Judy: As we reported on capitol
hill, a bipartisan deal is
emerging to give the white house
some of the money it says it
needs for covid testing and
vaccinations.
In the far northern reaches of
the country in Alaska, a vacant
congressional seat has brought
former governor Sarah Palin back
to the national political stage.
Joining need to discuss all of
this is our politics Monday duo,
Amy Walter of the cook political
report with Amy Walter and Tamra
Keith of NPR.
It is good to see both of you on
this Monday.
We have a little bit of news
within the last few minutes, we
have learned judge ketanji brown
Jackson has picked up a third
Republican senate vote.
That is Mitt Romney.
It is a landslide by modern
standards.
It looks like she will get at
least 53 votes.
I just want to quote quickly,
while I do not expect to agree
with every decision she may
make, I believe she more than
meets the standards of
excellence and integrity.
>> This was not a very difficult
thing for a member of congress,
for the senate, to say not so
long ago.
Witches, I might not have picked
this person, this is not
somebody that I agree with their
political philosophy, but there,
is a president a president gets
to pick, it is our job to make
sure that person is able to
faithfully execute the job.
That is becoming rarer and
rarer.
Instead it is now a partyline
vote.
Three votes now is actually
pretty bipartisan.
Judy: Most Republicans, we heard
Josh Hawley saying yes, I like
her, she is very nice, but she
is completely wrong.
Tamara: Right.
Three crossovers is about all we
have been able to see in the
senate since they went nuclear.
And did away with the filibuster
and lowered the threshold for
confirmation.
You are right.
We have seen a number of
Republican senators come forward
and say, this is a history
making nomination.
She has made her family proud.
She has made America proud.
All of these things.
She will be the first black
woman confirmed to the court.
It looks clear that she will be
confirmed to be on the court.
Judy: And possibly the fact that
she will not change the
ideological balance of the
court.
Tamara: It lowers the stat --
the stakes.
Judy: She is getting some
Republican votes.
Something else to talk about,
and that is news of the covid
funding bill, it is $10 billion,
less than half what the white
house was looking for.
What does it say -- at one
point, presidents were getting
all the money they wanted for
covid.
What is changing here?
Pres. Biden: I think --
Amy: I think what is changing
his covid is no longer the top
issue for Americans.
The issue of inflation and the
economy is.
Pumping more money out, even
though it is going directly to
states and localities to handle
things like vaccinations and
treatments, still a lot for
congress to swallow.
They wanted to make sure this
money was offset, you could find
the money to pay for this.
It is no longer just I'm writing
a check saying, we will worry
about it later.
It's interesting, we just noted
Mitt Romney becoming the third
vote there, Mitt Romney was
instrumental in making this deal
happen.
He has become the -- we have
talked a lot about Joe Manchin.
Now on the Republican side, it
is Mitt Romney who is willing to
actually cross the aisle and he
is seen, by Democrats, as
somebody who they can deal with
and is an honest broker.
Judy: The administration has
been sweating this.
They say they will come back and
ask for more because they
worried about filling the needs
that are out there.
Tamara: One of the big things
this bill is lacking is funding
for the global effort to
vaccinate the world.
It is not just producing
vaccines and shipping vaccines,
but it is also getting shots in
arms.
That has been a real problem and
concern.
The administration is saying
some of those programs are going
to have to stop right away
without the funding.
But what this does contain on
the domestic side is much needed
funding that the light has been
raising alarms about.
For instance, and they have not
really talked about this
explicitly that much, but in an
interview I did with Jeff zients
last week, the height -- the
white house covid coordinator,
he explained they are getting
calls from companies that make
those at home rapid tests.
Companies are calling saying
they want to shut down
production lines because demand
has fallen through the floor.
Omicron, you could not find a
test, everyone was begging for
tests.
Now they are everywhere, you get
them by the gun at the
drugstore.
For concern is what happens in
the six months?
This money will be there to prop
up an industry that clearly the
free market will not keep it
going, will not keep those lines
up.
Judy: As we know, there are
countries that do have vaccines,
whether it is China, but their
protocols are so strict, that
they still are shutting down
major portions of that country,
which has an impact on this
country, with supply chains and
other items we get from China.
Even when things are
theoretically going well, which
is supplying vaccines, people
getting vaccinated, the rules
country by country are going to
impact us too.
Judy: So much of that is out of
control of whoever is calling
the shots here.
Terrible.
Amy: Didn't mean to have that
pun.
Judy: We will just erase that.
I do want to ask you both, and I
will start with you, tam, and
Alaska, some news, the former
governor, Sarah Palin, has
stepped out of the quiet for a
while to say she is going to be
one of 51 people running for the
one congressional seat in
Tamara: 51 people.
But it is a really important
seat.
It is the congressperson for the
entire state of Alaska.
The stakes for the people of
Alaska are fairly high.
What Sarah Palin has been doing
for a while is, since she ran
for vice president, didn't win,
ended up quitting as governor,
she has been sort of a reality
TV political star for the last
many years.
Throwing her hat in the ring
immediately, Donald J. Trump
endorsed her, several other top
Republicans too.
I don't know that she is a shoe
in.
I don't know that it is a date
-- a guarantee.
I don't know that it is totally
great name id in Alaska.
Judy: She is not lacking for
name.
Amy: Or ability to raise money.
There is a new system now in
Alaska.
It is a ranked choice voting,
there is a top four primary
The top four candidates,
regardless of party, of those
51, will go on to this runoff.
This is all brand-new.
This was designed, this new law
passed by the voters in 2020, in
many ways, to help moderates
like a Lisa murkowski, so that
you can't win a primary or
runoff just by getting a big
slice of the base.
You have to appeal to a broader
slice.
One thing I want to say about
this which is interesting, Sarah
Palin, if she were to come to
congress, remember in 2008, she
was an outlier.
She comes to congress, she is
now part of the majority.
In the McCain wing of the party
has basically -- is no longer
there.
Judy: The wing of the man who
chose her.
Propelled her into national --
international prominence.
Amy: She was trump before trump.
She was a precursor for all of
the politics of outrage, both
stoking outrage in voters and
also creating outrage among
liberals, and sticking it to
them and raising money along the
way.
She really helped create this
model but trump then used to get
into the white house and there
are numerous people using this
model to raise money and
potentially be the next trump.
Judy: It is what the party looks
like Mao and the sweat the --
this will get a lot of attention
and we will read up on it ranked
choice voting.
>> We will.
Tamara: First time it has opened
in almost 50 years.
There is a lot of pent up
demand.
Judy: Don young was there for
half a century.
Thank you both.
Politics Monday.
Thanks.