How the White House could be screwing up tax reform -- TRUMP’s tax plan: expect few details next week -- VANITY FAIR on Melania -- TIM ALBERTA on PAT BUCHANAN -- SPOTTED at JON ALLEN and AMIE PARNES’ book party Presented by





Driving the Day

Good Saturday morning.

WHY THE WHITE HOUSE PUSH FOR HEALTH CARE COULD RUIN CHANCES FOR TAX REFORM -- Republicans have been promising to repeal and replace Obamacare for almost a decade. But if they jam an Obamacare bill through the House, it could seriously complicate their chances for tax reform. Why? Because they are using reconciliation -- a budgetary tool -- to gut Obamacare. And if they are successful at passing the repeal with reconciliation, they’d need to pass another budget to allow them to begin tax reform. Do you think passing a 2018 budget will be easy? No. It will be very difficult. And that’s basically the only way for Congress to pass a tax-reform bill. White House insiders say this obvious -- and critical -- dynamic hasn’t been discussed much.

DESPITE ALL OF THAT, the White House seems hell bent on trying to push through a health care package when Congress returns. And in a city that rarely can walk and chew gum at the same time, Trump’s decision to announce that he would unveil of his tax plan next week in the middle a government shutdown fight is aggressive, to say the least. At worst, it could hurt his support among Republican lawmakers frustrated by the lack of direction from the White House.

FOR AN ADMINISTRATION that publicly and privately tries to downplay the 100-day marker, they sure seem focused on trying to notch a few wins so Trump has something to talk about, even if it is the broad-brush details of a tax plan and continued pressure on health care reform. They’re still very short on legislative wins.

**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/2lQswbh

TRUMP’S GOT BACKUP … “Conservative groups open to new Obamacare repeal push,” by Josh Dawsey and Rachael Bade: “Deep-pocketed conservative groups that helped fuel the downfall of the House GOP’s Obamacare alternative are now quietly signaling they won’t oppose the White House’s renewed push to pass the bill. Some of the most influential -- and usually loudest -- groups have privately told conservatives they want to see a deal go through, according to several people familiar with the conversations. Two large and influential groups backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have signaled to Freedom Caucus members that they hope to be able to support the bill and want to see the tide turned after an embarrassment for the Republican Party.

“While the Heritage Foundation hasn’t taken a position, its president Jim DeMint has told members he would be more open to compromise this time around — so long as the compromise looks like ideas floated to conservatives over the past few days. The Club for Growth has also stepped in, running ads attacking moderates who might oppose a new White House deal.” http://politi.co/2owBxDD

TRUMP SPEAKS -- "Trump tells young immigrants in U.S. illegally to ‘rest easy,’” by AP’s Julie Pace: “Trump, in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, said his administration is ‘not after the dreamers, we are after the criminals.’ The president ... vowed anew to fulfill his promise to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But he stopped short of demanding that funding for the project be included in a spending bill Congress must pass by the end of next week in order to keep the government running. ... Asked whether he would sign legislation that does not include money for the project, he said, ‘I just don’t know yet.’ Throughout the campaign, he had firmly and repeatedly guaranteed that Mexico, not U.S. taxpayers, would pay for the wall.” http://apne.ws/2oTXNdd

TRUMP’S TAX SURPRISE -- “Trump Vows to Unveil Tax-Cut Plan Next Week, Surprising Staff,” by NYT’s Alan Rappeport and Mike Shear: “President Trump promised on Friday that he would unveil a ‘massive’ tax cut for Americans next week, vowing a ‘big announcement on Wednesday,’ but he revealed no details about what is certain to be an enormously complicated effort to overhaul the nation’s tax code. … His announcement surprised Capitol Hill and left Mr. Trump’s own Treasury officials speechless as he arrived at the Treasury offices to sign directives to roll back Obama-era tax rules and financial regulations.” http://nyti.ms/2pnFGhg

-- BUT DON’T EXPECT DETAILS -- WAPO’S DAMIAN PALETTA: “A White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post on Friday night that while the president did plan to make an announcement on tax reform next week, it will be broad in nature. … But if he only issues the broad outline of a plan, he could further complicate lawmakers and many in the business community, who have been hoping the White House would weigh in on key questions, such as how it plans to tax imports or whether it will pursue the elimination of any tax deductions.” http://wapo.st/2pQ7St3

