Post Politics Now: Biden hails surge in hiring with an eye on 2024

© Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post President Biden delivers remarks regarding the January jobs report from the White House complex in Washington on Friday.

Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris visited Philadelphia to address a winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee. Their remarks in the battleground state of Pennsylvania offered a preview of the case the ticket will make if Biden moves forward with a 2024 reelection bid.

In his remarks, Biden touted his administration’s accomplishments and targeted Republicans for proposals that would cut Medicare and Social Security. The president also celebrated the latest jobs report throughout the day.

“We created 12 million jobs since we took office. That’s the strongest two-year growth in history,” Biden said after the report was released. Biden and Harris appeared at a water treatment facility in Philadelphia to tout water infrastructure upgrades and lead pipe replacements. It is the third event this week that Biden has held on infrastructure. He made earlier trips to Baltimore and New York.

7:20 PM: On our radar: Biden travels to Camp David

© Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images President Biden speaks at the Democratic National Committee's 2023 winter meeting in Philadelphia on Friday. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

President Biden had a busy Friday. The president delivered remarks earlier in the day on an optimistic jobs report before taking off for Philadelphia, where he spoke about efforts to replace lead pipes and then went on to deliver an energetic speech at a Democratic National Committee meeting. Here’s what we’ll be watching this weekend:

• Biden will travel to Camp David on Saturday. He’ll be back in Washington on Monday.
• The alleged Chinese spy balloon is expected to continue flying over the United States for the next few days. The Pentagon has repeatedly said the balloon poses no threat to anyone on the ground.
• First lady Jill Biden will visit the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at the Veteran’s Village of San Diego. She will hold a roundtable discussion with military family members.
• The House will be back on Monday. The Senate — which finally has organized its committees — will be back on Tuesday.

6:59 PM: On our radar: Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and more to blitz Iowa, S. Carolina in 2024 ‘preseason’

© Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg Nikki Haley Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg

Former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley plans to launch her presidential campaign in less than two weeks with an event in Charleston, S.C. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will kick off a “listening tour” a day later — from the same city — before following Haley to Iowa. Former vice president Mike Pence will be in Charleston next week.

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will start traveling the country after the Feb. 28 release of his memoir, headlining back-to-back GOP dinners in Houston and Dallas where “platinum sponsors” who chip in $50,000 will get photos and tickets to a VIP reception.

As Hannah Knowles and Dylan Wells report, the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination is about to kick into a higher gear, with former president Donald Trump soon expected to get his first formal challenger as other Republicans hit the trail in key states and take more visible steps toward campaigns.

In this new and more active phase, potential candidates who have quietly laid groundwork in recent months are expected to use the remainder of the winter and then the spring to make the rounds at party fundraisers, hone their message in speeches and court officials and activists in key states. …

Many would-be Republican hopefuls are still in no rush to formalize their campaigns and make themselves an early target of Trump. The former president in recent days has ramped up his attacks on Haley, DeSantis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, another potential candidate...

“We’re in the preseason,” said Dave Kochel, who was chief strategist on Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign. But he added, “there’s no downside to getting into this thing and getting to work.”

Some potential candidates are expected to hold off months longer on official announcements, content to prepare behind the scenes and travel without the weight of a formal campaign. The possible GOP field includes several sitting governors who might wait until their legislative sessions are over this spring to declare their candidacy.

Read more on these strategies here.

6:47 PM: The latest: At DNC, Biden once again says Democrats must win back the blue-collar vote

© Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters President Biden attends the Democratic National Committee's 2023 winter meeting in Philadelphia on Friday. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

President Biden, during an energetic speech at the Democratic National Committee’s 2023 winter meeting in Philadelphia, delivered what has become his go-to, scathing critique of Republicans ahead of a likely 2024 reelection campaign.

Biden — who walked on stage to chants of “four more years!” — said Democrats must prioritize winning back the vote of blue-collar workers, who he said have increasingly voted for Republicans in recent elections because they think Democrats have forgotten them. The president has issued similar warnings in recent speeches.

“They think we’ve forgotten them, they think we don’t care [if] they’re coming back,” Biden said. “A lot of them came to believe we stopped paying attention to working class the way we used to. A lot of them came to believe the Democratic Party stopped caring about it, and lots of folks feel that way today.”

Biden said the best way to get these voters back — and maintain the Democratic base — is to continue working to better the American economy. He specifically targeted Republicans for their efforts to negotiate on the debt ceiling, which Democrats believe should be raised without a drawn-out fight. Republicans, it must be noted, suspended the debt ceiling three times without negotiation during the Donald Trump administration.

“I know the Republicans ran on inflation last election,” Biden said. “I didn’t know they were trying to make it worse.”

Biden also chided Republicans for proposals some in their caucus have made, including efforts to “eliminate the IRS and replace it with a 30 percent national sales tax,” and proposals that would cut funds for Social Security and Medicare.

