FW: Following up on your invitation

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

May 08, 2023 View in browser   By Eli Stokols and Lauren Egan Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren On the night of President JOE BIDEN’s second state dinner, the small pool of reporters covering guest arrivals gathered in a room in the East Wing where guests entered from the Rose Garden before descending down the stairs toward the sounds of the welcoming orchestra. Among the first to come through were Rep. AMI BERA (D-Calif.), VICTOR CHA, the president’s brother FRANK BIDEN, and Kentucky Gov. ANDY BESHEAR. Another early arrival was SEUNG MIN KIM, who, on another night, might have been standing alongside her fellow reporters taking cell phone pics of arriving guests and shouting out questions. But on this night, the Associated Press White House reporter was in a floral ball gown, walking through a doorway festooned with the American and South Korean flags along with her mother, MI RYUNG CHANG. Kim, who is Korean American, was invited to attend the state dinner honoring South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL in a personal capacity. While it’s incredibly rare for a member of the White House press corps to receive such an exclusive invitation, it’s becoming far less so. In what longtime White House correspondents and historians say is a return to tradition, the Biden administration in recent months has started inviting those who cover them to attend smaller, more restrictive events. “The press corps is part of the White House community, and we’re always looking for new and creative ways to include reporters and their families in special events as guests,” said deputy press secretary EMILIE SIMONS. No other event really compares to a state dinner, but several Asian American reporters were invited to attend Monday night’s screening of the film “American Born Chinese,” an event marking Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Some Jewish members of the press corps have also been invited to a reception marking Jewish American Heritage month, which also is observed in May. “We are proud to make the White House campus more accessible for memorable moments, from Halloween trick-or-treating to St. Patrick’s Day, the Easter Egg Roll, Bring Your Kids to Work Day, and tonight’s AANHPI event,” Simons added. And when Biden hosted his first state dinner last December, in honor of French President EMMANUEL MACRON, the Washington Post’s OLIVIER KNOX (one of the Frenchiest members of the press corps) drew an invite, just as he had in 2007 when President GEORGE W. BUSH honored former French President NICOLAS SARKOZY. The shift toward inviting more journalists to White House events in their personal capacity began ahead of St. Patrick’s Day this year, when members of the press shop were given the green light to submit a list of White House reporters with Irish heritage to the social office. Those names would be considered potential guests to the East Room reception where Biden would mark the holiday alongside Ireland’s Taoiseach LEO VARADKAR. Some reporters who were asked to attend (like, say, our own JONATHAN LEMIRE) initially weren’t sure if the invitation was intended for them. Depending on the space being used and the nature of the event, different teams at the White House work together to suggest potential attendees – lawmakers, stakeholders and now, increasingly, journalists – who might enjoy the event. Ahead of the St. Patrick’s Day event, one press aide asked TAMARA KEITH, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, if she knew of any reporters with Irish roots (we’re told that WHCA has not had any formal role or much involvement in the process). Reporters have long been able to bring their kids for Halloween trick-or-treating in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or join the public crowd of thousands on the South Lawn for the annual Easter Egg Roll. In recent weeks, many journalists have responded with enthusiasm after being invited to attend these more intimate and somewhat exclusive White House events. After attending the St. Patrick’s Day event, CBS News’ ED O’KEEFE posted a selfie on Instagram of himself seated in a row of green-clad correspondents: NBC News’ KELLY O’DONNELL, the Wall Street Journal’s CATHERINE LUCEY, AP’s COLLEEN LONG and ABC News’ KAREN TRAVERS. And his caption made clear that the invitation meant a lot given his Irish roots. “On behalf of the O’Keefe’s of Glanworth, the Whalens of Wicklow, and their descendants across North America, it was a humbling honor to be invited as a guest of the President of the United States of America to attend the annual Shamrock Ceremony,” he wrote. He noted the opportunity to “put down our pens” also included a performance by NIALL HORAN, a spotting of the actor RICHARD SCHIFF, bagpipes and beverages. “A pint or two might have been served,” he wrote. MESSAGE US — Are you SAM STEIN, notably not invited to the Jewish event at the White House? 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!    DON’T MISS THE POLITICO ENERGY SUMMIT: A new world energy order is emerging and America’s place in it is at a critical juncture. Join POLITICO on Thursday, May 18 for our first-ever energy summit to explore how the U.S. is positioning itself in a complicated energy future. We’ll explore progress on infrastructure and climate funding dedicated to building a renewable energy economy, Biden’s environmental justice proposals, and so much more. REGISTER HERE.     