| |  | The big idea | | Biden meets with the pope as his domestic problems continue to fester |  Pope Francis meets with President Biden during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on October 29, 2021 in Vatican City, Vatican. | | | No days following Joe Biden on the campaign trail were easy, but sometimes Sundays were easier. On Saturday nights in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden's press team would ping the press that we should expect a later start the next morning. Quickly, we learned to read between the lines: Biden was going to church. The Sunday morning (and occasionally Saturday night) church visits continued after Inauguration Day. I've spent several mornings in Delaware outside St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church, looking over the wrought-iron fence and across the cemetery to catch a glimpse of and maybe ask some questions of the leader of the free world. With so much written about the faith of America's 46th President, it doesn't take a wild guess to gauge the personal significance of today, when Pope Francis met with Biden for the first time since he was elected to the nation's highest office. The two men discussed climate change and migration., among other topics, per my colleagues Chico Harlan and Seung Min Kim. Their closed-door conversation lasted 75 minutes: "Biden thanked the pope for 'his advocacy for the world's poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution.' The two also discussed the climate crisis, and Biden 'lauded' the pope for 'his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and an equitable global economic recovery,'" according to my colleagues. | | Today's meeting is a pivotal moment sandwiched inside of a pivotal moment for Biden, who pleaded with Democrats at home to pass part of his economic agenda yesterday before departing American shores. | | | | ADVERTISEMENT | | Content from Comcast | | A network with one simple purpose – to keep customers connected |  | | We've created a network with one simple purpose: to keep customers connected. In the last 10 years, Comcast has invested $30 Billion – and $15 billion since 2017 alone – to keep America's largest gig-speed broadband network fast, secure, and safe. Because more Americans rely on Comcast to stay connected, we work around the clock to build a better network every single day. Learn how the network keeps you connected. | | | | | | | | That did not happen, though hope isn't lost on that front: Progressives who have demanded a vote on a social spending package at the same time as one on an infrastructure bill now say they're ready to back the $1.75 trillion proposal announced by Biden on Thursday. They gave up many of their priorities -- including any paid family leave -- but gained others like a big investment in climate change and universal prekindergarten. | | But they did not relent on at least seeing a final text of the reconciliation measure voting on an infrastructure package. That is not yet done. Before leaving for Rome, Biden told legislators that the fate of their congressional majorities, and of his very presidency are at stake -- and also the future of this country. (Also possibly on the line: the fate of Terry McAuliffe, the Virginia Democrat who's running for governor and whose race is deadlocked). Later, in a speech from the White House, Biden told the nation the plan is "not about left versus right or moderate versus progressive or anything else that pits Americans against one another. This is about competitiveness versus complacency. It's about leading the world or watching the world pass us by." | | The consternation and uncertainty looms large over a five-day trip filled with meetings with world leaders, though the $555 million apparently secured for clean energy tax incentives is considered a big victory by proponents. That will come in handy as Biden heads to a major climate change summit in Glasgow. We'll see if the rest of his domestic agenda makes progress before the president returns home. | | |  | What's happening now | | Rep. Adam Kinzinger will not seek reelection | | "Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a vocal critic of former president Donald Trump, announced Friday that he will not run for reelection in 2022, arguing that there is 'little to no desire to bridge our differences' in Congress," Felicia Sonmez reports. |  Glenn Youngkin delivers remarks at a campaign event in the parking lot of Vito's Pizza Bar & Grill on Thursday in Amherst, Va. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) | | Virginia governor's race is a toss-up as Election Day nears | - "Youngkin is fueled by an 18-point advantage among independent likely voters, up from an eight-point advantage last month — a significant swing in a group that could determine the election's outcome."
- The Post-Schar School poll, which was conducted Oct. 20-26, finds a larger share of voters saying education is the top issue in their vote compared with the September poll, with fewer citing the coronavirus as the biggest factor in their decision.
| | Youngkin shifted rightward The gubernatorial candidate was a traditional Republican. That's not so true anymore. "In the final days before the election on Tuesday, many Republicans say they still have no idea what Mr. Youngkin really believes. But they have cheered him on regardless, after he took a hard-right turn and began promoting the causes that are animating conservatives and supporters of the former president, from the debate over teaching the impact of racism to transgender rights in schools," the New York Times's Jeremy W. Peters reports. | U.S. consumer spending growth slowed in September | | "Consumer spending rose 0.6% in September over the previous month, down from a 1% increase in August, the Commerce Department said Friday. Personal incomes fell 1% last month as the end of enhanced federal unemployment benefits offset an increase in wages, the department said," the Wall Street Journal's David Harrison reports. | AARP is "outraged" that the Build Back Better proposal won't low prescription drug prices | | After Biden's big Thursday announcement, the American Association of Retired Persons released a statement saying, "We are outraged that the initial framework does not lower prescription drug prices…Overwhelming majorities want Congress to pass legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and put a cap on out-of-pocket costs that older adults pay. Americans are fed up with promises that have not been kept." | New document shows how unprepared Capitol Police were on Jan. 6 | | "According to a previously unpublished internal memo reviewed by POLITICO, the police made plans for plainclothes officers to monitor protesters — a widespread but controversial tactic that appeared to do little to stave off the violence that day," Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan and Daniel Lippman report. | Witness says Oklahoma death row inmate convulsed, vomited during lethal injection | | "[John Marion] Grant's reaction to the sedative midazolam is potential fodder for death penalty critics, since his execution formally ends a six-year hiatus in Oklahoma following concerns over a string of botched lethal injections," Jaclyn Peiser reports. | In the month after the new Texas law, abortions fell by half | | "The decline in the number of abortions performed in Texas in September was 12 percent steeper than the decline in spring 2020, when the governor effectively banned most abortions for a month by postponing all procedures deemed not medically necessary at the beginning of the pandemic. Clinic directors and outside scholars say they expect the number of abortions in Texas will keep falling as long as the law remains in effect," the New York Times's Quoctrung Bui, Claire Cain Miller and Margot Sanger-Katz report. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | After Trump, the Bureau of Land Management tries to rebuild | | "Two years after President Donald Trump decided to move the bureau's headquarters to Grand Junction, a small city in the mountains of Colorado with no direct flight links with D.C., Biden plans to bring it back. But the agency remains severely depleted, according to interviews with more than 20 current and former Interior Department employees, hobbling the Biden administration's work," Joshua Partlow reports. | Rachael Rollins wants to remake the criminal justice system. Republicans have vowed to block her path. | | Rachael Rollins, the nominee for United States attorney for the district of Massachusetts, has cut a controversial figure in Biden's slate of nominees poised to serve as top federal prosecutors across the country. "Republicans vowed to block her ascent, calling her "pro-criminal," "radical" and "dangerous." They used a procedural maneuver to delay the progress of her nomination, the first time such a step had been taken in nearly 30 years," Joanna Slater reports. | - "What happens next will be a key test of the movement she represents, a group of more than two dozen prosecutors elected in recent years … Often called progressive prosecutors, they reject sweeping tough-on-crime thinking and embrace policies such as declining to prosecute low-level crimes in many cases and ending the use of cash bail. They say such moves make the system more fair to poor and minority defendants while focusing resources on fighting serious offenses."
