Happy Tuesday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

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THE BIG DEAL—Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to $2.2T in COVID-19 aid: Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiOn The Money: Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to .2T in COVID-19 aid | McConnell to force vote on ‘targeted’ relief bill next week | Trump again asks court to shield tax records Pelosi spars with CNN’s Blitzer over COVID-19 aid: ‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about’ Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to .2T in COVID-19 aid MORE (D-Calif.) on Tuesday shot down entreaties from some Democrats to cut a $1.8 trillion deal with the White House on coronavirus relief, arguing that President TrumpDonald John TrumpLabor secretary’s wife tests positive for COVID-19 Russia shuts down Trump admin’s last-minute push to strike nuclear arms deal before election Trump makes appeal to suburban women at rally: ‘Will you please like me?’ MORE‘s pleas for Congress to “go big” have given her leverage to hold out for more aid.

“I appreciate the, shall we say, a couple people saying, ‘Take it, take it, take it,’” Pelosi said in a phone conference with Democrats, according to source on the call. “Take it? Take it? Even the president is saying, ‘Go big or go home.’”

• Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven MnuchinSteven Terner MnuchinOn The Money: Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to .2T in COVID-19 aid | McConnell to force vote on ‘targeted’ relief bill next week | Trump again asks court to shield tax records Pelosi spars with CNN’s Blitzer over COVID-19 aid: ‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about’ OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump creates federal council on global tree planting initiative | Green group pushes for answers on delayed climate report | Carbon dioxide emissions may not surpass 2019 levels until 2027: analysis MORE have been in near-daily talks in search of an elusive stimulus agreement, even as the prospect of a deal before the Nov. 3 elections has faded.
• Mnuchin last week had offered a $1.8 trillion package, up from an earlier proposal of $1.6 trillion, prompting a growing number of House Democrats to urge the Speaker to come down from her $2.2 trillion proposal.
• That figure was already a reduction from the Democrats’ $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, passed by the House in May.

Most of those pleas have come from the Democrats’ moderate wing, particularly from vulnerable lawmakers facing tough reelections next month. Yet even a few liberals have emerged in recent days to press Pelosi to accept the White House’s latest offer. The Hill’s Mike Lillis has more here.

Pelosi dug in even deeper in an interview with CNN, during which she told Wolf Blitzer that “you really don’t know what you’re talking about” and calling him an “apologist” for Republicans. The Hill’s Cristina Marcos recaps it here.

McConnell to force vote on ‘targeted’ coronavirus relief bill next week: As the White House and Pelosi squabble over a bill Senate Republicans have already deemed too costly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to .2T in COVID-19 aid | McConnell to force vote on ‘targeted’ relief bill next week | Trump again asks court to shield tax records Overnight Health Care: Barrett says she’s ‘not hostile’ toward Affordable Care Act | Nominee says she doesn’t classify Roe v Wade as ‘superprecedent’ | Eli Lilly pauses study of COVID-19 treatment over safety concerns Barrett declines to say if Trump can pardon himself MORE (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that the Senate will vote on a “targeted” coronavirus relief bill next week that will include more aid for small businesses hit hard by the fallout of the pandemic.

“When the full Senate returns on October 19th, our first order of business will be voting again on targeted relief for American workers, including new funding for the PPP,” McConnell said in a statement, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program.

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McConnell, during a stop in Kentucky on Tuesday, said the bill would be “highly targeted” and authorize around $500 billion. The bill, he noted, would include money for schools, hospitals and protections from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

The Hill’s Jordain Carney explains here.

 

LEADING THE DAY

Trump again asks Supreme Court to shield tax records: President Trump on Tuesday filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court asking the justices to shield his tax records from a New York grand jury subpoena.

The filing from Trump’s personal attorneys marks the second time the president has asked the court to block Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (D) from obtaining eight years of his tax records.

• In July, the justices voted 7-2 to reject Trump’s argument that presidents have sweeping immunity from the criminal process, but said Trump could mount other legal objections in lower court proceedings.
• Since then, New York-based federal district and appellate courts have roundly rejected Trump’s additional assertions that the subpoena should be blocked because it is overly broad and was issued in bad faith and designed to harass the president.

The Hill’s John Kruzel walks us through the new filing here.

Read more: Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett declined to say on Tuesday if President Trump can pardon himself or if he should be required to disclose his debts.

