带走里克·克莱因
围绕拜登议程的大部分僵局是关于民主党人的信任和缺乏信任——在进步派和温和派之间、领导人和普通成员之间、外部团体和内部核心小组之间，以及几乎每个人和白宫之间。
这使得现在对乔·拜登总统的可信度提出质疑变得不方便。顶端军事顾问的证词周二在参议院，周三将有更多的人来到众议院，这似乎与总统之前的断言相矛盾，即他在下令从伊拉克撤军之前得到了什么样的建议阿富汗。
白宫正在反驳任何关于总统在上个月提出的建议中没有如实陈述的说法。拜登的助手希望将阿富汗完全从国内议程中分离出来。新的美国广播公司新闻/益普索民意调查不过，周三公布的数据显示，这可能有多难。
与一个月前相比，拜登在一系列问题上的支持率有所下降。人们对他处理新冠肺炎大流行、移民、经济、枪支暴力、犯罪，甚至基础设施的方式感到不满。在总统保持稳定和相对受欢迎的几个月后，数据开始下降。数字在灾难性的阿富汗退出后开始下降，到目前为止，还没有恢复的迹象。
随着巨大的截止日期临近，值得注意的不仅仅是有多少民主党人在含蓄地挑战白宫但是有多少人这样做，同时暗示他们比拜登更了解拜登的议程。
伯尼·桑德斯参议员敦促众议院进步人士否决两党的基础设施法案，除非更大的社会支出方案也向前推进，这就是一个很好的例子。共和党人对拜登的反对一直是毋庸置疑的，但民主党人现在对他的承诺非常坚定。
与...的关系阿维·哈珀
作为联邦政府走向可能的停工财政部长珍妮特·耶伦敲响了警钟。
耶伦周二给国会领导层写了一封信，警告称，如果国会在10月18日之前不采取行动，美国可能会拖欠债务。这种情况会让金融市场陷入混乱。
耶伦在参议院银行、住房和城市事务委员会作证时表示:“即使接近最后期限而不提高债务上限，也会削弱金融市场的信心。她后来补充说，“这将是我们强加给这个国家的人为危机，这个国家已经经历了一个非常困难的时期，正在复苏的道路上。这将是一个巨大的自我伤害。”
尽管有潜在可怕后果的警告，共和党人仍然坚定不移为了阻止民主党提高债务上限，他们甚至阻止了民主党周二独自提高债务上限的尝试。
“没有机会了，没有机会了共和党的会议将不会妨碍我们以帮助民主党人节省时间和精力，以便他们能够尽快恢复冲击党派社会主义，”参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔说。
值得注意的是，提高债务上限并不是为了支付新的支出，而是为过去政府的债务融资。根据耶伦的说法，不采取行动可能会危及社会保障检查，阻止军队获得工资，甚至使经济陷入衰退。
小费奎因·斯坎兰
在最后的弗吉尼亚州长辩论民主党人特里·麦考利夫和共和党人格伦·扬金争论不休疫苗授权,流产、教育以及如何最好地重建大流行后的英联邦经济。但是在整个一个小时的活动中，一个不在舞台上的人——也不再在办公室里——反复出现。
麦考利夫反复强调的将杨金与支持共和党提名人的前总统唐纳德·特朗普捆绑在一起的策略可能会奏效，因为特朗普在11月以10个百分点的优势在那里落败。但这是扬金现在已经熟悉的策略，当麦考利夫点名阻止特朗普攻击扬金时，这位前私募股权高管选择完全不参与——除非是在一个值得注意的时刻。
在此之前，麦考利夫在长达一分钟的回答中八次提到特朗普选举诚信，指责杨金被前总统“收买和收买”。
“特里，你刚刚让拉斯维加斯的人们赚了很多钱。...今晚有一个关于你要说唐纳德·特朗普多少次的反复讨论，它是10次，而你刚刚突破了它，”扬金打趣道。“你在和格伦·扬金竞争。...让特里·麦考利夫对阵格伦·扬金，让弗吉尼亚州的选民决定他们希望下一任州长是谁。”
但后来，当被问及如果特朗普是共和党，他是否会支持特朗普时2024年提名人杨金说他会的。这是对特朗普初选的响亮支持吗?不。这个声音会进入未来的麦考利夫攻击广告吗?拉斯维加斯的人们可能在打赌。
还有一点
一项新的美国广播公司新闻/益普索民意调查发现，随着拜登面临其议程的关键时刻，美国人对他处理一系列问题的信心正在减弱。与美国广播公司新闻/益普索8月份的一项民意调查相比，公众对拜登如何处理关键问题的支持率正在下降，这些问题包括大流行、移民和美墨边境局势、枪支暴力，甚至是他本周推动的重建国家基础设施的问题。共和党人和无党派人士的不满加剧了这种下降，但总统的支持率也受到了他自己政党成员中比总统通常享有的支持率更低的阻碍。
Biden takes credibility hit at critical time for agenda: The Note
The TAKE withRick Klein
So much of the standoff over the Biden agenda is about Democrats' trust and lack thereof -- among and between progressives and moderates, leaders and rank-and-file members, outside groups and inside caucuses and between virtually everyone and the White House.
