| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy shocks the world with the revelation that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. Kennedy announced he had ordered a naval "quarantine" to block any more offensive military technology to reach the island, and made clear he would consider using force to compel the U.S.S.R. to dismantle the facilities. | | |  | The big idea | | Biden pleads for progressive patience at last night's town hall |  (Washington Post illustration; Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post; iStock) | | | President Biden had one central message for disappointed progressives at his CNN town hall last night: Please be patient. Biden hit this theme repeatedly during the 90-minute session: Just stick with me until we get my infrastructure and Build Back Better agenda through Congress, then I'll turn to your priorities on social spending, policing, voting rights, and might even try to scrap the filibuster. "When you're in the United States Senate, and you're president of the United States, and you have 50 Democrats, every one is a president. Every single one. So you've got to work things out," he said, expressing frustration at news reports that he had caved on progressive goals. "I'm prepared to do the things that can get done now, that can begin to change the lives of ordinary Americans to give them a fighting chance and come back and try to get others later," he told the audience and host Anderson Cooper. | | Biden's description of the trade-offs became especially stark in an exchange with Thaddeus Price, a Black man who told Biden: "You received overwhelming support from the Black Community, and rightfully so. Rightfully so. But now many of us are disheartened" at the lack of progress on issues like police reforms and voting rights. | | The president acknowledged Black support powered him to the White House, adding "the only folks that helped me more than Black men is Black women," then declared "I'll tell you what my greatest regret is." "My greatest regret is I've had these three major pieces of legislation that are going to change the circumstances for working class folks, African Americans as well, that I've been busting my neck trying to pass," Biden said. "But what's it's done, it's prevented from getting deeply up to my ears — which I'm going to do once this is done — in dealing with police brutality, dealing with the whole notion of what are we going to do about voting rights." (He appeared to be referring to the American Rescue Plan Act, a pandemic stimulus package that became law in April, as well as a trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure deal the fate of which is bound up with a much larger package that holds most of his domestic agenda.) The problem with Biden's promises to come back to progressive priorities is that his razor-thin Democratic majorities in the House and Senate won't be any bigger, and Republicans won't be any more inclined to go along, which is why progressives have been urging him for months to fight to get rid of the filibuster. | 'Fundamentally altering' the filibuster | | Biden, who had previously opposed getting rid of that parliamentary tactic but expressed support for forcing a filibustering Senator to actually talk on the floor of the chamber, seemed to shift closer to the progressive view. "We're going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster," he said. "That remains to be seen exactly what that means, in terms of fundamentally altering it, and whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up." Biden noted Republicans refused to vote for raising the debt ceiling, raising the prospect of defaulting on payments, with catastrophic repercussions for the global economy. Avoiding that scenario is "a sacred obligation," he said. "Voting rights is equally as consequential," the president said. Prodded on whether he would entertain doing away with the filibuster when it comes to voting rights, Biden replied: "And maybe more." Cooper asked Biden about opposition to parts of his agenda from Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.). With Republicans in lockstep opposition, the White House requires their votes. | | Biden declined to criticize either. "Joe's not a bad guy, he's a friend, and he's always, at the end of the day, come around and voted for it," the Democratic proposal, the president said at one point. As for the West Virginia senator's opposition to sweeping climate crisis legislation, Biden said "Manchin's argument is, 'look we still have coal in my state. You're going to eliminate it eventually. We know it's going away. We know it's going to be gone but don't rush it so fast that my people don't have anything to do.'" | | As for Sinema, "she's smart as the devil, number one. Number two, she's very supportive of the environmental agenda in my legislation," but "will not raise a single penny in taxes" on corporations and the wealthy, which was originally central to Biden's plans to pay for his agenda. Biden made news on other major issues of the day. He said he would "absolutely, positively" consider using the National Guard if necessary to ease supply-chain congestion. He declared he would come to Taiwan's aid if China attacked. And he had some sobering words about gas prices. "My guess is you'll start to see gas prices come down as we get by going into the winter — I mean, excuse me, into next year, 2022. I don't see anything that's going to happen in the meantime that's going to significantly reduce gas prices," he said. "I don't have a near-term answer" to the problem. Biden's town hall came as some Democrats have grumbled he hasn't done enough to lay out his priorities for what the legislation should include — though my colleagues Annie Linskey, Sean Sullivan, and Matt Viser reported this week he has significantly ramped up his personal involvement on that score. The town hall also happened as the party has more or less been openly debating whether the pared-back package will be enough to sell to voters in next year's midterm elections — after all, Democrats ran on lowering prescription drug prices and rolling back former president Donald Trump's tax-cut law. Put another way: The question is whether it will matter more what's in the legislation — universal pre-K looks like it'll make it — or what was ultimately left out — tuition-free community college and generous new paid leave aren't in great shape. Progressives and conservatives inside the party disagree on too much vs not enough, of course. | | Biden's role here will be crucial. | | President Biden | "We're going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster. That remains to be seen exactly what that means … and whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up." | | | | | | |  A postal worker heads out on his route on Oct. 01, 2021 in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) | | After quiet launch of new program, two Republicans accuse Postal Service of shady dealings | | You may have missed it, but the Postal Service has started to experiment with banking. That's not sitting well with some Republicans, as my colleague Jacob Bogage reports. Two senior House Republicans on Friday accused the U.S. Postal Service of beginning a pilot program "in secret" to provide paycheck cashing services at four East Coast post offices. Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Patrick McHenry (N.C.), the top Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform and Financial Services committees, demanded in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that postal officials brief lawmakers by the end of next week on its plans to expand financial services. The exchange marks an abrupt schism in the relationship between DeJoy, a major GOP donor, and the party that defended him from Democratic attacks in the run up to the 2020 election. The Postal Service on Sept. 13 quietly began accepting paychecks or business checks of up to $500 in exchange for prepaid Visa gift cards. The agency did not acknowledge or advertise the program until October when questioned by members of the media, including The Washington Post. The program is only active at individual post offices in Washington, Baltimore, Falls Church, Va., and the Bronx. Postal officials expect to expand the program — long on the wish list of Democrats, who say it will help unbanked and underbanked constituencies — in 2022, with bill-paying services and ATMs in post offices, according to three people involved with the program who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive business strategy. But Republicans, wary of the mail agency competing with private financial institutions, are skeptical of the program, especially as the Postal Service pushes Congress to pass a reform bill that would write off much of its debt. It is also scrambling to improve timely delivery service in the run up to a holiday season that experts say will be feverishly busy. In their letter, Comer and McHenry say DeJoy never mentioned postal financial services during negotiations on the reform bill, which is also advancing in the Senate, and in DeJoy's controversial 10-year strategic plan for the agency. "The Postal Service's involvement in financial services is certainly a significant deviation from the plans for reform that you communicated to Congress in public and in private," Comer and McHenry wrote. "The quiet launch of this pilot program undermines the trust established during your engagements with Congress and raises questions as to whether you worked with us in good faith." | | |  | What's happening now | | Pelosi says deal is "very possible" but won't commit to vote next week | | CNN's Manu Raju with the news: | Neera Tanden named staff secretary for Biden | | "The staff secretary, who reports to the chief of staff, traditionally plays the role of both traffic cop and honest broker in the White House, with control over the documents that make it to the president, whether they be briefing books or decision memos laying out the arguments on major decisions," Michael Scherer reports. | Long-suspected Robert Durst charged with murder in wife's 1982 disappearance | Lyft recorded more than 4,000 cases of sexual assault over 3 years | | The ride-hailing company released its first safety report nearly two years after Uber made similar date public, Faiz Siddiqui reports. | Putin slams 'cancel culture' and trans rights | | "In his Thursday remarks, he said the notion that children are 'taught that a boy can become a girl and vice versa' is monstrous and 'on the verge of a crime against humanity,'" Amy Cheng reports. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | Youngkin wades into school board debates |  Glenn Youngkin signs a Donald Trump Halloween mask for a fan during a meet and greet at a sports bar in Chesapeake, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) | | | Youngkin accused of anti-Semitism after claims allies of George Soros 'inserted' allies into Virgina school boards, by Michelle Boorstein and Laura Vozzella. "The present chaos in our schools lays squarely at the feet of 40-year politician Terry McAuliffe. It just does," Youngkin said at an appearance Tuesday night. "But also at George Soros-backed allies, these allies that are in the left, liberal progressive movement. They've inserted political operatives into our school system disguised as school boards." Columnist Joe Davidson writes that fragmented plans and poor data are hindering Biden's push for racial equity in federal health programs. "There are racial and ethnic data gaps for coronavirus testing rates, cases, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations, [a Government Accountability Office paper] found. The gaps are huge." |  Former vice president Mike Pence speaks after arriving back in his hometown of Columbus, Ind., as his wife Karen watches. (Michael Conroy/AP) | | - "Beyond the cackles of the Twitterverse about the cognitive dissonance behind Pence's comments, Pence advisers and allies see a clear strategy: He's running for president and making a buck for once in his life, until he can't anymore."