 

Conservative think tank: Biden proposals would cut taxes for most in 2021: The tax proposals of Democratic presidential nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump makes appeal to suburban women at rally: ‘Will you please like me?’ Pro-Trump campaign ad uses stock footage from Russia, Belarus Harris raises alarm on abortion rights while grilling Barrett MORE would raise $2.8 trillion over 10 years and reduce taxes for most households in the near-term, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

• Biden has offered a number of tax proposals aimed at raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. 
• These include undoing portions of President Trump’s 2017 tax-cut law that cut taxes for people making over $400,000, subjecting earnings over $400,000 to Social Security taxes, raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and changing how U.S. companies’ foreign profits are taxed.

AEI estimated that Biden’s plans would increase federal revenue by $2.8 trillion from 2021 to 2030, with most of the revenue gain coming from tax increases on businesses. In 2021, Biden’s proposals would increase taxes for households in the top 5 percent of income but reduce taxes for those in other income groups, according to the analysis. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda breaks it down here.

 

GOOD TO KNOW

• The financing arm of Nissan Motor Company will pay a $4 million fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to settle charges that it wrongfully repossessed vehicles and committed other unfair and deceptive practices, the regulator announced Tuesday.
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday opened the door for the European Union to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. exports, saying the EU’s retaliation over America’s tax breaks for Boeing were legal.
• The global economy may take a smaller hit from the coronavirus recession in 2020 than was once expected but faces significant long-term challenges that will likely widen inequality, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Tuesday.
• Stocks closed lower on Tuesday as talks over a fifth COVID-19 relief package remained in limbo.
• Officials in Wisconsin on Monday informed Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company that pledged to create 13,000 jobs across the state, that it has missed employment targets necessary for being approved for state tax credits for the second year in a row.

 

ODDS AND ENDS

• Amazon workers are planning demonstrations across the country to coincide with the two days of the e-commerce giant’s annual Prime Day sale, with workers protesting over health and safety concerns they argue have increased amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• Global carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase after the pandemic, but may not exceed 2019 levels until 2027 due a decline in fuel demand, according to a projection from the International Energy Agency (IEA). 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a case by 29 Senate Democrats who alleged that President TrumpDonald John TrumpTwo ethics groups call on House to begin impeachment inquiry against Barr Trump relishes return to large rallies following COVID-19 diagnosis McGrath: McConnell ‘can’t get it done’ on COVID-19 relief MORE violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits self-dealing by federal officeholders.

The lawmakers had asked the court to review a February ruling by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that the senators lacked the legal right to sue the president.

In their brief, the lawmakers had argued that Trump’s continued ownership of companies engaged in business with foreign governments amounted to accepting “unauthorized financial benefits from foreign states” in violation of the constitutional restriction.

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The court’s denial means that Democrats’ petition failed to garner support from at least four justices. It also leaves in place the lower court ruling.

In their February decision, the D.C. Circuit Court panel ruled that the courts were not the proper venue for the dispute.

“The Members can, and likely will, continue to use their weighty voices to make their case to the American people, their colleagues in the Congress and the President himself, all of whom are free to engage that argument as they see fit,” the judges wrote.

“But we will not — indeed we cannot — participate in this debate.”

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to take up two other emoluments lawsuits against the president after a pair of lower courts ruled that suits brought by the liberal nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the attorneys general for Washington, D.C., and Maryland could move forward.

The lawmakers’ lawsuit that was rejected by the high court on Tuesday hit a roadblock in the lower courts largely because when they filed it in June 2017, Democrats did not represent the majority of either congressional chamber.

The Marine Corps has fired a commanding officer following the deaths of nine service members killed in an amphibious assault vehicle accident this summer off the coast of Southern California.

Lt. Col. Michael Regner, commanding officer of Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment was relieved “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command as a result of the assault amphibious vehicle mishap” on July 30, according to a service statement released Tuesday.

The firing comes months after the fatal training accident, which involved the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based out of Camp Pendleton near San Diego. Eight Marines and one Navy sailor were killed when their vehicle sank in 385 feet of water off the coast of San Clemente Island.

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Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, relieved Regner after an investigation “compiled a substantial amount of information and data which formed the basis” for his decision, the statement notes.

The investigation is still ongoing.

Of the 16 men onboard at the time, eight were able to escape — two of whom were injured and one, 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Guillermo Perez, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The service members’ remains were recovered a week later.

The remaining eight that were killed were Pfc. Bryan Baltierra, 19; Lance Cpl. Marco Barranco, 21; Pfc. Evan Bath, 19; U.S. Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22; Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21; Cpl. Wesley Rodd, 23; Lance Cpl. Chase Sweetwood, 19; and Cpl. Cesar Villanueva, 21.

California fire investigators have seized Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) equipment as part of a probe into the cause of a deadly wildfire in northern California, according to The Associated Press.