-- “Trump Plan Said Unlikely to Back Ryan’s Border-Adjusted Tax,” by Bloomberg’s Shannon Pettypiece and Jen Jacobs: “President Donald Trump’s tax plan next week likely won’t include a border-adjusted tax that House Speaker Paul Ryan has proposed, a senior administration official said. The White House is still debating the idea ... Trump will release a tax plan for individuals and businesses next week that may not include every component that will go into final legislation, according to a different senior White House official.” https://bloom.bg/2pONyFA

UPDATE: “Trump Administration Won’t Waive Sanctions for Oil Project Exxon Planned in Russia,” by WSJ’s Jay Solomon and Bradley Olson: http://on.wsj.com/2p2MVrN



A message from Google: 50+ new features to help educators. As educators worldwide have reinvented their practices, Google products are also adapting to help them meet their evolving needs and challenges. At “The Anywhere School,” a virtual back-to-school event, Google introduced over 50 new features across Meet, Classroom, G Suite and more. Watch on demand.

TRUMP’S WORLD -- “Why Trump likes his freewheeling Oval Office schedule,” by Tara Palmeri: “President Donald Trump leaves large blocks of ‘private time’ on his Oval Office schedule for spontaneous meetings and phone chats with ex-aides, friends, media figures, lawmakers and members of his Cabinet -- an old habit he’s carried over from his business days that has frustrated some West Wing aides. Trump wrote in his 1987 book ‘The Art of the Deal’ that his loose scheduling practices as a real estate magnate at the Trump Organization helped him be ‘imaginative.’ Still, nine White House officials, former aides and personal confidantes interviewed by POLITICO were split on whether the freewheeling set-up, which can allow friends and unofficial advisers to whisper in the president’s ear on policy issues, is productive.” http://politi.co/2owEsfF

-- Former President Bill Clinton was also known for making a habit of taking last-minute meetings with aides and making impromptu late night calls to confidantes and other aides at the start of his presidency. One former aide told us that senior staff had to lock down his schedule in order to keep the distractions and outsized influence of late-night conversations to a minimum.

HMM -- “State Dept. official reassigned amid conservative media attacks,” by Nahal Toosi: “The Trump administration has moved a second career government employee out of a top advisory role amid pressure from conservative media outlets that have publicly targeted individual staffers, questioning their loyalty to the new administration. Some State Department officials believe the individual, Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, was shifted because of the media attacks and are alarmed at the message such a move sends to civil service and foreign service employees, who are supposed to be protected by law from political retaliation. ...

“Nowrouzzadeh, a civil service employee who helped shape the controversial Iran nuclear deal, had been detailed since last July to the secretary of state’s policy planning team, where she handled ongoing issues related to Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Her yearlong assignment was cut short earlier this month, after critical stories about her and others appeared in the Conservative Review and on Breitbart News, according to [a] State Department official.” http://politi.co/2p2kSc4

JOHN KERRY SPEAKS -- “Why I’m an optimist this Earth Day,” in WaPo: “Despite all the reasons for concern and condemnation that I could dwell on, I’m an optimist this Earth Day. I’m an optimist because of the lesson I learned on the first Earth Day 47 years ago when I was one of 20 million Americans who took to the streets to demand that leaders protect our environment. Before that first Earth Day, there was no Environmental Protection Agency, no Clean Water Act, no Clean Air Act as we know it. Citizens created the demand signal — and politicians followed because they had no choice. … I know that on Earth Day 2017, that future feels a little less certain, and understandably so. But — for the same reason 1970’s people-powered activism turned power structures upside down — something big has already begun around the world that can be slowed but not stopped.” http://wapo.st/2p2r5Vt

Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: A bullet hole appears in a shop window on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on April 21, a day after a deadly shooting in the city. | Christophe Ena/AP Photo

DATA DU JOUR -- “Democrats partner with political newcomers aiming to create anti-Trump wave in 2018 midterms,” by WaPo’s Ed O’Keefe and Mike DeBonis: “During the 2016 cycle [progressive group Emily’s List] spoke with about 900 women interested in running for school board, state legislature or Congress. This year, they’ve heard from more than 11,000 women in all 50 states — with a few dozen seriously considering House races.” http://wapo.st/2p6AZr7

