Nation on edge as Biden swears in
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Nation on edge as Biden swears in Presented by Facebook
The Beltway and nation are tense ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration at noon today, as the threat of violence and President Donald Trump’s pending impeachment trial loom over the historic transition of power. Here’s how Washington is kicking off the new political era.
IN THE ZONE: Helicopters are flying overhead, fences with razor wire are erected around the vast Capitol complex, military trucks are posted along the perimeter and armed uniformed officials are standing watch for any signs of a threat. The pedestrians and joggers who typically run up the hill near the Capitol are nowhere to be seen. But this being Washington, there are multiple coffee stands for the National Guardsman posted up outside.
There’s extra security measures for credentialed visitors to the Capitol complex, with guards manning multiple checkpoints to get into the building. And once inside, dozens and dozens of National Guard members are standing against walls.
And a sea of flags is on parts of the National Mall, a stand-in for the thousands of bodies who would normally huddle together to watch a new president take power, just one of the many ways the Covid pandemic has altered this year’s Inaugural celebration.
A HEAVY LIFT: A lot is weighing on Biden as he seeks to not only aggressively implement key priorities of his agenda, but also unify a divided country. And for the first time in recent memory, the outgoing president will not attend today’s ceremony.
The country also continues to reel from Covid, which has taken more than 400,000 U.S. lives, and Americans are confronting the massive economic fallout from the pandemic.
Biden will need bipartisan support to get his Covid relief plans passed through Congress, as well as his infrastructure, climate change and immigration proposals. Can he do it? To top it off, Biden’s team will likely also have to confront a series of bureaucratic headaches once in office.
Regardless of the first few days ahead, a lot is riding on Biden’s speech today as he tries to pull together a nation that is standing apart.
READ POLITICO Mag’s interviews with two dozen thinkers, who offer ways Biden can begin piecing the country back together and POLITICO’s Natasha Korecki’s story on the high stakes of this speech today.
TICK TOCK: HOW TODAY IS GOING DOWN: Times are tentative.
-8 a.m.: Trump is scheduled to participate in a White House send-off ceremony at Joint Base Andrews and then he will depart Washington for Palm Beach, Florida.
-11:45 a.m.: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn into office.
-Noon: President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
-12:15 p.m.: President Joe Biden will deliver his inaugural address, in which he will lay “out his vision to beat the virus, build back better, and bring the country together.” Vice President Mike Pence will be in attendance.
-1:15 p.m.: The Joint Task Force-National Capital Region will host a Pass in Review ceremony.
-2 p.m.: Biden, Harris, first lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Douglas Emhoff as well as three former presidential couples are scheduled to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. They will honor “men and women in uniform who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our common values.”
-3:15 p.m.: The virtual “Parade Across America” begins. (Your Huddle host is very curious to know what this is going to look like.)
-7 p.m.: A virtual program on “AAPI Inaugural Ball: Breaking Barriers” will air, followed an hour later by the virtual program on “We Are One.”
-8:30 p.m.: Biden and deliver remarks during “Celebrating America,” a prime-time program hosted by actor Tom Hanks.
-9:30 p.m.: A virtual program on “Latino Inaugural 2021: Inheritance, Resilience, and Promise” that features singers Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), as well as other community and religious leaders.
A live stream for all of this is available here: http://bit.ly/3ircYVk
A few more things:
-NH boy who befriended by Biden over stutter will be part of the inauguration show by New Hampshire Union Leader’s Mark Hayward: http://bit.ly/3bOSvbQ
-Singer Garth Brooks says he will perform at Biden’s swearing in ceremony today, describing his participation as a statement of “unity,” while also showing that he has friends in both low and high places.
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FIRST IN HUDDLE: Freshman Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), who represents a District that swung towards Biden in the election, is leading 16 other House GOP freshmen in congratulating Biden on beginning his presidency and expressing a willingness to work across the aisle on key issues like coronavirus relief, healthcare, infrastructure and the economy.
Van Duyne, who was one of the members who voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results, says she is sending this letter in the spirit of unity, particularly after Jan. 6. While she invited all the 44 GOP freshmen to join the letter, less than half had signed on by Tuesday night.
“We firmly believe that what unites us as Americans is far greater than anything that may ever divide us,” they write. Read the full letter here: https://politi.co/39Nv4Nx
HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill on this Jan. 20, where there were signs Joe Exotic was hoping for a presidential pardon, which did not come.
TUESDAY’S MOST CLICKED: The Star Tribune’s story on how the Wyoming GOP chair says Western states are “paying attention” to Texas’ effort to secede was the big winner.
