| This is Rachel, in for Olivier Knox for today. He'll be back tomorrow. Meanwhile, lots of news to kick off the week, so let's get to it. | | |  | The big idea | | Democrats are signaling a deal is coalescing on Biden's economic agenda |  (Washington Post illustration; Seth Wenig/AP; Susan Walsh/AP; Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg News; iStock) | | | Democrats are signaling it's a make-or-break week for President Biden's domestic agenda as they close in on a deal to pass a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill and a larger reconciliation package that would significantly alter the social safety net. Just how large the latter measure will ultimately be, however, is still being negotiated. Biden and Democratic leaders have conceded, under pressure from moderate senators, that it won't come in at the $3.5 trillion price tag progressives hoped. But we don't yet know whether the top line number will be the roughly $2 trillion Biden described, or closer to the $1.5 trillion wanted by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WVa.). Biden hosted Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in Delaware this weekend to hammer out remaining sticking points. "I think we're pretty much there now," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday on CNN. It's about time. The deal appears to be coalescing after weeks of bickering between moderates and progressives and is critical to Biden's presidency and Democratic hopes of going into the 2022 midterm elections with what they view as a strong message. But as the New York Times's Michael D. Shear reported Sunday, "accepting less and calling it a win has its limits — and consequences." Timing is uncertain, though some reports have Democrats voting on the infrastructure package by Wednesday and agreeing to a reconciliation deal this week. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Everyone wants things resolved before Biden hits the road at the end of the week for Europe and the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland. | What's on the chopping block | | Reports over the weekend had new Medicare benefits championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as possible casualties of slimming the reconciliation bill. Politico's Heather Caygle, Alice Miranda Ollstein, Eleanor Mueller and Marianne Levine reported that it was looking grim for expanded benefits such as dental, vision and hearing benefits for millions of seniors, as well as for those hoping to rely on more generous paid family and medical leave policies. The price tag is the biggest issue, but some are also concerned that expanding Medicare may conflict with growing Medicaid benefits for the lowest-income Americans, Politico reported. To pass, the deal has to satisfy centrists Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) without alienating Sanders given that Democrats cannot lose a single vote and still pass the legislation. Sanders insisted Saturday night to Politico the Medicare expansion wasn't being removed from the bill. But, "In recent weeks, Biden had pitched lawmakers on converting the dental benefit — by far the most expensive and logistically challenging of the three Medicare expansions eyed for the bill — into an $800 annual voucher for care," per Politico. "Some lawmakers also floated ditching dental and focusing solely on vision and hearing care, while others argued for just a few years of all three, confident that the benefits would prove so popular that a future Congress would be forced to extend them." Biden's family leave aspirations are also likely to be significantly winnowed White House officials last week "pitched a new, roughly $100 billion plan that would offer four weeks of paid parental, family and sick leave beginning in 2024, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations," my colleague Tony Romm reported. The goal was originally 12 weeks. | | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on CNN about Democrats' social spending package | "I think we're pretty much there now." | | | | | | | The newest on the pay-fors | | With Sinema expressing opposition to raising taxes on many rich Americans and corporations, the Biden administration is now eyeing a much narrower levy on the 700 wealthiest Americans. "The new path under consideration represents an even starker attempt to narrowly tailor tax increases to avoid political blowback. It would shield not only the lower and middle classes but also exempt the bulk of the top 1 percent — concentrating the higher rates instead on the wealthiest 0.0002 percent," write my colleagues Jeff Stein and Mike DeBonis. Pelosi confirmed there would likely be a "wealth tax" on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, but said "it would cover only about 10 percent of what they needed to pay for the bill. She expressed confidence, however, that the entire social spending bill would be paid for, including through IRS tax enforcement and global taxes," per my colleague Amy B Wang. | | |  | What's happening now | | Investigation says disciplinary process for border agents who made lewd, violent posts was flawed | | "A U.S. Customs and Border Protection discipline board found that 60 agents 'committed misconduct' by sharing violent and obscene posts in secret Facebook groups but fired only two — far fewer than an internal discipline board had recommended, according to a House Oversight and Reform Committee report released Monday," Maria Sacchetti and Nick Miroff report. | - "These outcomes were the result of a number of failings at CBP, including an inconsistent disciplinary process, a failure to train on and enforce social media policies, and senior leadership's failure to take appropriate actions despite knowledge of these Facebook groups," the report said.
| Fallout at the Met from the Pandora Papers | - "The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported three weeks ago that the Met holds 12 pieces once owned or brokered by Douglas Latchford, a man prosecutors said was involved in decades of trafficking in looted artifacts. Another seven pieces at the Met came to the museum through his associates."
| DeSantis invites unvaccinated police to Florida, offers $5,000 to relocate | | Across the nation, some police are still declining to get the coronavirus vaccine — despite numerous immunization mandates. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a message for those officers: move on down to the Sunshine State. "If you're not being treated well, we'll treat you better here," Andrea Salcedo reported DeSantis saying Sunday. "You can fill important needs for us, and we'll compensate you as a result." | | "Sudan's military on Monday detained the prime minister, dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency, in what could be the end of a democratic transition fought for by the millions of Sudanese who marched in the streets for the overthrow of longtime dictator Omar Hassan al-Bashir two-and-a-half years ago," Max Bearak reports. | - Sudan's top military commander and official head of state said the military was still committed to democratic elections by mid-2023.
| | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | - A question of censorship: Late last year, the company had to decide whether to "censor anti-government dissidents or risk getting knocked offline in one of Facebook's most lucrative Asian markets." Zuckerberg personally decided that Facebook would comply with Hanoi's demands, according to three people familiar with the matter.
