House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) said “a proposal to put a levy on the assets of billionaires has been dropped in negotiations over revenue measures to pay for President Joe Biden’s social-spending bill,” Bloomberg reports.
“The House is discussing with the Senate instead inclusion of a 3% surtax, on top of the top income rate, for those earning more than $10 million.”
“Facebook has told employees to ‘preserve internal documents and communications since 2016’ that pertain to its businesses because governments and legislative bodies have started inquiries into its operations,” the New York Times reports.
“The move, known as a ‘legal hold,’ follows intense media, legal and regulatory scrutiny over the social network’s harms.”
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“A notorious Russian cybercriminal group has posted what appear to be National Rifle Association files to the dark web,” NBC News reports.
“The group, known as Grief, posted 13 files to its website Wednesday and claimed to have hacked the NRA. It is threatening to release more of the files if not paid, though it did not publicly state how much.”
Punchbowl News: “Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill and in the White House are making progress on a framework agreement for the reconciliation package, although they don’t have a deal yet. A framework agreement could come in the ‘next several hours,’ a Democratic source said. We’ve heard that before, but this time it seems a bit more real.”
“This progress doesn’t mean the reconciliation package is ready to pass, though. It may take some time to finalize the legislative text.”
“In the meantime, Pelosi is trying to get House progressives to go along with a floor vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The deadline for the infrastructure vote is Oct. 31.”
“This a big deal. Pelosi is trying to ‘decouple’ the infrastructure bill from the reconciliation package. For months, she said they were part of a ‘two-track process’ and had to be voted on together. Now Pelosi is essentially saying ‘Let’s pass the infrastructure bill and trust us on the rest.'”
“A federal judge this week ordered Rep. Devin Nunes’ family members to disclose how they are paying for their defamation lawsuit against a reporter and magazine publisher over a 2018 story about their Iowa farm,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
A “very irritated” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), when asked if there would be a budget reconciliation agreement told Politico: “I don’t know. But I don’t think so.”
He went on: “I’m not quite clear in terms of the revenue package. Every sensible revenue option seems to be destroyed. Should we raise corporate tax rates, personal income taxes for the very wealthy? Of course, we should. But at least one person in the caucus doesn’t want to do that. Should we demand that the billionaires have to pay their fair share of taxes? Yes. There’s another person who doesn’t want to do that. So it seems to me almost every sensible progressive revenue option that the president wants and the American people want, and that I want, seems to be sabotaged.”
Dan Pfeiffer: “It is hard to conjure another private citizen or company who has hurt more people in recent memory than Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. This is not my view. Or the view of reporters and anti-Facebook activists. According to the documents, the most dire warnings about the dangers of Facebook are coming from Facebook employees concerned about their inability to control the monster they helped create.”
“While reading these stories, I can’t help but worry that despite the furor against Facebook, the moment will pass and little to no action will be taken; and while Facebook is weakened by this public outrage, Mark Zuckerberg and his minions will continue to make gobs of money destroying American democracy and sowing anger and dissent across the planet.”
John Eastman, the lawyer who wrote the infamous memo on how Donald Trump could overturn the 2020 election, was caught on video saying that Vice President Mike Pence didn’t take his solid legal advice because Pence is “an establishment guy.”
Just last week, Eastman walked back the memo in an interview saying it would have been “crazy” to pursue.
“This testimony, your directive, your performance is shameful. Thank god, you’re not on the Supreme Court. You should resign in disgrace, Judge.”
— Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), quoted by The Hill, to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“A coalition of right-wing MAGA candidates, including multiple Trump-backed candidates, are seeking to take control of elections in states across the U.S.—and one says they’re formally working with a group of conspiracy theorists, as well as with a QAnon influencer who some in the conspiracy movement believe is John F. Kennedy Jr. in disguise,” Vice News reports.
“The group consists of five GOP candidates running for the key election position of secretary of state in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, and California, as well as one Pennsylvania lawmaker who may run for governor, which in Pennsylvania appoints the secretary of state.”
The United States is starting a legal appeal to try to get Wikileaks founder Julian Assange extradited from Britain, the BBC reports.
In January, a court ruled Assange could not be extradited to the U.S. due to concerns over his mental health.
“Iran will return to nuclear talks before the end of November, its chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri, said on Wednesday, paving the way for the first talks since June on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“U.S. and European hopes of reviving the nuclear deal have faded sharply in recent months since hard-line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took office. Iran had repeatedly said it would continue the negotiations but refused to set a date.”
“Americans purchased more cigarettes last year, the first uptick in two decades,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Meghan McCain on Twitter:
“Lindsey Graham may consider himself a member of my family, but he is not and hasn’t been for a very long time. He certainly doesn’t speak for me or my life experiences. Full stop. The media should stop treating him like he is an expert on anything McCain related.”
A new Monmouth poll in New Jersey finds Gov. Phil Murphy (D) leading challenger Jack Ciattarelli (R), 50% to 39%.
A range of probabilistic electorate models show Murphy with a lead between 8 and 14 points depending on the scenario.
Former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (D) formally announced his run for Oregon governor with a new video.
Kristof will face a competitive Democratic primary in the race to succeed Gov. Kate Brown (D), who is term limited.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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