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Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO is steadily becoming one of the administration’s secret weapons on the Hill, particularly among Republicans and business-friendly Democrats.
The former Democratic governor of Rhode Island emerged from the bipartisan infrastructure talks as a favorite of some of the Senate negotiators.
And she’s expected to continue her lobbying of lawmakers on the House side as the chamber prepares to soon take up the narrow infrastructure bill and the budget resolution that will kickstart the reconciliation process. The latter package will contain the rest of Biden’s economic plans, including roughly $3.5 trillion for elder care, child care, paid family leave and efforts to combat climate change.
“She’s been sort of a hidden player,” said Republican Sen. SUSAN COLLINS of Maine. Collins regularly texted with Raimondo and Sen. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.) throughout the bipartisan talks, as the trio focused on hashing out differences over expanding access to high speed internet. “She brings a very practical governor’s approach to the issues.”
Raimondo’s budding relationships with lawmakers are just one sign of the secretary’s growing influence in Washington.
Inside the administration, officials have told West Wing Playbook that they believe Raimondo is positioning herself to replace Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN if she leaves after the 2022 midterms. She is a regular on business-oriented Bloomberg TV and CNBC and has tried to help shape the administration’s approach to China.
However, sources close to the secretary disputed the idea that she’s angling for the Treasury job. And one source close to the White House said they haven’t interpreted Raimondo as gunning for any other position, but as doing her job well.
Raimondo has strong allies in Biden’s inner circle: Biden adviser MIKE DONILON and his brother TOM DONILON, both Rhode Island-ers, were present at Raimondo’s swearing in.
And Raimondo’s Hill politicking has been buoyed by her staff: Her chief of staff was formerly the longtime chief to Sen. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) and her head of legislative affairs was previously a Senate Commerce Committee staffer. Moderate Senate Republicans on the Hill involved in the infrastructure talks consider her an honest broker. One White House official said people in the administration often say Raimondo is “fluent in Republican.”
“If there were an ambassadorship for Republicans on the Hill she would be the career diplomat bringing the salesmanship,” the official said.
Sen. Shaheen described Raimondo as someone who considers it necessary to work across the aisle — a sentiment the Commerce secretary shares with President JOE BIDEN. But Shaheen added that if the infrastructure bill is signed into law, “people are going to be watching” how well Raimondo carries out its provisions.
“I’m going to be watching to see if we can implement this bill in the way that all of us who worked so hard to get it done want to see” Shaheen said, referring to the more than $40 billion in grants the Commerce Department will be responsible for dispersing to states for broadband network deployments.
On the House side, Raimondo is now focusing on the elements of the reconciliation package that boost funding for home health aides and child care workers. Raimondo and other White House officials have been hitting the phones in recent days to pressure hesitant House Democrats to fall in line behind the White House and Democratic leadership’s two-track plan to pass the reconciliation and infrastructure packages.
The argument from administration officials, according to multiple House Democratic aides: the items in reconciliation are popular and will deliver more immediate relief to Americans than what’s in the traditional infrastructure bill.
To date, Raimondo has held dozens of meetings with 52 senators and 61 House members and has also met with multiple congressional committees and caucuses, the Commerce Department said. As she helped negotiate the infrastructure deal in the Senate, Raimondo also started building relationships with Speaker NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.), Rep. ROSA DeLAURO (D-Conn.) and Rep. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-Mich.), focusing on care services and women in the workforce.
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Which presidential administration described rock and roll star ELVIS PRESLEY as “wearing his hair down to his shoulders and indulg[ing] in the wearing of all sorts of exotic dress” after a visit to Washington, D.C.?
(Answer is at the bottom.)
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOE SAN DIEGO — The president really can’t get away this week. A travel and photo lid for reporters was called at 3:03 p.m., according to pool reports — only to be lifted at 5:20 p.m. after the White House updated Biden’s schedule with an 8:40 p.m. return to Washington.
It’s the second interruption to the president’s scheduled trip to Camp David. He was there for the weekend, then returned to the White House Monday afternoon to deliver remarks on Afghanistan, then quickly headed back out to the presidential retreat in Western Maryland again last night.
