memeorandum: “God's will is being thwarted.” Even in solid Republican counties, hard-liners seek more partisan control of elections. (Jeremy Schwartz/The Texas Tribune)

1:10 PM ET, October 1, 2021

Top Items:

The Progressive Caucus Wields Power — In a rare moment in Congress, progressive Democrats held the line, for now. — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) speaks to reporters at the Capitol, September 30, 2021, in Washington. — This is the 30th year of the Congressional Progressive Caucus …

Discussion: Insider, NBC News, VICE, Politico and Digby's Hullabaloo

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:

From Jayapal to Manchin: The key players in Democrats' congressional battles — And what they want on the infrastructure bill and the social spending bill — In the Senate, just one Democrat — and in the House of Representatives, just a couple of Democrats — can sink important pieces of legislation for President Biden's agenda.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Bloomberg, American Enterprise Institute, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, New York Sun, The Atlantic, POLITICUSUSA, Newsy and Roll Call

Emily Cochrane / New York Times:

Live Updates: ‘There Will Be a Vote Today’ on Infrastructure, Pelosi Says — Here's what you need to know: — The House is set to try again to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill after Pelosi delayed the vote. — The House of Representatives aims on Friday to try …

Discussion: The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Politico, BBC, New York Post, AFP, Breitbart, The Federalist, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, 77 WABC, Mediaite, CNBC and The 74

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

The Democratic Civil War Has a Winner: Donald Trump — Biden's agenda is up against more than just the moderates-versus-progressives split. — First, the good news. The government did not shut down at midnight. New covid infections in the United States have fallen twenty-five per cent over the past couple weeks.

Discussion: The Atlantic

Emily Cochrane / New York Times: In the parallel universe that is the House of Representatives, September never ended.

New York Post:
Pelosi pulls $1.2T infrastructure bill from promised House vote

Discussion: ABC News, HotAir, Breitbart, Denver Post, Beacon, Ace of Spades HQ, RedState, Axios, Bangor Daily News and Power Line

New York Times:
House Delays Vote on Infrastructure Bill as Democrats Feud

Discussion: The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Politico, Vox, CNN, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, ABC7, CBS News, Common Dreams, Insider, Forbes, NPR, CNN, CBS News, One America News Network and The Daily Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Pill Intended to Be Covid-19's Tamiflu Succeeds in Key Study — Drug from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics cut risk of hospitalization or death by 50% in early look at progress — Merck & Co. and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP said their experimental Covid-19 pill helped …

Discussion: HotAir, STAT, Washington Post, Merck.com, Associated Press, CNBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, Gizmodo, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, Human Events, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, UPI, The Guardian, KTLA, Forbes and Joe.My.God.

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

Oh Look, COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates in the Northern States Are Increasing — October is here, the weather is getting a little cooler, schools are reopened, and people will start spending more time indoors. And this morning, updated figures from the U.S. Department of Health …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and HotAir

Rachel Hartigan / National Geographic:

The epic COVID-19 memorial on the National Mall, in one stunning photo — 4,882 photos taken over 30 hours. More than 670,000 flags representing American lives lost. An incalculable measure of grief. — BYRACHEL HARTIGAN — For more than 30 hours, photographer and National Geographic …

Discussion: Washington Post

Washington Post:

Portugal has nearly run out of people to vaccinate. What comes next? — LISBON — Portugal's vaccination campaign is almost over now, and it has exceeded even the wildest goals. Nearly an entire nation trusted in the science, officials say. At mass immunization centers, just the last trickle of teenagers is passing through.

Discussion: HotAir

Leslie Josephs / CNBC:
Number of unvaccinated United staff drops from 593 to 320 after airline said it would fire them

Discussion: HotAir, The Daily Wire and Breitbart

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Cracking the Sinema code — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's political allies have some free advice for anyone trying to bully the wine-drinking triathlete into supporting President Biden's $3.5 trillion budget bill: She doesn't play by Washington's rules — and she's prepared to walk away.

Discussion: New York Post, Slow Boring, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Townhall, Breitbart, Mother Jones and The Daily Wire

CNN:
‘She is just absolutely standing in the way’: Sinema's critics in Arizona speak out

Discussion: Slate, Chicago Sun-Times and Breitbart

Stephanie Grisham / Politico:

How Jared and Ivanka Hijacked the White House's Covid Response — The year 2020 started on a promising enough note for the president, at least considering all we'd endured the previous three years. The economy was good, the impeachment effort on Ukraine looked like a dud and the polls were decent.