5:25 PM: The latest: The longtime Biden aide at the center of classified documents furor

© Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP The building that housed the Penn Biden Center, President Biden's former institute, at Constitution and Louisiana Avenues N.W.

Joe Biden had only a few days remaining in the vice president’s office, and his aides scurried to pack materials accumulated over eight years. There were books and speeches, letters and photographs. There were gifts he’d received over his two terms, along with briefing books assembled for his many foreign trips.

Much of the work was overseen by Kathy Chung, an executive assistant who had become a gatekeeper for the vice president and an integral part of his personal and political family.

As Matt Viser, Carol D. Leonnig and Tyler Pager report, in those final days, she went through his small office in the White House, emptying drawers, credenzas and cabinets, all in preparation for transferring his personal and policy papers to a government-funded transition office.

As our colleagues write:

Chung, who had a top-secret security clearance at the time, oversaw a small team and helped pile the folders into boxes — not sifting through them, but making sure they were quickly stowed in about a dozen containers to be carted away, according to a person familiar with her account of the activity who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private details. The labels on the boxes and folders did not suggest that top-secret materials might lurk within, instead carrying such titles as “JRB Personal,” “Cancer Moonshot” and “Papal Visit.”

Those boxes would be moved twice more before eventually ending up in the Penn Biden Center in Washington, where Biden opened a private office in 2018. And they are now a focus of a special counsel investigation, after classified documents were discovered inside the boxes.

Chung, who has become one of the most important figures for investigators trying to understand the journey of the classified documents, was interviewed by federal agents last month. She has privately expressed concern that she might be partly responsible for inadvertently packing the classified items, although she says she had no idea at the time, according to people familiar with her account.

Read more on Chung here.

4:59 PM: On our radar: Biden will visit Wisconsin, Florida after State of the Union

© Jess Rapfogel/AP President Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday, en route to Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel)

President Biden will travel to Wisconsin and Florida after delivering the State of the Union address on Tuesday.

The visits are part of what the White House is calling a nationwide “blitz” in which Biden, Vice President Harris and members of the president’s Cabinet will “showcase how the president’s plan is creating jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, lowering costs for families, investing in our future, and delivering for families too often left behind.”

On Wednesday, Biden will visit the Madison, Wis., metro area, where he will promote his economic plan in the battleground state that he flipped for Democrats in 2020. On Thursday, he will visit Tampa, where he will talk about his efforts to strengthen Social Security and Medicare — two programs that some Republicans have targeted for spending cuts.

The White House has yet to announce which cities the other members of the administration will visit. Biden’s travel comes as he prepares to announce his plans for the 2024 presidential election.

4:50 PM: Analysis: Trump’s early-state poll problem

One of former president Donald Trump’s most tried-and-true political strategies is taking a liability and claiming that his opponents are weaker on that front — no matter the actual evidence. As Aaron Blake notes, he’ll just keep saying it over and over again, in hopes of muddying the waters.

Just this week, he has done it by criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) coronavirus restrictions, though the state enacted some of the country’s least-restrictive pandemic policies and Trump even praised DeSantis at the time for avoiding a true “lockdown.” Trump is also doing it with drug-overdose deaths during the President Biden era, which have risen more slowly than they did during Trump’s presidency and have actually been dropping of late.

Then another Trump comment caught our ear. During an interview with Washington Post contributing columnist Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, Trump continued to try explaining away his DeSantis problem.

Per Aaron:

“Ron DeSantis is way behind me,” Trump said. “Every once in a while, Fox will put up a phony poll … but I’m way ahead in New Hampshire. I’m way ahead in South Carolina. I’m way ahead in Iowa.”

Those last assertions are very far from true. And they spotlight an important aspect of the nascent 2024 GOP campaign.

Indeed, if anything, those early-state polls speak to the possibility that Trump’s position in the 2024 primaries might be worse than national polls suggest. That’s because Republicans in the states that matter more also appear more eager to turn the page.

As things stand, Trump generally leads nationally by double digits in a crowded field, while DeSantis is very competitive — and in some cases has led — if you distill the race down to just the two of them. (Polls vary in who they include in that crowded field, but they generally include former vice president Mike Pence and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, among others.) ...

We don’t have high-quality, nonpartisan polling in Iowa yet. But a pair of polls there from GOP super PACs have shown the two virtually tied in a crowded field, and with DeSantis leading Trump by 11 points in a head-to-head matchup. ... In New Hampshire, the same two polls showed very similar results. But we also have a more recent survey from the University of New Hampshire, which showed DeSantis ahead by 12 even in a crowded field.

Read more on this early polling here.

3:59 PM: The latest: Biden touts jobs report during visit to Philadelphia

© Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images President Biden speaks about the progress of the administration's economic agenda at Belmont Water Treatment Center in Philadelphia on Friday.

It wasn’t all Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles.