- "Zuckerberg's role in the Vietnam decision, which has not been previously reported, exemplifies his relentless determination to ensure Facebook's dominance, sometimes at the expense of his stated values, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees."
- The whistleblower complaints: Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen filed a series of whistleblower complaints filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, though it's unclear whether the SEC will pursue action against the company or Zuckerberg himself.
- Haugen says Zuckerberg repeatedly chose growth over the public good, "asserting that the CEO's singular power and unique level of control over Facebook mean he bears ultimate responsibility for a litany of societal harms."
- "The current chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, has said he wants to go much harder on white-collar crime. Experts said Gensler is potentially likely to weigh the Haugen complaint as he looks toward a new era of corporate accountability."
- Facebook's response: "A Facebook spokeswoman, Dani Lever, denied that decisions made by Zuckerberg 'cause harm,' saying the claim was based on 'selected documents that are mischaracterized and devoid of any context.'"
| | Follow along with our live coverage of Haugen's Monday testimony in front of British Parliament here. | Bitter division mars Montana | | In Kalispell, Mont., three teens have died by suicide since the start of the school year. And though the community may have rallied around the tragedies in another time, this year is different. "This is no longer the place people here felt they knew, with its pride in a civil style of independence — not just from Washington but from animosity," Lisa Rein reports. "Local businesses, politicians and ordinary people find themselves navigating angry confrontations, and a nuanced political tradition of splitting tickets on Election Day has given way to partisanship that propelled a Republican sweep of races for governor, president and senator in November for the first time in 21 years." |  In this April 3, 1960 photo, Sen. John F. Kennedy, Democratic presidential nominee, sits next to a playback of his televised appearance in Milwaukee for the Wisconsin presidential primary two days later. (AP file) | | What could be in the still-secret JFK files? | | Late Friday, Biden "once again delayed the public release of thousands of government secrets that might shed light on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy," Politico's Bryan Bender reports. What could they hold? "Experts believe national security agencies are still hiding information that shows how officials actively stonewalled a full accounting by Congress and the courts and might illuminate shadowy spy world figures who could have been involved in a plot to kill the president." | - Much of the unreleased information involves intelligence activities during the height of the Cold War that could "shed light on covert operations" but likely "had no direct bearing on the plot to kill Kennedy."
| Tens of millions of filthy medical gloves imported into the U.S. | | "A months-long CNN investigation has found that tens of millions of counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves have reached the United States, according to import records and distributors who bought the gloves — and that's just the tip of the iceberg," Scott McLean, Florence Davey-Attlee, Kocha Olarn and Tim Lister report. "Criminal investigations are underway by the authorities in the US and Thailand." | - "Experts describe an industry riddled with fraud, with one of them — Douglas Stein — telling CNN that nitrile gloves are the 'most dangerous commodity on Earth right now.'"
| | |  | The Biden agenda | | What's actually in the reconciliation bill? |  Biden speaks to reporters before departing from the Delaware Air National Guard Base on Monday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) | | Struggling to keep track of what's still in the Democratic megabill? Here's a cheat sheet. | | Politico's Jennifer Scholtes, Marianne Levine and Alice Miranda Ollstein are tracking the changes on 12 major policy points. | - One example: Medicaid in red states
- Though the Dems hoped to permanently fill the Medicaid gap in Republican-run states that have refused to expand coverage to low-income residents under Obamacare, "the majority party is now eyeing a three-year expansion to cover people left out in those red states. Short-term extensions of all of the health care benefits are giving Democrats agita, particularly the prospect that Republicans will win the House in 2022 and refuse to act when the help expires."
| Biden vs. Russia's newest cybersurveillance operation | | "Russia's premier intelligence agency has launched another campaign to pierce thousands of U.S. government, corporate and think-tank computer networks, Microsoft officials and cybersecurity experts warned on Sunday, only months after President Biden imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to a series of sophisticated spy operations it had conducted around the world," the New York Times's David E. Sanger reports. | | |  | The U.S. power grid, visualized | | | "Across the nation, severe weather fueled by climate change is pushing aging electrical systems past their limits, often with deadly results. Last year, the average American home endured more than eight hours without power, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — more than double the outage time five years ago," Douglas MacMillan and Will Englund report. | | |  | Hot on the left | | Who's in this secretive group steering the Dems? | | "How did Democrats in the House of Representatives decide that the top House recipient of corporate PAC money should run the tax code-writing committee, or that the top recipient of defense industry cash in their caucus should be in charge of Armed Services? "There's no way to know, because House Democrats have not made public the rules that govern its powerful Steering and Policy Committee," Sludge's Donald Shaw reports. The American Prospect republished the piece today. | | |  | Hot on the right | | | — Blunt on NBC's "Meet the Press" | "The best thing that President Trump could do to help us win majorities in 2022 is talk about the future, and he can be an important part of that — this '22 effort. But I think better off to talk about the future than to focus on the past." | | | | | | |  | Today in Washington | | | The president will deliver remarks on infrastructure at NJ TRANSIT Meadowlands Maintenance Complex, Kearny, N.J., at 1:45 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., Biden will welcome the delegation of the Orthodox Christian Church to the White House. | | |  | In closing | | | Ohio made a mistake on its new license plane design. Whoever runs the North Carolina Department of Transportation's Twitter saw an opportunity. | | Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. | | |