POTUS PUZZLER This one is from Allie. On the way to President JOHN F. KENNEDY’s inaugural ball in 1961, newly elected Vice President LYNDON JOHNSON was asked by writer and politician CLARE BOOTHE LUCE why he would accept the nomination to be No. 2. He replied: “Look Clare, I looked it up; one out of every ____ presidents has died in office. I’m a gamblin’ man darlin’ and this is the only chance I got.” Fill in the blank to Johnson's quote above. (Answer at bottom.) The Oval JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER VACATION: Biden on Monday unveiled new steps his administration wants to take to make flying a little less awful. The administration has proposed a rule that would force an airline to not only provide refunds for flight cancellations or delays, but offer meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, and pay for rebooking fees and ground transportation. The Transportation Department is also beefing up its Airline Customer Service Dashboard, which tracks airline policies on refunds and compensation. Our ALEX DAUGHERTY has more. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This NYT piece by MARGOT SANGER-KATZ and ALICIA PARLAPIANO that illustrates in a series of charts the House Republicans’ budget plan and how their commitment to cut federal spending would affect popular government programs. White House communications director BEN LABOLT shared the piece on Twitter, adding: “Spoiler alert, if they wall off certain categories like defense spending to hit their spending cut targets they would massively gut health care, education, law enforcement and transportation.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Anything about the Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday that shows Biden’s approval rating slipping to 36 percent — the lowest of his presidency. “As he begins his campaign for reelection, President Biden faces substantial and multiple challenges,” WaPo’s DAN BALZ, SCOTT CLEMENT and EMILY GUSKIN write in their coverage of the poll. “His overall approval ratings have slipped to a new low, more Americans than not doubt his mental acuity, and his support against leading Republican challengers is far shakier than at this point four years ago.” NOT A LOT OF GREAT OPTIONS: Senior White House officials view acting without Congress to address the debt limit — including invoking the 14th Amendment of the Constitution — as “risky choices that could cause lasting economic damage,” WaPo’s JEFF STEIN reports. “If the federal government actually can’t borrow more, the United States could be in uncharted territory with no clear way to avoid calamity, which would make extreme measures more appealing,” Stein writes. TO THE VICTORS GO THE WHITE HOUSE INVITES: The president and first lady will host the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball champions at the White House on May 26 in two separate ceremonies. The Louisiana State University women’s team visit was a source of controversy after JILL BIDEN suggested that runner-up Iowa would also be invited to the White House “because they played such a good game.” In response, LSU star ANGEL REESE said that the team would not go to Washington and would prefer to meet with the Obamas instead. (The first lady apologized for her comments, and Reese later said she would go to the White House.) For the UConn men’s team, it will be their fifth White House visit since 1999. IN ON THE JOKE: Polls consistently show that voters have some concerns about Biden’s age. As he kicks off his reelection campaign, Biden, 80, is trying to use humor to defuse some of those concerns, AP’s Seung Min Kim reports. “As Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, embarks on his reelection campaign, he is increasingly musing aloud about his advanced age, cracking self-deprecating jokes and framing his decades in public life as a plus, hoping to convince voters his age is an asset rather than a vulnerability,” Kim writes. “In short, he’s trying to own it.” Agenda Setting BUMPY ROAD AHEAD: The Federal Reserve’s latest survey of lending standards by banks “suggests an economic slowdown could be on the way at the worst time for Democrats and the incumbent president,” our BEN WHITE reports. Despite a strong April jobs report, White writes that “there remains heavy concern across Wall Street and among many economists that the Fed’s rapid and intense campaign of rate hikes meant to battle inflation will smash the brakes on the economy hard enough to create a recession.” THINGS ARE ABOUT TO CHANGE: When the Covid public health emergency ends Thursday, so will a wide range of pandemic-era rules that the country has grown accustomed to, our DANIEL PAYNE, DAVID LIM and BEN LEONARD report for Pro subscribers. Work requirements for federal food assistance programs that were paused during the pandemic will return in more than two dozen mostly Republican-controlled states; older adults on Medicare will no longer be able to get free over-the-counter Covid-19 tests; and Title 42, a law that permits the U.S. to expel migrants without considering their asylum claims, will also end. What We're Reading Why Biden Should Not Negotiate With Kevin McCarthy on the Debt Ceiling (Dan Pfeiffer for NYT Opinion) The Question of Joe Biden’s Age: “It’s a Legitimate Concern” (Vanity Fair’s Chris Smith) Tanked Biden FCC pick shows influence of dark money on US politics (AP’s Trenton Daniel) The Oppo Book Before becoming U.S. solicitor general, ELIZABETH BARCHAS PRELOGAR had a long list of legal accomplishments — including two (!!) Supreme Court clerkships. But before that, Prelogar, a Boise native, was crowned Miss Teen Idaho in 1998, Miss Idaho U.S.A. in 2001 and Miss Idaho in 2004, according to the Idaho Press. Her talent was classical piano. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER One out of every four presidents has died in office, according to PHILIP ABBOTT’s book, “Accidental Presidents: Death, Assassination, Resignation, and Democratic Succession.” 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.   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? REGSITER HERE.       Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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