Blue Dog Democrats Are Poised to Play a Crucial Role in the Next Congress by Josh Rogin

POLITICO Playbook: Uvalde to Biden: 'Do something'

With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

BIDEN MAKES A PROMISE — President JOE BIDEN is back in D.C. this morning after spending seven gut-wrenching hours on Sunday visiting grief-stricken Uvalde, Texas. He and first lady JILL BIDEN paid their respects at a Robb Elementary School memorial of 21 white crosses honoring the 19 students and two adults murdered. For three hours, he mourned with the families of the victims.

As he departed from a mass dedicated to the deceased, demonstrators shouted emotionally at the president to "do something" about gun violence. Biden, pausing right before he ducked his head inside his black limousine, pointed to the crowd and made a promise:

"We will."

A few hours later, he doubled down. As he departed his meetings with the victims' families, the POTUS Twitter handle had this to say: "To everyone impacted by the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: We grieve with you. We pray with you. We stand with you. And we're committed to turning this pain into action." Read more from USA Today on Biden's trip … And the Dallas Morning News with the Uvalde community's reaction to his visit

CAN HE KEEP THAT PROMISE? That's the question Washington has been asking. But timing does not look good for major legislation on guns any time soon: Lawmakers — who zealously guard their time off during congressional recesses — are back home in their districts for a weeklong Memorial Day break, and the delay will almost certainly slow any momentum felt last week.

MEANWHILE … There's action happening on two fronts to watch this week:

1) DOJ GETS INVOLVED — Amid mounting scrutiny of law enforcement's response to the shooting, the Justice Department on Sunday said it would probe the matter. Department spokesman ANTHONY COLEY said in a statement that authorities hope a full accounting will help "identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events." As AP's Zeke Miller and Michael Balsamo report, "such a review is somewhat rare." They note that "most after-action reports that come after a mass shooting are generally compiled by local law enforcement agencies or outside groups," rather than the DOJ.

— A note: Don't expect gun-restriction advocates to say this is enough. If Congress doesn't pass something in the coming weeks, the pressure on the White House to do more via executive action — and especially for Biden to keep his promise to act — will only grow.

2) BLUE STATES AREN'T WAITING — A host of Democratic states are starting to talk about passing new laws on guns. Here's a few, courtesy of the NYT's Shawn Hubler and Luis Ferré-Sadurní, who have a story on this trend:

• "In New Jersey, Gov. PHIL MURPHY urged lawmakers to advance firearms safety measures, including raising the age to 21 for purchases of long guns and exposing gun makers to civil lawsuits."
• "In New York — where an 18-year-old in Buffalo was charged two weeks ago with committing a racist mass shooting — Gov. KATHY HOCHUL said she would seek to ban people under 21 from purchasing AR-15-style rifles."
• "And in California — where a politically motivated mass shooting erupted at a luncheon of older churchgoers this month — legislative leaders and Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM fast-tracked tougher controls on firearms."

AP's David Lieb has a similar read up this morning — though he notes that GOP states are hardly following this trend. In fact, AP asked governors across the U.S. "whether they believed their states have an obligation to reduce mass shootings and violence committed with guns and, if so, how to do that." The response rate wasn't stellar. Only about half responded.

The conclusion of the AP's survey? "There was agreement that they had a responsibility to try to do something. Democrats and Republicans alike mentioned the need to invest in mental health services and training to try to help people potentially prone to a violent outburst. But the commonality generally ended after that."

It's Memorial Day. A special thanks today to all who have served and fought for our freedom. And thanks for reading on your day off. We're always reachable here: Rachael Bade , Eugene Daniels , Ryan Lizza .

BIDEN'S MONDAY:

— 9:20 a.m.: The president and first lady will return to the White House from Wilmington, Del.

— 10:30 a.m.: The Bidens will host a breakfast in honor of Memorial Day.

— Noon: The Bidens, VP KAMALA HARRIS and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. MARK MILLEY will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

— 12:15 p.m.: The president will deliver remarks at the 154th National Memorial Day Observance.

— 1:45 p.m.: The Bidens will hold a magnolia tree-planting ceremony at the White House with families of service members who have died.

