Masks, trains and things that go (bust)
It’s time for our weekly roundup of pieces that are not about politics in the traditional sense (voters, campaigns, polling, anonymous backstabbing) but may have important political ramifications at the local, national, or global level.
I’d like The Daily 202 readers to engage with this concept even more than they already do, so if you spot something you think might fit the bill, send me a link via my author page. Be sure to let me know whether I can use your first name and last initial and where you live.
This week’s unorthodox political news items touch on that looming potential rail strike that could cripple supply chains next month, a new study on wearing masks in schools, a cryptocurrency collapse, and President Biden’s announcement about contractors and the climate crisis.
Two tracks for the railroad strike
I’m counting this as one item, but it’s two developments linked to the apparent deal Biden announced in September to avert what would have been a terribly damaging railroad strike. The tentative agreement, which the administration worked hard to get, still needs union approval.
First, four major unions have agreed to coordinate the date on which they might go on strike: Negotiations with the freight railroad companies will run to at least Dec. 4, according to Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich of CNN Business.
As Isidore and Yurkevich note: “A strike by any one rail union would lead to a shutdown of America’s major freight railroads, as all the other unions, even those that have ratified contracts, would honor the picket lines. That could cause severe economic problems, as 30% of America’s freight moves by rail, when measured by weight and distance traveled.”
Second, one of the labor unions that has to ratify the agreement, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), narrowly voted to do so. Two unions have voted against the deal.
The politics: A strike would batter the economy, and Biden has invested quite a bit in averting it.
Universal masking in schools = fewer covid cases
Winter 2022 could see a fresh covid-19 surge — in addition to a nasty strain of the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. That surge would land in the middle of an unending political fight over what strategies work(ed) to restrain the pandemic, like masking.
The latest piece of information on that score, my colleague Donna St. George reported this week, is that public schools that kept universal masking requirements in place last year had far fewer covid-19 cases than those that lifted those mandates.
That’s from a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“The study, which followed schools in the Boston region during the 2021-22 academic year, found that the end of mask requirements was associated with an additional 45 cases of covid-19 per 1,000 students and staff — or nearly 12,000 cases during a 15-week period from March to June,” Donna reported.
The politics: The pandemic response has been deeply politicized and will probably be an issue in the 2024 campaign.
Cryptocurrency is having a bad year. And the implosion of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX is a blow to the young industry — and of course to the people who placed their savings with a firm that may not have the available cash to pay out those who are trying to leave.
On Friday, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, whom my colleagues Tory Newmyer and Steven Zeitchik recently noted had “emerged during this election cycle as the country’s second-largest Democratic donor,” stepped down.
MacKenzie Sigalos of CNBC summarized the company’s collapse: “In the space of days, FTX went from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy as liquidity dried up, customers demanded withdrawals, and rival exchange Binance ripped up its nonbinding agreement to buy the company. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried admitted on Thursday that he ‘f—ed up.’”
The politics: This kind of calamity usually results in government scrutiny and calls for Washington to help.
Federal contractors get climate rules
This one was a scoop by my colleague Maxine Joselow, who helms The Climate 202 (to which you should subscribe).
Biden is leveraging the federal government’s massive consumption of goods and services to help battle global warming. He’s pushing to mandate “all major federal contractors to set targets for reducing their emissions in line with the 2015 Paris climate accord, a significant step toward greening the government’s sprawling operations and one that could ripple across the U.S. supply chain,” Maxine reported.
This, as Egypt hosts the U.N. Climate Change Conference, convening leaders from nearly 200 countries. Biden will be there. The proposed rule would require “federal contractors publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and the risks they face from climate change.”
“The U.S. government is the world’s largest buyer of goods and services, purchasing more than $630 billion in the last fiscal year alone …. Biden has previously called for the government to become carbon-neutral by 2050, in part by creating a federal fleet of electric vehicles and buying clean electricity for federal buildings.”
The politics: Biden has made action on climate a priority, and the climate crisis itself is a daunting political challenge.
Biden says U.S. will ‘do our part to avert’ a ‘climate hell’ during address in Egypt
“‘We’re not ignoring harbingers that are already here,’ Biden said. ‘So many disasters — the climate crisis is hitting hardest those countries and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and to recover.’ His appearance comes near the end of the first week of the conference, known as COP27, where talks have heavily focused on wealthy nations’ obligations to reduce their own emissions and help address the consequences of climate change in the developing world,” Sarah Kaplan, Brady Dennis, Allyson Chiu, Siobhán O’Grady and Matt Viser report.
CBP commissioner says he refused resignation request from Homeland Security secretary
“A clash between two top Homeland Security officials became public on Friday when U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asked for his resignation a day after the mid-term elections,” Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report.