|  President Donald Trump departs after signing an Executive Order during an Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit on Dec 8, 2020. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | | Operation Warp Speed left the world waiting for a vaccine | | The U.S. bet big on Novavax last year. "Yet in the year since then, it's failed to successfully deliver a single dose — leaving the world's neediest countries in limbo as it tries to convince regulators it can consistently produce a high-quality shot," Politico's Erin Banco, Adam Cancryn and Sarah Owermohle report. Insiders told the trio that even early on, officials had raised concerns about the feasibility of distributing Novavax and urged Operation Warp Speed to shift its focus toward Pfizer or Moderna. | - "With that in mind, Operation Warp Speed continued to fund and support Novavax's manufacturing over the next six months with the encouragement of top Trump officials from multiple agencies — despite clear warnings that the company had yet to solve core problems, according to five of the people who spoke to POLITICO for this story, including two former officials."
| | |  | The Biden agenda | |  Italian President Sergio Mattarella, right, greets President Biden upon his arrival for their meeting at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome. (Francesco Ammendola/Qurinal Press Office) | | | "Arriving in Europe with an unfinished economic and environmental spending plan, the president will confront new challenges, some self-inflicted, at two major summits," the Times's Katie Rogers and Jim Tankersley report. | - "The president has found that not being Mr. Trump is not enough to accomplish his ambitions at home or abroad."
| Will a clash over coal set the tone for COP26? | | "Leaders from the Group of 20 major economies are split over phasing out coal and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, officials said, throwing into doubt whether ambitious climate change targets can be hit," the Wall Street Journal's Sha Hua and Max Colchester report. | Meeting with the Pope set against the backdrop of the abortion controversy | | "Some U.S. bishops say that Catholic politicians who support legal access to abortion should be barred from Communion. In a little more than two weeks, at their annual fall meeting in Baltimore, U.S. bishops are expected to debate whether to make a collective statement to that effect. But the pope has taken a more conciliatory approach toward the president and the Vatican has said that linking the politics of abortion to the reception of Communion would be divisive," the Journal's Francis X. Rocca and Catherine Lucey report. | U.S. to send $144 million more in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan | | "The aid will come as more than half of Afghanistan's 40 million people are projected to face an 'acute' food crisis this winter, according to a recent report from the U.N. World Food Program and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The organizations warned that many Afghans were facing levels of food insecurity just shy of "famine" conditions and that the situation was likely to worsen," Amy B Wang reports. | - "Those problems began before the Taliban took over the country in August, with ongoing conflict displacing some 665,000 people and a prolonged drought that has hurt farmers."
| | |  | Biden's latest budget plan, visualized | | | "President Biden on Thursday unveiled a roughly $1.75 trillion blueprint for overhauling the country's health care, climate, education and tax laws, as he seeks to break a logjam among his party's liberals and moderates that has stalled his economic agenda for months." | | |  | Hot on the left | | | "Dr. Robert Califf appears to be the clearest front-runner for the (somehow) still open position of commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration," the American Prospect's Toni Aguilar Rosenthal and Fatou Ndiaye write. "There's just one problem: Califf is a longtime political consultant to Big Pharma and, more recently, to Big Tech. In fact, he's so tied to those industries that he once earned the ire of a certain crucial senator from West Virginia." | | |  | Hot on the right | |  Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," poses for photos in a Fox News Channel studio in New York. (Richard Drew, AP File) | | | Tucker Carlson is facing backlash after releasing a trailer of a "new series he plans to debut next week promising to 'tell the true story' of the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which one subject appears to float a baseless conspiracy theory that the Capitol riot was covertly orchestrated by the government," Jeremy Barr reports. | - "Two prominent Republican members of Congress called out the clip on Thursday morning. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) both serve on the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol."
| | |  | Today in Washington | | | At 2:30 p.m., Vice President Harris will speak virtually at a Democratic National Committee grass roots event. Harris will speak at a Terry McAuliffe campaign event in Norfolk at 6 p.m. | | |  | In closing | | | Late Night had quite a bit to say about Biden's Build Back Better plan. | | Trevor Noah | "A lot of what was originally there is now gone. Like free community college is out, and so is paid family and medical leave, which means America will remain the only nation in the world where women try to give birth during their lunch break." | | | | | | | | Thanks for reading. See you Monday. | | |