BIDEN'S WEEK AHEAD — On Tuesday, the president will host New Zealand PM JACINDA ARDERN at the White House, and meet with Fed Chair JEROME POWELL.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

9 THINGS YOU SHOULD BE READING TODAY

1. DEMOCRACY WATCH: Conservative lawyer CLETA MITCHELL was one of the early supporters of former President DONALD TRUMP's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Now, she's back for 2022, and she's getting help. "Working with a well-funded network of organizations on the right, including the Republican National Committee, she is recruiting election conspiracists into an organized cavalry of activists monitoring elections," NYT's Alexandra Berzon writes. "In seminars around the country, Ms. Mitchell is marshaling volunteers to stake out election offices, file information requests, monitor voting, work at polling places and keep detailed records of their work."

2. JAN. 6 COMMITTEE LATEST: Staring down a time crunch and an unfavorable recent ruling, the House Jan. 6 committee is largely backing off its efforts to get internal RNC documents before its public hearings next month, Kyle Cheney reports. "Instead, the House panel is asking for the case to be resolved by late August," per a new letter Sunday evening from the committee counsel.

3. KNOWING KAREN BASS: As Rep. KAREN BASS (D-Calif.) runs for mayor of Los Angeles, she is doing so by "combining the strident focus on equity and social justice from her activist days with the ability to compromise that she has learned in Sacramento and Washington," LA Times' Benjamin Oreskes writes in a profile ahead of the June 7 primary.

4. THE PANDEMIC: Many hospitals are finding that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is tasked with regulating hospitals across the country, has no teeth to enforce its own rules. "Despite a recent spike in Covid transmission in hospitals, the 6,300-person agency that controls the purse strings for hospitals is unlikely to issue meaningful penalties, according to policy experts. The problem predates Covid-19 and spotlights a central challenge for CMS: It issues regulations but often lacks the resources to ensure they are followed," Rachael Levy reports.

5. MILESTONE ALERT: Forty-nine states have sent a woman to Congress. This year, laggard Vermont could finally join them, as the race to replace Democratic Rep. PETER WELCH includes women on both sides of the aisle, AP's Wilson Ring reports from Montpelier. It's likely to be a historic moment for a state whose small congressional delegation and long-serving incumbents have created a bottleneck of leadership. And some of the candidates would break glass ceilings in multiple ways: One would be Vermont's first representative of color, another its first openly gay member of Congress.

6. THE TIDE TURNS IN UKRAINE: Russia is advancing on its eastern Ukrainian front lines, giving its assault on the country a fresh jolt of momentum as an outgunned Ukraine pleads for more help from the West, WaPo's Siobhán O'Grady, Paul Sonne, Max Bearak and Anastacia Galouchka report. "Though Ukrainian resistance has made the fight a slog for Russian forces, Moscow is inching closer to encircling Ukraine's biggest strongholds in the Donbas region, while fighting on territory contiguous to Russia with easier supply lines."

7. THE PUTIN EXPERT AT LANGLEY: CIA Director WILLIAM BURNS has a long history of studying Russia and VLADIMIR PUTIN, and he doesn't think the Russian president will give up in Ukraine anytime soon, Nahal Toosi writes in a new profile of the Biden administration's resident Vlad hand. "All of this has made Burns a singular figure among President Joe Biden's top aides, and one entrusted with some of the most sensitive tasks." Burns is friends with Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and has few critics in Washington. And despite his Russia expertise, he's still keeping the CIA focused on China as the biggest long-term threat.

8. HOW IT HAPPENED: AP's Chris Megerian is up with a look at the deal that Biden, police and advocates came together on resulting in the administration's police reform executive order this week. Although no one involved believes the order is the final word on the issue, "advocates consider it an important step forward, and maybe even a building block toward more expansive legislation," he writes.

9. ON THE WORLD STAGE: "How the U.N. became a tool of China's genocide denial propaganda," by WaPo's Josh Rogin: "Before U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights MICHELLE BACHELET made her long-awaited trip to China last week, the Biden administration and the human rights community urged her not to let Beijing turn the visit into a propaganda win for the Chinese Communist Party. But Bachelet ignored those warnings. Her trip ended up helping China deny its genocide against Uyghur Muslims and other repressive policies, harming the cause of human rights accountability in the process."