PG&E said the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection seized electrical equipment in connection with the Zogg Fire, which began in late September. The fire, which began amid high winds, led to the deaths of at least four people and has burned more than 88 square miles, according to the AP. The fire was nearly entirely contained as of Friday.

A 12,000-volt PG&E circuit services the area where the fire began. PG&E said in a filing that its automated equipment “reported alarms and other activity between approximately 2:40 p.m. and 3:06 p.m.”

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PG&E said in the filing it does not yet have access to the materials that the fire protection agency has collected in its investigation.

The utility, the largest in America, previously confessed to responsibility for the deaths of 84 people in recent wildfires. Outgoing CEO Bill JohnsonWilliam (Bill) Leslie JohnsonCalifornia investigators seize PG&E equipment in search for cause of deadly wildfire PG&E pleads guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter in 2018 Camp Fire The Hill’s Campaign Report: Republicans go on the hunt for new convention site MORE pleaded guilty to nearly 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a November 2018 fire, which nearly destroyed the entire town of Paradise. The utility went bankrupt in early 2019 and has only recently emerged from it.

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Fires connected to PG&E equipment have killed more than 100 people and burned more than 27,000 residential and commercial buildings in 2017 and 2018, according to the AP.

The IRS is heading into the final stage of a uniquely challenging tax season that has included delays and backlogs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thursday is the deadline for people who requested extensions to file their 2019 tax returns, and it comes just three months after the July 15 non-extension filing deadline, which had been pushed back from mid-April.

The IRS this year has faced the dual responsibilities of processing tax returns, while many employees were working remotely, and carrying out aspects of coronavirus relief legislation — most prominently, the stimulus payments sent to most U.S. households.

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The IRS has made progress in processing its backlog of paper tax returns and getting stimulus checks to everyone who’s eligible, but it still has more work to do.

“Millions of people who desperately rely on the IRS to receive much-needed financial assistance to pay for medical care, groceries, housing, are still waiting for those refunds and stimulus checks,” Rep. Gerry ConnollyGerald (Gerry) Edward ConnollyIRS closes in on final phase of challenging tax season Virginia voter registration website back up after outage on last day to register Judge issues nationwide injunction against Postal Service changes MORE (D-Va.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, said at a hearing last week with IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

The coronavirus took hold in the U.S. during tax-filing season, just weeks before the traditional April 15 filing deadline. The IRS extended that deadline to July 15, while also keeping the traditional extension deadline of Oct. 15.

The IRS directed most of its employees to work remotely in late March. Some employees have since returned to their worksites and have faced a backlog of tax returns and other mail to process.

March was also when President TrumpDonald John TrumpLabor secretary’s wife tests positive for COVID-19 Russia shuts down Trump admin’s last-minute push to strike nuclear arms deal before election Trump makes appeal to suburban women at rally: ‘Will you please like me?’ MORE signed into law the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that authorized the stimulus checks of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that provides loans to small businesses and other relief initiatives that have required work from the IRS.

The combination of the extended deadline, office closures and new relief programs has required the agency to juggle many different tasks, leading to both criticism and praise.

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Rettig said during last week’s hearing that as of Sept. 25, the IRS had processed more than 153 million individual returns and issued nearly 122 million refunds. He noted that the agency did this while also issuing stimulus payments and preventing cyberattacks.

Rettig said the agency had a backlog of about 5.3 million unopened pieces of mail — an amount that is significantly smaller than the size of the backlog in the spring — and that an estimated 2.5 million of those mailings are paper returns. The agency tries to prioritize processing tax returns and refunds when going through the mail, he said.

“Our people are working really hard,” said Rettig, who was appointed by Trump to serve a term that ends in 2022.

But lawmakers said during the hearing that even though most people have received their refunds, some of those who haven’t are those who have struggled the most during the pandemic.

“I do appreciate the effort, but we have a lot of people who are struggling,” said Rep. Jody HiceJody Brownlow HiceIRS closes in on final phase of challenging tax season House rebuffs GOP lawmaker’s effort to remove references to Democrats in Capitol Pelosi must go — the House is in dire need of new leadership MORE (R-Ga.), the top Republican on the Oversight and Reform subcommittee.

Connolly said the number of people with problems “may be a small percentage, but it’s real human beings and real needs.”

Rettig said that more than 160 million stimulus payments have been issued, and he noted that the Treasury inspector general for tax administration found in a report issued in June that the IRS correctly computed the payment amount about 98 percent of the time.

But there may be millions of low-income people who have yet to receive their payment, and reaching this group has been a major focus and challenge for the IRS.

“We have remained concerned about getting payments out to people who don’t normally file a return, including historically underserved communities of our nation,” Rettig said. He said the IRS has worked with partners to translate materials about the payments into more than 35 languages and have distributed these materials across the country.