GUARDED ON SECURITY: A dozen National Guard members were removed from providing security for inauguration after the FBI identified them as having ties to fringe right-wing groups or having shared extremist views, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The FBI, which provided a list of names to the National Guard, did not find evidence of any active plots against Biden, according to the report. More here from the AP’s James LaPorta, Lolita Baldor and Michael Balsamo: http://bit.ly/3iA01bR
Naturally, lawmakers found ways to take political sides. Exhibit A: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.): https://bit.ly/2LL4FYs
INSURRECTION INVESTIGATION: Four top House Democrats are launching an investigation into “high-level failures” of intelligence and security planning after the Jan. 6 deadly attack on the Capitol. This comes after law enforcement agencies received information about the likelihood of violence targeting Congress ahead of time, but there was some breakdown of intelligence sharing along the way.
House Intel’s Adam Schiff, Judiciary’s Jerry Nadler, Oversight’s Carolyn Maloney and Homeland Security’s Bennie Thompson are also seeking classified briefings beginning in late January. Kyle has more: http://politi.co/2XT6WDB
OH, AND THIS: McConnell says Trump “provoked” the Capitol attackers and fed the mob “lies.” Andrew with the story: http://politi.co/35WHKR0
FIRST IN HUDDLE: Freshman Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), who has a State Department background in conflict prevention and countering violent extremism, is calling on Pelosi to establish a Truth Commission to help address white supremacy and the roots of the attack on the Capitol.
“Given my experience in post-conflict settings, I believe a truth commission and empirically supported best practices from transitional justice case studies will be the best way to do so,” Jacobs writes, citing social media’s role in the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar.
“We must take the threat of radicalization through online social media networks seriously.” Read her full letter here: https://politi.co/2Kx4PCn
CALLING FOR A COMMISSION: Speaker Nancy Pelosi – and Hillary Clinton – support Congress establishing an investigative body like the 9/11 Commission to investigate Trump’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as the Kremlin’s possible involvement in the Capitol riot.
While Republicans are not likely to jump on a commission focused on Russia’s links to Trump, there are some who back a commission that examines what went wrong more broadly on Jan. 6.
“I too would like to see a 9/11 style commission,” Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, told your Huddle host and other reporters during a virtual Pen and Pad. “My preference would be not to have Members of Congress make up the commission. I would prefer to have people that are appointed that are a step away from us.”
Related Read: Members of Congress want a commission to investigate the Capitol invasion. Here’s when these work by WaPo’s Jordan Tama: http://wapo.st/38VANS6
DEMS TAKE BACK THE SENATE: Today is a big day all around. In addition to Biden being sworn in, Sen.-elects Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), as well as Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), are expected to be sworn in a few hours after the new president. And you know what that means… Democrats will also take the very, very slim control of the Senate after years of being in the minority.
Related Senate Reads: Ossoff to be sworn in using Hebrew Bible of rabbi whose synagogue was bombed by racists by Forward’s Benyamin Cohen: http://bit.ly/2XUdTUX | Burr won’t face charges in stock trade inquiry by Raleigh News & Observer’ Brian Murphy: http://bit.ly/3sBmEkV | The Education of Josh Hawley by POLITICO Mag’s Ruairi Arrieta-Kenna and Emily Cadei: http://politi.co/2MaDC96
DON’T BUST THE ‘BUSTER: Soon-to-be Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met Tuesday to try to reach an agreement on how to run an evenly split Senate, during which McConnell sought to drive a hard bargain by urging Schumer to commit to preserving the legislative filibuster, according to a letter McConnell sent to colleagues.
He said while he is taking his cues from the last split Senate in 2001, he also believes “we need to also address the threats to the legislative filibuster.” Burgess has more: http://politi.co/35Y9S6d
BOEBERT BUCKS BIDEN: GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) told Keagan Harsha , a local Colorado reporter, that she does not plan to attend Biden’s inauguration. Rather, she plans to attend the send-off for Trump. Your Huddle host wants to know: Will other GOP lawmakers also choose to attend a farewell for Trump over Biden’s Inauguration. And if so, how many?
Related: Two big-name Colorado Democrats are already exploring 2022 bids to unseat Lauren Boebert by The Colorado Sun’s Jesse Aaron Paul: http://bit.ly/35TPS4w
NOMINATION NATION: Highlights from a marathon day of Biden nomination hearings.
