Principals

☞ White House: The Biden administration has brought on another mayor to fill a key role. Former Columbia, S.C. mayor Steve Benjamin will replace former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as head of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement.

☞ Chuck Schumer: Democrats have their first major candidate in the race to replace outgoing Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. announced plans to run for the seat, and is anticipated to be a frontrunner.

☞ Mitch McConnell: The Senate Republican leader is among the GOP stars who are expected to skip the annual CPAC gathering later this week. He’s avoided it in recent years.

☞ Kevin McCarthy: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told CNN she’s been talking with the speaker about how to release Jan 6 security footage more widely to the public, while taking into consideration safety concerns. McCarthy, whose office did not respond to a request for comment, previously released the footage to Tucker Carlson.

☞ Hakeem Jeffries: Democrats are temporarily down a vote after Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas announced he’ll be recovering at home for several weeks from surgery to remove “small, slow-growing and mostly asymptomatic” tumors.

The Biden administration today issued guidelines for manufacturers that want to apply for a slice of $39 billion in domestic semiconductor subsidies passed in last year’s bipartisan CHIPS act. The key rule: Applicants looking for major funding must agree not to expand chipmaking capacity in “foreign countries of concern” (i.e. China) for a decade after receiving the cash, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on a call previewing the announcement. Notably, some will also need to offer a plan for child care for employees and construction workers.“We are not writing blank checks to any company that asks,” Raimondo said.

Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that some Fox News hosts endorsed baseless claims about former President Trump’s 2020 election loss during newly public testimony in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the network. “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” the mogul said of Trump’s conspiracy theories. Their lawyers have argued that the network itself never endorsed its individual contributors’ claims. In a separate bombshell, Dominion’s new filing claims that Murdoch gave “confidential information about Biden’s ads, along with debate strategy” to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Fox News in a statement said that the Dominion lawsuit “has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny.”

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a high-stakes case taking aim at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The suit argues that the agency’s funding arrangement is unconstitutional. Many legal experts worry that, if successful, it could potentially undo all of the CFPB’s rules and set up challenges to other crucial parts of the government with similar budget mechanisms, including the Federal Reserve. “There will be financial chaos,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner predicted on Twitter. “Transactions governed by CFPB policies could grind to a halt and consumers would be left without the protections they expect and deserve.”

Remember that whole uproar when classified documents kept popping up everywhere? Well, the “Gang of Eight” is finally getting a briefing from the Biden administration on the classified material found at the president’s home and former office and in the homes of former President Trump and former Vice President Pence, according to a source familiar with the plans. Notably, the briefing will occur the day before Attorney General Merrick Garland is scheduled to face public questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

— Morgan Chalfant and Jordan Weissmann

Punchbowl News: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee won’t vote on advancing Eric Garcetti’s long-languishing nomination to be U.S. ambassador to India today. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. placed a hold on his and other nominations, telling Punchbowl there are still “open questions” about sexual assault allegations against one of Garcetti’s aides when he was mayor of Los Angeles.

Playbook: The White House is confident those challenging Biden’s student loan relief plan won’t have standing, but at least one outside legal expert informally consulting with the administration tempered expectations ahead of Supreme Court oral arguments today given the court’s past rulings on agency policies.

The Early 202: Two House hearings planned for today on oversight of Ukraine assistance will showcase the divide within the Republican Party over supporting Kyiv.

A bipartisan group of Senators is talking about raising the retirement age on Social Security

THE SCOOP

A bipartisan group led by Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Bill Cassidy, R-La. is considering gradually raising the retirement age to about 70 as part of their legislation to overhaul Social Security, Semafor has learned from two people briefed on their efforts.

Other options on the table include changing the existing formula that calculates monthly benefits from one based on a worker’s average earnings over 35 years to a different formula that’s based instead on the number of years spent working and paying into Social Security.

The plan also includes a proposed sovereign wealth fund (as previously reported by Semafor) that could be seeded with $1.5 trillion or more in borrowed money to jumpstart stock investments, the people said. If it fails to generate an 8% return, both the maximum taxable income and the payroll tax rate would be increased to ensure Social Security stays on track to be solvent another 75 years.

“This is an example of two leaders trying to find a solution to a clear and foreseeable danger,” Cassidy and King spokespeople told Semafor in a statement. “Although the final framework is still taking shape, there are no cuts for Americans currently receiving Social Security benefits in our plan. Indeed, many will receive additional benefits.”

In a brief interview Monday evening on Capitol Hill, Cassidy said he’d been meeting with stakeholders for the past two years on the proposal, but that its details were still in flux. “You could really take a fund and, with certain assumptions, take all your revenue from there,” he told Semafor.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the group, previously said that raising the payroll tax cap was under discussion. Only the first $160,000 of employees’ earnings are currently subject to payroll taxes, which help fund Social Security. If Congress fails to step in, retirement benefits will be cut roughly 20% for seniors starting in 2032, per the Congressional Budget Office.

JOSEPH’S VIEW

Raising the retirement age is probably a non-starter with Congressional Democrats. The White House has made defending Medicare and Social Security benefits a major theme ahead of the 2024 election and seem unlikely to go along with any proposal that complicates their message.

“The president has not endorsed a specific proposal but has made clear that he opposes Social Security benefit cuts,” a White House official told Semafor. “He does welcome proposals from members of Congress on how to extend Social Security’s solvency without cutting benefits or increasing taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.”

On the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently rolled out a bill that would apply the payroll tax to higher salaries, including wealthier Americans’ investment income, in order to fund a major expansion of benefits.