After mention of the football team — and first lady Jill Biden’s allegiance to it — President Biden touted the nation’s jobs report during his visit to Philadelphia, saying that the economy is going through the “strongest” two-year growth in the nation’s history.

Biden, who was in Philadelphia to talk about efforts to replace lead pipes, opened his remarks by noting that the labor market shattered expectations in January as the economy added 517,000 jobs.

“We created 12 million jobs … since we took office,” Biden said. “I want to thank the members of Congress here who are the ones who supported … initiatives [that] made this possible.”

These new jobs, Biden said, will “provide dignity for those families.”

“Because there’s nothing worse than not being able to provide for your family as a mother or a father,” Biden said. “And it gives people a sense of self-worth.”

3:47 PM: Noted: Paul Ryan says he won’t support Trump if he’s 2024 GOP nominee

© Evan Vucci/AP Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) ended his tenure leading House Republicans during President Donald Trump's time in office.

Former House speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said he won’t support former president Donald Trump if he becomes the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

Ryan, who has repeatedly said that he doesn’t believe Trump should be the Republican standard-bearer in 2024, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that “there are too many people like me in the Republican Party who would not support him if he were the nominee, and that is why I don’t think he’ll be the nominee.”

“Everyone knows we’ll lose the election if we nominate this guy again,” Ryan said.

Ryan’s comments come a day after Trump said he wouldn’t commit to supporting the 2024 GOP nominee if it isn’t him, injecting uncertainty into Republican hopes of reclaiming the White House next year.

The former House speaker said the Republican Party “is going through a moment where it has to redefine itself.”

“And the question is whether it’s going to redefine itself around a personality or around a set of principles and ideas,” he said.

2:18 PM: Take a look: House GOP promotes Santos on ‘Follow Friday’

Rep. George Santos (D-N.Y.), who has admitted to lying about key parts of his background, is facing multiple investigations and widespread calls for his resignation and is no longer serving on House committees.

Yet the House Republican conference chose Friday to promote him on Twitter.

Santos was among a handful of GOP members highlighted on “Follow Friday,” an effort to boost the number of followers of the Twitter accounts of members.

2:01 PM: Noted: Despite prior sexual harassment probe, executive hired to senior federal job

© Sarah Silbiger/For The Washington Post Scenes from outside the United States Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post)

The agency that sets personnel and hiring policy across the federal government hired a senior leader last year who was found in a previous job to have sexually harassed two women who were his subordinates.

The Post’s Lisa Rein reports that Frederick Tombar III, hired in October as second-in-command in the Office of Personnel Management’s retirement services division, resigned as executive director of the Louisiana Housing Corporation in 2015 amid an internal probe by a state agency that concluded that he harassed the women, according to an investigation report obtained by The Post. The state also paid $89,500 to one of his accusers in a settlement after she sued, Louisiana state officials said. Per Lisa:

After OPM employees raised concerns about Tombar’s hiring, senior agency officials concluded that he should not meet alone with female colleagues, according to two people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about agency matters.

OPM declined to confirm whether that policy has been instituted or comment on Tombar’s role. Communications Director Erikka Knuti said in a statement, “We will not comment at this time on individual personnel matters, but OPM is deeply committed to workplace safety and continuously reviews its hiring processes to identify opportunities for improvement — and is doing so now.”

Tombar, 53, declined to comment. A spokeswoman for him denied the allegations at the time, calling the claims “unproven” and saying that he resigned from the Louisiana housing agency “in an attempt to protect his family from any public ridicule and manipulation, but it was not an admission of guilt in any regard.”

You can read Lisa’s full story here.

1:30 PM: Noted: From burgers to bagels, Biden turns to brands to boost everyman image

© Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz President Biden and Vice President Harris eat a meal from Ghostburger, which is located in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood, in January.

The cameras were rolling in the Oval Office as President Biden placed a surprise call last month to Ghostburger, a local eatery with bright pink decor that debuted during the pandemic in 2020. He ordered cheeseburgers for his weekly lunch in the White House with Vice President Harris.

Ghostburger quickly highlighted Biden’s order on its social media pages — to good effect. “Our sales are up almost 100 percent,” Josh Phillips, co-owner of Ghostburger, said two weeks after the president’s takeout order. “People have been coming in asking for the same thing Biden ordered.”

The Post’s Toluse Olorunnipa writes that Biden has leaned into his role as consumer in chief, eating Jeni’s ice cream, donning Ray-Ban sunglasses, test-driving electric vehicles and telling stories about his 1967 Corvette convertible. Per our colleague:

Traveling the country, he stops at local taco shops and ice cream joints to get takeout, posing for pictures and chatting with staff. A few days after Biden’s inauguration in 2021, his motorcade stopped at Call Your Mother deli, a Washington bagel shop co-founded by his incoming chief of staff, Jeff Zients.