IF YOU READ ONE THING – “Inside the Trump Marriage: Melania’s Burden,” by Evgenia Peretz in May’s Vanity Fair: “[W]oefully pliant as Melania may be, even she may have a breaking point. Over the course of reporting this story, for which her close friends declined to talk, an uneasy picture has emerged of their marital union. Melania’s unhappiness and the couple’s apparent lack of closeness are becoming more noticeable. Despite assurances from her spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham, that Melania is embracing the role of First Lady, most signs point to a distinct lack of interest. And while Grisham says Mrs. Trump plans to move to the White House once their son, Barron, ‘finishes out the school year,’ there have been indications that she is in no particular rush. ... Barron, 11, who is by most accounts sweet and well behaved, a testament to Melania’s devotion as a mother. The two sometimes speak to each other in Slovenian, and until recently she consistently did drop-off and pick-up from Columbia Grammar and Preparatory. ...

“Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, joined the school’s board around eight years ago, and Trump has donated at least $150,000 to the school. ... Cohen’s term on the board overlapped that of Caryn Zucker, the wife of Jeff Zucker ... The Zuckers have three kids at the school, and Caryn is said to be one of Melania’s friends. ... Despite official statements that Melania will move to Washington at the end of the school year, at press time the Trumps had still not announced a D.C.-area school for Barron. According to a well-placed member of the Washington education community, they had not yet applied to some of the schools one might have imagined. A St. Albans parent notes, ‘There’s been no “Barron will be going to my school”’ sort of dish one might expect. (Grisham says, ‘They are still looking at a few schools.’)” http://bit.ly/2q1IVal

HOT ONLINE -- “American Airlines’ employee suspended after row with passengers,” by Reuters’ Timothy McLaughlin: “American Airlines has suspended an employee after a video showed an altercation on one of its planes involving crew, several passengers and a crying woman carrying a young child. An American Airlines employee violently took a stroller from the woman, hitting her with it and just missing her child, Facebook user Surain Adyanthaya said in a post accompanying the video he put on the site on Friday. … ‘We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident,’ the airline said in a statement late on Friday. The woman and her family were being upgraded to first class for the remainder of their international trip, it said.” http://reut.rs/2oTLk9r … The Facebook post with video http://bit.ly/2p2FnVY

GARY COHN PROFILE – WILLIAM D. COHAN in Politico Magazine: Early on in Cohn’s career, “when he overheard a real trader [at the Commodities Exchange, Inc.] say he ... had to get a cab to the airport ... Cohn decided this was his chance. He asked the guy, who he did not know, if they could share a cab together to LaGuardia. The guy said yes. ‘Here’s my shot,’ he said to himself. ‘I’ve got 45 minutes, in traffic on a Friday afternoon to convince this guy that I’m hirable and need a job.’ ... As they were getting close to LaGuardia, the trader asked him what he knew about options. He knew nothing about options.

“‘Everything,’ Cohn said. ‘Great,’ the guy replied, ‘I want you to come back Monday, I want you to interview. I’m trading options, it’s a brand new market that’s opening and I don’t know how to trade it and I need someone to stand behind me and tell me exactly what to do.’ ‘No problem, I’m your guy,’ Cohn told him. When he got back to Cleveland that night, he went straight to a bookstore and bought a book on options. He read it four times over the weekend—‘dyslexic guy,’ he reminded the American University audience—then went back to New York, interviewed with the traders for the job at the Comex, and got it.” http://politi.co/2ozqGYE

VALLEY TALK – “Video Shows Palantir CEO Ridiculing Trump And Slamming His Immigration Rhetoric,” by BuzzFeed’s William Alden: “More so than perhaps any other Silicon Valley startup, Palantir Technologies is poised to play a central role in the Trump era. Its data-mining technology has long been used by federal agencies, and its chairman, the billionaire Peter Thiel, emerged last year as Donald Trump’s most prominent supporter from the tech world. ... But an internal Palantir video exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News shows that [Alex] Karp, the CEO, was full of withering criticism for Trump more than a year before the election.