The IRS in April established a web tool that non-filers can use to register for their payment. Last week, the agency extended the deadline for people to use that tool from Oct. 15 to Nov. 21.

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In addition to non-filers, lawmakers are pressing the IRS to get stimulus payments to other groups that haven’t yet received them.

One such group is incarcerated individuals. The IRS had said earlier this year that prison inmates are not eligible for stimulus payments, but late last month a federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction stating that the IRS can’t deny payments to incarcerated individuals who would otherwise be eligible. The Trump administration has filed an appeal.

Another group that lawmakers want the IRS to get payments to is survivors of domestic violence. Lawmakers said that in some cases, survivors’ payments went to their abusive spouses or were intercepted by abusive partners.

Rettig said that “the CARES Act does not provide the Internal Revenue Service with discretion to add an additional, say in this context, $1,200 to the victim of domestic violence,” but that the agency is sympathetic to the issue.

Nina Olson, a former national taxpayer advocate who is now executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, suggested that the IRS could issue payments to domestic violence survivors using the same types of processes that it uses to help victims of identity theft or return-preparer fraud.

“There’s a lot of work that can be done,” she said in an interview with The Hill.

The majority of IRS employees are still working remotely. Employees who have returned to their worksites have encountered some safety concerns at times, such as inconsistent enforcement of the agency’s mask-wearing policy and “isolated situations” where physical distancing was not being practiced, said Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees.

The pandemic and related relief efforts haven’t just posed challenges for the IRS this filing season; they’ve also squeezed tax preparers.

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Melanie Lauridsen, senior manager for tax policy and advocacy at the American Institute of CPAs, told The Hill that she’s gotten the sense based on conversations with members of her group that “it has probably been the absolute worst filing season ever.”

She said that CPAs had to figure out how to get their clients’ information while not being able to hold in-person meetings, and it has been harder for CPAs to reach out to the IRS with questions. She also said that preparers had a bigger time crunch for extension returns this year because the period between the regular deadline and the extension deadline was smaller and that CPAs have also been working on PPP applications and loan-forgiveness forms during the filing season.

The IRS has had to balance addressing the remaining issues with this year’s filing season with preparing for next year’s filing season.

“The IRS is certainly stuck administratively between a rock and a hard place,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union, a right-leaning taxpayer advocacy organization. He added that the agency could face an additional challenge if Congress passes another relief bill that includes a second round of direct payments.

Olson predicted that next year’s filing season will also be challenging because of the need to reconcile stimulus payments on 2020 tax returns that will be filed in 2021. She said there will likely be taxpayer confusion and mistakes, as was the case in 2009 following the issuance of rebates the prior year.

“People will be frustrated, they will make mistakes,” she said. “It will just be a very difficult filing season.”

The group of men who were arrested earlier this month after being accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen WhitmerGretchen WhitmerGiffords launches national Gun Owners for Safety group to combat the NRA Eric Trump cancels event at gun shop after former worker tied to domestic terror plots FBI: Group accused of plot to kidnap Whitmer also talked about targeting Northam MORE (D) allegedly also discussed similar plans targeting Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam (D).

An FBI agent testified in court Tuesday that Northam and Whitmer were both discussed as potential targets due to the six men’s dissatisfaction with the governors’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Associated Press.

“They discussed possible targets, taking a sitting governor, specifically issues with the governor of Michigan and Virginia based on the lockdown orders,” special agent Richard Trask reportedly said.

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“The understanding at the time was to potentially kidnap a sitting governor and remove them from office,” he added.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Trask also testified that once the accused men centered their plan around Whitmer, they decided to abduct her and place her on “trial” for supposed crimes, telling the court: “The plan was ultimately to take her and place her on trial at a different location.” 

Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Brandon Caserta, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks and Daniel Harris were arrested last week and charged with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer, a charge that carries a sentence of up to life in prison. FBI agents said at a press conference that all six were tied to the Wolverine Watchmen, a Michigan-based militia group that earlier this year protested a session of the Michigan state legislature while carrying rifles, a move that many Democratic legislators said was an act of intimidation.

“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” one FBI agent wrote in an affidavit reported last week. “The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message.”

Five of the men are in custody in Michigan, while Croft is being held in Delaware.

Whitmer’s state lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak were heavily criticized by conservatives in the state and came under fire from President TrumpDonald John TrumpLabor secretary’s wife tests positive for COVID-19 Russia shuts down Trump admin’s last-minute push to strike nuclear arms deal before election Trump makes appeal to suburban women at rally: ‘Will you please like me?’ MORE as well, who tweeted in April: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”

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The same day, the president issued a similar call for Virginia: 

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Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill’s newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. If you don’t already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter with this LINK.

