Welcome back to 10 Things in Politics. Sign up here to receive this newsletter. Send tips to bgriffiths@insider.com or tweet me at @BrentGriffiths.
Here's what we're talking about:
- House Democrats advance Biden's $3.5 trillion spending plan
- Biden is sticking with his Afghanistan withdrawal deadline
- Long-awaited intel report is inconclusive on coronavirus' origin
With Phil Rosen.
1. ON THE HILL: President Joe Biden's economic agenda remains on track. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was able to break a days-long stalemate that allowed for the broad outline of a massive $3.5 trillion spending plan to move forward, avoiding a politically embarrassing outcome of Democrats delaying their president's agenda. But Tuesday's breakthrough may not last.
- The details: Democrats approved the budget blueprint in a 220-212 vote over unanimous GOP opposition. They relied on a procedural maneuver to help package together the large social-spending bill with votes on a voting-rights bill, which the House passed later Tuesday, and on a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
This could just be the beginning: Pelosi squared off against nine centrist lawmakers who insisted on voting on the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal before considering the social-spending plan. But the speaker was also being squeezed by 100 progressive lawmakers. Pelosi compromised by promising to address the Senate-passed infrastructure proposal by September 27. Politico has an in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes strong-arming that led to the agreement. With a three-vote margin, Pelosi has almost no room for error.
- The spending plan is a generational party goal: Democrats want to cram almost everything into the legislation including universal pre-K, free community college, tax increases on the wealthy, and efforts to combat the climate crisis. Here's a breakdown of the $3.5 trillion plan.
- The call isn't just coming from inside the House: Centrist Democratic senators like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are deeply uncomfortable with such a large price. Sinema has doubled down on her opposition to a $3.5 trillion bill. Democrats can't lose a single vote in the Senate.
The spending plan is likely to be Democrats' last piece of major legislation before the 2022 midterms, adding to the urgency.
2. Biden is sticking by his Afghanistan withdrawal deadline: He mostly ignored pleas from US allies and even fellow Democrats to keep a US presence in Kabul, Afghanistan, past the self-imposed August 31 deadline. The Taliban had threatened "consequences" if the US remained any longer. Biden did say the completion of evacuations "depends on the Taliban cooperating," adding that the Pentagon and the State Department were developing backup plans. The White House says the US has helped evacuate nearly 71,000 people since August 14.
WATCH: A look at how the Taliban's rule is affecting Afghan women
Other Afghanistan-related headlines:
- 2 lawmakers have sparked an outcry for a "secret" trip to Kabul: Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat who is a Marine veteran, and Rep. Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican who served as a US Army reservist, chartered a plane to the Kabul airport, where they stayed for several hours, the Associated Press reports. White House and State Department officials are said to be peeved that they tied up resources on the ground.
- UN says 14 million Afghans could starve: An official with the UN's World Food Programme says millions in Afghanistan could starve without foreign aid as a "perfect storm" of drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Taliban's takeover plunges the country into a food shortage. Other aid agencies are sounding the alarm too.
- CIA director held secret meeting with Taliban's leader: Director William J. Burns met Abdul Ghani Baradar, the de facto leader of the militant group, on Monday as the US and other Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens, The Washington Post reports.
3. Embattled Democratic lawmaker puts assets into blind trust: Rep. Tom Malinowski - beset by ethics questions involving his personal finances - is ceding most control over his seven-figure stock fortune. Malinowski has put $1.56 million to $3.9 million worth of stock and financial funds into the trust. Insider and other news organizations have this year identified numerous members of Congress who have failed to properly disclose their stock trades.
4. Florida doctors walk out to protest surge in unvaxxed patients: About 75 doctors - from numerous hospitals and offices - took part in the protest. A representative for the group told Insider that all of the doctors were off duty. Florida is experiencing the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the nation, having reported nearly 150,000 new cases in the past week alone.
5. Long-awaited intel report inconclusive on coronavirus' origin: After three months of investigating, the intelligence community is still unable to determine whether the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, The Washington Post reports. Biden previously set a 90-day deadline for intel agencies to try to reach a firm view on the pandemic's origin. China's secrecy continues to hobble investigations.
6. Supreme Court orders return to a Trump-era immigration policy: The court ruled 6-3 that the Biden administration must effectively return to a Trump-era policy forcing asylum seekers trying to enter the country from the southern border to wait in Mexico. All of the liberal justices dissented. The Supreme Court rejected the administration's request to block a lower court's ruling ordering the "Return to Mexico" policy to be reinstated. More on the decision.
7. FCC proposes record fine for conservative provocateurs: The federal agency is proposing a $5.1 million fine for the activists Jacob Wohl and John Burkman for making more than 1,000 robocalls targeting voters in New York, Ohio, and Michigan with false information about voting, NBC News reports. This is the largest fine for this type of violation. The duo has gained fame over numerous failed schemes including efforts to smear Dr. Anthony Fauci and Robert Mueller. More on the calls, which prosecutors previously said were intended to suppress Black voters.
8. Harris' trip delayed by mysterious "Havana Syndrome": Vice President Kamala Harris' traveling delegation in Southeast Asia was delayed after the US Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, received a report of a recent "possible anomalous health incident" - that's government-speak for what's become known as Havana Syndrome, NBC reports. The still-unexplained ailment, first identified among diplomats in Cuba, usually consists of headaches, vertigo, and hearing loss. As a result of incidents over the weekend, at least two US personnel in Hanoi will be transported out of the country.
9. OnlyFans is officially putting a hold on fundraising: OnlyFans, the subscription-based creator platform known for its adult content, is officially putting a pause on its fundraising, my colleagues scoop. The company is waiting to raise more money until it sees how the dust settles following its new restrictions on sexually explicit content.
10. College football has its first super alliance: Commissioners of the ACC, the Big Ten, and the Pac-12 expect this arrangement to pave the way for more basketball and football games between conferences and to create a "collaborative approach" for scheduling. The decision comes less than a month after the universities of Texas and Oklahoma announced their move to the SEC.
Today's trivia question: Today celebrates the creation of the National Park Service. Which two people have the most park sites named after them? Email your guess and a suggested question to me at bgriffiths@insider.com.
- Yesterday's answer: The world's second-largest tree is named after President Ulysses S. Grant. President Dwight D. Eisenhower made the Sequoia a national shrine in 1956, making it the US's first living shrine.