memeorandum: As more Californians head to Texas, how do the states really stack up? (Lauren Hepler/San Francisco Chronicle)

5:55 PM ET, September 26, 2021

Top Items:

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

For Schumer and Pelosi, the Challenge of a Career With No Margin for Error — The top two Democrats in Congress face a daunting pile of legislative imperatives. With President Biden's agenda hanging in the balance and few votes to spare, can they get it done?

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, WTOP, Common Dreams, CNN and The Intercept

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Scoop: Centrists back $3.5T package — Two of the nine House centrists who demanded Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bring the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to the floor by Monday are now publicly promising to vote for the separate $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, Axios has learned.

Discussion: Raw Story, WTOP, Talking Points Memo, Forbes and Political Wire

ABC News:

Pelosi may delay vote on Senate bipartisan infrastructure bill — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on ABC's “This Week” Sunday. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., may not bring the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the House floor Monday as she previously committed to, she said Sunday.

Discussion: Insider, The Hill, HuffPost, RedState, New York Post, CBS News, CNN, UPI, Progress Pond, Fox News, Washington Times, Associated Press, Twitchy and Breitbart

Wall Street Journal: Kyrsten Sinema Is Enigma at Center of Democrats' Spending Talks

Politico:
These Republicans helped craft the infrastructure bill. They might not vote for it.

Discussion: The Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN, The American Mind, Financial Times, Florida Politics, Bloomberg and New York Magazine

Josh Kraushaar / National Journal:
Biden's political woes put Senate in play

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Insider

Yahoo News:

Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks — In 2017, as Julian Assange began his fifth year holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, the CIA plotted to kidnap the WikiLeaks founder, spurring heated debate among Trump administration officials …

Discussion: emptywheel, Mediaite, Common Dreams and Rolling Stone

Joseph Choi / The Hill:

Graham told Trump he 'f'd up' the presidency: book — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reportedly told former President Trump, “You f'd up your presidency” earlier this year when attempting to advise him to accept that he lost the 2020 presidential election. — This apparent bit of hard truth …

Discussion: New York Post and NBC News

Paul Egan / Detroit Free Press:

At Mackinac, Betsy DeVos offers veiled criticism of GOP's ongoing passion for Trump — MACKINAC ISLAND — Michigan businesswoman, political megadonor and former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos implicitly criticized the GOP's ongoing capture by former President Donald Trump in a Saturday address …

Discussion: The Hill, Insider and Raw Story

Craig Mauger / Detroit News:
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham: ‘I hope President Trump runs again’

Discussion: Daily Kos, Insider, The Hill and Political Wire

Zack Stanton / Politico:

What If 2020 Was Just a Rehearsal? — Rick Hasen isn't getting much sleep these days. — One of the nation's foremost experts on the laws that hold together democracy in America, Hasen used to be concerned about highly speculative election “nightmare scenarios”: the electrical grid …

Discussion: Morning Shots and Election Law Blog

Sarah Maslin Nir / New York Times:

She Bought Her Dream Home. Then a ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Changed the Locks. — A New Jersey woman was preyed upon by a fast-growing extremist group that claims its members are sovereign Moors, not bound by U.S. laws. — The official-looking letters started arriving soon after Shanetta Little bought …

Discussion: Althouse

Emma Brown / Washington Post:

An elections supervisor embraced conspiracy theories. Officials say she has become an insider threat. — In April, employees in the office that runs elections in western Colorado's Mesa County received an unusual calendar invitation for an after-hours work event, a gathering at a hotel in Grand Junction.

Wall Street Journal:

Cargo Piles Up as California Ports Jostle Over How to Resolve Delays — U.S. shipping operations remain clogged as ports, truckers and warehouses can't find enough workers or agree on 24/7 operations — Nike Inc. doesn't have enough sneakers to sell for the holidays.

David Meyer / New York Post:

Group opposing indoor vaccine mandate storms food court on Staten Island … MORE ON: — A group opposed to New York City's vaccine requirement for restaurants and other indoor activities stormed a Staten Island food court over the weekend — refusing to show proof-of-inoculation before sitting down to eat.

Discussion: RedState, Joe.My.God. and TMZ.com

Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

The survival of U.S. democracy may hinge on this decision by Pa.'s next governor — To millions of Americans, what just happened in Arizona's largest county was a laughingstock, a bad joke that blew up in the face of Donald Trump and his cultists like some exploding cigar from a 1940s cartoon.

Discussion: Forbes, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, The Stream and The Gateway Pundit

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Loses Arizona—Again

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Crooks and Liars, Raw Story, HuffPost and Washington Post

Washington Post:

Supreme Court observers see trouble ahead as public approval of justices erodes — The Supreme Court's approval rating is plummeting, its critics are more caustic and justices are feeling compelled to plead the case to the public that they are judicial philosophers, not politicians in robes.

Discussion: NBC News

Douglas E. Schoen / The Hill:

Budget impasses mark a critical turning point in Biden's presidency — As Democratic infighting continues over their $3.5 trillion social spending legislation, the fate of Joe Biden's presidency and the Democrats' majority in Congress hang in the balance. — While moderate Democrats …

Discussion: CNN, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Trump intensifies war with Georgia GOP leaders at Perry rally — PERRY - Former President Donald Trump returned to Georgia on Saturday to showcase a trio of loyalists he's endorsed in 2022 elections, deepening an internal rift among state Republicans that helped fuel upset Democratic victories …

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Times and Raw Story

Celine Castronuovo / The Hill:
Trump says Stacey Abrams ‘might be better than existing governor’ Kemp

Discussion: TheGrio, Crooks and Liars, The Root, Fox News and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Democrats outside Washington worry party will blow its chance of enacting historic agenda — a failure with grave political consequences — Gilda Cobb-Hunter is furious with fellow Democrats. A veteran social worker, civil rights activist and the longest-serving member of the South Carolina State House …

Discussion: CNN, Alpha News and The Daily Caller

Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Biden's $4 trillion agenda in peril with Democrats still at odds ahead of key House votes

Discussion: Reuters, Forbes, HotAir, Insider, Politico, Bloomberg and The Hill

Sasha Pezenik / ABC News:

Pfizer CEO says it's possible to distribute both boosters and primary doses — Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla appeared on ABC's “This Week.” — Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on ABC's “This Week” Sunday it's possible to provide both COVID-19 booster shots as well as doses for people who have not yet been vaccinated.

Discussion: Forbes and The Hill

Maya Parthasarathy / Politico: Pfizer CEO: We can do both booster shots and primary vaccines

Yacob Reyes / Axios:

Abbott says he'll hire Border Patrol agents who whipped at migrants — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Sunday defended the actions of U.S. Border Patrol agents who charged at Haitian migrants on horseback, blaming the Biden administration for not preventing them from crossing the border.

Discussion: TheBlaze and The Hill

Ronn Blitzer / Fox News:

Mayorkas says as many as 12K out of 17K migrants have been released into U.S., and ‘it could be higher’ as DHS — The Mess at the Border Becomes Even Worse — Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted Sunday that the vast majority of Haitian migrants who crossed …

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Examiner, New York Post, UPI, RedState, Deadline, National Review and Breitbart

Tyler Olson / Fox News:
Abbott vows to hire horseback border agents if Biden fires them, says president ‘in dereliction of duty’

Discussion: Insider, New York Post and Breitbart

Financial Times:

Boris Johnson undertakes his first major overseas trip — Sebastian Payne takes you into the corridors of power to unwrap, analyse and debate British politics with a regular lineup of expert Financial Times correspondents and informed commentators. New episodes available every Saturday morning.