Welcome! Follow our cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@magmill95), and tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@chrisismills) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.

NOT UP FOR DEBATE: Facebook on Monday announced that it would remove content denying or distorting the Holocaust from its platform after facing years of pressure on the issue.

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The company will begin directing users that search for terms associated with the Holocaust to credible information from third-party sources later this year.

Facebook has long faced pressure to take action against the bevy of conspiracy theories diminishing or denying the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazis.

Content that praised the Holocaust was previously banned.

“But with rising anti-Semitism, we’re expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust as well,” Facebook CEO Mark ZuckerbergMark Elliot ZuckerbergHillicon Valley: Facebook to remove content denying the Holocaust | Microsoft disrupts international botnet group ahead of Election Day | First day of early voting in Georgia marred by technical problems, long lines Facebook to remove content denying the Holocaust Killer acquisition or successful integration: The case of the Facebook/Instagram merger MORE wrote in blog post on Monday.

Zuckerberg had come under intense scrutiny in 2018 for defending the right of Holocaust deniers to post on his platform.

“I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened. I find that deeply offensive,” he told New York Times contributing opinion writer Kara Swisher on a podcast. “But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong.”

Read more here.  

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MICROSOFT TAKES AIM: Microsoft on Monday announced it had taken control of networks used by a wide-ranging ransomware group that posed a threat to U.S. elections and other critical infrastructure. 

Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of customer security and trust, wrote in a blog post Monday that the company had taken control of a distributed infrastructure used by a group known as “Trickbot” to distribute ransomware viruses. The actions by Microsoft and its telecommunications partners worldwide will prevent the group from launching further attacks. 

An attack on a German hospital that resulted in the death of a woman who was not able to receive life-saving treatment in time was recently attributed to the Ryuk ransomware virus delivered by the Trickbot group. Ryuk malware was also connected to the ransomware attack on Universal Health Services earlier this month that led to computers at all 250 of its U.S. hospital facilities being temporarily negatively affected, according to The Associated Press. 

The Ryuk ransomware virus was also responsible for targeting an IT provider for over 100 nursing homes, a Department of Defense contractor, and the city government of Durham, N.C.

“Trickbot has infected over a million computing devices around the world since late 2016,” Burt wrote. “While the exact identity of the operators is unknown, research suggests they serve both nation-states and criminal networks for a variety of objectives.”

Microsoft was able to disrupt the botnet network with approval from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Burt noted that the action would protect not only elections, where officials have cited concerns over potential ransomware attacks disrupting the voting process, but also critical groups including governmental organizations, health care facilities and financial institutions. 

Trickbot used COVID-19 and other major issues of the day, including the Black Lives Matter protests, to distribute malware through malicious phishing emails.

Read more here. 

ELECTION’S A PEACH: A technical issue with voting infrastructure in Fulton County, Ga., on Monday led to delays on the first day of early voting, with the technical issue eventually being resolved. 

The issue with pollbooks, used to check voters in, was a concern during early voting at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, according to The Associated Press. Fulton County encompasses much of the city. 

“While early voting is going well overall, we are experiencing technical issues at @StateFarmArena that are causing delays in voting at that location,” Fulton County tweeted Monday morning. “We apologize for the inconvenience. Technicians are onsite to help address the issue. Thank you for your patience.”

The county reported around an hour later that voting was again “underway.”

“Fulton County Elections quickly worked to resolve a small technical matter,” county officials tweeted. “The county appreciates the patience [of] all voters choosing to cast their ballot at State Farm.”

Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest voting equipment manufacturers in the country, was awarded a $107 million contract by the state last year to implement a “verified paper ballot system.” 

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A spokesperson for the company referred The Hill to Fulton County, noting that Dominion “has no involvement in the matter.”

Pollbook issues were also partially to blame for long lines in both Fulton and Dekalb counties during the Georgia primary election in June, along with the consolidation of polling sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary election was one of the first major tests for the new equipment, which was installed following a 2019 federal ruling that required Georgia to phase out paperless machines by 2020. 

Read more here. 

DEMS DIG IN: Democrats are accusing app-based gig companies including Uber and Lyft of playing dirty in their multimillion-dollar ad campaign supporting a California ballot measure that would allow their drivers to continue to be treated as independent contractors rather than employees.

