Politico

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui, Hawaii, “as soon as we can,” he said Tuesday in the wake of the wildfires that raged through the island to become the country’s most lethal wildfire in a century.

“My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can. That’s what I’ve been talking to the governor about. I don’t want to get in the way,” Biden said while delivering remarks on the economy in Wisconsin.

The wildfires have left 96 people dead as of Monday since the fires began last week in the historic town of Lahaina on Maui island. The catastrophic blaze has led to mass evacuations and widespread power outages, impacting thousands.

The Maui blaze was 85 percent contained by Sunday night, according to officials. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green warned Monday that many more people could be found dead as search and rescue teams continue to inspect the area.

“We are prepared for many tragic stories,” Green told “CBS Mornings” in an interview that was aired Monday. “They will find 10 to 20 people per day, probably, until they finish. And it’s probably going to take 10 days. It’s impossible to guess, really.”

On Thursday, Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Hawaii in order to free up federal aid to support the island. Biden also had an extended phone call with Green last week, assuring him of his commitment to ensuring the state receives “everything it needs from the federal government.”

Kelly Garrity contributed to this report.

The White House is leaning into a fight over debt reduction, believing it has the upper hand in a political battle that has long favored Republicans.

In a memo to Democratic allies, it recounts cost-cutting measures President Joe Biden proposed in his March budget, such as enacting a 25 percent minimum tax on the wealthiest Americans, hiking the corporate tax rate to 28 percent and allowing Medicare to negotiate additional drug prices.

“Congressional Republicans keep indicating they want to talk about deficits. Not as much as we do,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates writes in a memo expected to be released Tuesday.

The posturing from the White House comes ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to pass legislation to continue funding the government. The right-wing of the House Republican conference is demanding sharp cuts in spending, creating an impasse that many believe will lead to a government shutdown.

The White House’s eagerness to go on offense over deficit reduction represents a rare case of Democrats trying to best Republicans at their game. Recent GOP presidents have seen the nation’s debt balloon under their watch. But the party as a whole has continued to hammer Democrats when they are in the White House for not agreeing to more aggressive deficit reduction measures.

The Biden White House memo suggests it believes it can not only fend off these attacks but that it has the upper hand in a policy or political debate on the deficit.

Although little of the president’s budget has a chance of becoming law, the administration is eager to contrast Biden’s proposals with GOP measures such as cuts to Medicare and Social Security, the elimination of Medicare’s new price negotiation authority and the Republican Study Committee tax plan.

Republicans “want to shine even more of a spotlight on their devotion to wealthy special interests above all else,” Bates writes. “On their plans to eviscerate Medicare and Social Security benefits while spending trillions on tax handouts to the rich and big corporations, and force seniors to pay even higher drug costs so Big Pharma can fill more swimming pools with caviar and diamonds. We’ll book them on TV ourselves if it’s helpful!”

“Let the justice system run its course,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Sunday in support of the naming of a special counsel in the Hunter Biden case.

On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland granted special counsel status to David Weiss, the federal prosecutor who has been investigating the president’s son for five years. “I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel,” Garland said.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Raskin said, “This is why we have a Justice Department. Let’s just let them do their job.”

Raskin said the upgraded status for Weiss serves to “formalize” his authority to pursue a case against Biden, wherever it may lead. “He wants to be certain that he has the authority to bring charges wherever he wants,” the Maryland Democrat said of Weiss.

House Republicans led by House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) have been pursuing an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings and personal conduct.

The ranking member of that House committee, Raskin said he was very much opposed to any presidential family members “who water-ski along for the ride” by using their family name to benefit financially, as Hunter Biden seems to have done.

Raskin said this is a widespread problem, citing former presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner who “pocketed a cool $2 billion” in investment money from the Saudi royal family after former President Donald Trump left office.

Speaking to host Jonathan Karl, Raskin said that although there are a wide range of accusations against his son for various misdeeds, he thinks Republicans have not connected Hunter Biden’s misdeeds to President Joe Biden.

