels? And is the latest pushback from the environmental left a threat to him politically?”   GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.     What We're Reading Chip Companies, Wary of Break With China, Seek Looser Limits on Federal Cash (WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi and Richard Rubin) House Dems in No Labels-allied caucus are livid with No Labels (POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman) Meet the ex-food writer advising Tommy Tuberville on national security (WaPo’s Ben Terris) The Oppo Book Susan Rice, outgoing domestic policy adviser, wasn’t originally a fan of Twitter. But when Rice served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Obama administration, and the platform had just rolled out, her team encouraged her to join the platform. “I said this literally: I don’t want to make foreign policy by haiku,” she said during a discussion at Georgetown University back in 2016. “So I was a reluctant adopter, initially, of Twitter. But I got into it.” She then plugged her then-500,000 follower count and Twitter handle in case anyone listening wanted to follow, too: @AmbassadorRice. “Sorry I had to get that in,” she said to laughs. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER President ULYSSES S. GRANT’s former Army aide, Gen. ORVILLE BABCOCK, took charge of improving the grounds and built along the south side of the White House narrow flower gardens. These survived until President THEODORE ROOSEVELT’s renovations in 1902 and first lady EDITH ROOSEVELT’s design of a “colonial” garden where the present Rose Garden now stands, according to the White House Historical Association. 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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