The NPR Politics Podcast - Weekly Roundup: December 3rd

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

Congress passed a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, but they only punted and they still have a long list of things to do before the end of the year. Plus, there's a lot of talk about Vice President Harris and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg. Will they or won't they run for president in 2024?This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, and White House correspondent Tamara Keith.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, this is Hans from Conscious Lake, New Mexico, where I am a park ranger with the Army Corps of Engineers. I am currently standing among over 500 dinosaur tracks at the beautiful little gem of a state park called Clayton Lake in northeastern New Mexico. This podcast was recorded at Dinosaur Content. It is 1253 Eastern on Friday, December 3rd. Things will likely have changed by the time you hear this, but these dinosaur tracks will just add a little bit more time onto their already over 100 million year old lifespan. Enjoy the show. It makes six years of the NPR Politics podcast feel like not that much. Unless you count how many episodes we've done.

Yeah. Hey there, it's yet again the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover the White House. And I'm Kelsey Snell. I cover Congress. Like many of us out there, Congress kicked off the week with an extensive to-do list. Same here. I would say I got most of mine done. Speak for yourself. Yeah. I have say I got most of mine done. Speak for yourself. Yeah.

I got none of mine done. An envelope of junk mail here with it all written in Sharpie. And you know what? Most was an exaggeration. I got some of it done. And I guess that is the same for Congress. But they did cross off one big thing

by passing a short-term spending bill. And Kelsey, look, given the toxicity and dysfunction of Congress, clearing this very low bar and doing it relatively far before the deadline and that, you know, at least 24 hours before the deadline, that does feel kind of notable. Hey, a whole day. I mean, yeah. I mean, they were out there taking victory laps and sending out press releases about how they kept the government open. So I guess they would agree with that. I mean, yes, they were able to get this done. You know, it's one of those situations where

I spent most of the week walking around talking to members about how they thought they would get this done. And like with many things lately with Congress, none of them actually had a good answer for how they were going to solve the problem. They were all mad at each other about being in the situation where they were getting close to a shutdown. They were all mostly agreeing that they didn't want to have a shutdown, mostly, mostly. And yet they were still in this situation where they, you know, they are doing a short term spending bill because they haven't done the very basic job of writing a full year spending bill.

This isn't even the way they're of writing a full year spending bill. This isn't even the way they're supposed to fund the government, but this is where we are. And they were able to pass something that'll last until February, February 18th to be specific. But that's not a very long time. So we're going to be back in this exact same position in not very long. But let's spend a minute on what didn't happen, though, because it seems like a preview for a lot of future fights, especially in 2023 if Republicans retake the House. There had been a Republican push to try and force a shutdown over vaccine mandates. Tam, how did the White House respond to those threats as they grew over the course of the week? They didn't respond a lot. The president yesterday said, well, we think we're going to get it done unless somebody

does something irrational or something along those lines. And, you know. To which Kelsey tweeted, that's what Congress does. Yeah, that's exactly what he said, that unless somebody does something completely erratic. I was like, well, that's kind of the definition of this Congress is somebody wakes up and says, I'm going to do something a little erratic. But so here's what the White House is doing is the president did put in effect through various regulatory agencies, a bunch of different vaccine mandates for employers, for hospitals, for medical providers, for federal employees. And some of those have now been held up in court.

And the White House is moving forward by encouraging businesses to just go ahead and put in place mandates for their employees anyway. And a lot of businesses actually have. So in some ways, the White House message on that is, OK, fine, we don't really want to engage on that fight. But guess what? Mandates work. And they point to the federal government, where I think it's 92 percent of people, our employees are now fully vaccinated and 97 percent are in compliance, which means that they have either started the process of being vaccinated or have applied for an exemption or extension. Kelsey, there is a clear, even if public opinion polls show otherwise, there is a clear thought from many House Republicans, especially the more Trumpy wing, that vaccine mandates are a bad thing,

they're unpopular, voters reward Republicans for pushing back against them. There was a push to try and do, you know, get rid of these or else. Why did that in the end not happen? Well, I think a couple of things were at play here. One is that the senators who were objecting to this were given an alternative, which is they're going to vote on something next week to attempt to, you know, prevent the government from going through with implementing any sort of vaccine mandates. They'll be able to vote on that next week. And if it passes in the Senate, it's probably going to go nowhere in the House.

So it'll give them the opportunity to kind of get that protest out of their systems. But what really happened is they allowed an amendment vote on vaccine mandate, but they did it in kind of a hurry yesterday because they knew that there weren't enough Republicans in town for it to pass. One senator, John Thune, was back at home for his father-in-law's funeral, and another senator, Senator Hagerty of Tennessee, was back home because his high school-aged son was in the state football championship. So they knew that they could allow this amendment vote and that it would never pass, which is like, I joked that this was a square on the bingo card I didn't know existed, but it is exactly how they got themselves out of this jam. All right, on to the next looming deadline. And that is the debt limit. We talked a lot about this in September, we made it clear at the time, it seemed bad. It got punted and it

got punted to pretty soon. What end of next week? Well, we're not exactly sure when they say, probably around the 15th of December would be when the Treasury Department thinks the US will run out of borrowing power. There could be some flexibility there. But, you know, Democrats in the Senate in particular say that they are going to move forward as if the deadline is actually the 15th. They want to get this done before Christmas. quiet, secret little meetings between Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell about this, which indicates that they are working together in a way that they weren't before on debt limit. McConnell notably said that Republicans weren't going to do anything to help Democrats when it came to the debt limit so long as Democrats were moving forward with plans for trillions of dollars

in additional spending. Well, if they're having meetings about it, maybe that position has changed or Republicans' assessment about the advisability of having a fight over default, maybe that has changed. But I'm really interested to see where this is going. Yeah, I don't really understand what changed. Yeah, I'm not sure either. If they're willing to talk about it now, but they weren't willing to talk about it before. You know, I'm not totally sure either. And that's

fascinating to me because, you know, Mitch McConnell's not exactly a person who pivots lightly. He is a very deliberate politician. And so I'll be curious to watch where this is headed. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, if you squint and look at it just the right way, we might be seeing what could possibly hypothetically maybe be a sneak preview of the 2024 presidential campaign, Don't At Me. And we're back. And if you follow me on Twitter, which in the pre-podcast conversation, Tam, there was some tension about this point.

I do follow you on Twitter. I did not see this tweet. I promise. I refuse to commit to whether or not I follow you on Twitter, Scott. Wow. Wow. Anyway, for those who do... You know, a thing that is easily checked. There are two specific photos I posted yesterday that are going to guide this conversation. The first one is Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hugging each other right before they boarded Air Force Two together to fly to North Carolina to promote the brand new Infrastructure Act, which, of course, delivers a lot of money to a lot of places for a lot of things. The second one is Buttigieg shooting dagger eyes at me as I asked him a question aboard

Air Force Two. So that's what we're going to talk about. I will explain why. Scott, what did you do to deserve this? I asked him about a presidential race three years from now. Yeah. And a topic of much speculation around Washington in recent days, the dynamic between those very two people who you flew on a plane with. Yeah. And look, the White House is making a very big show of being exasperated with all of the speculation, but it's real. And there's a few factors why. President Biden is old. He's 79 years old. When he took office, he was the oldest president ever, older than anyone when they left office. He said as he ran that he saw himself as a bridge candidate. So there were always some questions early on of would Biden maybe not run for a second term? Those questions

have picked up as his approval ratings have really sunk and Democrats have started to freak out about their fate in the next couple elections based on the current political climate. And even though Biden and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki have repeatedly said he plans on running again in 2024, these questions are out there. And when you start thinking about that, I think the two people who really pop to mind as possible other Democrats who could step into that void are, of course, the Vice President Kamala Harris, but also Pete Buttigieg, who ran for president and is, I think it's fair to say, Tam, the most high profile member of this cabinet, which the fact that you're

talking about the transportation secretary is pretty notable. Yeah, I don't remember a lot of conversations about other transportation secretaries ever before. Yeah. But he's somebody who ran for president, who garnered a lot of attention, who is now, you know, like he and his husband are people that people watch. So I have a question for you guys. If the White House doesn't like all of this speculation, why were they out there together? I think it's a fair point.

I think they knew that if the two of them went to a really important political state, North Carolina, together, they would get a lot of attention. Guess what? I flew on the plane to go cover them. And they were there to talk about infrastructure. But when Buttigieg came back to ask, to do a very quick press gaggle with us, I asked him about whether all of the speculation is something he and Harris have addressed or talked about or thought about. It's 2021. And the whole point of campaigns and elections is when they go well, you get to govern. And we are squarely focused on the job at hand. Yeah. So, Scott, I can't imagine the White House loves these conversations happening or this kind of speculation happening. And that answer is like a classic, I'm not ruling anything out, but I'm not ruling