Many presidents have made a point of patronizing picturesque small businesses, a way to show off their common touch and sometimes to accentuate a policy push. President Barack Obama ate at places like the tiny Kenny’s BBQ Smokehouse on Capitol Hill. President George W. Bush dined at the Peking Gourmet Inn, in a modest shopping center outside Washington, a place his father also frequented.

But few have embraced small-time eateries and ice cream parlors, or showcased their habit of hitting local stores and boutiques, as regularly as Biden.

You can read the full story here.

1:06 PM: On our radar: Pence returning to South Carolina on Monday

© Scott McIntyre/For The Washington Post Former vice president Mike Pence answers questions from reporters during a visit to Florida International University in Miami on Jan. 27.

Former vice president Mike Pence is planning a trip to the early presidential primary state of South Carolina on Monday — the latest in stepped-up travel by potential Republican rivals to former president Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 nomination.

Pence plans two stops, according to his political action committee: a roundtable in North Charleston with law enforcement officials “amidst renewed calls to defund the police” and a “meet and greet” with business and civic leaders in Myrtle Beach.

Pence is hardly alone in hitting the early nominating states.

Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who is planning to announce her campaign for president at an event in South Carolina on Feb. 15, will then travel to New Hampshire and Iowa, The Post’s Dylan Wells reported Thursday.

The Iowa trip comes the same week that Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), another possible candidate, will hold a “Faith in America” tour stop in Des Moines. Scott will also hold an event in South Carolina the day after Haley’s announcement.

12:30 PM: The latest: Biden administration announces rigorous new school nutrition standards

© Chet Strange/for The Washington Post Students eat lunch at Palmer Lake Elementary School on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022 in Monument, Colo.

The Biden administration on Friday announced more stringent nutrition standards for school meals, reviving efforts to improve the health of millions of public school students in the face of a staggering rise in childhood obesity and other diseases related to diet.

The Post’s Laura Reiley reports the new rules, which will be rolled out gradually over the next few years, will limit added sugars, including in flavored milks. The rules will also further bring down sodium levels and highlight products that are primarily whole grain. Per Laura:

The new guidelines are part of the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health announced in September, which was developed in response to the persistent and worsening problem of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity rates have tripled over the past three decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 1 in 5 children and adolescents have obesity. That is about 14.7 million children, or almost 20 percent of all those ages 2 to 19.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is one of the most common pediatric chronic diseases, associated with hypertension, sleep apnea, diabetes, fatty liver disease and depression.

You can read the full story here.

12:22 PM: The latest: Rep. Spartz says she won’t run for Senate — or seek return to House

Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) watches floor proceedings as voting for speaker continues for a third day during a meeting of the 118th Congress on Jan. 5 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who had been eyeing a possible Senate run next year, announced Friday that she will not be a candidate in that race — and that neither will she seek reelection to the House.

In a statement, Spartz noted she has held elective office for seven years, including in the Indiana Senate and Congress.

“I won a lot of tough battles for the people and will work hard to win a few more in the next two years,” she said. “However, being a working mom is tough and I need to spend more time with my two high school girls back home, so I will not run for any office in 2024.”

Spartz, who arrived in Congress in 2021, was born in Ukraine and has been outspoken in support of U.S. aid to the country since the invasion by Russia nearly a year ago.

She had considered a run for the GOP nomination to succeed Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who decided to run for governor of Indiana in 2024.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a staunch ally of former president Donald Trump’s, announced a Senate bid last month. Another potential candidate, former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, announced this week that he would not run, leaving Banks as the leading contender.

11:59 AM: On our radar: Republicans aim to decimate abortion access in post-Roe haven states

© Allison Joyce/Getty Images People gather to protest against the the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case on June 24, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In the months after the fall of Roe v. Wade, North Carolina saw the largest spike in abortions of any state — its numbers fueled by a relatively permissive law and a Democratic governor promising to block the Republican-led legislature from enacting antiabortion measures.

But in recent weeks hard-liners in Raleigh have launched a plan to override a future veto and ban abortions as soon as around six weeks of pregnancy, The Post’s Caroline Kitchener and Rachel Roubein write. Per our colleagues:

At the center of the effort are a handful of Democratic legislators with a history of voting for antiabortion legislation and who could now provide the GOP with enough votes to override a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper (D). That group, which includes two pastors of predominantly Black Baptist churches, is facing pressure from both sides.

“I lay down with it, I wake up with it,” said Democratic state Rep. Garland Pierce, who leads the congregation at Bright Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Laurinburg, N.C. “When you reach deep down you want to be sure you’re doing the right thing.”

The showdown in North Carolina reflects similar efforts underway in several conservative states that have become destinations for post-Roe abortion care. In Florida and Nebraska — where laws still allow the vast majority of abortions to continue — conservatives are also pushing for six-week bans, which, together with the same kind of ban in North Carolina, could dramatically reshape the national abortion landscape once again.

You can read the full story here.