“In a Palantir staff meeting in August 2015, the video shows, Karp derided Trump’s ‘fictitious wealth,’ called him a bully, and condemned his campaign rhetoric on deporting immigrants. He also said he had given Trump a brush-off. ‘I’ve had the rare opportunity to meet Trump, which I turned down — I mean, this is off the record — but like, I don’t respect — like, I respect nothing about the dude,’ Karp said in a roughly 45-minute-long ‘beer sync’ talk that ranged widely, from company news to his own life philosophy.” With a 9-min. video http://bzfd.it/2p6eMt4



TIM ALBERTA on PAT BUCHANAN -- “‘The Ideas Made It, But I Didn’t’”: “If not for his outsize ambition, Pat Buchanan might be the closest thing the American right has to a real-life Forrest Gump, that patriot from ordinary stock whose life journey positioned him to witness, influence and narrate the pivotal moments that shaped our modern world and changed the course of this country’s history. He has known myriad roles—neighborhood brawler, college expellee, journalist, White House adviser, political commentator, presidential candidate three times over, author, provocateur—and his existence traces the arc of what feels to some Americans like a nation’s ascent and decline.

“He was 3 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harborand 6 when Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now 78, with thick, black glasses and a thinning face, Buchanan looks back with nostalgia at a life and career that, for all its significance, was at risk of being forgotten—until Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States.” http://politi.co/2pOKoBs

MEDIAWATCH -- “‘The mission was to bring down Bill O’Reilly’: The final days of a Fox News superstar,” by WaPo’s Manuel Roig-Franzia and Ben Terris: “The accuser was wavering. She wanted to go public, to tell the world about her claims that the Fox News megastar Bill O’Reilly ogled her at their workplace and suggestively called her ‘hot chocolate.’ But Perquita Burgess was afraid, her attorney Lisa Bloom said. Afraid of Twitter trolls and other haters. Afraid that a powerful man would ruin her life for daring to cross him. So, Bloom invoked civil rights history to say the words that finally persuaded Burgess, a former Fox temp worker who is African American.

“‘Do you think Rosa Parks decided she was not going to do what she needed to do because people were going to say nasty things to her?’ Bloom said, citing the heroine of the Montgomery bus boycott. ‘This is your time.’ She also explained to her client in stark terms what she hoped to accomplish: ‘The mission was to bring down Bill O’Reilly.’” http://wapo.st/2ozoel5

CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,”edited by Matt Wuerker – 15 keepers http://politi.co/2oyilnY

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

--“Eyewitness to a Title IX Witch Trial,” by Laura Kipnis in the Chronicle of Higher Ed: “Attending the disgraced philosophy professor Peter Ludlow’s dismissal hearing was like watching someone being burned at the stake in slow motion … Yes, Ludlow was guilty, but not as charged. His crime was thinking that women over the age of consent have sexual agency, which has lately become a heretical view on campus, despite once being a crucial feminist position. Of course the community had to expel him. That’s what you do with heretics.” http://bit.ly/2ocXrPZ

--“The Benefits of Solitude,” by Michael Harris in The Walrus: “Our society rewards social behaviour while ignoring the positive effects of time spent alone.” http://bit.ly/2p4lDnc (h/t ALDaily.com)

--“How Young Muslims Define ‘Halal Dating’ For Themselves,” by NPR’s Neha Rashid: “They have religious restrictions that limit physical contact in premarital relationships. They chose to focus more on developing their emotional intimacy, with the occasional hug or kiss.” http://n.pr/2pNu1rW (h/t Longreads.com)

--“House of Cads: The psycho-sexual ordeal of reporting in Washington,” by Marin Cogan in a February 2013 TNR: “Over a round of overpriced margaritas at Washington’s Lauriol Plaza, the fund-raiser turned to [a] reporter and asked suggestively, ‘Would you ever sleep with a source for a story?’ She replied: ‘If I did, it would be with someone much higher up the command chain than you.’” http://bit.ly/2pNJ3xG

--“America’s Most Political Food,” by The New Yorker’s Lauren Collins: “The founder of a popular South Carolina barbecue restaurant was a white supremacist. Now that his children have taken over, is it O.K. to eat there?” http://bit.ly/2pMA0u7

--“Our Climate Future Is Actually Our Climate Present,” by Jon Mooallem in the NYT Magazine: “How do we live with the fact that the world we knew is going and, in some cases, already gone?” http://nyti.ms/2p4ycPp

