Idaho state Rep. Charlie Shepherd (R) argued against a bill which would use $6 million in federal grants to increase early childhood education, KTVB reports.
Said Sheperd: “I don’t think anybody does a better job than mothers in the home, and any bill that makes it easier or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home and let others raise their child, I don’t think that’s a good direction for us to be going.”
New Rochelle, NY mayor Noam Bramson (D) reflects on his city becoming “ground zero” in the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. one year ago:
“An anecdote I haven’t previously shared illustrates the improvisational quality of those early days and of the ‘containment zone’ in particular. The state first suggested an area with a two-mile radius. We pointed out that this would sweep in many institutions quite removed from the presumed outbreak area, a wider net than the State wanted. Okay, came the response, what about one mile? Equally arbitrary, but maybe better. This back-and-forth was up against the clock — with a press conference from the Governor only minutes away. The City’s planners, who would ordinarily be the right folks for any geographic analysis, were out of the office at an event, so I sat at my desk, with a ruler, a pencil, and a map of New Rochelle, scribbling a rough circle, trying feverishly to figure out what would fall within the new boundary. Was Ward School in or out? How about Barnard?”
“And then time was up. There was the Governor on TV, announcing the containment zone. In the hours and days to follow, we would all defend the policy, including me at the City’s own press conference that same afternoon, the most pressure-filled experience of my entire service as Mayor. I still believe strongly that it was important for those of us in leadership positions to speak with a clear, consistent, confident voice — plus, in fairness, the idea of restricting large gatherings had real merit, and the details got straightened out soon enough. But at the moment of the announcement, I remember looking down at my ridiculous, crudely-drawn diagram, and thinking: this is nuts.”
The Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. has tripled its room rates for tonight — in line with the latest QAnon conspiracy theory that March 4 will mark the second inauguration of Donald Trump, the Washingtonian reports.
Vox: The future of QAnon, explained by 8 experts.
“Consumers in the world’s largest economies amassed $2.9 trillion in extra savings during Covid-related lockdowns, a vast cash hoard that creates the potential for a powerful recovery from the pandemic recession,” Bloomberg reports.
“Half that total — $1.5 trillion and growing — is in the U.S. alone.”
The suspicious device found near an Iowa polling place for a school district election Tuesday has been confirmed to be a live pipe bomb, the Des Moines Register reports.
“Voters like him because he gets things done, insiders don’t like him because he doesn’t stroke them. It’s a very macho-guy environment… He can be the most charming guy in the world, but he’s also a punch-you-in-the-face kind of guy.”
— A former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by Newsday.
Jonathan Bernstein: “Many pundits (and Republicans, when they’re not distracted by the Muppets and Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss) have put a lot of emphasis on the decision Democrats have made to pass the bill through the reconciliation process, which allows a simple majority to avoid filibusters that can stymie legislation commanding fewer than 60 votes.”
“But there’s no real mystery here. Assuming that (barely) all of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ducks are in a row, all 50 Democratic senators are ready to vote for the bill, and Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaker to get the job done. Parties that have the votes rarely make concessions to get additional, unnecessary votes! Bipartisan compromise happens when it’s needed, not for its own sake.”
Janan Ganesh: “The pandemic has crystallized a thought for which there was once only scattered evidence. But at some point in this century, the US became a mildly social democratic country, in its attitudes if not the reality of its welfare state. It is the knottiness of the country’s lawmaking — the counter-majoritarian Senate, above all — that stops the one translating to the other, not some deep folk aversion to ‘socialism’ or the European way.”
“In their preferences, to be clear, Americans are hardly Danes. The reduction of inequality is well down their list of desires. Their tax tolerance is lower. But even as 40 percent reliably vote Republican, they do not inhabit the party’s vision of an eternal frontier of rugged self-reliance. If the US was once ideologically exceptional within the rich world, it is now just different in degrees.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence broke his silence since Joe Biden became president with a piece in the Daily Signal about “significant voting irregularities” and officials “setting aside election law” in the 2020 presidential election.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) will vote to confirm interior secretary nominee Deb Haaland, making her the first GOP senator to publicly support President Joe Biden’s historic pick for the job, the HuffPost reports.
New York Magazine: “Governor Andrew Cuomo sounded defeated, senior officials who had spoken with him said. It seemed to be getting to him that the usual strategic plays were suddenly no longer working… The normally efficient governor’s office had been spinning out of control ever since a bombshell New York Times story broke the prior evening detailing how Cuomo had made a series of inappropriate comments to Charlotte Bennett, a young female aide, including asking her if she had ever had sex with older men and if she was monogamous in relationships.”
Said one former adviser: “They are panicking.”
Said another Cuomo ally: “The problem he has right now is that everybody hates him.”
Politico: De Blasio’s payback: New York mayor unloads on wounded Cuomo.
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed confidence on Tuesday that President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill will pass in the Senate this week, saying the Senate will take up the legislation as early as Wednesday,” CBS News reports.
Said Schumer: “We want to get the biggest, strongest, boldest bill that can pass. And that’s what we are working to do. We’ll have the votes we need to pass the bill.”
Bloomberg: “President Biden’s imperative of swiftly passing his $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief program faces one of its final hurdles: settling disputes among Senate Democrats over how to ensure aid gets to those who truly need it.”
“Joe Biden is tapping a federal agency to facilitate vaccinations for teachers and child care workers. He is using his bully pulpit to push states to get shots into teachers’ arms by the end of the month. The administration is even considering creating a ‘school reopening’ czar,” Politico reports.
“And newly-minted Education secretary Miguel Cardona will launch his tenure on Wednesday with a visit to elementary schools that have successfully reopened, in a high-profile event with First Lady Jill Biden.”
Axios: Biden sends teachers to front of vaccine line.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), 87, filed paperwork with the FEC to set up another run for the Senate in 2022.
Wall Street Journal: “Steve Bannon has asked a judge to dismiss a fraud indictment in New York because he was pardoned, setting up an unusual legal battle with the Manhattan federal prosecutors who say the clemency doesn’t extend to the grand jury’s determination that the former White House strategist committed a crime.”
New York Times: “For ambitious Republicans like Mr. Cotton who are mulling a presidential bid, a challenging and at times uncomfortable audition is underway this winter: trying to use the Trump political playbook to impress and inherit the former president’s supporters — all while navigating the limitation of not being Mr. Trump.”
“Some Republicans have been using appearances on Fox News and far-right news outlets to test messages and hone their political pitches, as well as firing off social media posts and delivering remarks at the Capitol to try to engage the right. Last weekend’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., where Mr. Cotton and other Republican leaders-in-waiting spoke, was the most visible stage yet for these politicians — not to mention where they confronted the most scrutiny.”
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.