11:37 AM: Analysis: There will always be a fringe litmus test that Kevin McCarthy will fail

© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speak with reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is a putative leader in a party predicated on rejecting leadership. He is the manifestation of the institutional establishment for an institution that rejects its own establishment. He is a member of the D.C. elite representing a party that loathes few groups more energetically than elites from D.C.

The Post’s Philip Bump notes that when asked this week whether he agreed with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) characterization of the death of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter killed at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as a “murder,” McCarthy said he did not. Per Philip:

He said he didn’t because he wouldn’t, as someone who quite obviously views the party’s right-wing fringe as something apart from himself, something to be managed.

McCarthy secured the speakership by figuring out how to retain a Spider-Man-like grip on both the surprisingly small part of his caucus that is traditional and centered largely in reality and on the surprisingly large part of his caucus that is focused on conspiracy and centered largely on disliking the other part. He will always be more successful at this strenuous task when he’s not asked to pick between the two sides, since he will generally side with the former.

And because there will always be some test posed by the fringe that he simply can’t pass.

You can read the full analysis here.

11:15 AM: On our radar: Biden to be joined by leading Penn. Democrats at Philadelphia event

© Elizabeth Frantz/For The Washington Post Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), seen here on Capitol Hill, is among the Democrats expected to join President BIden in Philadelphia on Friday.

President Biden will be flanked by leading Democrats from Pennsylvania on Friday when he holds an event in Philadelphia touting $500 million in funding for water upgrades and lead service removal.

According to the White House, officeholders joining Biden at the Belmont Water Treatment Plant will include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.) and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D).

Vice President Harris and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan are also making the trip.

Following the event, Biden is appearing at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee.

10:57 AM: The latest: Biden says ‘the state of our economy is strong’

© Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post President Biden delivers remarks regarding the January jobs report from the White House complex in Washington on Friday.

President Biden said Friday that “the state of our economy is strong” as he pointed to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the labor market shattered expectations in January, with the economy adding 517,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropping to 3.4 percent, a low not seen since May 1969.

Speaking from the White House complex, Biden chided pundits who have predicted that the U.S. economy is headed toward a recession and counseled that the only way to slow inflation is by slowing job growth.

“Well, today’s data makes crystal clear what I’ve always known in my gut: These critics and cynics are wrong,” Biden said.

He acknowledged that there could be “setbacks along the way” but said: “It’s clear our plan is working because of the grit and resolve of the American worker.”

Biden declined to take any questions from reporters about the suspected Chinese spy balloon detected over the U.S. mainland.

10:31 AM: This just in: Blinken postpones China trip after suspected spy balloon detected over U.S.

The Pentagon said it was tracking a Chinese spy balloon flying high over the United States, reviving tensions between the two countries just days ahead of a rare visit to Beijing by the top US diplomat, on Feb. 2, 2023. (Photo by Chase DOAK / CHASE DOAK / AFP) (Photo by CHASE DOAK/CHASE DOAK/AFP via Getty Images)

President Biden postponed his top diplomat’s first official trip to China on Friday in response to the Pentagon’s discovery of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the continental United States, said a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The Post’s Cate Cadell, John Hudson and Yasmeen Abutaleb report that the decision came just hours before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to depart for Beijing, the postponement a dramatic indication of how seriously the Biden administration takes the incident and wants to avoid appearing soft on China. Per our colleagues:

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since the outset of his presidency, Biden has been sensitive to Republican criticisms that he is insufficiently tough on China, although on the issue of canceling the trip, Republicans were divided on the matter. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas called on the administration to cancel the trip, while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) demanded a Gang of Eight intelligence briefing from the president on the balloon. (The Gang of Eight is a colloquial term for a group of congressional leaders that receives briefings on sensitive intelligence matters.)

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee encouraged Blinken to use the trip to send a tough message to China regarding the suspected spy balloon. But U.S. officials appeared to be concerned about the optics of a visit in light of the incursion, even though experts said the incident, even if an act of espionage, was unremarkable.

You can read the full story here.

10:20 AM: Analysis: Twitter curbs researcher access, sparking backlash in Washington

© Benjamin Fanjoy/AP Elon Musk departs a federal courthouse in San Francisco on Jan. 24.

Twitter’s decision to restrict access to a key tool used to study the platform is sparking backlash from researchers and Democratic lawmakers, who say the move undercuts owner Elon Musk’s pledges to boost transparency at the social network.

Writing in The Technology 202, The Post’s Cristiano Lima says Twitter announced Thursday it will shutter the ability to freely access its API, or application programming interface, software tools that allow outside researchers and developers to collect and analyze data from a site. Instead, Twitter’s development team tweeted, the company will begin charging for it, without specifying how much. Per Cristiano:

The decision will likely price out academics and journalists looking into Twitter’s practices and the spread of harmful content on the platform, Democratic lawmakers said.