California state Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D) said Monday that the campaign backing Proposition 22 includes tactics that are “dirtier than I’ve ever seen before,” such buying up “fake groups” that have no actual members and misleading names meant to tie them to progressives such as Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersHillicon Valley: Facebook to remove content denying the Holocaust | Microsoft disrupts international botnet group ahead of Election Day | First day of early voting in Georgia marred by technical problems, long lines Democrats accuse tech companies of deceitful tactics in campaign against Calif. ballot measure Democrats need to change messaging on abortion MORE (I-Vt.). 

“This is historic spending by any side on an initiative, and not historic by California standards; it’s historic nationally,” Gonzalez said during a press conference. “When you think about how much these companies put into the initiative process to simply write their own rules, this is a new path that has been chosen by these Silicon Valley billionaire corporations, and it should alarm all of us.”

Sanders on Monday tweeted his personal opposition to Proposition 22, denouncing as dishonest a mailer that backed it under the title “Feel the Bern, Progressive Voter Guide.”

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The mailers, which also back the Democratic presidential ticket, have been showing up in Southern California mailboxes. But the groups named in them, such as “Our Voice, Latino Voter Guide” and the “Council of Concerned Women Voters Guide,” do not exist, SFGate reported.

Read more here. 

WE’LL CIRCLE BACK TO THAT: A global economic watchdog on Monday said talks on how to overhaul taxes on big tech companies will stretch into 2021 after the coronavirus pandemic and “political issues” prevented the group from wrapping up by its end of the year deadline. 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday announced a two-pillar proposal to overhaul how big tech companies are taxed. The proposal was approved by a group with participants from 137 countries and jurisdictions. 

The proposal’s first pillar includes a blueprint to establish rules on where taxes should be paid and a way of sharing taxing rights between countries. The second pillar proposes establishing a global minimum tax for tech companies. 

The plan will be presented to Group of 20 finance ministers next week with the goal of putting the plan in place by the middle of next year if an agreement is reached, said Angel Gurria, the OECD’s secretary-general. 

Gurria, during a press conference from Paris, cited difficulties that arose from the coronavirus pandemic, including restrictions on in-person meetings, as well as “political issues” for the delay in the plan which OECD had previously said would be done before the end of 2020. 

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The Trump administration reportedly pulled out of negotiations in June and threatened to impose tariffs on imports from countries that impose the taxes.

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Read more here. 

Lighter click: Wasp water

An op-ed to chew on: The US presidential election is under attack 

NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself (New Yorker / Andrew Marantz)

Mark Zuckerberg is spending millions like never before to overhaul a landmark law (Recode / Theodore Schleifer)

Facebook Workers Sign Petition Demanding Hazard Pay for Content Moderators Who Have to Go Back to the Office (Motherboard / Lauren Kaori Gurley)

On Tiktok, Men Aren’t The Only Skating Superstars (The Verge / Julia Alexander)

Senate Republicans are downplaying the chances that the Supreme Court will strike down ObamaCare as Democrats seek to hammer the GOP on the issue ahead of the elections.

As Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett testifies this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats are drilling in on a Republican-backed lawsuit seeking to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that the high court will hear one week after Election Day.

If the lawsuit succeeds, roughly 20 million people would lose health insurance, and popular protections for people with preexisting conditions would be thrown out.

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But Republicans — who have spent the past decade trying to eradicate the 2010 law — are dismissing this possibility. They argue that Democrats are blowing the chances of the challenge prevailing out of proportion, noting that legal experts across the spectrum have called the lawsuit’s arguments weak.

“No one believes the Supreme Court is going to strike down the Affordable Care Act,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to .2T in COVID-19 aid | McConnell to force vote on ‘targeted’ relief bill next week | Trump again asks court to shield tax records Overnight Health Care: Barrett says she’s ‘not hostile’ toward Affordable Care Act | Nominee says she doesn’t classify Roe v Wade as ‘superprecedent’ | Eli Lilly pauses study of COVID-19 treatment over safety concerns Barrett declines to say if Trump can pardon himself MORE (R-Ky.) said Monday night during his reelection debate with Democrat Amy McGrath.

Other Republican senators pointed to Barrett’s role as the mother of seven children.

“The left is also suggesting Judge Barrett’s confirmation would be the demise of the Affordable Care Act and the protections for preexisting conditions,” said Sen. Chuck GrassleyCharles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyBarrett sidesteps Democratic questions amid high-stakes grilling Democrats warn of ObamaCare threat from Barrett, Trump The Hill’s Campaign Report: Barrett hearings take center stage | Trump returns to campaign trail MORE (R-Iowa). “That’s outrageous. As a mother of seven, Judge Barrett clearly understands the importance of health care.”