--“Jonathan and Aaron,” by Michael Rosenberg in Sports Illustrated: “No one but Aaron Hernandez will ever fully grasp how a millionaire tight end came to gun down a friend three summers ago. But Aaron’s older brother, Jonathan, was there from day one, and he witnessed all the little moments, all the poor choices, all the unwise associations that led to murder. That perspective cost Jonathan his way of living—but that’s O.K. He understands.” http://on.si.com/2oShZvW

--“‘This is a War and We Intend to Win,’” by Wes Enzinna in Mother Jones: “The rise and fall of a violent anti-racist group provides a glimpse into an underground movement that's poised to explode in the Trump era.” http://bit.ly/2p4lgZO

--“Snowden’s Box,” by Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge in Harper’s Magazine: “The human network behind the biggest leak of all.” http://bit.ly/2oyj3BJ

--“Tuesdays with Saddam,” by Lisa DePaulo in the June 2005 GQ -- per Longform’s description: “The diary of a Scranton, PA National Guardsmen tasked with guarding the highest profile prisoner in U.S history: a surprisingly amiable Saddam Hussein.”http://bit.ly/2oyfLhQ

--“Becoming a ‘Proper Jew’ in the Kitchen,” by Annette Gendler in Tablet Magazine: “After I converted to Judaism, I learned how to make gefilte fish—two different ways, from two different women.” http://bit.ly/2p0bBBg

--“Buying a $500 House in Detroit: bidding on the soul of my city” – The Guardian: “At 23, Drew Philp bought a crumbling Detroit house at an auction and spent years making it livable again. In the process, he also learned to look out for his neighbors.” http://bit.ly/2oSfpWR

--“Free the Roses,” by Sarah Nicole Prickett in Hazlitt: “A frost in mid-April can blight a rose before it fully lives. By summer the bloom cycles are easier to control, and begin when the gardener deadheads the roses, inducing new life. This delicate internal clock is one thing that makes the rose a dread metaphor for romantic love.” http://bit.ly/2pZXhrF (h/t TheBrowser.com)

--“The History of Maldon Salt, the Stuff You Already Put on Everything,” by Nick Paumgarten in Bon Appetit: http://bit.ly/2pNJXuc

--“The Afterlife of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” by Joe Gioia in The Millions: “Benzedrine got him up in the morning; Nembutal tucked him in. A steady intake of cork-filtered cigarettes, coffee, Coca-Cola and pans of chocolate fudge rounded out the medications. Two mild heart attacks anticipated a massive third, which quickly ended things.” http://bit.ly/2oy1WjG

Playbookers

SPOTTED: Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch last night at Tunnicliff’s in Eastern Market with three staffers sitting at a table near the back … Bush 43 alum Nat Wienecke, former assistant Commerce secretary and now SVP for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, and David Bowsher, partner in charge of Adams and Reese and former deputy Commerce general counsel, last night at BLT Prime.

OUT AND ABOUT -- JONATHAN ALLEN and AMIE PARNES held a party last night to celebrate “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign” at “Room,” a new art exhibition and event space in Shaw operated by Swatchroom’s Maggie O’Neill and Warren Weixler. Several of O’Neill’s paintings hung on one wall, and framed photos of “Shattered” passages decorated the opposite wall. $16.80 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2pBxaY2

SPOTTED: Kevin Doughten, Bridget Wagner Matzie, Kris Viesselman, Steve Komarow, Stephanie Allen, Kate Andersen Brower, Neil Irwin, Nick Schmidle, Rick Klein, Craig Gordon, Greg Giroux, Margaret Carlson, Betsy Fischer Martin, Bob Hillman, Nick Johnston, Brooke Brower, Chris Frates, Ethan Cohen, Coral Davenport, Sarada Peri, Abby Phillip, Lois Romano, Ian Swanson, Ben Kamisar, Sarah Courtney, Jamal Simmons, Pam Stevens, former Rep. Jason Altmire (R-Pa.), Rachael Heisler, Thad Inge, Michael LaRosa, Neil Grace, Rick Klein, Sabrina Siddiqui, Francesca Chambers and Michael Moroney, Nikki Schwab, Anita Kumar, Lesley Clark, Noelle Straub, Erika Bolstad.