“This move will make it more difficult for researchers to access the information necessary to understand harms on Twitter, including misinformation, foreign influence operations and more,” said Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), who led a letter last year calling on Musk to pledge to keep Twitter data open to researchers, as we reported.

“We need more information, not less, about how social media companies like Twitter operate, and I’m concerned that this decision will cut down on important research in the public interest,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who has pushed for greater platform transparency.

You can read the full analysis here.

10:00 AM: Take a look: New McCarthy video includes images of Donald Trump Jr.

In a new video released by his office, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recounts his first weeks on the job, characterizing them as good but acknowledging there will be setbacks along the way, as upbeat music plays in the background.

Among those included in the images that unfurl is Donald Trump Jr., the son of former president Donald Trump. McCarthy was recently interviewed by Trump Jr. for the show, “Triggered With Don Jr.,” on Rumble.

9:45 AM: The latest: Biden to speak on a more-robust-than-expected jobs report

© Robert F. Bukaty/AP The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reaching a new longtime low.

President Biden has added an event to his schedule Friday following a report showing that the labor market shattered expectations in January, as the economy added 517,000 jobs, despite tens of thousands of layoffs in the tech sector.

Biden is now scheduled to speak at 10:15 a.m. at the White House on the report.

The Post’s Lauren Kaori Gurley writes that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reaching a new longtime low. Per our colleague:

Job gains had been steadily dropping for months, but January’s stunning job growth reflects a formidable labor market that continues to grow jobs, even amid fears of a looming recession.

The new year’s spike in job growth raises new questions about the Federal Reserve’s progress in curbing inflation by cooling down the economy. The central bank had announced Wednesday it was easing back on interest rate hikes, but the gangbusters job creation could complicate that decision.

You can read Lauren’s full story here.

9:32 AM: Analysis: These three states could again shift the nation’s abortion landscape

© Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post Mark McGregor of Marriottsville, Md., listens to speakers during the National March for Life in Washington on Jan. 20.

A showdown over abortion rights is brewing in three conservative-leaning states that have become destinations for the procedure in a post-Roe America.

Writing in The Health 202, The Post’s Rachel Roubein relays that in North Carolina, pressure is building on a handful of Democratic legislators with a history of voting for antiabortion legislation. In Florida, a push for further restrictions could pit Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) against the Republican leader of the state Senate. And in Nebraska, the author of a bill to ban the majority of abortions is trying to shore up the support of just one more lawmaker. Per Rachel:

Taken together, the looming battles could dramatically reshape the national abortion landscape once again. Legal abortions increased in all three states after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in June, ranging from a 10 percent jump in Florida to a 37 percent increase in North Carolina.

In recent weeks, conservatives in Raleigh, N.C., have launched a plan to override a future veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and ban abortions as soon as fetal cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks. If they can win over just one Democrat, antiabortion leaders say they’ll likely have the votes to replace the state’s current 20-week limit.

But the unusual dynamics of the state legislature were on full display this week. Every Democratic state lawmaker signed onto a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade into law, which leaders had intended to be a show of unity, though nobody expects it to pass in the GOP-dominated legislature.

You can read the full analysis here.

9:14 AM: The latest: Trump ‘totally’ disagrees with McCarthy on death of Jan. 6 rioter Babbitt

© Provided by The Washington Post

Former president Donald Trump said late Thursday that he “totally” disagrees with the assessment of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol “did his job.”

“I totally disagree with the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “ASHLI BABBITT WAS MURDERED!!!”

McCarthy weighed in on the issue earlier Thursday when asked by a reporter if he agreed with a recent characterization by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that Babbitt was “murdered” by a Capitol Police officer while she was trying to breach the doors near the House chamber on Jan. 6.

“I think the police officer did his job,” McCarthy said, without elaboration.

An internal investigation cleared the Capitol Police officer of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Babbitt. The Justice Department also determined that the officer would not face criminal charges in the killing of the 35-year-old California woman.

In his post, Trump characterized the officer as a “Thug” and a “MISFIT.”

“He was not a hero but a COWARD, who wanted to show how tough he was,” Trump claimed.

McCarthy was initially critical of Trump after the insurrection but later visited him at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. The two have at least outwardly enjoyed a close political relationship in recent months. Trump offered a spirited endorsement of McCarthy last month as he was struggling to round up the necessary Republican votes to become speaker.

You can read more about their disagreement here.

9:02 AM: Take a look: Rep. Clyde highlights his distribution of assault-rifle lapel pins

By his own acknowledgment, Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.) has dismayed Democrats in recent days by handing out lapel pins that depict an assault rifle — an exercise that comes in the wake of a spate of mass shootings.

Late Thursday, Clyde, who owns a gun store, tweeted a video about his efforts.

“I hear that this little pin that I’ve been giving out on the House floor has been triggering some of my Democratic colleagues,” he said. “Well, I give it out to remind people of the Second Amendment of the Constitution and how important it is in preserving our liberties.”