Sen. Todd YoungTodd Christopher YoungVulnerable Republicans break with Trump on ObamaCare lawsuit Senate GOP eyes early exit Why the US should rely more on strategy, not sanctions MORE (R-Ind.), who heads the Senate GOP campaign arm, wrote in an op-ed: “As the head of a large household, Judge Barrett knows full well, and better than most of her detractors, how important medical coverage is to every American’s health.”

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The Republicans’ effort to downplay a challenge to the ACA is striking given their criticism of the Supreme Court’s prior rulings on the controversial law and their legislative moves to repeal it.

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But at the same time, congressional Republicans are not directly saying that they oppose the lawsuit, which would mean breaking from President TrumpDonald John TrumpLabor secretary’s wife tests positive for COVID-19 Russia shuts down Trump admin’s last-minute push to strike nuclear arms deal before election Trump makes appeal to suburban women at rally: ‘Will you please like me?’ MORE, whose administration is in court in support of the challenge. The lawsuit was brought by 18 Republican state attorneys general.

“Obamacare will be replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative if it is terminated in the Supreme Court,” Trump tweeted last month. “Would be a big WIN for the USA!”

A McConnell spokesman said he did not want to go beyond the majority leader’s comments at the debate when asked whether McConnell opposes the lawsuit.

Earlier this month, most Republicans rejected a motion to advance a bill that would protect ObamaCare from the Supreme Court challenge. Five of the six Republicans who defected are running for reelection next month.

“A vote by any Senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to rip away health care for millions and end protections for Americans with preexisting conditions in the middle of the COVID pandemic,” Senate Minority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerIntercept Chief: Democrats’ attention to Affordable Care Act in Barrett hearings part of larger election strategy Is Trump a better choice for Jewish voters than Biden? Democrats have no case against Amy Coney Barrett — but that won’t stop them MORE (D-N.Y.) tweeted on Tuesday.  

Many legal experts, both conservative and liberal, say the argument against the ACA is extraordinarily weak. The main vulnerability, they say, is the claim that simply because the law’s mandate for everyone to have coverage is unconstitutional, the entire rest of the law is so intertwined that it should also be struck down. To the contrary, many legal experts say it was clear when Congress acted in 2017 that it intended to repeal only the penalty for violating the mandate and to leave the entire rest of the health law standing.

“There is an infinitesimal chance that anything beyond the already inoperative individual mandate is invalidated, and this is true whether or not Judge Barrett is confirmed,” said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who supported prior legal challenges to the ACA but says the current one goes too far. “Democrats are making the ACA the center of their concerns because it plays well politically, not because it’s likely to be the most consequential result of a Barrett confirmation.”

At the hearing on Tuesday, Barrett declined to weigh in on the ACA case given that it is pending before the court. But speaking broadly, she told the Senate panel she is “not hostile to the ACA” or to “any statute that you pass.”

Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan who supports the ACA, likewise said he thinks the lawsuit is “unlikely to succeed.”

But he added: “I think Democrats are right to worry about the small risk of a very bad outcome.”

Bagley noted that Barrett wrote a 2017 journal article criticizing Chief Justice John Roberts for upholding the ACA in an earlier challenge to the law. And the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whose legal philosophy Barrett has praised, voted to strike down the ACA in that 2012 case.

“Nobody ever said that Justice Scalia, because he had a bunch of kids, would vote to sustain the ACA,” Bagley said. “It’s really sexist.”

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Michael Zona, a Grassley spokesman, said the senator pointed to Barrett’s role as a mother to show her “first hand understanding of the importance of access to affordable health care” but that he has “no way of knowing how a Justice Barrett might rule on a theoretical case before the court.”

“Sen. Grassley supports replacing Obamacare with bipartisan legislation that would protect preexisting conditions, increase access to affordable health care and lower premiums for more Americans,” he added.

That Republicans are looking to downplay the challenge to ObamaCare, though, is an illustration of the shifting politics of the law. The ACA has risen in popularity under the Trump administration and amid efforts to repeal the law in 2017. Its protections for people with preexisting conditions have become so untouchable that Republicans are straining through ads to say they support that part of the law, despite their previous votes to repeal the ACA.

Brad Woodhouse, executive director of the Pro-ACA group Protect Our Care, said Republicans are “desperate” to downplay the lawsuit given the political damage it has caused them. “They never really out and out disavow it,” he added. “They never disavow the intent behind it. It’s a little too cute by half.”

Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist, said Democrats are hyping the lawsuit for political advantage.

“It’s clear that the Democrats are trying to use the [Barrett] hearings as a way to scare the bejeezus out of independent and minority voters,” he said.

Walmart will spread Black Friday deals in its stores across three weekends in November in an effort to lessen crowds during the coronavirus pandemic while offering other sales online.