“They’ve not laid a glove on Joe Biden as president,” he said.

During the summer of 2020, there were few bigger Democratic super villains than Louis DeJoy.

The postmaster general was accused of masterminding an attempt to steal the election for former President Donald Trump by subverting mail-in voting in the midst of the pandemic. He was hauled up to Capitol Hill to defend his policies. When Joe Biden won, it was generally assumed that his days were numbered.

Now, nearly three years later, DeJoy isn’t just still standing atop the U.S. Postal Service, he’s become a critical player in Biden’s environmental agenda, striking a partnership with the president’s green guru, John Podesta, as USPS considers an environmental renaissance of its fleet.

It’s a remarkable change of script for one of the more memorable side characters of the Trump years. And it produced one of the most unlikely pairings in Washington D.C., something that the camps will privately acknowledge even as they’re loath to discuss it personally. Asked repeatedly about their good-natured relationship, both DeJoy and Podesta declined to comment.

The pair’s partnership centers around an effort to introduce 66,000 electric vehicles to the USPS by 2028, itself part of a broader initiative to add 106,000 new vehicles to USPS’ fleet. The initiative was buoyed by $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, a funding solution floated by the Biden administration, according to a person close to DeJoy who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions.

During the press conference outside USPS headquarters last December to announce the initiative, DeJoy thanked Podesta for his “focus … in moving the ball forward” on the project. He noted that the two had met about five years earlier, for three or four hours, and wondered if Podesta remembered him.

Podesta’s response could be heard from a nearby distance. “You’re unforgettable!” he shouted. He later thanked DeJoy when it was his turn at the podium.

In the formal announcement of the USPS’ investment in electric vehicles, DeJoy expressed his gratitude for Podesta by name.

“The Postal Service’s vehicle initiative, and I personally, have benefited from the collaborative spirit of John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President and leader of the Office of Energy Innovation, as well as leaders within the Council on Environmental Quality and the Climate Policy Office,” he said in the statement.

Privately, DeJoy has come to embrace the idea that he’s now a climate pioneer.

“What I hear him saying is the Postal Service is going to be the greenest delivery company in the nation, and that not using us to deliver packages is going to be like not recycling,” the person close to DeJoy said. “He jokingly says that between electric vehicles and reducing our transportation network and our own carbon footprint, he’s going to get the Nobel Prize for green.”

The electric vehicle issue was not the first time that DeJoy worked with the Biden White House. He partnered with the administration on the initiative to distribute Covid-19 tests through the mail and lobbied Republican lawmakers to support postal reform legislation championed by Democrats.

“He understands his role as non-partisan right now,” the person close to DeJoy said.

DeJoy’s critics find it hard to believe that he has assumed an apolitical nature. At the time of his selection, not long before the 2020 election, he was lambasted as a Trump mega-donor — a crony who not only was eager to boost private industry at the expense of the USPS. He also was accused of trying to sabotage the nation’s mail delivery in an attempt to thwart the election.

All of the USPS’ governors, at the time, were appointed by Trump, and DeJoy was a product of their selection. DeJoy’s wife was Trump’s pick for the U.S. ambassador to Canada, although she was never confirmed, and she served as the vice chair of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Shortly after Biden’s inauguration, dozens of lawmakers called for the president to appoint an entirely new board of governors.

DeJoy has not always been on the same page as the Biden administration, however. Earlier in 2022, the USPS announced its intention to acquire a smaller number of electric vehicles. But the White House was not pleased over the paucity of its green commitments.

The initial contact from the White House did not go well, according to the person close to DeJoy. The USPS believed the administration was attempting to force its hand. DeJoy emphasized there was only so much the USPS could afford and that the agency only had so much capacity to support electric vehicles.

The matter got bumped up the White House hierarchy. And, ultimately, the effort became a one-on-one negotiation between Podesta and DeJoy. The two spoke frequently, sometimes multiple times a week and began making progress. With some support from the administration, the number of electric vehicles the USPS could obtain grew.

“My sense is they got along immediately because they’re both sort of practical people, and they were both supportive of each other trying to get their job done, and they started talking about ways to do that,” the person close to DeJoy said. “My sense is they quickly found that each one of them was willing to help the other as long as the other understood what the parameters were.”

However, it’s unlikely that DeJoy will transform into a full-blown Democratic ally. The person added that he will certainly return to political involvement once he is a private citizen again. It’s also not entirely clear that he has fully moved on from the events that transpired in 2020, most notably the campaigns against him.

“I don’t know that you ever leave that behind. I mean, that kinda leaves a scar,” the person close to DeJoy said.

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams said late Wednesday he has not talked with President Joe Biden in 2023 — a striking admission for someone who was once on a list of the president’s top surrogates and who is seeking federal help for the city’s migrant crisis.

Adams told CNN that he and the president have not conferred since Biden was in New York last year, but added that his team has been talking with White House and other immigration officials about the flow of migrants to New York City shelters. He said he still supports the president’s reelection.

“I believe he’s moving the country in the right direction, and we need to continue to move in the right direction,” Adams said. “And I can separate what I believe [is] an issue that we disagree on.”

The two initially seemed to hit it off.

When still the Democratic nominee, Adams visited the White House and referred to himself as the “Biden of Brooklyn.” And in 2022, the year Adams officially became mayor, Biden visited New York several times, including an appearance with Adams about fighting crime and seizing guns. Ahead of the visit, Adams mused: “I’m sure if you were to ask him what is his favorite mayor, he would clearly tell you, ‘It’s Eric.’” In March of this year, Adams was listed among 20 Democrats who would sit on a national advisory board and serve as key validators for the president’s bid for a second term.

However, a month later the mayor’s frustrations with the asylum-seeker situation boiled over.

At an April press conference, he said the White House had failed the city, a statement that kicked off weeks of pointed criticism of the president from Adams on an issue that will be top of mind for voters during Biden’s reelection campaign.

In May, when the Biden campaign released a list of 50 surrogates for Biden, the outspoken New York City mayor was not among them.

The fraying of relations between the two comes as the city is taking on an ever-growing role in the migrant crisis. On Wednesday, Adams said his administration could spend up to $12 billion providing services to arriving asylum-seekers and again pleaded for assistance from the federal government — albeit in terms less hostile to the White House.

So far, the mayor’s entreaties to Biden for work authorization, funding and a more coherent resettlement strategy at the border have gone largely unanswered, though the president dispatched Tom Perez, the director of White House intergovernmental affairs, to meet with Adams on Thursday morning about the issue, according to a New York Post report.

Autoworkers are threatening to strike unless they get major concessions to ensure they aren’t left behind in the transition to electric vehicles, leaving Democrats stuck between competing priorities that the Biden administration admits won’t be easy to solve.

The dispute comes just as President Joe Biden is seeking reelection with an emphasis on his handling of the economy, a message that would be muddied by a strike representing 150,000 workers. And the unrest complicates another Biden priority: shifting the country away from gas guzzlers in favor of electric vehicles.

Democrats are counting on the United Auto Workers to join other unions in providing crucial organizational muscle and get-out-the-vote efforts in 2024. A backlash against Biden’s EV push could discourage that involvement — a threat underlined by the UAW’s refusal so far to endorse Biden’s reelection, despite the larger AFL-CIO throwing its weight behind Biden in its earliest-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate.

What’s happening in the auto plants is just one example of labor’s summer of unrest, with strikes occurring across the country and workers in some instances extracting big concessions from employers. Teamsters union members at UPS, for example, recently reached an agreement on a major pay boost, while striking writers and actors in Hollywood have held out for weeks to receive higher payouts from streaming.

Biden is concerned enough about the UAW unrest to appoint a liaison — veteran Democratic adviser Gene Sperling — to the unions and the automakers.

A central issue in the auto contract talks is the status of workers in plants that are producing batteries, many of which are jointly owned with battery companies. But resolving that won’t be an easy task, considering it would mean wrangling battery makers to the bargaining table along with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.