--Folks gathered last night in the back patio at The Gibson to drink pre-prohibition cocktails and toast springtime, Ben Chang’s birthday and Ashley Chang’s return to D.C. Guests left with custom t-shirts, matchboxes, and music compilations. SPOTTED: Anna and Brad Klapper, Nick Johnston, Neil Irwin, Bill McQuillen, Corey Dade, Cameron French, Susan Lagana, Jess Smith, Michael Crowley, Nahal Toosi, Eric Pelofsky, Evan Medeiros and Bernadette Meehan, Andrew Weiss, Anastasia Dellaccio (a birthday girl today), Lauren Culbertson, Tara Maller, Mark Stroh, Suzanne Kianpour, Mikey Hoare, James Barbour, Irene Castagnoli, Mieke Eoyang, Graham Brookie, Brad Bosserman, Kristin Lee and Kevin Griffis, Ben Shannon, Neil Grace, Shin Inouye, Andrew Bates, Tom Hardy, Clark Jennings, John Dickas.

--SPOTTED at the book party for John Aloysius Farrell and his NYT bestselling “Richard Nixon: A Life,” hosted at the Boston Globe’s Washington bureau ($23.73 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2p0zlVS): Susan Swain, Jules Witcover, Adam Clymer, Al Hunt, Norm Ornstein, Mark Shields, Tom Oliphant, John Harwood, Carl Cannon, Susan Page and Carl Leubsdorf, Charlie Pierce, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Dave Weigel, Bill Hamilton, Richard Ben Veniste, Adam Kushner, Coral Davenport, Margot Sanger-Katz, Jim Oliphant, Peter Gosselin, Gordon Witkin, Michael Kranish, Kathy Tolbert, Glenn Kessler, Aaron Zitner, Chris Rowland, Vicki McGrane, Matt Viser.

TRANSITIONS -- Jessica Brady, press secretary for Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), is leaving Capitol Hill after five years to be the director of strategic communications and external affairs at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. … Margaret Mannix starts on Monday as VP of news and content at AARP; she was previously executive editor of U.S. News and World Report. ... Sarah Gadsden has joined management consulting firm Eagle Hill Consulting as an Associate. She most recently served as a political digital media specialist at NBC News. …

… Rochelle Ritchie has joined the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee as a press advisor, after spending two years as the director of comms at the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, where she served as the spokesperson during the Freddie Gray riots and trials. Previously, she was a TV reporter for 12 years. ... Laura Lucas Magnuson has started as director of PR and comms at Morgan Lewis. She previously served as the director of media relations for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a foreign service officer at State.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Will Boyington, comms director for Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) (hat tip: Caitlin Carroll)

BIRTHDAYS: Julie Whiston, outgoing WHCA executive director ... Joe Pounder, president of Definers Public Affairs, president of America Rising, and the pride of Gettysburg, is 34 ... Don Graham is 72 ... Matt Moore, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party … Politico’s Elana Schor ... WJLA’s Jummy Olabanji ... ABC News’ Arlette Saenz (h/t Jonathan Karl) ... James Kvaal … McKinsey’s Elizabeth Ledet ... Marisa Medrano Perez ... Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) is 57 ... Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) is 53 ... Shayndi Raice, WSJ Federal Reserve and economics reporter in Chicago ... Brian Forde, an Obama WH OSTP alum now senior lecturer at MIT Sloan ... Politico alum Matt Korade, now CQ’s deputy national security editor ... Helene Cooper, NYT Pentagon reporter ... Bob Reid, senior managing editor at Stars and Stripes and an AP alum ... Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick, the pride of Ottawa, Canada ... New Yorker’s Erica Hinsley ... Ed Walsh … WashPost’s Sari Horwitz ... Larry Brady ... DCCC events director Krista Jenusaitis … Kombiz Lavasany, new dad, former DNC digital flack and current AFT super-strategist, is 4-0 (h/ts Elliot, Beatrice and the rest of the LaVera Strategies crew) … Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights – he’s stepping down at the end of May after over 20 years with the organization ... Patrick Rucker of Reuters … University of Richmond junior Isabella Gomez Torres, a Partners of the Americas alum (h/t Colby Bermel) ... Rick Dykema, COS for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, is 64 ...