The concept of automatic tax hikes to cover losses or slower-than-expected growth in the sovereign wealth fund could run into issues with members of both parties as well.

“If you increase the rate, that is a regressive tax,” Laura Haltzel, a retirement security expert at the Century Foundation, told Semafor. “It’s going to hit your lowest earners for every dollar that they earn more than your billionaire.”

Raising the cap on payroll taxes to cover top earners also is likely to be a tough sell on the right, which has resisted tax hikes for decades.

There are other political landmines too: Switching the benefit formula to another system based on years worked could penalize people who are out of the workforce due to caregiving responsibilities or health problems, two of the biggest issues exacerbating the current labor shortage.

“It rewards people with more years of work and penalizes people with fewer years of work,” Kathleen Romig, a Social Security expert at the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, told Semafor. While some would benefit from the change, Romig said, “on net, it’s definitely a cut.”

ROOM FOR DISAGREEMENT

The Washington Post’s editorial board thinks the time is right for the bipartisan group’s work, and has commended them for being willing to “take political risks” that other leaders are avoiding. “The potential trade-offs aren’t painless, but some mix of benefit reductions and tax increases is necessary,” the board wrote earlier this month.

“The most just war of my lifetime”: Joe Manchin weighs in on Ukraine

How does Joe Manchin feel about Ukraine these days? I found myself wondering, since some lawmakers have begun to criticize U.S. spending on the conflict, and the senator from West Virginia is famously hawkish about debt and inflation. But Manchin told me he adamantly supports American involvement, no matter the cost. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Steve Clemons: What do you think about the Ukraine War at this point?

Sen. Joe Manchin:  The Ukraine conflict is the most just war of my lifetime. Basically starting with the Vietnam War, and also including the wars that we declared in Afghanistan and in Iraq, the Ukraine war is the most just war that I’ve ever seen or felt. Truly, this war is righteous. This is the one war that I think we cannot be hesitant about getting involved in and we cannot get wishy-washy about spending the resources needed to win.

Steve Clemons:  What does “just war” mean in this case?

Sen. Manchin: Just war means that you have a country that was attacked, unprovoked, by a communist country that’s on the fringe of being a fascist country. We’re supporting their fight because we have to be defenders of democracy and freedom.

Steve Clemons: Do you think Russia is still communist?

Sen. Manchin: I sure do. So they might be intertwined a little bit with capitalism, but very little. Maybe Putin is turning Russia into a fascist country. Their economy only benefits a few.

But listen, I’ve seen some people basically questioning whether we should be supporting Ukraine. But I have never seen in conflicts more than this one the definition of a just war — and this so far without really risking and shedding American blood. If we can all just gather a bit of fortitude to signal to everyone that we’re in this to win it — and the only way you’re going to have peace in Ukraine is through strength — peace will come through strength.

Steve Clemons: Do you think Biden is going too slow?

Sen. Manchin:  I really think there’s solid evaluation going on. It’s been quite accurate. Once I got briefed by those who have more knowledge than I do, with military background, what we are doing and the pace made sense as we are evaluating very carefully what’s needed and making sure the Ukrainians have the necessary equipment.

Steve Clemons: Do West Virginians who are scrambling to pay the bills and dealing with high inflation see Ukraine as a conflict that matters to them?

Sen. Manchin:  I’ve not had that conversation with folks where people are calling in saying, why are we spending money? Why are we supporting Ukraine? Why are we basically involved?

And I hope Americans don’t ever get to the point where they question and walk away and not give Ukrainians the support this moment calls for. I’m committed to the end.

It’s prime time for the China committee, and both parties are hyped

The House’s new select committee on China will hold its debut hearing during prime time tonight.

Fresh off a trip to Taiwan, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, the panel’s Republican chair, told Semafor that lawmakers planned to present the broad case about why Americans should view China’s ruling Communist Party as a threat and explore what the U.S. has misunderstood about Beijing’s goals throughout the years. The committee will touch on issues such as China’s alleged unfair economic practices, military activity, and human rights abuses.

Gallagher has said he’s determined to avoid boring audiences, and the committee hopes to score more eyeballs with a 7 p.m. airtime.

As of now, there’s unusual bipartisan optimism about the panel. Gallagher and the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., appeared together for a joint interview on CBS News over the weekend.

“If executed properly, the select committee has the potential to be one of the most consequential committees in the history of Congress, because it touches on the jurisdiction of every committee and it touches on the central challenge of our time,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., a member of the panel, told Semafor. He spent Saturday morning with Gallagher drawing attention to an alleged Chinese police outpost in New York City.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., another member, said he believed the committee’s work could stay bipartisan, but said he wants Republicans to recognize that “Xi Jinping’s best day in office in terms of his global stature was January 6, 2021.”

Tuesday’s hearing will feature H.R. McMaster and Matt Pottinger, the former Trump national security adviser and deputy national security adviser, respectively, as well as a witness invited by the Democrats: Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. A Chinese human rights advocate will also testify.

— Morgan Chalfant and Kadia Goba

Aditya Sood is President of Lord Miller and producer of the movie “Cocaine Bear.” Other production credits include “The Martian,” “Deadpool,” and the Washington-set TV series “Designated Survivor.”

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

WHAT THE LEFT ISN’T READING: The Transportation Department’s inspector general plans to audit Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s use of government airplanes for trips, as well as his predecessor in the Trump administration, Elaine Chao.

WHAT THE RIGHT ISN’T READING: Rep. Andrew Ogles, R-Tenn. is the latest member of Congress to be accused of fudging his resume. He acknowledged misstating parts of his education history but said it was a mistake.

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— Steve Clemons