“Magnus said he refused. ‘I want to make this clear: I have no plans to resign as CBP Commissioner,’ Magnus said in a written statement.”
Lunchtime reads from The Post
As Arizona counts votes, Republicans seize on Election Day glitches
“Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for Arizona governor, seized on technical glitches at dozens of polling locations in a key county to call Thursday for a special legislative session to overhaul the state’s voting system, which she would have the power to do if elected,” Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Jon Swaine and Aaron C. Davis report.
“On Tuesday, nearly a third of polling locations throughout Maricopa County — home to Phoenix and more than 60 percent of the state’s voters — had problems with the printers that produce ballots on demand for individual voters. Starting early Tuesday morning, printers at 70 of the county’s 223 polling sites produced ballots with ink that was too light to be properly read by vote-counting machines, causing the ballots to be rejected, according to county officials. These officials had previously said that a smaller number of sites had problems.”
Trump team urges court to leave Mar-a-Lago arbiter in place
“Lawyers for Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court Thursday to leave in place an independent arbiter who was assigned to review documents seized by the FBI in an August search of the former president’s Florida estate,” the Associated Press’s Eric Tucker reports.
“The Trump team said in a filing that veteran Brooklyn judge Raymond Dearie should continue in his role as a so-called special master in order to ensure public confidence in an investigation involving a ‘political rival’ of the Biden administration.”
At the Capitol, the question of who won the midterms lingers days afterward
“Two days after the polls closed in a consequential and highly anticipated midterm election, Congress was in a state of suspended animation, with nobody sure which party would be in charge of the House and Senate come January as ballots across the country continued to be tallied,” the New York Times’ Carl Hulse writes.
“Top lawmakers who are rarely at a loss for something to say or a plan to execute instead waited anxiously for results from key states in the West. And waited. And waited some more.”
Repeat coronavirus infections can still be dangerous, study suggests
“For people who have endured one bout of covid-19, a question looms: How protected are they from bad outcomes if they’re infected again? Not as much as some might think, according to a study from the Department of Veterans Affairs of nearly 41,000 people who suffered reinfection,” Ariana Eunjung Cha reports.
Biden, turning 80, faces renewed age questions as he weighs reelection
“Questions about Biden’s physical and mental fitness have hung over him since he began his presidential run in 2019 and have persisted throughout the first two years of his term. But as Biden prepares to turn 80 on Nov. 20 — potentially announcing a reelection bid shortly thereafter — the United States is entering unmapped territory: an octogenarian in the Oval Office,” Toluse Olorunnipa and Yasmeen Abutaleb report.
A meltdown in Haiti is testing Biden’s diplomatic mojo
“A spiraling political, security and humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation, where violent gangs have increased their power following last year’s assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, has Washington pushing for a multinational security force to stabilize the country. But Biden doesn’t want the United States to take the lead, partly because of Haitian resentment over past U.S. interventions,” Politico’s Nahal Toosi reports.
Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is on ice. Here’s what you should know.
“A federal judge in Texas has struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, tabling the administration’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal loans held by tens of millions of borrowers,” Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reports.
For next IRS chief, Biden to nominate Daniel Werfel
“The White House announced on Thursday that President Biden will nominate Daniel Werfel to lead the Internal Revenue Service, tapping a former budget official to spearhead implementation of key parts of the administration’s economic agenda,” Jeff Stein and Tony Romm report.
Annual inflation rates, visualized
“Inflation stayed high but showed signs of slowing in October, spurring new optimism on Wall Street, even as families and businesses still face rising costs for basics such as food and rent — and as the Federal Reserve ramped up its efforts to lower consumer prices, even at the risk of forcing a recession,” Rachel Siegel reports.
The GOP thought it could make gains in New England. A blue wave hit instead.
“Heading into Tuesday’s midterms, New England was considered a region where Republicans might make crucial inroads, potentially picking up key seats in a Democratic stronghold on the road to a broader nationwide victory,” Joanna Slater reports.
“Instead, the result here looked more like a blue wave. Republicans lost three House races that were considered competitive in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, as well as a similar Senate race in New Hampshire.”
Rick Scott was prepared to take on McConnell — until Tuesday
“For nearly two years, former President Donald Trump has demanded Senate Republicans dump Mitch McConnell as their leader but has never offered an alternative. This week, one was set to emerge: the man in charge of the Senate Republican campaign arm who has been feuding with McConnell for much of the year,” Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes.
“Senator Rick Scott of Florida was poised to challenge McConnell, Republicans briefed on his plans told me, until he decided against a bid Wednesday morning, when it became clear Republicans may not capture the majority and there was to be a Senate runoff in Georgia.”
Biden is in Egypt today for COP27. He has nothing on his public schedule for this afternoon.
Trump’s big announcement (post-GOP mutiny)
Thanks for reading. See you next week.
