President Joe Biden lambasted Republicans who opposed his signature infrastructure law that is funding lead-pipe removal in North Carolina, as he seeks to make a long-shot play for the state’s voters.
Biden’s trip yesterday to the battleground state — the third this year — is bolstering his campaign’s push to compete in the traditionally red state that Donald Trump narrowly won in 2020.
Biden announced $3 billion to help identify and replace toxic lead pipes and deliver clean drinking water, casting the investment as a boon to public health and the state’s economy. The president also met with the families of four law enforcement officers fatally shot in Charlotte earlier this week. The two events showcased Biden’s efforts to appeal to both urban Black voters and white suburban voters he will need to compete in the swing state.
Photographer: Cornell Watson/Bloomberg
President Joe Biden during an event in Wilmington, N.C. yesterday.
Biden’s campaign has sought to put Trump on the defensive in the state before their November rematch, particularly with the presumptive Republican nominee sidelined by a Manhattan criminal trial, Skylar Woodhouse and Jordan Fabian report. Read More
BIDEN’S AGENDA
- Biden will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom around 4:30 p.m. Read More about the honorees.
- The president will leave the White House around 6 p.m for Wilmington, Del., where he’ll arrive around 7 p.m.
- Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing around 1:30 p.m.
CONGRESS’ SCHEDULE
From BGOV’s Hill Reporters
The ARMY will have $6 billion to boost production of the most-used ammo in Ukraine, more than doubling the service’s request as part of last month’s foreign aid package, Roxana Tiron reports.
- The Army sought $3.1 billion related to 155mm shell production and production increases, the Army’s acquisition chief, said. The funds would be used to replenish the depleted US stockpile, which also would allow sending more to Ukraine.
- “We appear to have gotten $6 billion,” from Congress, he told reporters. “That, I think, is a vote of confidence as we make our way to 100,000 shells a month and that would let us do that for longer.” Read More
A new bill to address DRUG SHORTAGES would create a MEDICARE program to offer bonus payments to hospitals and doctors that enter into long-term contracts with makers of certain generics, Alex Ruoff reports.
- The long-awaited draft bill from Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) would offer health-care providers up to 25% of the drug’s price and the opportunity to get more add-on payments.
- The bipartisan proposal comes nearly a month after the White House met with congressional leaders on fighting drug shortages. There were 323 active drug shortages in Q1 of 2024, one report found. Read More
LOBBYISTS are bracing for a new tome, set for release on Tuesday, examining three dynasties of K Street and their work to wield corporate power in Washington, Kate Ackley reports.
- “The Wolves of K Street” delves into the details about lobbyists Tom Boggs, Tony Podesta, and the firm once known as Black, Manafort & Stone, said authors Brody Mullins and Luke Mullins in an interview with BGOV.
- Years-long financial and power struggles at Boggs’ firm may have contributed to the lobbyist’s death in 2014, former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) says in a chapter that the authors previewed to BGOV. Read More
Rep. John MOOLENAAR, will maintain the mission of the House China panel his predecessor set out, which started last year to investigate corporate ties to China and possible national security threats, Ackley reports.
- The new head of the committee might not court media attention like Mike Gallagher but still draws a hard line against the Asian nation, according to lobbyists familiar with the panel.
- “Gallagher seemed to want to make this about his own political ambitions,” before he left Congress, said John Feehery, a former House GOP leadership aide who is a lobbyist at EFB Advocacy. Moolenaar of Michigan, Feehery said, seems “more of a workhorse than a show horse.” Read More
- Also Read: House Panel Urges Probe Into TikTok’s Use of Kids to Fight Bill
Also Happening on the Hill
House WAYS AND MEANS Republicans are full steam ahead with preparations for next year’s tax negotiations ahead of the expiry dates of key programs with the launch of new “tax teams.”
- GOP members of the House tax committee in April unveiled 10 groups that will address topics lawmakers expect will be on the negotiating table when a swath of individual tax breaks from the 2017 tax law expire at the end of next year.
- Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said his panel’s tax teams will be busy this summer, and has said he hopes the teams will stake out a new path than working groups formed in the years leading up to 2017. Read More
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Schumer to Join Johnson in Netanyahu Invite to Congress:The Hill
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More Stories We’re Reading
Biden will allow DACA RECIPIENTS to access health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, a change that comes as the president’s campaign looks to make inroads with Latino communities.
- About one-third of DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers,” don’t have health insurance, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said.
- The administration expects 100,000 people to sign up for heath care plans. Read More
Police Arrest 200, Dismantle UCLA Protest Camp After Clashes
Police in riot gear dismantled the barricades and tents erected by pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California at Los Angeles after violence erupted the previous night with counter-protesters.
Ex-Congressmen Financially Outgunned in Indiana Comeback Bids
One former member of Congress is well-positioned to return to Capitol Hill, two have dropped out after trying for a comeback, and more are making the attempt. Here’s a run through the boomerang campaigns of 2024.
Google Faces Off With Government as Search Trial Closes
The US Department of Justice reiterated its argument that Google has broken antitrust laws through exclusive, multi-billion-dollar deals to maintain a dominant position in the market for online search and related advertising.
More Pentagon PFAS Drinking Water Analyses Spurred by EPA Rule
The Department of Defense is reviewing the amount of PFAS in drinking water supplies at some of its sites due to the EPA’s recent rule limiting five “forever chemicals.”
Warren Buffett in Focus as Democrats Seek Key 2024 Win in Omaha
The US presidential election may come down to a city in the Midwestern prairie that is home to Warren Buffett — a prospect that is raising hopes among some Democrats that the once-prolific political donor will come off the sidelines to try to power President Joe Biden to reelection.
Trump Jury Hears Him Discuss Payment With Cohen on Secret Tape
The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial heard a secret recording in which the former president discussed a payment with his then-lawyer Michael Cohen months before the 2016 election.
Second Whistleblower Who Raised Boeing Jet Safety Concerns Dies
Josh Dean, a former quality auditor at a Boeing Co. supplier who raised concerns about the safety of the 737 Max jet, has died.
To contact the reporters on this story: Brandon Lee in Washington at blee@bgov.com; Jeannie Baumann in Washington at jbaumann@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kayla Sharpe at ksharpe@bloombergindustry.com; Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com