Clyde closed by sharing that there are plenty of pins available for those who want to come by his office.

California’s strict gun laws don’t eliminate violence, but they have helped

8:27 AM: Analysis: Alaska lawmakers up pressure on Biden to approve huge oil project

© Sarah Silbiger/For The Washington Post Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), center, speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 15.

When the Interior Department on Wednesday released a key environmental assessment recommending approval of a huge oil project in Alaska, it set the stage for one of President Biden’s most consequential climate decisions.

Writing in The Climate 202, The Post’s Maxine Joselow says it also raised the political pressure on the administration, with an influential group of Alaska lawmakers lobbying the White House to approve the project in the coming weeks and leading environmental groups lobbying to kill it. Per Maxine:

Amid Biden’s ambitious climate agenda, Alaska’s congressional delegation might have some pull with the administration: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) is a key swing vote in the closely divided Senate, and Rep. Mary Peltola (D) received a call from Biden when she became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

In an interview Thursday, Peltola argued that ConocoPhillips’s Willow project would provide crucial jobs and revenue for Alaska, a state whose struggling economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas.

The Alaska economy “has no growth,” Peltola said. “We’re not in a slump. We’re not in a ditch. We’re in a crevasse. And it doesn’t seem like there’s any upswing.”

You can read the full analysis here.

7:55 AM: On our radar: Blinken goes to China amid deteriorating relations

© Debbie Hill/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks the media in Jerusalem on Jan. 30.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves for China on Friday amid deteriorating relations between the two world powers that some officials fear could eventually lead to war.

Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell say that Blinken, the first Cabinet member to visit the country since President Biden took office, is expected to sit down with several senior Chinese officials, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Per our colleagues:

The two-day trip is an effort — shepherded by Biden and Xi at November’s Group of 20 summit — to stabilize relations between the two countries.

But the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the United States raises the stakes of the trip. On Wednesday, the balloon was spotted over Billings, Mont., which is home to several U.S. nuclear missile silos, NBC News first reported. ...

Top defense and military leaders, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met on Wednesday to discuss their response options but decided against shooting the balloon out of the sky because falling debris could put people and property at risk...

The finding has incensed lawmakers, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) who called for a briefing of the “Gang of Eight.”

You can read The Early 202 in full here.

7:35 AM: Analysis: Clyburn says Democrats should compromise on policing bill

© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) speaks on the House floor at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6.

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), the No. 4 Democrat in the House, who stepped down last month as House majority whip, tells The Post’s Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell that Congress needs to get something done on police reform after the death of Tyre Nichols, who was beaten by police in Memphis. Here are a few highlights of what Clyburn had to say on that and other issues that first appeared in The Early 202, which you can read in full here.

On the outlook for passing police reform: “We came pretty close to getting the George Floyd [Justice in Policing] Act [passed in 2021]. I said at the time — I got in trouble for saying it — there’s no perfect bill. There’s no perfect bill. To keep trying to get the perfect piece of legislation rather than a good piece of legislation — I just don’t know if that’s a good thing to do. When we passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it didn’t have voting [rights protections] in it. It didn’t have housing in it. It didn’t even apply to the public sector. Then we got the ’65 Voting Rights Act. Then we got the ’68 fair housing law. Then we got the [Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972]. So I just think that we have got to make some progress. We may not get everything that we need or everything that we want in one fell swoop, but we need to get this done.”

On whether President Biden will run for reelection: “Let’s just say it this way: I remain hopeful that he’ll run again. I’m convinced that he should run again.”

On whether he will run for reelection: “I give that consideration every day. And I’ll sit down with my family to make that decision.”

7:20 AM: Noted: Confidence in police drops after Tyre Nichols beating, Post-ABC poll finds

Public confidence in police dropped after Tyre Nichols was fiercely beaten by officers in Memphis last month, with Americans increasingly doubtful that law enforcement officers are properly trained in using appropriate force or that they treat White and Black people equally, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The Post’s Mark Berman and Scott Clement report that the increased skepticism about police appears to be fueled by declining trust on the part of White and Hispanic Americans, compared with just a few years ago. Per our colleagues:

For the first time since the Post-ABC poll began asking about the issue in 2014, just under half of White Americans say they are confident about police avoiding excessive force or racial bias. About two-thirds of Hispanic Americans lack confidence in police on both fronts.

The poll was conducted after police stopped Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee, on Jan. 7 in Memphis and then brutally beat him. Nichols died three days later. The beating spawned local, state and federal investigations, and five officers involved were fired and charged with second-degree murder.

Overall, 39 percent of Americans say they are “very” or “somewhat” confident police are adequately trained to avoid using excessive force, and 60 percent believe police are not, according to the Post-ABC poll.

