Hello,
This is CNBC.com White House reporter Christina Wilkie in Washington, D.C., sitting in for politics editor Mike Calia.
One of the busiest weeks of the year for Congress is currently underway, as lawmakers race to finalize major legislation on Capitol Hill before both chambers break for an extended Memorial Day recess.
Senate Republicans are deep in the weeds of negotiations with the Biden White House about an infrastructure bill. They are trying to find common ground between the president's sprawling $2 trillion proposal, and the GOP's $560 billion counteroffer. Late last week, consensus was building for a slimmed down bill that would cover hard infrastructure improvements only. That would have a price tag closer to around $1 trillion.
In a sign of how serious the talks are, this afternoon four of Biden's most trusted emissaries are planning talks with Senate Republicans: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttiegieg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, senior counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti and White House legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell.
Terrell is a consummate dealmaker, but it's Ricchetti's presence that signals how serious the talks are. A former lobbyist, Ricchetti is widely considered to be Biden's closest confidante, and he's the person lawmakers call when they need a direct line to the president.
Tests for Congress
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the bill to create a bipartisan commission to study the January 6 attack on the Capitol is up for a vote in the House this week. It's expected to pass despite Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's opposition to it.
And a bipartisan group of senators is working hard to finalize a police reform bill before May 25, the one year anniversary of the death of George Floyd. The complicated bill is almost over the finish line. Qualified immunity for police is a stubborn sticking point that right now is holding it up.
All this legislating would normally be top priority for a new administration. But Biden is facing a more serious test: The fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which is claiming hundreds of civilian casualties and threatening to rip apart Israel's social fabric.
The Gaza problem
As Israel's top ally worldwide, the United States has a role to play here. But it's not yet entirely clear what that role will be. Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that he "supports a ceasefire." But that is a very different thing, in diplomatic-speak, than for Biden to have "called for a ceasefire."
Pressure from the left flank of the Democratic Party is mounting on Biden to take a harder line on the conflict, especially after Israeli airstrikes destroyed a building housing the Associated Press over the weekend.
The White House says the U.S. is engaging in "quiet, intensive diplomacy" — that exact phrase is being used over and over — but there's no sign as of today that it's working.
We'll have more answers on infrastructure, the big House bills and the war in Gaza when our next newsletter comes out on Friday. Until then, be sure to follow CNBC Politics' coverage.
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