Axios

The Senate voted 51-50 on Tuesday, with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaker, confirming Lisa Cook to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

The big picture: Cook, a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State, is the first Black woman on the panel in its 108-year history.

Maria Alyokhina, the leader of the Pussy Riot band, escaped Russia by disguising herself as a food courier to avoid Moscow police, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: Alyokhina was set to spend 21 days in a penal colony, but she left the country before Moscow police detained her.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released an investigation by his staff on Tuesday that concluded Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles mayor and President Biden's nominee for ambassador to India, "likely knew or should have known" of sexual harassment and racist comments by a top former adviser, Rick Jacobs.

Why it matters: Garcetti's already stalled path to Senate confirmation just got more difficult.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) on Tuesday announced he will resign from Congress more than one year after a former lobbyist accused him of sexual misconduct.

Why it matters: Reed announced back in March 2021 that he wouldn't be seeking office in 2022.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at an Axios event Tuesday shared a message for teachers as they're being pushed out of the workforce in droves: "I see you. I hear you. I appreciate you. And we're fighting to make sure that we continue to lift the profession."

Why it matters: A pandemic-fueled teacher shortage has pushed public schools to the brink, writes Axios' Erin Doherty. The nation's educators are burned out and are considering quitting at rates higher than ever before.

Over half of young women aged 18-29 say they would get an abortion if they had an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy — even if it were illegal, according to a new Generation Lab flash poll first provided to Axios.

Why it matters: Last week's news that the Supreme Court is prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade has raised questions on what access would look like without a federal right to an abortion. Even in states where they remain legal, abortions could be harder to access because those clinics could be flooded with patients from states that have cracked down.

President Biden said Tuesday that addressing inflation is his "top domestic priority" as midterm elections loom.

Driving the news: "I want everyone to know that I'm taking inflation very seriously and it's my top domestic priority," Biden said in remarks, where he also blasted Republicans' plans to combat inflation.

Eliminating a woman's right to seek an abortion would have "very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said while testifying before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

State of play: Yellen's comments come one week after a leaked draft ruling revealed that the Supreme Court is prepared to potentially overturn Roe v. Wade.

School districts are preparing to raise school lunch prices for next year in anticipation of federal lunch programs expiring this summer.

Why it matters: It's the latest hit to schools' budgets that have endured staffing challenges, teacher resignations and other obstacles for two-plus years during the pandemic.

The White House announced Tuesday that President Biden will meet Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House Friday amid rising tensions in Jerusalem, mainly around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Why it matters: It will be the second time Biden meets Abdullah at the White House — more than with any other leader in the Middle East.

Republicans are deeply split on their abortion strategy, with top officials pushing restraint, even silence, while activist GOP candidates demand an all-out campaign for a national ban and harsher penalties. 

Why it matters: Republicans' confidence in landslide victories this fall was shaken by the leaked abortion ruling — in part because they know the topic invigorates their base, while rattling many swing voters. 

After a weekend of angry tweeting, former GOP operative Steve Schmidt launched a new Substack yesterday by asserting that the late Sen. John McCain lied to him, to The New York Times and to America about his longtime relationship with a female lobbyist.

Driving the news ... Schmidt, the top strategist on McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, wrote: "John McCain told me the truth backstage at an event in Ohio ... Understandably, he was very concerned about this potentially campaign-ending issue. He kept saying, 'The campaign is over.'"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the international community Monday to immediately act to stop a Russian blockade of his country's ports and prevent a global food crisis.

Driving the news: Zelensky said the Russian military again launched missile strikes on the Odesa region and, "for the first time in decades, there is no usual movement of the merchant fleet, no usual port functioning" in the strategic southern city on the Black Sea.

Pro-abortion rights protesters gathered outside Justice Samuel Alito's home in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday evening, days after a draft decision he wrote indicating that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked.

Driving the news: About 100 peaceful demonstrators gathered for the grassroots protest, as Alito became the third justice to see rallies outside their home after Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts over the weekend, per Politico.

A former Haitian senator is facing criminal charges related to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last July, U.S. prosecutors announced Monday.

The big picture: Joseph Joel John, 51, made his initial appearance in a Miami federal court on Monday afternoon on charges of conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the U.S., per a Justice Department statement.

The Senate passed a bill Monday that would expand protections from the Supreme Court police to the immediate family members of Supreme Court justices.

Why it matters: The leak of the Supreme Court draft document indicating the court is prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade has spurred protests around the country, including at the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices, per NBC News.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is eclipsing President Biden with endorsements and, at times, as the Democrats' leading voice on major issues, including abortion and canceling student debt.

Why it matters: The progressive's prominence is pressuring the incumbent president and White House to move left. It's also raising questions about her ambitions, especially as the Democratic Party faces electoral apocalypse this fall and questions about whose voice — and issues — are best to rebound.

President Biden has made fewer endorsements during the 2022 campaign cycle than virtually any major political figure in either party, an Axios analysis found.

Why it matters: Biden’s restraint is traditional for most presidents but sharply contrasts with his predecessor, Donald Trump. He's sought to remake the GOP in his image and purge critics from its ranks by supporting and opposing a multitude of candidates.

A new business lobby backed by Republican heavyweights is looking to build clout with GOP leaders amid high-profile splits between the party's policymakers and key segments of corporate America, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce is positioning itself as an alternative to groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The new group's backers complain the Chamber has lurched left from its onetime post at the vanguard of a Republican-aligned political apparatus.