The Hill’s Morning Report — Biden steadies in third debate as top tier remains the same

by Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver - 09/13/19 6:53 AM ET

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Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. Happy Friday the 13th! Our newsletter gets you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the up-early co-creators. Find us @asimendinger and @alweaver22 on Twitter and CLICK HERE to subscribe!

Former Vice President Joe Biden turned in a mostly reassuring debate performance on Thursday night in Houston as he fended off attacks on health care and his age, maintaining his pole position in the Democratic primary field.

Biden was the center of the debate from start as he, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) engaged in an extended back-and-forth about health care and how to provide affordable coverage to more Americans. Biden continued to defend the Obama era, seeking to preserve and build on the Affordable Care Act with a public option as Warren and Sanders made their respective cases for a “Medicare for All” system.

The back-and-forth, broadcast by ABC News and Univision, came to a head when Biden jabbed at Sanders for being a “socialist” after the Vermont independent argued that corporations would help employees with costs, based on what workers would pay into the system.

The Hill: Biden slams Sanders over health care: ‘For a socialist, you got a lot more confidence in corporate America than I do.’

In the most testy exchange, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro made an ageist attack against the former vice president when he accused him of “forgetting” details of his health care plan. He wrongfully accused Biden of saying his plan would not automatically enroll people in his public health care option. When Biden told the former San Antonio mayor that he was wrong, Castro dug in.

“You just said that two minutes ago, you just said two minutes ago that they would have to buy in Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?,” Castro said, repeating the charge seconds later.

Democrats roundly panned Castro for the failed attack. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the move a “disqualifier,” with others also offering a harsh assessment.

“It was cringeworthy. Ugliest moment in all of the debates,” said one Democratic source.

Castro claimed after the debate that he wasn’t attacking Biden’s age at 76, arguing it was an exchange about health care.

The Hill: Castro accuses Biden of forgetting health care details, not fulfilling Obama’s legacy.

The Hill: Biden grapples with Obama questions during debate.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told CNN that Castro had some “really legitimate concerns” about the former vice president.

“I think that we are at a tough point right now, because there’s a lot of people concerned about Joe Biden’s ability to carry the ball all the way across the end line without fumbling, and I think that Castro had some really legitimate concerns about, can he be someone in a long, grueling campaign that can get the ball over the line, and he has every right to call that out,” Booker said.

Warren and Sanders also offered up solid performances that are unlikely to harm them in their bids for the nomination. The two continued to push progressive messages, railing against corruption, but also not making any major missteps during the three-hour affair.

“Fundamentally, I don’t think anything changes after this,” said former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) while appearing on ABC News’ post-debate coverage.

The Hill: Five takeaways from a three-hour debate.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has struggled during her presidential campaign to break through in polling and performance, found opportunities on Thursday night to calmly score points without skewering other Democrats on the stage. From her opening statement about sensible problem-solving to her detailed action plan to tackle climate change, if elected president, Klobuchar came prepared to deliver a message about evolution rather than revolution in a post-Trump America.

Klobuchar, who spoke for a total of 10 and a half minutes (7 minutes less than Biden), said she would rejoin the Paris Climate Accord on Day 1 and went on to list her environmental plans for her first week in office, if she’s elected, embracing Obama-era policies she said she could put in place using executive action.

“You can do all that without Congress, which is good,” she said.

The Hill: Klobuchar outlines climate plan for first week in office.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), in contrast, who has lost some of the traction she gained with potential voters after clashing with Biden over race during the first Democratic debate, sought to throttle the president on Thursday night, using more than 13 minutes of speaking time to try to focus on Trump. Several of her attempts at humor, including an eyebrow-raising put-down about Trump’s anatomy, dissolved into her own laughter, and in response to specific questions, some answers became anecdotes and talking points about policy problems rather than detailed policy solutions.

Klobuchar and Harris both fielded pointed questions from the moderators suggesting their records as prosecutors in their respective states did not fulfill progressive expectations. Both rapidly moved on after offering short responses.

The Hill: In a candidate-by-candidate analysis, who came out on top?

On the Republican side, President Trump spent the evening delivering counterprogramming with an address to the annual House GOP retreat in Baltimore. Trump, who had told reporters earlier in the day he’d record the debate and watch it as a “rerun,” arrived on stage at 8:01 p.m. and delivered a montage of his greatest hits.

