Axios

The abrupt cancellation of a Memorial Day event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre continues to reverberate with disputed details about the decision, CBS News reports.

Why it matters: The “Remember and Rise” event, which was to feature a performance from John Legend and a speech by Stacey Abrams, fell apart over a disagreement about using a portion of the money fundraised as reparations for survivors of the massacre.

The leader of right-wing Yamina party Naftali Bennett could announce as early as Sunday that he is joining opposition leader Yair Lapid to form a power-sharing government in Israel, sources familiar with the issue tell Axios.

Why it matters: If a new "change government" will be formed, Bennett will be prime minister and will bring an end to 12 years of Benjamin Netanyahu rule. Such a development could end the political crisis that led to four consecutive elections in two years.

President Biden criticized a Texas bill that puts new restrictions on certain voting methods in the state, calling it "an assault on democracy" in a statement on Saturday.

Why it matters: The legislation, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is expected to sign into law, bans drive-through and 24-hour voting and adds new requirements on absentee and mail-in ballots.

America’s small business community is recovering from the pandemic, but large swathes of it haven’t yet recovered. That was the message yesterday from U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabel Guzman, testifying in front of a House Financial Services subcommittee.

Axios Re:Cap speaks with Guzman for the last episode in our six part America's Business Comeback series, about which small businesses still need help and what the SBA plans to do about it. Plus, the recovery view from Reckless Records in Chicago.

President Biden’s proposed 2022 budget lifts a decades-old ban on federal funding for most abortions.

The big picture: Presidential budgets rarely survive intact even with broad support within the party, but they are a reflection of a given administration’s priorities.

The U.S. Postal Service announced plans to raise the price of first-class stamps from 55 to 58 cents as part of Postmaster Louis DeJoy's 10-year plan "to achieve financial sustainability."

The state of play: The Postal Service filed a notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission to request the new prices go into effect on Aug. 29.

The Biden administration on Friday announced new crackdowns against Belarus as punishment for forcing down a Ryanair flight to arrest an opposition journalist.

The big picture: The announcement comes hours after Aleksandr Lukashenko met with ally Vladimir Putin in Sochi. President Biden will be meeting with his Russian counterpart in Geneva on June 16.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday advised U.S. passenger airlines to "exercise extreme caution" when flying over Belarus.

Driving the news: The European Council called for an independent investigation into the country's diversion of a flight to arrest an opposition leader and advised EU-based carriers to avoid the airspace. President Biden said Monday his administration is coordinating with the EU on a response.

Law enforcement uncovered multiple cans of gasoline, suspected Molotov cocktails, 12 firearms and approximately 22,000 rounds of ammunition in the home of the suspect who killed nine people in a mass shooting in San Jose this week, Santa Clara Sheriff Laurie Smith said Friday.

What they're saying: Though the shooter's motive has not yet been determined, "it is clear that this was a planned event and the suspect was prepared to use his firearms to take as many lives as he possibly could had Sheriff's Deputies not made entry to stop his rampage," the sheriff's office said.

President Biden on Friday called the recent spate of antisemitic attacks in the United States "despicable, unconscionable, un-American."

What he's saying: "We have seen a brick thrown through [the] window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan, a swastika carved in the door of a synagogue in Salt Lake City, families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and museums in Florida and Alaska, dedicated to celebrating Jewish life and culture and remembering the Holocaust, vandalized with anti-Jewish messages," Biden said.

The Justice and Homeland Security departments on Friday announced plans to fast-track cases of families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in immigration court.

The state of play: Families that are stopped at the border beginning Friday will be placed in a "dedicated docket" process, aimed at expediting proceedings to determine whether they can remain in the U.S. These cases are known for getting backlogged and taking years to reach a conclusion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that vaccinated adolescents don't need to wear face masks if they attend camps this summer, and younger unvaccinated campers can generally go maskless when outdoors.

Why it matters: This spring's evolving public health recommendations have made it difficult for camps to plan programming, the Washington Post reports. The updated guidance aims to standardize the guidance.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Friday said Senate Republicans' decision to vote against a bill creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots was "unconscionable" and "the betrayal of the oath we each take."

The big picture: Manchin said in a statement on Thursday that Republicans had no excuse to vote against the Jan. 6 commission, saying they "continue to live in fear." He called the Jan. 6 Capitol riots a never-before-seen attack in U.S. history. "Not even during our nation's horrific Civil War did this happen."

President Biden is asking Congress to spend $6 trillion next year, as part of a sweeping budget proposal that incorporates some, but not all, of his campaign promises, including the $4 trillion for infrastructure, social and education spending he announced this spring.

The big picture: Presidential budgets are aspirational and rarely survive first contact with Congress, but they help the White House articulate its priorities and amplify its agenda.

The recent passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act was historic, but it "does not mean that hearts and minds will follow," Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said at a virtual Axios event on Friday.

Why it matters: Anti-Asian hate has surged in the past year, jumping 164% in some of America's largest cities. Hirono introduced the bill in the Senate, which will improve hate crime tracking and train law enforcement to better identify anti-Asian hate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rebuked Senate Republicans on Friday after the chamber failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to advance a bill creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

The big picture: Schumer said he believes the vote proves that Donald Trump's "Big Lie" has "enveloped" the GOP and that its members fear retaliation from the former president and his allies.