TWITTER SPAT OF THE DAY: The new "Top Gun" movie got stellar reviews from one high-profile veteran-turned-lawmaker Sunday night: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who called the movie "awesome" on Twitter.

But journalist Yashar Ali responded by essentially scolding the congressman, accusing him of helping with Scientology recruitment: "[T]his tweet will be shown to Scientologists as an example of Tom Cruise's excellence and how he is the most dedicated Scientologist. Stuff like this, particularly from elected officials, is what leads Scientologists who are having doubts to reconsider."

Kinzinger's response mirrored our own: "WHAT??" he tweeted back. Ali again responded with a similar note about "how Scientology weaponizes tweets like yours against its members." To which, Kinzinger replied: "I liked the top gun movie bro. Chill."

Other quick links:

Paul Pelosi was arrested for a DUI in California. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi delivered a commencement oration at Brown.

Mike Pence enjoyed the Indy 500.

Doug Ducey visited the City of David.

Marjorie Taylor Greene said that in the future, the government hopes to "zap" people if they eat a cheeseburger instead of Bill Gates' "fake burger." It also sounds like she says "peach tree dish" instead of, you know, a petri dish.

Merrick Garland warned Harvard graduates that there's an "urgent need to defend democracy" in the U.S. and abroad.

Rob Portman crossed the border into Ukraine, and after meeting with top Ukrainian officials, renewed his calls for the Biden administration to do more to help arm the nation.

IN MEMORIAM — "E. Robert Wallach, 88, Lawyer Linked to Reagan-Era Scandal, Dies," by NYT's Clay Risen: "Convicted in a fraud case that took down an attorney general, he successfully appealed, and later defended himself in a retrial."

TRANSITIONS — Chris Kuzmuk is joining Bristol Myers Squibb as executive director for intercontinental, Japan, and Canada international policy and government affairs. He previously was associate VP for Asia at PhRMA. … Tom Bush will be a senior adviser to Cambridge Global Advisors. He most recently was executive assistant administrator for the TSA, and is a CBP alum.

ENGAGED — Ken Carroll, a senior consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, proposed to Olivia Polen, a comms and operations associate at Miller Strategies, on Thursday while they were walking their dog Rush. The couple, who both worked in the Trump White House, met the day of the White House staff Christmas party in 2019. Instapics

WEDDINGS — Claire Gamino, an associate manager at Accenture Federal Services, and Andrew Hian-Cheong, senior director of data infrastructure and enterprise architecture at Fiscal Note, got married May 21 at the Perry Belmont House in Dupont Circle. They met on The League in August 2017. Pic … Another pic

— Suparna Reddy, legislative counsel to Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Gautam Shrivastava, an incoming internal medicine resident at the Cleveland Clinic, got married Saturday in Reston, Va. The couple met in New York City while Suparna was in law school and Gautam was studying for the MCAT, and bonded over dinner at a Thai restaurant on the Upper West Side. Pic by Akbar Sayed Photography … Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Taylor Hittle, professional staff member for the House Education & Labor GOP, and Matthew Hittle, senior policy adviser at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, welcomed Lucy Taylor Hittle on May 21. She is named for St. Lucy and her mom, and joins big brother Maximilian. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: NBC's Frank Thorp … Reema Dodin … Holly Page … Treasury's Natasha Sarin … Miryam Lipper … Thomas Cluderay … NYT's Michelle Cottle and Kirsten Danis … Stratton Kirton … Loren Duggan … Daily Wire's Ashe Schow … Lauren Nevin … Nicholas Ballasy … CNN's Eric Levenson … Victoria Kucharski … POLITICO's Maggie Miller, Pratyusha Sankuratri, James Bambara and Stephen Shapanka … Rob Noel … Circle's Julia Arciga … Lisa Stark … PhRMA's Nicole Longo … Jeff Freeland … Holland & Knight's Scott Mason … Ashley Bender Spirn … Get Out the Vote's Steve Kramer … Jenna Lee … Rusty Pickens … former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) … Chris Gowen … Stephanie Bosh

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Correction: Sunday's Playbook misidentified Ronny Jackson. He is a member of Congress.

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Source: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/05/30/uvalde-to-biden-do-something-00035874

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