Border squeeze tempers Biden victory lap: The Note

Immigration broadly is proving to be the most complicated and fraught challenge.

By
Rick Klein
,
Averi Harper
 and
Alisa Wiersema
March 10, 2021, 6:00 AM ET
9 min read

The TAKE with Rick Klein

President Joe Biden is about to have something very big to sell, with the House on track to pass his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Wednesday.

But his victory lap is complicated by the fact that many in his party -- and even more outside of his party -- aren't in a celebratory mood.

The White House won't label it a "crisis." But immigration broadly, and the arrival of waves of migrant children at the border specifically, is proving to be the most complicated and fraught challenge of these early weeks of the Biden presidency.

On the right, there's Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blaming Biden for "creating a humanitarian crisis" due to early policy confusion and mixed messaging. On the left, there's growing frustration that Biden isn't moving faster to unwind the vast layers of policy and bureaucracy left by a president whose goals were the mirror image of Biden's.

Stated White House goals of transparency are being ignored for the moment. The always complex issue of immigration is being further muddled by the plight and arrival of actual would-be immigrants, all while Biden staffs up and fills out policy to match campaign statements.

"It's going to take us some time," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

Roberta Jacobson, special assistant to the president and southern border ambassador, joins Psaki at the briefing Wednesday as the White House seeks to stay ahead of fast-moving developments on the border, where roughly a dozen GOP House members are headed Monday.

Biden is only halfway through his first 100 days. But whatever label if applied to the situation, lives are being impacted in ways that don't respect timelines.

The RUNDOWN with Averi Harper

Biden's pledge to have the highest-ranking members of his administration "look like the country" could be in jeopardy as several women of color nominated to serve in his Cabinet are seeing efforts to delay or derail their nominations.

Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., placed a hold Tuesday on Rep. Deb Haaland's nomination to secretary of the interior, a move that will delay a confirmation vote and force her nomination to be debated on the floor. In a statement, Lummis referred to Haaland's energy policy positions as "radical" and said, "I am committed to doing anything I can to fight the Biden and Haaland job-killing agenda."

Vanita Gupta, nominated to be associate attorney general, apologized during her tense confirmation hearing Tuesday for tweets critical of Republicans: "I think the rhetoric has gotten quite harsh over the last several years, and I have fallen prey to it, and I, I wish I could take it back. I can't," Gupta said. "But what I can commit to you and ask that you do is look at my lifelong record."

And perhaps most notably, it has been little more than a week since Neera Tanden, Biden's nominee to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, withdrew her nomination when it became mathematically impossible for her to secure the votes need for confirmation. Biden has pledged to find her another role within the administration.

Tanden, who is Indian American, would have been the first woman of color to lead the OMB. Haaland would be the first Native American Cabinet member and her role would make her the first Native American to helm the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency with a history of oppression and violence toward Native tribes. Gupta, who is Indian American, would be in the third highest ranking position within the Department of Justice and would be the first woman of color to hold the position.

All these women have been targeted, largely by Republican senators, over tweets and it's an argument that rings hollow for many on the left after years of cyber vitriol from former President Donald Trump.

And if challenges against Haaland and Gupta succeed, it's likely to draw louder cries of unfairness based on both race and gender.

The TIP with Alisa Wiersema

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's decision to end a ban on working with political consultants who help Democrat candidates run against incumbents offered progressives a reason for optimism on Tuesday.

In a statement to ABC News, DCCC spokesperson Chris Taylor said the change in policy now requires vendors to only reflect "standards for fair business practices related to use of organized labor, critical diversity and inclusion standards" among other qualifications. The change also shifts away from a 2019 DCCC policy that came on the heels of progressives successfully primarying against incumbent Democrats. At the time, the organization said it would not collaborate with "any consultant that works with an opponent of a sitting Member of the House Democratic Caucus."

Rebecca Kirszner Katz, a founder of the progressive consulting firm New Deal Strategies said "the DCCC blacklist" was the best kind of advertisement, adding that it "backfired spectacularly and helped grow an ecosystem of professional, progressive consultants that didn't exist just a few years ago."

Even so, this doesn't ensure smooth sailing for progressive campaigns. "Progressives are under no illusion that this is going to really change anything. Primary challengers will still struggle for money and attention and groups like the DCCC will still do everything it can to stop them," Katz told ABC News.

That sentiment was echoed by Waleed Shahid, a spokesperson for Justice Democrats, the progressive grassroots group that recruited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for office against incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley. "This is an important victory for progressives but we should ensure that a formal ban isn't simply replaced with an informal ban. When over 70% of congressional districts have no competitive general election, primaries are often the only venue where voters can have a real say in our democracy," Shahid said.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" podcast. Wednesday morning's episode features ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers, who tells us how soon stimulus checks could go out following final passage of President Joe Biden's stimulus bill. ABC News' Steve Osunsami explains how new voting restrictions could impact the Black vote in Georgia. And ABC News' Soo Rin Kim tells how "pharmacy deserts" could slow the vaccine rollout http://apple.co/2HPocUL

FiveThirtyEight's Politics Podcast. New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign on Sunday after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct. But Cuomo has said there is "no way" he will resign. In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the crew discusses what Cuomo's political future may hold and how New Yorkers are reacting to the allegations. Plus, they discuss the push among moderate U.S. Senate Democrats to amend some of the provisions in the American Rescue Plan and exclude an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15. The team also looks at the politics and science behind the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions in some states. https://53eig.ht/3v4LJWD

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

  • The House of Representatives convenes at 9 a.m. and is expected to take up the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.
  • FBI Director Christopher Wray appears before the Senate Appropriations Committee in a closed hearing on domestic and foreign threats and other challenges facing the agency at 9:30 a.m.
  • The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs meets at 9:45 a.m. and considers the nomination of Shalanda D. Young to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
  • President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris receive the president's daily brief at 9:50 a.m. The president hosts an event with the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck at 3 p.m.
  • The House Committee on Small Business holds a hearing on the next steps for the Paycheck Protection Program at 10 a.m.
  • The White House COVID-19 Response Team and public health officials hold a briefing at 11 a.m.
  • White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Roberta Jacobson, the special assistant to the president and coordinator for the southern border ambassador, hold a briefing at 12:30 p.m.
  • First lady Jill Biden's pre-recorded remarks air as part of the SXSW EDU conference at 12:30 p.m. She visits Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, at 11:15 a.m. PT.
  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears before the House Committee on Foreign Relations at 1:30 p.m.
  • The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee meets at 2 p.m. and considers the nominations of Gary Gensler to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Rohit Chopra to be the director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
  • The Senate considers the nomination of Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, to be the secretary of the housing and urban development at noon. At 2:15 p.m., the Senate considers the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to be attorney general and votes on invoking cloture for the nomination of Michael Regan to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. If approved, the Senate could vote on Regan's nomination two hours later.
  • The vice president ceremonially swears in Marcia Fudge as the secretary of housing and urban development at 5 p.m.

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