- The real stable genius? "In five years by Trump's side, Pence was almost as notable for the stability of his own operation as the endless embarrassments he suffered. Longtime advisers Marc Short and Marty Obst are still running his incredibly tight-knit political operation. They brought back Paul Teller, a former aide to Pence dating back to his time in the House. And they added Chip Saltsman, a veteran Republican operative with experience running presidential campaigns in Iowa. They've set an aggressive fundraising goal of $18 million for Pence's nonprofit [.]"
| | |  | The Biden agenda | |  Biden and first lady Jill Biden stop to look at the moon as they arrive on the South Lawn of the White House from a trip to Baltimore. (Oliver Contreras/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock) | | The latest on the reconciliation package | | As noted above, free community college is out as may be the clean electricity payment program, while universal pre-K and a national child care program are in, per Jeff Stein, Rachel Roubein and Marianna Sotomayor. "The bill is also likely to retain significantly smaller versions of a wide range of Biden's proposals, such as initial plans to provide roughly $300 billion for housing and homelessness, $400 billion on eldercare for seniors, and $450 billion for the child tax credit. Each initiative stands to be cut from anywhere from a third to a half of their initial proposed amounts, though estimates on how much vary by significant margins … , a new tax on billionaires' accrued wealth is newly in play as part of potentially significant shifts in Democrats' tax plans to fund the legislation." | White House touts nation's first gender equity strategy | | The strategy, published Friday by the White House's Gender Policy Council, prioritizes economic security, abortion access and voting rights with a focus on ensuring that people from marginalized groups are prioritized, the 19th's Candice Norwood and Chabeli Carrazana report. | | |  | Border arrests, visualized | | | |  | Hot on the left | | | Facing the threat of stiffer regulations, Amazon is claiming to sellers that it could be forced to shut down its online marketplace, the American Prospect's David Dayen reports. "We believe it's something we have to take seriously," said Matthew Colvin, chief operating officer of the Online Merchants Guild, in a press briefing on Wednesday. "Do we think Amazon would shut down Seller Central? We know that they have overtly threatened to do so. Whether they are doing that to get people to advocate on their behalf or whether it's something they are actually considering, that's something only Amazon can answer." | | |  | Hot on the right | |  Trump pumps his fist as he walks off after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (Andy Jacobsohn/AFP via Getty Images) | | The latest on Trump's new venture, Truth | | "Thanks to one of Wall Street's hottest fads, the former president has managed to sidestep that tarnished reputation and gain access to hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a social media company. Riding to his rescue: SPACs," the NYT's David Enrich, Matthew Goldstein and Shane Goldmacher report. "Special purpose acquisition companies are the reverse of initial public offerings. Sometimes called blank-check companies, SPACs go public first and raise money from investors with the goal of finding a private company to merge with. Those investors have no clue about what that merger partner will turn out to be." | | |  | Today in Washington | | | At 12:20 p.m., Vice President Harris and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will deliver remarks on the administration's agenda at the Northeast Bronx YMCA. | | |  | In closing | | Watch how the iconic Jefferson Memorial got a facelift | | The monument was, frankly, "starting to look downright shabby," William Neff reports. Here's how conservators scrubbed it clean. (Hint: it involved lasers.) | | Thanks for reading. See you Monday. | | |