The drops in confidence are partly driven by changing views among Republicans and older Americans, both groups that have, historically, expressed greater faith in police than others. Among Republicans, 60 percent are confident police are adequately trained to avoid using excessive force. While that is a majority, it is down considerably from the 77 percent who felt that way in 2020. The level of confidence in police on this front remains lower among independents (39 percent) and Democrats (20 percent), also down over the past decade.

You can read the full story here.

7:00 AM: On our radar: Biden to continue focus on infrastructure with Philadelphia visit

© Bonnie Cash/Bloomberg News Vice President Harris meets with members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday.

On Friday, President Biden is making his third trip of the week — this one to Philadelphia — to highlight his administration’s commitment to improving the nation’s infrastructure.

After swings earlier in the week to Baltimore and New York focused on rail tunnels, Biden is heading to Philadelphia to highlight efforts to improve water infrastructure and replace lead pipes.

Appearing at a water treatment plant with Vice President Harris, Biden is expected to announce $500 million in new funding to upgrade water facilities and replace lead service lines. Some of the funding is coming from the bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in 2021 — a legislative effort he touted in Baltimore and New York as well.

Replacing lead pipes has been a focus for Harris, who last week hosted a White House summit on the issue.

Biden and Harris are also both scheduled to appear later Friday at events hosted by the Democratic National Committee in Philadelphia.

6:45 AM: Noted: Republicans rally around conservatives who lost their elections

© David Blakeman for The Washington Post Kari Lake, former Republican nominee for Arizona governor, at a rally at the Orange Tree Golf Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Sunday.

Donald Trump — the former Republican president who lost his 2020 reelection bid — spent last Saturday pinging between New Hampshire and South Carolina in his third effort for the White House.

Kari Lake — the former local news anchor who lost her 2022 Arizona gubernatorial bid — attended the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday in Washington as the guest of Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) and is headed to Iowa later this month.

And Jair Bolsonaro — the former president of Brazil who lost his 2022 reelection bid — is scheduled to headline the conservative Turning Point USA’s “Power to the People” event in Miami on Friday.

The Post’s Ashley Parker writes that unlike in previous decades, when losing candidates largely slunk away, many Republicans have increasingly been celebrating political losers, with certain sections of the GOP base lionizing them as wronged warriors and avatars of legitimate grievances. Per Ashley:

Trump is the most obvious embodiment of the phenomenon — a man who lost both the electoral and popular vote to President Biden in 2020 and refused to accept the results of the election, yet has maintained a powerful, if waning, hold over his party.

Now, however, he has company in the likes of defeated far-right politicians Bolsonaro and Lake.

You can read Ashley’s full story here.

6:27 AM: The latest: Justice Dept. and Pence discussing a consensual FBI search of his home

© Scott McIntyre/For The Washington Post Former vice president Mike Pence answers questions from reporters during a visit to Florida International University in Miami on Jan. 27.

Federal law enforcement officials are in discussions with former vice president Mike Pence’s legal team to perform a consensual search of his Indiana home to ensure there are no additional classified materials on the property, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Post’s Perry Stein and Josh Dawsey report that an exact date for the search has not been set, the person said. The search follows revelations last week that the former vice president handed over to the FBI “a small number” of documents bearing classified markings that his lawyers discovered at his home. Per our colleagues:

Pence, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, is the latest politician to face scrutiny for potentially mishandling classified materials after leaving elected office. The Justice Department currently has two separate criminal probes into classified documents found at President Biden’s and former president Donald Trump’s personal properties. In Trump’s case, the former president appears to have resisted government attempts to obtain official documents for months, including after a grand jury subpoena demanded the return of any material marked classified.

That led to an FBI search of Trump’s Florida property in which agents recovered 300 documents marked as classified. So far, the specifics around the retention of documents found on Pence’s property appear to be drastically different, with the former vice president’s lawyers saying they are being forthcoming with law enforcement. Biden’s lawyers have also said that they allowed law enforcement officials to search his properties.

You can read the full story here.

6:25 AM: Noted: What made George Santos lie so much? Experts weigh in on his deception.

Everyone lies. But very few lie quite like George Santos.

The Post’s Roxanne Roberts writes that his lies are so breathtaking they shocked even the jaded denizens of Washington, who have a high tolerance for exaggeration and self-aggrandizement. Per Roxanne:

Who makes up nearly everything — and then runs for public office? The lies that launched a thousand memes have become a staple for late-night comics and pundits. Can you believe this guy?

Clearly not, but the spectacle of this train wreck risks reducing his dishonesty to a punchline, not a peril. Last week a revised Federal Election Commission filing revealed that Santos (R-N.Y.) was not, in fact, the source for a $700,000 donation to his congressional campaign. His response? A night out in D.C. for karaoke and selfies.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters he had no plans to force the serial fabulist to resign because “the voters elected him to serve” (actually, his persona) and dismissed concerns about padding his résumé: “So did a lot of people here in the Senate and others” — as if all falsehoods are created equal.

You can read Roxanne’s full piece here.