Discussion: Insider, Rolling Stone, Raw Story and Mediaite

Caroline Vakil / The Hill:
Grisham calls Kushner ‘Rasputin in a slim-fitting suit’

Discussion: Insider, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

CNN:

Dissension at the Supreme Court as justices take their anger public — (CNN)Supreme Court justices have revealed a new level of defensiveness and anger in recent weeks, showing irritation with public expectations, the news media and one another. — The extraordinary public display extends beyond …

Discussion: Insider, CNBC, TheGrio, National Review, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon and New York Times

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Alito's political broadside against Supreme Court critics — and how it misfires

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and HuffPost

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
DOJ and Texas face off in court over restrictive abortion law

Discussion: NBC News, Townhall and HotAir

Paul J. Weber / Associated Press:
Nation's most restrictive abortion law back in Texas court

Discussion: USA Today, The 19th, Washington Post, LifeNews.com, The Guardian, KXAN-TV, WGN-TV and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Are We Too Burned Out to Defend Roe v. Wade?

Discussion: CNN and The Atlantic

Jason Wilson / The Guardian:

Far-right militia group membership surged after Capitol attack, hack shows — Hundreds of people joined Oath Keepers or renewed membership after many of group's members participated in riot — Hacked materials from the website of the rightwing militia group the Oath Keepers show that hundreds …

Discussion: Raw Story

Mark Follman / Mother Jones:
Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows

Discussion: YouTube

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
Oath Keepers Panicked That the Left Would ‘Decapitate’ Them After Failed Capitol Putsch

Discussion: Raw Story

Chad Garland / Stars & Stripes:

Special ops troops ‘hunkered down’ in California airport hangar after nighttime ninja attack — A sword-wielding man dressed as a ninja attacked several special operations soldiers who were training at a California airport, reportedly forcing them to shelter in a hangar and inflicting wounds that required stitches.

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Biden's Slide With Key Voters: Momentary Blip or Danger Sign? — Polls show women and other reliably Democratic voters have soured on the president's performance, raising questions about the causes of dissatisfaction. — Read in app — President Biden's approval rating …

Discussion: Mediaite and FiveThirtyEight

CNN:

Fact check: Did the Marine who Trump brought on stage at rally actually hoist a baby over a wall at Kabul airport? — Washington (CNN)During a rally in Georgia over the weekend, former President Donald Trump invited Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark to the stage, implying he was the Marine in a viral video …

Discussion: Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, KASW-TV, IJR and HuffPost

Task & Purpose:
US Marine who says he rescued baby at Kabul airport investigated for appearing at Trump rally [Updated]

Discussion: Joe.My.God., BizPac Review, IJR, Insider, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, Raw Story, RedState and Townhall

Jeremy Schwartz / The Texas Tribune:

“God's will is being thwarted.” Even in solid Republican counties, hard-liners seek more partisan control of elections. — The political battle in one Texas county where Trump got 81% of the vote offers a rare view into the virulent distrust and unyielding pressure facing elections administrators.

Emma Green / The Atlantic:

The Conservatives Dreading—And Preparing for—Civil War — “Let me start big. The mission of the Claremont Institute is to save Western civilization,” says Ryan Williams, the organization's president, looking at the camera, in a crisp navy suit. “We've always aimed high.” A trumpet blares.

Washington Post:

Senior Biden aides privately explored whether payments could continue even if U.S. breached debt ceiling — Despite extensive review, White House says only option remains for Congress to pass legislation to avert calamity — Senior White House officials privately explored as recently …

Discussion: New York Times, CNN and WTOP

James Fallows / the:
The Debt Limit Chronicles, Sept. 30

Discussion: Slate, Washington Post, Galaxy Brain and Mother Jones

David Brooks / New York Times:

This Is Why We Need to Spend $4 Trillion — Read in app — I've spent the last few weeks in a controlled fury — and I'm not normally a fury kind of guy. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and others are trying to pass arguably the most consequential legislative package in a generation …

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, Outside the Beltway, Althouse and driftglass

Josiah Johnson / American Enterprise Institute: Why is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushing to add even more benefits to Democrats' shrinking $3.5 trillion spending plan? Part II

Washington Examiner:
Biden has zero credibility on his $3.5 trillion spending bill

Discussion: American Enterprise Institute

Jeff Goodell / Rolling Stone:

Joe Manchin Just Cooked the Planet — The senator won't quit fossil fuels and is going to neuter the reconciliation bill — and we're all going to pay the price — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin just cooked the planet. I don't mean that in a metaphorical sense. I mean that literally.

Discussion: National Review, Twitchy, New York Times, Common Dreams, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press

New York Times:

In Portugal, There Is Virtually No One Left to Vaccinate — Portugal is among the most highly vaccinated countries in the world. Vice Adm. Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who led the campaign, said there was a key to his success: Keep politics out of it. — Read in app