memeorandum: ‘Huge number’ of unvaccinated Delta workers got vaccine after $200 surcharge announcement, official says (Michael Bartiromo/WGN-TV)

10:25 PM ET, September 12, 2021

Top Items:

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Scoop: Warner warns he may vote against $3.5 trillion budget — Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is warning that he could vote against the $3.5 trillion budget package, if more money isn't added for housing assistance to close the racial wealth gap in the current House version of the bill, Axios has learned.

Discussion: Breitbart, Political Wire and HotAir

Washington Post:

House Democrats circulate new tax plan as party tries to unify behind huge economic package — Democrats sparred in the Senate but House Democrats were trying to reach a consensus on some of the thorniest issues. — A powerful panel of House Democrats on Sunday circulated a draft plan …

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, Insider, Politico, The Hill, Financial Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal

Jason Easley / POLITICUSUSA:

Watch CNN's Dana Bash Call Out Joe Manchin's Infrastructure Game — Joe Manchin's Can't Name A Spending Amount For Reconciliation Bill — Video: … CNN's Dana Bash asked Manchin to be specific and asked if he had a specific number in mind. — Manchin talked about he wanted to raise corporate taxes back to 25%.

E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:

A make-or-break moment for our democracy — It's a habit of journalism to declare nearly every impending period as a turning point, a “defining moment” that will set a nation or even the world on a course for years or decades to come. — The routinization of the momentous is mostly harmless, but over time it has a cost.

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
House Democrats Consider 26.5% Corporate Tax Rate

Discussion: Bloomberg, One America News Network and POLITICUSUSA

Julia Cherner / ABC News:
Manchin, Sanders at odds over $3.5 trillion budget resolution

Discussion: Vox, New York Post, The Daily Caller, CNBC, Washington Examiner, RedState, Conservative Brief and Politico

CNN:
Manchin: I will not vote for $3.5 trillion bill

Discussion: HuffPost, Common Dreams, Washington Times, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Conservative Brief, Rolling Stone, Florida Politics, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner and Slate

Ben Smith / New York Times:

Why Our Monsters Talk to Michael Wolff — In his new book, the author of “Fire and Fury” continues his specialty: teasing out stories from men in power. — It's early 2019, a few months before Jeffrey Epstein will be arrested on sex charges, and he is sitting in the vast study …

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:

False Election Claims in California Reveal a New Normal for G.O.P. — In an echo of 2020, Republicans are pushing baseless allegations of cheating in the state's recall race even before Election Day. — The results of the California recall election won't be known until Tuesday night.

Discussion: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Washington Post:

Democrats wanted Trump gone. Now they want him on the ballot. — LOS ANGELES — Democrats are growing confident that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) will prevail in Tuesday's recall election, averting political disaster by energizing liberal voters. Across the country his party …

Discussion: CNN, Al Jazeera and Mercury News

Daniel Marans / HuffPost:
Larry Elder Spoke At A Conference With White Nationalist Kyle Chapman

Discussion: New York Magazine, Fox News and CNBC

Albert Hunt / The Hill:
The risks of running as Trump-lite

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Kana Ruhalter / The Daily Beast:

'They're All In on It!' Rose McGowan Slams Dems at Larry Elder Campaign Event — The actress, campaigning for Republican Larry Elder ahead of California's recall election, aired damning accusations against Gov. Gavin Newsom's wife. — At a press conference in Los Angeles on Sunday …

Discussion: Breitbart, CBS Sacramento, Raw Story and Insider

Ronn Blitzer / Fox News:
Rose McGowan to join Larry Elder amid Harvey Weinstein-related allegation against Newsom's wife

Discussion: HotAir, CNN and Conservative Brief

David Marcus / Fox News:
Newsom, Dems all about racism until Larry Elder is attacked

Discussion: New York Post, Breitbart, Instapundit and Mediaite

ABC News:

‘This Week’ Transcript 9-12-21: Dr. Vivek Murthy, Sen. Joe Manchin & Sen. Bernie Sanders — A rush transcript of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” airing on Sunday, September 12, 2021 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors.

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story, UPI and The Western Journal

Justin Gomez / ABC News:
Murthy calls Biden's new COVID-19 actions an ‘appropriate response’ to tackle pandemic

Discussion: Daily Mail, The Hill, New York Post and Townhall

Timothy Bella / Washington Post:

Alabama man dies after being turned away from 43 hospitals as covid packs ICUs, family says — When Ray DeMonia was having a cardiac emergency last month, his Alabama family waited anxiously for a nearby hospital with available space in its intensive care unit.

Discussion: KFOR-TV, Raw Story and Daily Mail

Sam Raskin / New York Post:

Rudy Giuliani rambles during 9/11 memorial dinner — Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani at a 9/11 commemoration on Saturday called a top US general an “idiot” and “a-hole,” imitated Queen Elizabeth and distanced himself from Prince Andrew, in a series of rambling soliloquies, video shows.

Discussion: TMZ.com, Daily Kos and POLITICUSUSA

NBC News:

Senate Democrats near agreement on new voting rights legislation — WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are close to an agreement on updated voting rights legislation that can get the support of all 50 Democrats, three Democratic aides familiar with negotiations tell NBC.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and MSNBC

Andy Kroll / Rolling Stone:
Biden Tells Top Democrats He's Preparing Lobbying Blitz on Filibuster Reform, Voting Rights

Discussion: Breitbart, The Hill, Politico and Bipartisan Report

Washington Post:

Texas wanted to be the tech haven of the U.S. Its new abortion bill and other measures are causing workers to rethink their move. — Tech workers are marking Texas off the list of places they'd consider working after the state passed the nation's most restrictive abortion law

more at Techmeme »

Mattathias Schwartz / Insider:

I spent 5 years inside DC's foreign policy ‘blob.’ Here's why the experts keep getting us into unwinnable wars like Afghanistan. … One autumn afternoon a few years ago, I took the subway from my Brooklyn apartment to a mansion on the Upper East Side. I was nervous.

Alyssa Lukpat / New York Times:

The U.S. is falling to the lowest vaccination rates of the world's wealthiest democracies. — Japan initially struggled to get its Covid-19 vaccination program into full gear, but now that it has, the percentage of its population that has received at least one dose has edged past the level achieved …

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:

Why Americans Die So Much — U.S. life spans, which have fallen behind those in Europe, are telling us something important about American society. — About the author: Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he writes about economics, technology, and the media.

Joe Concha / The Hill:

If another 9/11 happened in a divided 2021, could national unity be achieved again? — As we look back to the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S., it's worth asking a question: If America were attacked again on the same scale, would we be able to unify nationally as well as we did two decades ago?

Douglas E. Schoen / The Hill:

Without drastic changes, Democrats are on track to lose big in 2022 — The marked decline in support for President Biden and his administration nationally and in key swing states indicates that the Democratic Party could endure a blowout defeat in the 2022 midterm elections.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

George W. Bush's dreadful 9/11 speech — President Joe Biden was silent during Saturday's 9/11 commemoration events. So were former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Former President Donald Trump visited a New York City police precinct and fire station, where he made a few impromptu remarks.

Discussion: ABC News, Breitbart and YouTube

Axios:

Inside the preparations to grill Blinken on Afghanistan — Secretary of State Antony Blinken can expect the most aggressive questioning of his career when he testifies Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and on Tuesday before Senate Foreign Relations.

Discussion: Washington Times

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

Trump's Judges Are Playing A Huge Role In Upholding Anti-Abortion Laws Across The Country — WASHINGTON — In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump pitched to Republican voters that even if they didn't like him, they needed him for one big reason: the US Supreme Court.