anything in. I guess so. I mean, somebody pointed out he could have very easily said, well, of course, Joe Biden's running for president again, and I support him. And he didn't say that. But I think the flip side of it is, you know, then they got to North Carolina, the two of them toured electric buses together. I watched them tour a bus. I watched Harris sit behind the wheel of the bus. And the bus maintenance guy very gently was like, ma'am, I just want to point out electric buses are quiet, but this bus is on right now. So don't hit the gas, which I appreciated

as I was standing directly in front of the bus when that happened. But they made a case for infrastructure. Harris, I think, really went out of her way to talk about how these, you know, these big spending areas, these big wonky projects really affect individual people's lives. And people who use public transportation for their commute often spend much more of their time in transit. Time that they could be spending with their friends and family. I mean, the argument being a line item spending to improve the buses in one city can really have a big difference on people. And I think that is a point she is very eager to make

right now, because as the administration just looks at the overall political climate of a lot of voters being angry and frustrated and feeling like things aren't working, they seem pretty desperate to try and connect their policies to people's lives. And this is an administration whose entire, I hate to use the phrase, theory of the case is that the federal government can work for people and they are out to prove that it can work. And even as we were talking earlier about Congress barely being able to do the basic functions of government, They did pass an

infrastructure bill. The president signed it. Now he's got his cabinet out there promoting it. And, you know, Scott said they're trying to connect it to people's everyday lives because, frankly, this administration is not getting a lot of credit for some very big pieces of legislation that have already passed. Or literally giving money to people. Like every month, child tax credit. Yeah, just the political credit has not been as obvious as they thought it would be. So I think it's a big challenge right now. This is kind of happening also in a week where there's been a lot of focus on Harris in particular

and kind of what her role is at the White House. Yeah, she's had some high profile staff departures, which is something that happened during her presidential campaign as well. And I think a lot of people drew connections there. The most notable name is Simone Sanders, who was a high profile spokeswoman for the Biden presidential campaign before she went to be Harris's spokesperson, announced this week that she will be leaving the office a few other key communication staffers are as well. We asked Harris about this, you know, is there some sort of broader staff shakeup happening? She had a very specific answer of, next question. We did not want to talk about that.

But, you know, I think we've talked about this before. She's really been given a lot of tough tasks by the White House. Tam, you were on that trip with her to Guatemala where she's charged with trying to bring some sort of concrete changes to deep, lasting economic regional problems, which just feels impossible. To address the root causes of migration and the very real, have not gone away even remotely, challenges with immigration that this administration is really struggling with to this day. I mean, speaking of ongoing challenges for the administration, I also kind of wanted to quickly talk about President Biden and the plan he announced this week to tackle the coronavirus this winter. And Tam, I have to say it kind of felt lacking. Well, there weren't any big blockbuster new initiatives, big blockbuster

new surprises, no big new mandates. The major headline is that they're going to get insurers to cover, private insurers to cover those over-the-counter COVID tests that we've all bought over the counter after various scares in our own lives. And right now they're about 25 bucks for two. In theory, they would start being free sometime early in the new year. But the public health experts that NPR is talking to say this is kind of like just not enough. Right. Because, Tam, we should clarify free is not free in this plan. Free is pay 25 bucks for it. And then get it reimbursed, right? At some point, try to get your insurance to

reimburse it. Yeah. Which can take paperwork and mail and sometimes faxing. It is something, but it's not, you know, go to your corner store, pick up a free COVID test. There's just a big pile out front. It's not that. And the other thing is that there were some public health experts who have said, who have been begging, frankly, for months for this White House to use one of the levers that it has remaining in terms of a mandate and mandate that if people want to get on a commercial airline in this country, that they need to be either vaccinated or at the very least tested first. And that's not something that this White House is yet prepared to do. I asked about that yesterday and Jen Psaki said everything is still on the table. So, you know, but I think that this winter plan is it's more adding a few a few Lego blocks on top of the initiatives that they already have in place.

And the big thing is just they want more people to get vaccinated. And they are now frantically trying to have a very clear message that says, if you qualify, go get a booster. Basically, everybody qualifies. All right. We're going to take a quick break when we get back. It's time for Can't Let It Go. We are back, and it is time to end the show like we do every Friday

with Can't Let It Go, the part of the show where we talk about the things from the week that we cannot stop thinking about politics or otherwise. Kelsey, you can go first. All right. So I went to the library over the weekend

with my kid, and we're looking through the kids' section, and he brings over to me a book that I absolutely cannot let go of, and it is Lil Nas X, C is for Country. Yes, that Lil Nas X. He has a kid's book, and it's amazing. Is it like an alphabet book, like in the genre of alphabet books? Yes. So let me read you a couple. Less controversial than some of the other products he is currently offering, I assume.