“We will make America stronger and safer and prouder and greater than ever before. You are a terrific group, and I know almost all of you — I like most of you, I know all of you,” he said with a laugh, adding “the best is yet to come” as he closed (The Hill).

Reminder: The next Democratic primary debate takes place on Oct. 15 and possibly Oct. 16 in Ohio. Republican presidential primary challengers William Weld, a former Massachusetts governor, and former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, are expected to debate as part of an event hosted in New York by Business Insider on Sept. 24. The Trump campaign said the president will not participate, calling it “pointless.” Former South Carolina Gov. and former Rep. Mark Sanford (R) also has been invited (The Hill).

The Associated Press: Fiery exchanges Thursday night over the costs of health care.

Reuters: Biden clashes with Warren, Sanders on health care during debate.

The Washington Post: Democratic candidates in free-for-all over health care, immigration and foreign policy.

The Associated Press: Fact Check: Claims from the Democratic debate.

The New York Times: Fact-checking the Democratic debate.

Dan Balz: Biden delivered the debate performance he needed, despite occasional missteps.

Frank Bruni: Up, up, up with Elizabeth Warren.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells: Are the Democratic presidential debates working?

Margaret Sullivan: Three hours? 10 candidates? Isn’t this all (a lot) too much?

LEADING THE DAY

CONGRESS: House Democrats took their most concrete step yet in their impeachment push on Thursday as the House Judiciary Committee voted to expand the panel’s investigative powers as they look to shore up their case against the president.

While the vote does not launch the party’s formal impeachment process, it marks the first time a Democratic panel has voted on language that explicitly lays out how the party’s ongoing investigations into alleged presidential misconduct could lead to drafting impeachment articles, as Mike Lillis and Olivia Beavers write.

The vote went down along party lines, 24-17.

The move comes as Democrats try to clean up their messaging on impeachment. The party has been dogged in recent weeks by questions wondering if their ongoing impeachment push is an actual effort to impeach the president, which House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) referred to during the two hour hearing.

“This committee is engaged in an investigation that will allow us to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to President Trump,” he said. “Some call this process an impeachment inquiry. Some call it an impeachment investigation. There is no legal difference between these terms, and I no longer care to argue about the nomenclature.”

The investigative push will also heat up next week as Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, is slated to appear before the panel to testify (The Hill).

Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dismissed concerns about Democrats muddling their message on impeachment, blaming the media for the perceived confusion. She also framed the panel’s impeachment vote as simply a continuation of investigations and said for the umpteenth time that they will “follow the facts.”

“Legislate, investigate, litigate. That’s the path that we’ve been on, and that’s the path we continue to be on,” Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing in the Capitol.

“They understand that impeachment is a very divisive measure, but if we have to go there, we’ll have to go there. But we can’t go there unless we have the facts, and we will follow the facts … and make our decision when we’re ready” (The Hill).

The Associated Press: Is it impeachment if Speaker Pelosi doesn’t say so?

Politico: “My time is growing near”: Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) dangles impeachment announcement.

The New York Times: For military personnel, Trump’s Turnberry Hotel is “better than a tent” — and part of House Democrats’ investigations.

> Spending stumbles: The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved its annual defense spending bill on a 16-15 party-line vote, despite Democratic objections over the president’s border wall.

The split vote raises questions for the Senate’s ability to pass spending legislation — which must also be reconciled with the Democratic-controlled House — ahead of a Sept. 30 funding deadline. Otherwise, a stopgap spending bill — a continuing resolution (CR) — will need to pass ahead of the deadline.

“Funding an ineffective, failed campaign promise, which the president promised Mexico would pay for, is not a priority of the American people and should not be the priority of this committee,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the panel’s ranking member.

Democrats objected to the fact that the bill did not explicitly block Trump from raiding defense funds and redirecting them toward building the wall under the auspices of a national emergency. The Supreme Court gave the president the go-ahead to use the funds in late July (The Hill).

Meanwhile, lawmakers are preparing to ignore the president’s request to loosen restrictions on border wall funding as part of a possible short-term spending deal. The ask was included in the Trump administration’s 21-page wish list for a continuing resolution.

