Still a Cold War, Not a Hot War – The White House is preparing extensive sanctions and trade authority, previously provided by Congress, to punish Russia for its aggression toward Ukraine, Roll Call reports. The sanctions go “well beyond” those the U.S. imposed against the Kremlin after Russia’s 2014 attack on the Crimea, but the White House says it will not publicly detail what is being considered so it can maintain its diplomatic leverage.
Meanwhile, diplomats from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are meeting Wednesday in Paris to resuscitate a stalled peace process, The Washington Post reports, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has objected to delivery of 79 tons of arms to Ukraine from Western nations.
Note: Russia is estimated to have about 127,000 of its troops gathered on the Ukrainian border, including along the Belarus border about 100 miles north of Kyiv, NPR reports, but some analysts suggest it’s not enough for a full-out invasion. Is a side benefit for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression influence over our midterm elections this November? Just, as Fox News’ Tucker Carlson might say, asking.
On that note: Carlson said on his show the U.S. has no reason to take sides on Russia versus the Ukraine, and former President Trump’s onetime national security advisor, Michael Flynn, defended Putin in an op-ed in a far-right journal, writing that “Biden might get hundreds of millions killed over Ukraine.” Clearly, Carlson and Flynn miss the warm Trump-Putin relationship.
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Low-Sodium Build Back Better – Senate Democrats are likely to remove the proposal to raise the cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT) from the White House’s Build Back Better proposal when they return to Capitol Hill next week, The Hillreports. The SALT cap is one of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) top priorities, but members of his caucus believe the provision is too costly and would most benefit wealthy suburbanites in blue states. Such as New York.
Democrats involved in negotiations with key holdout Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “blew up” the SALT cap provision, the report says.
Note: President Biden already has said he will break up his Build Back Better social infrastructure program, with a current price tag of somewhere between $1.75- and $2 trillion into smaller “chunks.” Raising the SALT cap appears to be an easy cut despite Schumer’s support, compared with, say, the child tax credit. The bigger surprise may be how eager Senate Democrats are to take up the package when they return to Capitol Hill next week, after a fruitless end to negotiations before the end of 2021.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Charles Dervarics