-DNI: Haines pledges to ‘speak truth to power’ if confirmed as Biden’s intel chief by POLITICO’s Martin Matishak: http://politi.co/35VETaK | Biden’s DNI pick vows to help investigate any foreign role in Capitol siege, warns of China’s rise by ABC’s Mike Levine: http://abcn.ws/3o2xVXK
-Treasury: “Act big” now to save economy, worry about debt later, Yellen says in Treasury testimony by Reuters’ David Lawder and Andrea Shalal: http://reut.rs/391pzvv | Yellen outlines economic priorities, and Republicans draw battle lines by NYT’s Alan Rappeport: http://nyti.ms/3iB41ZO
-Pentagon: House committee nixes Lloyd Austin’s waiver hearing by DefenseNews’ Joe Gould: http://bit.ly/3nVrhCR | Lloyd Austin pledges ‘competent civilian control’ of the military as defense secretary by POLITICO’s Connor O’Brien: http://politi.co/2LOy3Nt
-DHS: Biden’s Nominee for Homeland Security Questioned on Immigration Policy by NYT’s Zolan Kanno-Youngs: http://nyti.ms/3nYb3bZ | Sen. Hawley blocks quick consideration of Biden’s Homeland Security nominee by CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez: http://cnn.it/35ZcYqK
-A full recap on the confirmation hearings from Marianne and Andrew: http://politi.co/2NlQDNy
TRANSITIONS
IS THAT YOU, former Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.)? DefenseOne’s Katie Bo scooped a list of Biden’s Day One Pentagon team, which includes someone named Max Rose, who will serve as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Senior Adviser, COVID).
FIRST IN HUDDLE: Ryan Long, a longtime Capitol Hill veteran, is heading to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office to handle a range of issues as a senior advisor including health, trade, veterans, technology and telecom issues, per an email your Huddle host reviewed. He previously served as Staff Director at the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) announced the following senior staff hires on Tuesday: James Braid is his COS; Marissa Stockton serves as his District director; Sean Brislin is his LD; and Harry Fones serves as his comms director.
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business with the first vote predicted to be at roughly 7:30 p.m.
The Senate meets at 4:30 p.m. for a period of morning business.
AROUND THE HILL
Inauguration events throughout the day.
2 p.m.: The Delaware and Pennsylvania Democratic Parties are hosting a virtual event on “Biden’s Home States Inauguration,” beginning at 2 p.m. with multiple senators and House members and other lawmakers from those two states will be participating.
5:30 p.m.: The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is holding a virtual event to celebrate the Biden-Harris Inauguration, which will feature musical artists, speakers from all levels of government and a live silent auction with items signed by President-Elect Biden.
9 p.m.: The Creative Coalition is hosting a virtual Presidential Inaugural Ball, beginning at 9 p.m., to commemorate the 2021 inauguration and “spotlight the arts as a national treasure.” At least five Dem senators, roughly two dozen Dem House members and three House Republicans are expected to participate.
TRIVIA
TUESDAY’S WINNER: Jon Deuser was the first person to guess correctly that the Republican Party was founded in 1856 to oppose the spread of slavery. (The Senate majority leader followed not long after with the correct answer as well.)
TODAY’S QUESTION: From Jon: Both Sen. Ben Ray Lujan and Sen. Roger Marshall are likely to join a small club of members who voted on presidential impeachment in the full House and the full Senate in the same impeachment proceeding. Who are the other members of this club?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answer to [email protected] .
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Austin confirmed as new defense secretary in historic vote
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Former U.S. Central Command leader Lloyd Austin was confirmed Friday as the next defense secretary, a historic vote that makes him the nation’s first Black chief of the Pentagon.
Austin, a four-star Army general who spent more than 40 years in the ranks, was approved by an overwhelming 93-2 vote in the Senate. A day earlier, the House and Senate also approved waiver language to allow Austin, who retired in 2016, to serve in the post despite a law mandating a seven-year gap between military service and the top civilian defense job.
The vote, which came two days after President Joe Biden was sworn in as commander in chief, erased fears of a possible lengthy wait for the new administration’s national security team to be put in place. Biden has said that Austin, 67, has “intimate knowledge of the Department of Defense” that will be crucial as his team rewrites four years of military and defense policy under former President Donald Trump, and faces ongoing threats from overseas adversaries.
“[Austin] and I share a commitment to empowering our diplomats and development experts to lead our foreign policy, using force only as our last resort,” Biden wrote in an essay for The Atlantic in December explaining his decision.
“We must build a foreign policy that leads with diplomacy and revitalizes our alliances, putting American leadership back at the table and rallying the world to meet global threats to our security — from pandemics to climate change, from nuclear proliferation to the refugee crisis.”
During his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Austin vowed to prioritize making the military “a working environment free of discrimination, hate and harassment” for all troops and civilians.
“If confirmed, I will fight hard to stamp out sexual assault, to rid our ranks of racists and extremists, and to create a climate where everyone fit and willing has the opportunity to serve this country with dignity,” he said.
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“The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies. But we can’t do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks.”
Austin, who served on the board of defense contractor Raytheon Technologies, agreed at his confirmation hearing this week to recuse himself from decisions involving the company for four years.
He takes over a Pentagon that is likely to see tighter defense budgets than in recent years and continued questions about how to balance traditional threats like China and Russia with overseas terrorist and extremist groups.
“Globally I understand that Asia must be the focus of our effort, and I see China in particular as a pacing challenge for the department,” he told lawmakers.
