You say tomahhhto

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

Oct 26, 2023 View in browser   By Lauren Egan, Myah Ward and Lawrence Ukenye Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Ben Johansen. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren President JOE BIDEN’s favorite comfort food is pasta with red sauce. The guy can’t live without it. But his administration is weighing a difficult decision that could have an impact not only on his beloved dish, but his reelection bid. It all centers around tomatoes. The U.S. imports a lot of them, many of which are grown in Mexico and delivered to Arizona for distribution to grocery stores across the U.S. Arizona’s status as a key tomato gateway has become an important part of the state’s economy. But it’s created tension with Florida. The state is one of the biggest domestic producers of tomatoes but it has seen its percentage of the U.S. tomato market decline over recent years. Fed up Florida tomato growers are asking the Biden administration to do away with the Tomato Suspension Agreement. The obscure trade agreement, which has been in place in various forms for nearly 30 years, was intended to ensure that tomato imports from Mexico don’t drive down the sale price of tomatoes produced in Florida, especially since production seasons for both overlap. Florida growers argue that the TSA isn’t working and it’s time to impose duties or tariffs on Mexican-grown tomatoes. To be fair, Florida growers have complained about the TSA since it was implemented in the 1990s and they frequently urged the Commerce Department to make revisions to the agreement. For the most part, the Commerce Department has acquiesced to their requests. No administration, Democrat or Republican, was eager to get on the wrong side of politically powerful farming groups in one of the nation’s most politically consequential swing states. But Florida’s political heft has changed as it’s become a more reliably red state. At the same time, Arizona has become more politically relevant following Biden’s narrow victory there in 2020. The shifting political landscape has created a unique dynamic for the Biden administration as it reviews Florida tomato growers’ request to do away with the TSA entirely. The comment review period on whether or not to act on that request ended Monday, and the Commerce Department is expected to make a decision in the coming months — just before the 2024 reelection. Arizona lawmakers and trade groups are ramping up the pressure on the Biden administration. Arizona Sens. KYRSTEN SINEMA, an independent, and Democrat MARK KELLY headlined a letter from 34 members of Congress last month calling on Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO to uphold the TSA. “Multiple industries have grown to supply, and grown to depend on, year-round access to tomatoes and other fresh produce, and our constituents benefit from the hard-working grocers, restaurant staff, truckers, warehouse operators, and others that move and sell fresh produce,” they wrote. Arizona Gov. KATIE HOBBS (D) also sent her own letter to Raimondo. “I was shocked this time that both Senate offices in Arizona got into this thing. So it’s clearly important to Arizona voters,” said TIMOTHY RICHARDS, an agricultural economist at Arizona State University. “It is a multibillion dollar industry in Arizona — just like it is in Florida. So it pits two very politically contentious states against each other.” Arizona lawmakers and trade groups also argue that doing away with TSA would cost their state billions of dollars and lead to a loss in jobs, as well as result in increased produce prices across the country at a time when the president is already struggling to shake inflation. “You would see restaurants slice their tomatoes a little thinner, or rather than putting three tomatoes on a six-inch sandwich, they’d put just two tomato slices. The consumer loses,” said LANCE JUNGMEYER, president of the Fresh Produce Association of America, a pro-import trade association based in Nogales, Ariz. Not only would tomato prices increase for U.S. consumers, they’d also be left with a worse product, Jungmeyer added. Florida tomatoes, he argued, just don’t have the same “pop” and “acid to sugar ratio” compared to imported Mexican tomatoes. Nogales Mayor JORGE MALDONADO has worked in the produce business for more than 40 years. He said if the Commerce Department ended the TSA, not only would the White House have to start paying more for Biden’s pasta sauce, but that the president could “kiss Arizona goodbye” in 2024. “The removal of the suspension agreement would be a big factor in the political measures of Arizona and the whole country,” he warned Biden. “It will come back and haunt you.” MESSAGE US — Are you JEREMY KREISBERG, White House associate counsel? 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!    PLAYBOOK IS GOING GLOBAL! We’re excited to introduce Global Playbook, POLITICO’s premier newsletter that brings you inside the most important conversations at the most influential events in the world. From the buzzy echoes emanating from the snowy peaks at the WEF in Davos to the discussions and personalities at Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to the heart of diplomacy at UNGA in New York City – author Suzanne Lynch brings it all to your fingertips. Experience the elite. Witness the influential. And never miss a global beat. BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION. SUBSCRIBE NOW.     POTUS PUZZLER Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question! Which first lady attended the Bennington School of Dance? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval BREAKING THE ICE: Newly-elected House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers invited to the White House for a briefing on Thursday on Biden’s national security supplemental request. Before the briefing, Biden dropped by the Situation Room to meet with Johnson and House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES, our JENNIFER HABERKORN reports. By the White House’s tally, that’s only the third time the president has interacted with the Louisiana Republican. And it’s unclear if you can really count the other two times — the annual congressional picnic and a White House celebration in honor of Louisiana State University women’s basketball championship — as actually spending time together. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by The Times of Israel's JACOB MAGID about the White House on Thursday condemning the rise of anti-Israel rhetoric on college campuses. George Washington University came under fire Tuesday for messages students displayed on campus buildings that called for the destruction of Israel. “These grotesque sentiments and actions shock the conscience and turn the stomach. They also recall our commitment that can’t be forgotten: ‘never again,’” said ANDREW BATES, White House deputy press secretary. Bates also shared the piece on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by our ZACHARY WARMBRODT about how U.S. gross domestic product rising by 4.9 percent might be as good as it gets for the administration’s Bidenomics effort. Despite the good news, economists expect a myriad of factors may slow the economy’s recent hot streak. “Borrowing costs are rising, pandemic financial buffers are being drawn down and student loans are coming due — not to mention the hot wars playing out in the Middle East and Ukraine,” Warmbrodt writes. THAT BEING SAID: The Biden-Harris X account notes today that one year ago, Bloomberg was pumping out a headline saying a U.S. recession was “effectively certain in the next twelve months.” Womp. Womp. MAKING AMENDS: Biden was expected to meet Thursday with Muslim leaders at the White House, WSJ’s SABRINA SIDDIQUI scooped. The meeting, which was not on the president’s public schedule, comes as Arab-American leaders have expressed dismay over how the president has navigated the Israel-Hamas war. THE BUREAUCRATS A LITTLE TOO QUICK WITH THE DELETE KEY: Foreign Affairs magazine on Wednesday made JAKE SULLIVAN’s essay for its November/December edition available online. The national security adviser and the publication received pushback for not clearly informing readers that paragraphs about the Middle East that had appeared in the original print version were taken out. In the original version — which went to print on Oct. 2, before Hamas’ attack on Israel — Sullivan wrote that “although the Middle East remains beset with perennial challenges, the region is quieter than it has been for decades.” He also argued that “we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence.” Those graphs were not in the version posted online. Nor was there an editor’s note. FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: NAMRATA MUJUMDAR has returned to the Treasury Department to be senior adviser in the Office of Legislative Affairs, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She most recently was special assistant to the president for economic agency personnel at the White House. MORE PERSONNEL MOVES: KRISTEN CORDELL is now director for strategic initiatives at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She most recently was senior adviser on infrastructure and investment at the State Department. Agenda Setting FOR-D THE WIN: Biden applauded United Auto Workers and Ford for reaching a tentative agreement on Wednesday evening. The deal may ease administration concerns that the work stoppage from the ongoing strike could trigger a wider economic fallout, our NICK NIEDZWIADEK, OLIVIA OLANDER and TANYA SNYDER report. “This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on and retire with dignity and respect,” Biden said in a statement. A WORTHY INVESTMENT: As a part of the White House’s $56 billion domestic spending ask to Congress this week, the Biden administration is requesting nearly $1.6 billion to fight the opioid epidemic, our CARMEN PAUN reports for Pro subscribers. The funding would be allocated to states for providing harm reduction and recovery support services for those struggling with opioid use disorder, Paun notes. That’s a fair amount of money. But by contrast, it is slightly less than Australian boat builder Birdon was awarded to build 27 vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard, back in 2022. What We're Reading Biden Cast Doubt On Gaza’s Death Statistics — But Officials Cite Them Internally (HuffPost’s Akbar Shahid Ahmed) Dean Phillips’s primary challenge of Biden will face many obstacles (WaPo’s Meryl Kornfield, Michael Scherer and Tyler Pager) Biden Says Goodbye to Tweezer Economics (The Atlantic’s Brian Callaci) The Oppo Book Long before she would spar with reporters in the White House press briefing room, KARINE JEAN-PIERRE fought fires as a volunteer in college, noted The Washingtonian. “I loved having a firefighter scanner in my car, a bumper sticker-size orange-and-black firefighter sign that I would put on my windshield, and a blue light at the ready to plug into my car’s cigarette charge,” she wrote in her 2019 book “Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America.” We at West Wing Playbook understand the bravery it takes to serve as a firefighter, but Karine definitely should let us know which job she finds more difficult. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER First lady BETTY FORD took up dancing at a young age and, after graduating high school, she attended the Bennington School of Dance in Vermont. Soon after, she joined the auxiliary dance troupe led by legendary dancer MARTHA GRAHAM, according to the White House Historical Association. To learn more about the life and legacy of First Lady Betty Ford, join History Happy Hour: Betty Ford - Dancing on the Cabinet Room Table on Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. EST. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   YOUR TICKET INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: California Playbook delivers the latest intel, buzzy scoops and exclusive coverage from Sacramento and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley and across the state. Don't miss out on the daily must-read for political aficionados and professionals with an outsized interest in California politics, policy and power. Subscribe today.       Follow us on Twitter Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Myah Ward @MyahWard Lawrence Ukenye @Lawrence_Ukenye   Follow us

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