A senior administration official, granted anonymity to speak frankly about the White House’s perspective, said in an interview that there’s no magic solution in the administration’s back pocket on the joint venture facility question.

The issue throws a new, complicated dynamic into contract talks that are usually centered on traditional economic asks, such as higher wages, the senior administration official said.

“We agree completely that battery factory workers deserve every right to organize and negotiate for jobs that provide the pay and protections needed for economic security and economic dignity,” the official said.

Aggressive new leadership atop the UAW has insisted that those battery plant workers must be brought up to the same wage and safety standards as union workers at traditional plants.

Officials in Washington “need to tie these federal incentives in the EV industry to wage and safety standards that generations of auto workers have fought for,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video address last week. “They’re going to have to choose because we’re going to ask them, ‘Which side are you on?’”

Some union-watchers say the likelihood of a strike is still low, but that’s not a foregone conclusion. As it plays out, the union could cause headaches for an administration that’s worked hard to bill itself as the most pro-labor in history.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said she’s been warning whoever will listen that a strike, which could happen as soon as Sept. 14, is a serious possibility.

“We’ve got to figure out these joint ventures,” Dingell said. “People are being paid more at McDonald’s in Ohio than they are at the battery plant there.”

Labor seizes the moment

More than 200,000 workers at large companies participated in work stoppages last month, easily topping the 126,500 that were involved in strikes in the entirety of 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Auto workers have a lot of bargaining power right now, said Harry Katz, a professor on collective bargaining at Cornell University. They’re armed with low unemployment, high worker skill levels and a sense of solidarity, he said.

The 2024 election gives them even more leverage.

“Labor knows that President Biden knows that he will not be reelected unless he gets their strong support,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor. “They’re going to make Biden dance to get the votes.”

The UAW wants Biden to remind auto executives how much they’ve benefited from the government in the past, and “how much they will need the continuing support of the government as the car companies try to survive the switch to EVs,” Gordon said. “So that’ll be behind closed doors.”

Hanging over the negotiations is the lack of presidential endorsement from the UAW. Fain’s explicit citing of concerns over the EV transition makes clear that Biden’s signature priority — the transition to a clean energy economy — could put him at odds with a key ally.

There’s no expectation that Biden would publicly discuss specific demands, and the president won’t be knocking heads at the bargaining table, the senior administration official said.

Still, the union wants the administration to hear its concerns about the implementation of electric vehicle policy, and would like to see the president’s support of their perspective, the official said.

A spokesperson for Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who has been closely following the negotiations, said the elimination of the two-tiered wage system for package handlers at UPS in its recent contract deal with the Teamsters could be a good sign for UAW.

“The battery plants have to be part of the national agreement, and there can’t be a two-tier [system] where some workers are paid less,” the Kildee spokesperson said.

A recent letter led by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to automakers urged them to come to an agreement that includes all joint-venture EV battery facilities in the national contracts. Fain quoted from the letter in his video address last week, but the UAW hasn’t explicitly made a demand to fold those facilities into the master agreements.

Winning that concession would be difficult, said Katz and Marick Masters, a professor of business at Wayne State University. However, the auto companies could agree to some kind of compromise on the issue, they said.

The UAW’s “full court press” to win higher wages and safety standards is likely an effort to boost unionization efforts at the joint ventures, Masters said.

He said the union is responding to “a lot of pent-up frustrations and fears” from rank-and-file members about their jobs amid the EV transition. That includes frustration at Biden, he said.

“What they’re saying is that they expect more than the typical bargain they’ve gotten from Democrats,” Masters said. “And they’re raising the stakes as much as they possibly can.”

President Joe Biden said he has already “practically” declared a climate emergency. But he has yet to actually make a declaration, which would give him a host of new powers to combat climate change as the country faces record-breaking heat and more frequent and intense floods, droughts and wildfires.

“We’ve already done that,” Biden said Wednesday when asked whether he was prepared to declare a national climate emergency during an interview on The Weather Channel. “We’ve conserved more land, we’ve moved into rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. We’ve got a $60 billion climate control facility.”