He’ll also have to handle Biden’s call to end the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after 20 years, something that none of the past three presidential administrations have been able to do. At his confirmation hearing, he expressed openness to leaving a counter-terrorism force in Afghanistan.
In recent days, multiple lawmakers hailed Austin not only as a capable leader for the military but also as an important figure to emphasize the need for diversity in the armed forces.
In a Washington Post editorial published Thursday, Iraq War veteran Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., called Austin a potentially transformational leader for the military at a time of racial strife throughout the country.
“The rise in white nationalism is disturbing by itself, and is accompanied by two concerning trends regarding people of color within the department,” Brown wrote. “A lack of diversity in senior military and civilian ranks, as well as in coveted careers such as special forces, pilots and submariners, has led to Defense Department leadership that doesn’t reflect America.”
Just before Friday’s vote, incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., called Austin’s confirmation “an extraordinary, historic moment.”
“A significant portion of our forces are African-American, Latino or Latina, and now they can see themselves at the very top of the Department of Defense,” he told reporters.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., argued on Thursday that lawmakers needed to move quickly on Austin’s confirmation to help counter leadership turmoil in the department under Trump. Over his four year term, the department had six different permanent and acting secretaries.
“The disruption at the Pentagon has been enormous,” he said. “They need a fully confirmed secretary of defense immediately to begin to thoroughly clean up that mess and get the Pentagon back to being as effective as it needs to be … There is an urgency to this.”
Austin is expected to take his oath of office as early as this afternoon, and begin overseeing Pentagon operations right away.
Austin pledges to protect civilian leadership at Pentagon
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WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for defense secretary used his Tuesday appearance in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee to push back against concerns about civilian control of the military, as Congress prepares for an upcoming waiver vote.
Lloyd Austin, who retired from the Army in 2016, would require a waiver from both the House and Senate to be able to serve as defense secretary. The issue has dominated the headlines around Austin since his nomination was announced.
Before the hearing, those concerns were articulated by Kori Schake, a former national security official in the George W. Bush administration who is currently with the American Enterprise Institute. Schake, who supported a waiver for former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (who co-authored a book with her) in 2016, argued in a Bloomberg column that the situation is very different between the two men.
“I would not have done so if I hadn’t feared Donald Trump was a danger to constitutional governance domestically and to the liberal order internationally, and was surrounding himself with people manifestly unqualified for their positions and likely to be reckless in the performance of them. Thankfully, none of those conditions apply to the Biden administration,” she wrote.
“To argue that if one supported a waiver for Mattis, one must also support one for Austin is to argue that Joe Biden poses no less a threat to our country than Donald Trump. That just isn’t true.”
But former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, providing an introduction for Austin, said civilian-military concerns miss that Austin has previously shown he will defer to civilian leadership.
“The best military officers are those who understand the importance of civilian control, and Lloyd was one of those,” Panetta said. “I am absolutely confident that Lloyd Austin will follow in” the tradition of civilian control.
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For his part, Austin used his opening remarks to stress he will uphold civilian control “as intended.”
“I intend to surround myself with and empower experienced, capable civilians who will enable healthy civil-military relations, grounded in meaningful oversight,” he said. “Indeed, I plan to include the undersecretary of defense for policy in top decision-making meetings, ensuring strategic and operational decisions are informed by policy.
“I will rebalance collaboration and coordination between the Joint Staff and the [Office of the Secretary of Defense] staff to ensure civilian input is integrated at every level of the process. And I will make clear my expectation that the Pentagon work hand-in-glove with the State Department, supporting the work of our diplomats.”
Later in the hearing, Austin noted that the choices of Kathleen Hicks to be deputy secretary of defense and Colin Kahl to be undersecretary of policy will provide a strong basis for civilian control.
“You need to have the right people in the right positions [for the] decision-making process,” he said. “It makes all the difference in the world. … I will make sure that we staff the positions with the right people who have the right experiences and are not afraid to provide their input, and I will empower them to make sure they have the flexibility to get the job done.”
Specifically, Austin also pledged the “key billets” on his staff will be filled by “experienced senior civilians” as opposed to current or retired military officials who served with him at U.S. Central Command or elsewhere.
For the most part, Austin’s comments seemed to mollify senators. One notable exception was Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Okla., who said he would oppose the waiver request.
Cotton, who stressed his decision had nothing to do with Austin as a person but rather the standard of having a recently retired leader confirmed to the top civilian job, said he had come to regret voting to give Mattis a waiver four years ago.
“I supported the waiver for Gen. Mattis, with reservations, four years ago, which I quickly came to view as a mistake, and I have since regretted, for that matter,” Cotton said. “Upon further reading on the historical record, I now believe the waiver for [Gen. George Marshall] in 1950 was also a mistake. Under no foreseeable circumstances can I imagine supporting such a waiver again.”