When I suggested this one, our producer, Barton, asked me if it was not suitable for work or suitable for work. And I said that it's a children's book, and I sure hope it's suitable for work or suitable for work? And I said that it's a children's book and I sure hope it's suitable for work. Okay, so my absolute favorite one is F because F is for fringe and feathers and fake fur. I love that for me. Aw, great. It features him hanging out in his house, riding his horse Panini. I is for itty bitty pony. And it is Lil Nas X in a pink cowboy outfit and a pink cowboy hat, hopping up on his horse Panini.

And O, of course, is for Old Town Road. But you don't have to take Kelsey's word for it. No, you can go and find this book wherever fine children's books are sold. Or even checked out for free. Checked out for free at the DC Public Library. Someone from a narrow age range will get that reference. I will go next. I will say, unfortunately, I just had a late-breaking can't-let-it-go-that-truly-delighted-me video of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at her farewell ceremony listening to a German military band play Sandstorm from Darud.

Unfortunately, in the four minutes I've been aware of this, I've gone from this is amazing to this might not actually be real. So I don't think – I don't know. We'll find out with more research uh but i will i will not i will just say um everyone got into squid game and i was like i don't know things are too dark for me to watch that as a show so i just want i actually found time to watch movies possibly because of the thanksgiving. And I watched two delightful movies. One is the 76,000 hour long Beatles documentary by Peter Jackson. I can't wait to watch this is on our watch list at home. And I feel like a lot of people might be skeptical. I'm not like a Beatles superfan. I like their

music. I grew up in a house where it was played a lot, right? But like, it was so interesting to just watch the creative process play out. And especially as, you know, we all write things on deadline, right? We do not write Beatles songs, but we write things and it's often on deadline. No, my newscast spots are pretty much Hey Jude. But like as someone who has written on deadline for a long time, there was this magical moment that gave me like pins and needles of like, they're all in the studio it's obviously not going well because the band is kind of about to break up and they're either

slacking off or arguing or lots of different things or procrastinating and then all of the sudden Paul just starts like writing a song and like you see it go from like messing around to to get back in like five minutes and it's just amazing to watch and then later there's this moment where they're again having this asinine argument about whatever and he's just sitting down at the piano and the and the filmmakers weren't even focusing on this they didn't realize he's sitting at a piano and you realize that he is like refining uh let it be on the piano and it's just really cool to see that and then then I went back from being like, oh, creativity, yay, to watching Tick, Tick, Boom on Netflix, which is all about Jonathan Larson before he wrote Rent. And I'm just riding this wave of feel-good creativity music in my movie queue right now.

And that is what I can't let go of. Our household movie queue is like all the movies that are possibly a little inappropriate for our nine-year-old to watch, but we feel are part of his movie education. So he recently watched Three Amigos, Spaceballs. We did Men in Black. We've done Gremlins. that are important for a young man to know about for the future. Or possibly only important for a young man of the 80s to know about for their future. And now he's going to have all of these really terrible jokes and pop culture references that no other child will ever get.

Time will tell. At least he'll get all the references that you were making in the household. Exactly. He's going to discover his parents aren't the references that you were making in the household. Exactly. He's going to discover his parents aren't funny. They just keep making jokes from movies. Other than that, what can you not let go of? Well, so last night was the big annual National Christmas tree lighting near the White House. Lots of people were there, including Patti LaBelle, the diva, the singer, the, you know,

Patti LaBelle. And she gave a perfectly incident-free performance, I'm told. However, the occasion of her being at the National Tree Lighting was an occasion to revisit her 1996 performance of This Christmas, where at one point she asks, where are my backup singers? And at another point, she scolds the cue card man and yet also is making beautiful singing sounds. This Christmas. Where are my background singers? And you should know, she's on an empty stage. There are no background singers. And that's the wrong words on the cue cards.

I don't know the song. You don't know the song? It's this Christmas. I'm going to have them all I can. Because I don't have the right friends. Oh, no. I have no background singers. Oh, my words and I have no background singers. Oh my God. I have no background singers.

Wait, the entire album that she had just released was called This Christmas. Yes. Wait, really? Yes. It wasn't even just a song. It was the album. Yes. But it was so good. it was so catastrophically bad it was so gloriously

good all right that that is a wrap for this week we'll be back in your feed monday our executive producer is mithani maturi our editor is eric mcdaniel our producers are barton girdwood and elena moore thank you to lexi chapittle and brand Brandon Carter as well. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover the White House. And I'm Kelsey Snell. I cover Congress. Thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast and have a good weekend.