The Senate will vote on Democrats' landmark elections overhaul bill — the "For the People Act," also known as H.R. 1 or S. 1 — in the last week of June, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to colleagues on Friday.

Why it matters: The sprawling voting reform and anti-corruption legislation is viewed as a top priority for Democrats, who are seeking to combat the wave of restrictive voting bills making their way through Republican state legislatures across the country.

Asian American leaders said at a virtual Axios event Friday that data collection, media narratives and voting access are key priorities as the community moves forward.

Why it matters: Asian Americans have gained wider visibility as the U.S. grapples with a yearlong surge in anti-Asian hate. But the work isn't over, leaders say.

A federal judge granted a request by prosecutors to appoint a special master to review materials seized from Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan apartment as part of a federal investigation into his dealings in Ukraine, CNN reports.

Why it matters: The Department of Justice made the request for external review in early May in part because of the "overt and public nature" of the search warrant and the "unusually sensitive privilege issues" involved with it.

The Senate confirmed Eric Lander via voice vote on Friday to serve as President Biden's science adviser and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a top White House science post that Biden raised to Cabinet-level earlier this year.

Why it matters: Lander, whose confirmation was in part delayed from questions about his past meetings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was Biden's only unconfirmed Cabinet appointment.

The Senate failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to advance a bill creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, voting 54-35 as Republicans invoked the first legislative filibuster of the Biden presidency.

Why it matters: Democrats argue the commission is urgently needed to investigate one of the darkest days in U.S. history. Republicans fear the commission could be weaponized to damage them politically ahead of the 2022 midterms.

President Joe Biden will announce Friday that he's nominating Rufus Gifford, former ambassador to Denmark, as his chief of protocol at the State Department, Politico first reported and Axios has confirmed.

Why it matters: The position, which holds an ambassadorial rank, will mark Biden’s first ambassador announcement outside of the career foreign service, with more names expected as early as next week.

President Biden has been clear that he wants to raise taxes on capital gains for high earners. But, until a Wall Street Journal scoop published Thursday night, it wasn't known that he wants those taxes raised retroactively.

Why it matters: It's unscrupulous.

President Biden said Thursday his administration will take action against anti-competitive business practices and ease construction materials shortages and transportation backups in an effort to curb price hikes.

Why it matters: "In recent weeks, the United States has faced shortfalls and bottlenecks from lumber to computer chips to port cargo backlogs. Together with labor shortages, those issues are making homes, cars and consumer goods pricier and harder to get," Reuters reports.

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday said "there will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.”

Why it matters: Earlier Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the U.S. is "taking a very close look" at the possibility of requiring vaccine passports for international travel.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters on Thursday that she believes Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is blocking legislation that would form a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot for "short-term political gain," according to HuffPost.

Why it matters: Murkowski, who faces re-election next year, is one of only three Senate Republicans to publicly support the commission, which is expected to be blocked by other Republicans Friday.

Republican opposition to a commission to investigate the Capitol riot provides a new wedge for Democrats to pressure Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to soften his opposition to changing the filibuster rule. A Senate vote on the commission, expected Thursday, was pushed back to Friday.

Why it matters: Manchin is furious that Republicans aren’t supporting the commission. And some Democrats hope that the issue will cause him to yield on his opposition to ending the filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes for a bill to pass.

President Biden's speech in Ohio on Thursday captured his own take on "Make America Great Again" — a populist appeal, minus the racial dog whistle, for the U.S. to reclaim its post-World War II glory.

The big picture: Biden invoked long-ago works projects, as well as China's rise on the world stage, to make the case for tax increases and deficit spending that would, he argued, reset the balance between the wealthy and the working class.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) in an address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Thursday evening told his fellow Republicans to stop focusing on the "populist appeal of one personality," and avoid getting "caught up in every little cultural battle," per excerpts of his remarks.

Why it matters: Former President Trump continues to have a profound influence over the GOP. In his speech, Ryan set out to "obliquely [criticize] Donald J. Trump ... warning Republicans that the only viable future for the fractured party is one unattached to the former president," the New York Times writes.

Deadlines are hard to keep in a 50-50 Senate.

Driving the news: Members are gearing up to leave town Friday for a weeklong recess, having missed nearly every deadline they set for some of President Biden's biggest legislative priorities. The chamber's precarious balance of power is a big reason.

House Democrats are following the money in a series of new ads hitting Republican opponents of major drug price legislation — but the trail also leads back to their own members.

What's happening: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is accusing House Republicans of doing the bidding of drug industry donors by opposing the bill. Unremarked upon are the House Democrats who've also received money from the industry — and whose opposition is seen as potentially fatal to the legislation.

President Biden will call for $6 trillion in government spending next year when he unveils his FY2022 budget on Friday, as the New York Times first reported.

The big picture: Annual government spending has been rising for years, but it spiked last year because of the nation's coronavirus recovery efforts.

A dispute about what Labor Secretary Marty Walsh did or didn't know before he left Boston for Washington is now threatening one of President Biden's more popular Cabinet members.

Why it matters: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) has said Walsh should resign if he was aware of past domestic violence allegations facing the Boston police commissioner he appointed before resigning as mayor. Walsh has denied any knowledge, but sworn filings in court are challenging that claim.