When pressed about whether he has actually declared an emergency, Biden responded, “Practically speaking, yes.”

However, no such declaration has come from the White House. Experts say Biden could invoke the 1976 National Emergencies Act to give himself the power to order the manufacture of clean energy technology, deploy renewables on military bases, block crude oil exports or even suspend offshore drilling — though that would require compensation to the owners.

Though the law limits emergency declarations to one year, it could be renewed annually to address the increasingly troubling impacts of climate change.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre did not walk back Biden’s comments when asked about them during an interview on CNN later Wednesday morning.

“This is a president that has taken really an ambitious approach to climate change,” Jean-Pierre said, turning the conversation to the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping bill Biden championed last year that included hundreds of billions of dollars to help the U.S. transition away from fossil fuels.

Vice President Kamala Harris made it clear on Tuesday that she would call Julie Su simply the Labor secretary, intentionally leaving out “acting” from her title.

Harris made the pointed reference to the lingering uncertainty surrounding the Biden administration’s nominee for the post on a visit to a Philadelphia union hall, where she announced new union-friendly labor changes.

While introducing members of the administration in the audience, Harris called out “acting Secretary Julie Su” but quickly backtracked: “I’ll call her Labor secretary. I’m not going to say the word ‘acting.’”

“I’ve known her for many years. And she is a true fighter for the working people and working families of America. Thank you!” the vice president added.

It has been 147 days since President Joe Biden nominated Su, the first Cabinet-level official to be replaced in his administration. Last month, the White House decided to keep Su as an acting appointee indefinitely, considering the improbable confirmation of her role by a closely divided Senate.

Since all Republicans are anticipated to be against her confirmation, Su needs both Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) on board to have enough votes. But Manchin is unlikely to change his opposition, which stems from what he has called “genuine concerns” about Su’s “more progressive background.” And there is little expectation that Sinema, who has not publicly disclosed her position, will offer her support to Su.

Because Su was previously confirmed as deputy secretary, the Department of Labor’s succession policy allows her to continue her duties indefinitely until a successor is appointed. Still, congressional Republicans have tried to prevent Su from continuing to serve without approval, accusing Biden of sidestepping the confirmation process and urging him to withdraw the nomination.

President Joe Biden extended the Houston Astros a champions’ welcome on Monday, with the team’s trip from the baseball diamond to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate its 2022 World Series victory.

The ballclub — including players, coaches, manager Dusty Baker and owner Jim Crane — stood with the president in the East Room as he gave a shout-out to the “legends of Space City” for having “the best season in the American League.”

“Dusty, it wasn’t easy. People counted you out, saying you were past your prime. Hell, I know something about that,” Biden quipped to the team manager, whom former President Barack Obama personally called to the White House in 2016.

“This team didn’t just step up on a field. They stepped up for the community,” he added, commending the Astros’ work raising awareness about domestic violence, supporting pediatric cancer research and holding events for families of the Uvalde school shooting victims. “You athletes underestimate how much hope you give.”

Baker and Crane then gifted the president his own personalized baseball jersey before they all shook hands and posed for pictures.

The Astros clinched the title in November by triumphing over the National League pennant holders, the Philadelphia Phillies, in a six-game showdown.

Their 4-1 win marked the second time the Astros have become the World Series Champions in franchise history. The team first visited the White House in 2018 after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.

The visit continues a long-standing tradition of presidents hosting victorious sports teams at the White House to pay tribute to their achievements. For almost a century, World Champion baseball teams have made visits, with the 1924 Washington Senators regarded as the pioneers of this practice under the presidency of Calvin Coolidge.

In May, the Bidens welcomed the Louisiana State University Tigers women’s basketball team with a special White House ceremony to celebrate their NCAA championship win. The president has previously honored several major league sports teams with invites, including the Milwaukee Bucks as the reigning NBA champions in 2021, the Golden State Warriors in 2022 and the Kansas City Chiefs for their Super Bowl victory, among others.