Congressional Republicans have made clear that they support the administration’s funding request, which would let the administration use money to build border barriers outside the Rio Grande Valley Sector. However, they’ve warned that they don’t expect the stopgap measure to include language granting the White House request for construction beyond the Rio Grande area.

“Hopefully they can work out a deal where there’s maximum flexibility for the president when it comes to money for the wall, but I’m sure the Democrats will push hard back against that,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is seeking reelection next year, warned that “the administration asks for it, but the Democrats don’t have to give it.”

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ELSEWHERE

➔ Generic drugs: Egads, this article grabbed our attention on Thursday. Carcinogens have tainted the generic drugs taken by patients in the United States because of a flawed Federal Drug Administration quality-control system tasked to ensure the safety of generic medications taken by 90 percent of Americans. The FDA checks less than 1 percent of drugs for impurities or potency before letting them into the country. Generics receive less federal scrutiny from the start. At least 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used for all drugs are made in Chinese and Indian factories that U.S. pharmaceutical companies never have to identify to patients, using raw materials whose sources the pharmaceutical companies don’t know much about. Surveillance inspections of overseas factories have declined since 2016 and the FDA is under pressure to get more generics to market more quickly (Bloomberg Businessweek).

➔ Bahamas: Following the destructive wrath of Hurricane Dorian, Bahamians look for their loved ones as an estimated 1,300 people remain missing and the death toll rises (The Associated Press).

➔ Media and Facebook: Facebook is trying to counter “news deserts” in U.S. communities with its second promotion of a tool that exposes users to more local news and information. The social media giant said Thursday it is expanding its “Today In” service to 6,000 cities and towns across the United States, up from 400 in its previous effort. Launched in early 2018, the service lets Facebook users opt into local news and information from local organizations, for example, to receive missing-person alerts, local election results, road closure information and crime reports (The Associated Press).

➔ Milky Way: For the first time, scientists detected water in the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet orbiting a distant star, evidence that a key ingredient for life exists beyond our solar system, according to a study published this week. Water vapor was found in the atmosphere of K2-18b, one of hundreds of “super-Earths” — worlds ranging in size between Earth and Neptune — documented in a growing new field of astronomy devoted to the exploration of so-called exoplanets elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy.

More than 4,000 exoplanets of all types and sizes have been detected (Reuters).

THE CLOSER

And finally … Congratulations to Morning Report quiz winners! This week’s 18th anniversary of 9/11 reminded us that readers retain keen memories about events triggered by the 2001 terror attacks.

Kudos to these quiz masters: William Chittam, Phil Kirstein, Donna Nackers, Manley Glaubitz, Tim Aiken, Mike Axelrod, Karl Schlenker, Dawn Fortenberry, David E. Letostak, Lorraine Lindberg, Fred Muzin, former U.S. Ambassador to Greece Thomas J. Miller, Larry Charles, Linda Halverson, Caitlin Musselman, Margaret Gainer, R. Milton Howell III, Randall S. Patrick, Candi Cee, Jerry Lentz, Luther Berg, Eileen Lavine, Greg Stetson, Ki Harvey, Ricca Sloane, William Mattingly, Dara Umberger, Sandy Sycafoose, Shin Inouye, Jerry Kovar, Patrick Kavanagh, reader “sm dem,” Steve Jenning, Elizabeth Murphy, Jack Barshay, Bob (“RS843”), Melanie King, John Hayden, Buzz Watkins, Rosemarie Soriano, Norm Roberts, Douglas Prasher and Rich Gruber.

They knew that former President George W. Bush learned about the ongoing terror attacks when Andrew Card, his White House chief of staff, whispered the news in the president’s ear during a school event in Florida.

Osama bin Laden masterminded the 9/11 attacks with al Qaeda lieutenants but was never indicted. He remained on the FBI’s Most Wanted list until May 2, 2011, when U.S. special forces captured and killed him in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

At 9:42 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Command Center made history by ordering the closure of U.S. airspace, grounding all commercial air traffic as a precaution because of fears that terrorists still controlled planes in the air.

The attacks of 9/11 triggered a cascade of U.S. federal responses, but the list of actions did not include the creation of an escape pod on Air Force One.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of bin Laden’s deputies, was captured in 2003 in Pakistan and is still imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, where he faces a military tribunal in January 2021.