That makes this an inconvenient time for President Joe Biden's credibility to come into question. Topmilitary advisers' testimonyin the Senate Tuesday, with more to come in the House Wednesday, appears to contradict the president's previous assertions about the kind of advice he got before ordering the troop withdrawal fromAfghanistan.
The White House is pushing back on any notion that the president hasn't been truthful about what he last month called a "split" in the advice he was getting. And Biden aides would like to separate Afghanistan from the domestic agenda entirely. A newABC News/Ipsos pollpublished Wednesday shows how hard that might be, though.
Biden's approval rating is down across a range of issues compared to a month ago. People are unhappy about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration, the economy, gun violence, crime and, yes, even infrastructure. The sagging numbers come after months of stability and relative popularity for the president. The figures started to drop right around the disastrous Afghanistan exit, and so far, they haven't shown signs of recovering.
With huge deadlines looming, it's notable not just how manyDemocrats are implicitly defying the White House, but how many are doing so while suggesting they know what Biden's agenda is better than he is.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' urging of House progressives to sink the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the far larger social-spending package also moves along is a case in point. Republican opposition to Biden has long been unquestioned, but Democrats' commitment to him now very much is.
The RUNDOWN withAveri Harper
As the federal governmentbarrels toward a possible shutdown, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is sounding the alarm.
Yellen penned a letter to congressional leadership Tuesday, warning that if Congress doesn't act by Oct. 18, the U.S. could default on its debts. That scenario would send financial markets into a tailspin.
"Even coming close to the deadline without raising the debt ceiling can undermine the confidence of financial markets," Yellen said during testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. She later added, "This would be a manufactured crisis we had imposed on this country, which has been going through a very difficult period and is on the road to recovery. This would be a self-inflicted wound of enormous proportions."
Despite the warning of potentially dire consequences,Republicans have remained steadfastin their quest to keep Democrats from raising the debt ceiling, even blocking an attempt by Democrats to go it alone to raise the debt limit Tuesday.
"There is no chance, no chance theRepublican conference will go out of our wayto help Dems conserve their time and energy so they can resume ramming through partisan socialism as fast as possible," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
It is important to note that raising the debt ceiling wouldn't be to pay for new spending, but would finance debt incurred mostly by past administrations. According to Yellen, failure to act could put Social Security checks in jeopardy, prevent troops from getting paid and even send the economy into recession.
The TIP withQuinn Scanlan
During the final Virginiagubernatorial debate, Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin sparred overvaccine mandates,abortion, education and how best to rebuild the commonwealth's economy coming out of the pandemic. But throughout the hourlong event, one man not on stage -- and no longer in office -- was a recurring presence.
McAuliffe's recurring strategy of tying Youngkin to former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed the GOP nominee, could work, seeing as Trump lost by a 10-point margin there in November. But it's a tactic Youngkin is familiar with by now, and when McAuliffe named-checked Trump to attack Youngkin, the former private equity executive opted not to engage at all -- except in one notable moment.
It came after McAuliffe mentioned Trump eight times in his minute-long response to a question aboutelection integrity, accusing Youngkin of being "bought and paid for by" the former president.
"Terry, you just made folks in Las Vegas a lot of money. ... There's an over and under tonight on how many times you're going to say Donald Trump, and it was 10 and you just busted through it," Youngkin quipped. "You're running against Glenn Youngkin. ... Let's have Terry McAuliffe versus Glenn Youngkin and let's let Virginia voters decide who they want their next governor to be."
But later, when asked if he would support Trump if he was the GOPnominee in 2024, Youngkin said he would. Was it a resounding endorsement of a Trump primary bid? No. Will the soundbite make its way into a future McAuliffe attack ad? The folks in Vegas may be taking bets.
ONE MORE THING
As Biden faces a critical moment for his agenda, Americans' confidence in his handling of a range of issues is eroding, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll found. Compared to an ABC News/Ipsos poll from August, public approval of how Biden is handling key issues -- the pandemic, immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, gun violence and even rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, the issue he's pushing this week -- is on the decline. Dissatisfaction among Republicans and independents is fueling the decline, but the president's ratings are also hampered by more lackluster approval among members of his own party than presidents typically enjoy.https://abcn.ws/3ujqCjr