The company unveiled its “Black Friday Deals for Days” plan on Wednesday, with the largest retailer in the U.S. offering some deals in stores and others exclusively online to limit the number of customers in its physical locations. Walmart is one of the first major retailers announcing its adjusted plans for Black Friday, providing a hint at what the shopping holiday will look like in the coronavirus era. 

Walmart’s first Black Friday event will start with deals online on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. Eastern and other savings in stores on Nov. 7, starting at 5 a.m. local time. The next event will feature online deals starting on Nov. 11 and in stores on Nov. 14, and the third will have online deals on Nov. 25 and in-store deals on Nov. 27.

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New promotions will also go online at midnight the three days of in-store sales.

Scott McCall, Walmart’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, said in a statement that the company has been “very thoughtful” when planning its Black Friday sales. 

“By spreading deals out across multiple days and making our hottest deals available online, we expect the Black Friday experience in our stores will be safer and more manageable for both our customers and our associates,” McCall said.

This year, Walmart will also permit customers for the first time to order Black Friday deals online and retrieve the products through contact-free curbside pickup service. 

At the in-store events, customers will be instructed to form a single, straight line, retrieve sanitized shopping carts and wear a mask. Shoppers will move along the right side of aisles to allow for social distancing and safe shopping.

In recent years, Black Friday sales have bled into the preceding day, Thanksgiving, but this year, several retailers, including Walmart, announced they will keep stores closed on Thanksgiving as a thank you to employees.

Forecaster ShopperTrak estimated that overall foot traffic at retail stores will drop between 22 percent and 25 percent during the six-week holiday season, compared to 2019. The 10 busiest shopping days are expected to amount to 34.2 percent of all holiday traffic, while it reached 46.5 percent last year, The Associated Press reported.

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The Army’s top civilian, Ryan McCarthyRyan McCarthyOvernight Defense: National Guard says no federal requests for election security help | Dems accuse VA head of misusing resources | Army official links COVID-19 to troop suicides Esper ducks questions on military involvement in election Army secretary: No request for military intervention in election unrest MORE, on Tuesday said the National Guard has received no requests from federal agencies to potentially provide security or quell any unrest after the presidential election next month.

“There have been no requests from other agencies to support at this time, but we’re always available to support whether it’s [a metropolitan police department] or other federal agencies,” McCarthy told reporters at the Pentagon.

McCarthy also said he didn’t foresee the military playing a role in squashing possible post-election chaos and said the role of the Guard was only to help protect federal property and to support law enforcement.

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“We support law enforcement, whether that is at the federal or state and local levels,” McCarthy said. “We don’t police American streets.”

The National Guard has, however, put a total of 600 military police units on standby in Alabama and Arizona to respond to any potential civil unrest if requested by a governor in another state.

McCarthy is the latest senior military official to attempt to dispel fears that the military will step in should the Nov. 3 election become disputed and turmoil ensues. 

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said earlier this week that he saw “no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election. Zero.”

“This isn’t the first time that someone has suggested that there might be a contested election,” Milley said in an interview with NPR that aired on Monday. “And if there is, it’ll be handled appropriately by the courts and by the U.S. Congress.”

But some fear the days and weeks after the election could prove to be chaotic as President Trump has continued to refuse to say he will accept the results or commit to a peaceful transition of power.

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Trump has also cast doubt on the integrity of mail-in ballots despite no evidence of widespread fraud.

The president last month said he would accept the results of a “free and fair election” but has continued to rail against mail-in ballots, throwing doubts on whether he will consider the election “free and fair,” and whether he will step aside should he lose.

In addition, Trump has repeatedly used or threatened to use the military in domestic issues, including in the nationwide protests over racial injustice this summer after the death of George Floyd.

In June, Trump ordered the National Guard to back federal law enforcement agents in clearing protesters from Lafayette Square so he could pose for photos in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been partially damaged by the protests.

Milley, who appeared alongside Trump in the walk to the church, later apologized and said he regretted participating in the photo opportunity.

The Pentagon has since launched an investigation into the National Guard’s role in the June protests, as military helicopters were also used to hover over protesters in a “show of force.”

McCarthy said the Army has completed its portion of the Defense Department Inspector General investigation and it’s currently with the DOD IG.

“It’s my understanding that it’s imminent and will be released when it’s completed,” McCarthy said Tuesday, though he declined to say whether it would be made public before the election.  

“That’s at their discretion,” he said of the inspector general’s office. 

Trump’s reelection campaign has also used Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Milley in a new online advertisement as recently as Monday, violating a standing Pentagon policy that prohibits military officers from participating in political activity while in uniform. 

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