OFFICE POLITICS: With ANITA DUNN’s departure last week, her empty office makes for some enticing West Wing real estate. West Wing Playbook walked up to their offices today and found closed doors, but a White House official said that Communications Director KATE BEDINGFIELD was planning to move into Dunn’s office.
The official said they are still undecided, however, on who would then get Bedingfield’s prime office space.
BOOSTER TIME — Top Biden administration health officials say most Americans will soon need coronavirus booster shots — after a review of new data from the Centers for Disease Control showed a drop in vaccine efficacy over time, four administration officials told ADAM CANCRYN, ERIN BANCO and SARAH OWERMOHLE. The administration is expected to formally announce its strategy within days, and officials are still finalizing the booster plan.
DOSES DELIVERED: The Biden administration on Tuesday is shipping the first of 500 million Covid-19 doses that the president pledged to share with countries around the world at the Group of Seven summit earlier this year, CNN’s KATE SULLIVAN reports. The U.S. is sending 488,370 doses of Pfizer to Rwanda through the global vaccination program called COVAX, a White House official told CNN.
FROZEN RESERVES: The Biden administration on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts, blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in U.S. institutions, Washington Post’s JEFF STEIN reports, citing two people familiar with the matter. The decision was made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and officials in Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, with the State Department also involved, Stein reported.
BABY BUTTIGIEG — PETE BUTTIGIEG and his husband CHASTEN BUTTIGIEG will soon be parents, the Transportation secretary announced on Twitter. “For some time, Chasten and I have wanted to grow our family. We’re overjoyed to share that we’ve become parents!” Buttigieg tweeted. “The process isn’t done yet and we’re thankful for the love, support, and respect for our privacy that has been offered to us. We can’t wait to share more soon.”
We wonder if the expansion of their family means the Buttigieg’s will move from their one-bedroom Eastern Market apartment. Last month, Chasten told the Washington Post what most of us feel about D.C. apartment rentals: “We couldn’t afford the one-bedroom-plus-den.”
Three things are clear about Biden’s latest move on oil leasing (E&E News’ Heather Richards and Emma Dumain)
U.S. plans to extend transportation mask mandate through Jan. 18, sources say (Reuters’ David Shepardson)
Three Democrat-led Senate committees vow to investigate U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan (POLITICO’s Andew Desiderio)
Biden sits down with ABC’s GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS tomorrow. ABC says the interview will air at 6:30 pm on “World News Tonight” and on “Good Morning America” Thursday morning.
The president is at Camp David, where he spoke by phone with U.K. Prime Minister BORIS JOHNSON “regarding developments in Afghanistan,” according to a statement from the White House. He is returning to the White House tonight.
No public events scheduled.
Domestic Policy Council speechwriter and communications adviser ZEV KARLIN-NEUMANN likes to eat soup for breakfast. Yes, you read that right — soup.
We gave a shout out to Karlin-Neumann at the top of yesterday’s newsletter as part of our ongoing effort to convince White House staffers to talk to us.
A former colleague of his responded to our call with this alarming factoid. “To be fair, anyone that has crushed soup at 9am sharp is @zkarlinn #RPG,” RODERICKA APPLEWHAITE tweeted, along with a picture of our shoutout.
Karlin-Neumann and Applewhaite worked together on Buttigieg’s comms team during his 2020 presidential run.
Applewhaite explained to West Wing Playbook that #RPG stands for “red pepper gouda, it was served at Chicory, a cafe across the street from the South Bend H. It was not out of place for Zev to arrive at the comms bullpen in the morning with [red pepper gouda soup] in hand.”
She added that he became a troubling trend-setter. “We teased him mercilessly for it but he spearheaded a very strong early soup contingency in HQ spanning multiple departments,” she said. “There was even a slack channel dedicated to scouting what Chicory had on offer each day.”
You do you, Zev…
The Nixon administration — the National Archives and Records Administration recently uploaded an FBI file that described Presley as such.
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