... Anastasia Dellaccio, WeWork’s director of public affairs for the Eastern U.S. and Canada (h/ts Ben Chang and Fran Holuba) ... Zygmunt “Zygi” Wilf, real estate developer and principal owner of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, is 67 (h/t Jewish Insider) ... Nicole Bamber, senior press manager for E! Entertainment / Esquire Network at NBCUniversal ... Ed Walsh, former speechwriter for Pres. Bush, Mrs. Bush, Sec. Paulson and BC 04, is 4-0 (h/t Charlie Watkins) ... Daniel Malloy, reporter and editor at OZY … Allie Medack, COS for global public policy at GM ... New Hampshire’s Maureen Mooney … USAID’s Anthony Timpanaro ... incoming DOT attorney Christopher Jennison ... Evan Quinnell ... McCain veteran Mark Braden, now of counsel at BakerHostetler … Doug Lowenstein of DSL Strategies and former president of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council … Elisabeth Goodridge, N.Y. Times newsletter editor ... Adele M. Stan, columnist for the American Prospect ... Walter Fields ... Evan Dobelle ... Lisa Davis Allison ... Kyle Osborne ... Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association ... Andrea Clarke ... Britt Cocanour ... David Barrett ... Andrea LaRue ... Logan Peyton-Massara ... Chung Seto (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... actor Jack Nicholson is 8-0 ... movie director John Waters is 71 ... actress Amber Heard is 31 (h/ts AP)

THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:

-- CNN’s “State of the Union” with guest host Dana Bash: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly … Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) … Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.). Panel: Bakari Sellers, Amanda Carpenter, Neera Tanden and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)

-- “Fox News Sunday”: OMB Director Mick Mulvaney … Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). Panel: Karl Rove, Peter Baker, Charles Lane and Kimberley Strassel … “Power Player of the Week” with activist and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall

-- NBC’s “Meet the Press”: New NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll … Reince Priebus … Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) … House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Panel: Cornell Belcher, Bob Costa, Savannah Guthrie and Peggy Noonan

-- ABC’s “This Week”: Attorney General Jeff Sessions … California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D-Cali.). Panel: Cincinnati-based radio talk show host Bill Cunningham, Stephanie Cutter, Matthew Dowd and Newt Gingrich

-- CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) … Ohio Gov. John Kasich ... Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Panel: Carol Lee, Jeffrey Goldberg, Reihan Salam and Mark Leibovich

-- Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) … Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) … The Heritage Foundation’s Nile Gardiner … former U.S. Amb. to South Korea Christopher Hill. Panel: Ed Rollins, Mary Kissel and Byron York

-- Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: Gillian Turner … Katie Pavlich … Mo Elleithee … Joe Concha … Tucker Carlson … tech expert Shana Glenzer

-- CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King: Panel: Jonathan Martin, Jackie Kucinich, Jeff Zeleny and Nia-Malika Henderson

-- CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Panel: The New York Times’ Emily Steel, Vanity Fair’s Sarah Ellison and Women, Action & the Media executive director Jamia Wilson … Alisyn Camerota … CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Laura Coates and The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik. Panel: April Ryan, The Daily Caller’s Kaitlan Collins and Glenn Thrush

-- Univision’s “Al Punto”: Catholic Priest and human rights activist Rev. Alejandro Solalinde … Veracruz, Mexico Governor Miguel Ángel Yunes … Bill de Blasio … former NSC senior director for the Western Hemisphere Lt. Col. Craig Deare … Scalabrini Centre of Montréal for Refugees and Immigrants director Miguel Arévalo … actor and producer Eugenio Derbez

-- C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: ICANN board member George Sadowsky and Georgia Tech’s Milton Mueller … “Newsmakers”: Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), questioned by WSJ’s Kristina Peterson and Bloomberg News’ Erik Wasson … “Q&A”: Author and historian David McCullough

-- Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes or listen at http://bit.ly/2mGabdq: Roger Stone (live in Austin)

SUBSCRIBE to the Playbook family: POLITICO Playbook http://politi.co/1M75UbX ... New York Playbook http://politi.co/1ON8bqW … Florida Playbook http://politi.co/1OypFe9 ... New Jersey Playbook http://politi.co/1HLKltF ... Massachusetts Playbook http://politi.co/1Nhtq5v … Illinois Playbook http://politi.co/1N7u5sb ... California Playbook http://politi.co/2bLvcPl ... Brussels Playbook http://politi.co/1FZeLcw ... All our political and policy tipsheets http://politi.co/1M75UbX

Follow us on Twitter Anna Palmer @apalmerdc



Jake Sherman @JakeSherman