Pelosi Deals Biden a Blow

Plus, your mid-week news roundup ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey Good Wednesday evening. The U.S. Soccer Federation announced Wednesday that Gregg Berhalter, the coach of the men’s national team, has been fired. The team had failed to advance past the group stage of the ongoing 2024 Copa América, which the United States is co-hosting. Here’s what else is going on. (Reuters) Biden Insists He’s Staying in the Race. Democrats Don't Seem Convinced. President Joe Biden has been adamant that he’s not giving up his bid for another term, and he and his aides say that [they’re done]( [talking]( about the dreadful debate performance two weeks ago. Other Democratic officials and allies aren’t done, though, and Wednesday brought fresh examples of why Biden and his team haven’t been able to put the issue to rest — and will likely have to field questions about Biden’s viability as long as he maintains his candidacy. The latest big blow came from Nancy Pelosi. The former Democratic speaker, who remains widely respected in the party and is reportedly considered to be one of the few leaders who could sway Biden, appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” — which is known to be one of the president’s favored programs. Asked about Biden’s predicament, she notably did not say Democrats should just move on. “It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run," Pelosi said, clearly ignoring Biden’s insistence that his decision has already been made. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.” Asked about Biden’s insistence that he has made the decision to stay in the race, Pelosi said she wants Biden to do whatever he decides. “Whatever he decides, we go with, she said, adding that she wants to let Biden focus on the NATO summit he’s hosting this week. “Let’s just hold off,” she said. “Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.” Pelosi later insisted to reporters that she was not hinting that Biden should rethink his decision to seek another term. “I never said he should reconsider his decision,” she [said](. “The decision is the president’s.” Yet, as Politico [noted]( “There’s little doubt that she knew — and fleshed out with confidants — exactly what she was doing before she was mic'd up at MSNBC this morning. … Unshackled from the burdens of caucus leadership, she doesn’t need to worry about pleasing members — something, we should be honest, she rarely fretted about as speaker. As such, she could be the one Democrat with the gravitas and wherewithal to tell Biden what everyone is saying privately — if, of course, she is willing.” Democrats fear a Trump landslide: Other Democrats continue to express their concerns publicly. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado [told CNN]( Tuesday night that he hasn’t seen any indication from the White House that there’s a plan for victory in November and that he sees Donald Trump on track to win — “and maybe win it by a landslide, and take with him the Senate and the House.” Rep. Pat Ryan of New York on Wednesday called on Biden to step aside, becoming the eighth House Democrats to do so. And Rep. Ritchie Torres, also from New York, noted with alarm last night that the Cook Political Report had shifted its ratings for six Electoral College contests toward Trump. “There must be a serious reckoning with the down-ballot effect of whomever we nominate,” Torres said in a statement today, adding [to CNN]( “If we are going on a political suicide mission, then we should at least be honest about it.” The drumbeat of doubts about Biden’s ability to win and successfully complete a second term also continued from some high-profile sources outside Washington, D.C. Actor George Clooney, a prominent Democratic supporter who recently co-hosted a fundraiser for Biden, published an op-ed in The New York Times saying that the Biden he saw last month was not the same man he had seen in years past — and that Democrats need a new nominee. “We are not going to win in November with this president,” Clooney wrote. “On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor who I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly.” Another prominent Hollywood Democrat, director Rob Reiner, [posted]( on social media that it’s time for Biden to step down. And George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, who conducted a closely watched interview with Biden last Friday as the president tried to mitigate the damage from the debate, also added to doubts about the president. Stephanopoulos was walking in New York City when he was asked for his thoughts on Biden. “I don’t think he can serve four more years,” the newsman and former Clinton White House aide replied, his response captured on video. Through a spokesperson, Stephanopoulos [told CNN]( he shouldn’t have responded to the question, but the damage was done. Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s former White House communications director, said in a [post on X]( that the Biden team knows about the data points that matter. “They are right that the game here is to convince voters, not pundits,” she wrote, adding, “If they have data that supports the path to victory that they see, they should put it out there now and help people who badly want to beat Trump rally around it. People want to see the path.” What’s next: As the NATO summit concludes tomorrow, Biden will face his next huge test: a solo press conference that will be closely watched for any stumbles. It’s the exact sort of unscripted event that many have been calling for Biden to do as he seeks to reassure voters that his debate performance was an aberration. And three top Biden aides — advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti along with Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon — are reportedly scheduled to meet privately with Democratic senators for a lunch Thursday. Government Data at Risk: Report A group of statisticians are warning that quality data produced by the federal government and used by a wide variety of public and private organizations is under threat. “Federal statistics are essential U.S. infrastructure,” the report from the American Statistical Association says. “Produced by 13 principal federal statistical agencies and other statistical programs, they are the official facts and figures on which countless government, personal, and business decisions depend.” The report’s authors argue that federal data is a classic public good, similar to defense and national parks. “The private sector may produce many useful statistics, but businesses do not commonly have an economic incentive to produce the kinds of comprehensive, high-quality data produced by federal statistical agencies,” they write. “In fact, private firms rely on federal statistics, not only for their own planning uses but also when they add value to federal data for resale.” Although the quality of U.S. data is currently high, the report warns that chronic underfunding, declining response rates, future budget cuts and political interference could harm the collection and distribution of data. “We do identify this sort of downward spiral as a threat, and that’s what we’re trying to counter,” Nancy Potok, a former chief statistician of the United States and one of the report’s authors, [told]( The New York Times. “We’re not there yet, but if we don’t do something, that threat could become a reality, and in the not-too-distant future.” As part of their effort to counteract the threat to data quality, the authors outline a comprehensive set of steps policymakers can take, which you can [review here](. Quote of the Day “Trump comes back in January, I’ll be on his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. They ain’t seen shit yet. Wait until 2025.” − Thomas Homan, who served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Trump administration, [speaking]( at the National Conservatism conference in Washington this week. Former President Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants if he wins reelection in November and said this week that he plans to bring Homan back in a potential second administration. Homan is currently a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and reportedly one of the authors of Project 2025, a 900-page blueprint intended to guide a new Trump administration in a sweeping overhaul of the federal government. --------------------------------------------------------------- Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------- Fiscal News Roundup - [Biden’s Candidacy Faces New Peril as Pelosi, Clooney and More Democrats Weigh In]( – Associated Press - [Pelosi Suggests That Biden Could Reconsider Decision to Stay in the Race]( – New York Times - [Jeffries Plans to Relay Dem Concerns to Biden]( – Politico - [Carville: ‘Inevitable’ That Biden Drops Out]( – The Hill - [Biden Says It’s Dem ‘Elites’ Who Are Alarmed About His Debate. Voters in Wisconsin Beg to Differ.]( – Politico - [Biden to Sit for High-Stakes Interview with NBC as RNC Kicks Off]( – Politico - [House Oversight Subpoenas Three White House Aides for Depositions About Biden’s Health]( – CNN - [Democrats Are Still Fretting About Biden’s Disastrous Debate. He’s Ready to Be Done Talking About It]( – CNN - [Trump’s ‘National Conservative’ Allies Plot a Revenge Administration]( – Semafor - [Powell Not Prepared ‘Yet’ to Say He’s Confident About Inflation]( – Bloomberg - [Restrictions on Transgender Health Care Slipped into Senate's Must-Pass Defense Bill]( – Military.com Views and Analysis - [One Casualty of the 2024 Campaign? Budgetary Sanity]( – Bloomberg Opinion Editorial Board - [Pelosi and Democrats to Biden: Maybe Take the Hint, Please?]( – Aaron Blake, Washington Post - [Biden Needs to Accept That It’s Time to Step Aside]( – Timothy L. O’Brien, Bloomberg - [I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee]( – George Clooney, New York Times - [Why Progressives Are Backing Biden]( – Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer, Washington Post - [From a GOP Platform to a MAGA One]( – Philip Bump, Washington Post - [Trump 2025 Is Coming Into View]( – Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times - [The Supreme Court Has Stacked the Deck for MAGA]( – Francis Wilkinson, Bloomberg - [Project 2025 … and 1921, and 1973, and 1981]( – Rick Perlstein, American Prospect - [Biden’s Age Is Burying Good Economic News for Democrats]( – Jordan Weissmann, Semafor - [Federal Reserve Chair Acknowledges Slowing Labor Market]( – David Dayen, American Prospect - [The US Economy Faces a New Threat]( – Matt Egan, CNN Copyright © 2024 The Fiscal Times, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed at our website or through Facebook. The Fiscal Times, 399 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10022, United States Want to change how you receive these emails? [Update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe](