By Josh Sisco, Hailey Fuchs, Lauren Egan, Myah Ward and Lawrence Ukenye

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada

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Drama is brewing around the Federal Trade Commission. And President JOE BIDEN’s anti-monopoly push may be tripped up because of it.

The agency has been a key tool in the administration’s crusade to rein in Big Tech. But the president’s pick to fill a vacancy on the commission is facing opposition from all directions.

Conservatives and liberal groups alike have criticized Utah Solicitor General MELISSA HOLYOAK for what they see as her past alliance with Big Tech citing, for one, her objections to class-action settlements with Google and other corporations.

In comparison, Biden’s other nominee to fill the departure of two GOP members — Virginia Solicitor General ANDREW FERGUSON, a former chief counsel to MITCH MCCONNELL — has gone largely unscathed.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has scheduled a vote on Wednesday on Holyoak, Ferguson and REBECCA KELLY SLAUGHTER, a Democratic commissioner who was renominated in January.

The concerns around Holyoak may ultimately not be enough to derail her confirmation, but they point to a rocky road ahead for Biden’s agenda at the FTC.

Cracking down on monopoly power is a central component of Biden’s economic sales pitch, and the FTC is at the center of that effort. There is a growing consensus that corporate consolidation over the last several decades has hurt the public. But there is also disagreement over just how aggressively current FTC chair, LINA KHAN, has tackled the matter.

NOAH PHILLIPS and CHRISTINE WILSON, the previous two GOP commissioners, resigned early over disagreements with Khan. Wilson in particular criticized Khan’s leadership.

While the minority commissioners have little ability to block Khan, having bipartisan agreement on major decisions is important for the agency’s credibility as it faces GOP attacks from TED CRUZ, JIM JORDAN and others. The White House, for its part, indicated in a statement that this would be an issue for Republicans to solve, since these were their nominees.

“President Biden nominated several individuals to serve as Republican members of boards and commissions that are required, by statute or longstanding practice, to include bipartisan membership,” said a White House official. “It’s standard for Republican leadership to put nominees forward for these boards and commissions, along with President Biden’s own nominees.”

An FTC spokesperson declined to comment. Khan, after the nominations of Holyoak and Ferguson were announced, said she looked forward to working with the pair.

So far, the defense of Holyoak has been relatively muted. A Senate Republican aide familiar with the confirmation process disputed the characterization of Holyoak’s work and pointed to her involvement in antitrust lawsuits against Google and Meta. In the separate Google case referenced by activists, which involved allegations of privacy violations, Holyoak objected to the settlement so that the plaintiffs would be paid, the person said.

And, indeed, Holyoak has by no means been a completely reliable vote for the tech sector. Her office is leading a major antitrust case brought by dozens of states alleging Google illegally monopolized the market for app stores on Android phones.

But the problem she faces is that she’s being pinched at both ends of the ideological spectrum. Conservative groups including the Bull Moose Project and the New York Young Republicans club have also taken issue with Holyoak, citing her years of work for the tech-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute, which included rolling back consumer protections in a major telecom merger.

And good government activists say she’s simply too beholden to corporations, noting her opposition to Environmental, Social and Governance priorities.

An open records request from Insure Our Future US revealed documents demonstrating Holyoak was instrumental in organizing a group of 23 state attorneys general in a campaign to warn insurers against focusing on ESG principles. The AGs told insurance companies they were “concerned with the legality of your commitments to collaborate with other insurers and asset owners in order to advance an activist climate agenda.”

“Sadly, Holyoak’s record speaks to someone willing to push or possibly break professional standards on behalf of corporations,” said Revolving Door Project founder JEFF HAUSER. “Her antipathy to ESG is of a piece with a whole litany of endeavors in which she displayed considerable vigor for protecting the rights of corporations to act in opposition to the broader common good.”

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Which U.S. president is the only one to be president of a union?

(Answer at bottom.)

ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS? Biden is scheduled to take off shortly for his trip to Israel, but the visit is quickly proving to be politically and diplomatically dicey. Just hours before Biden was expected to leave D.C., the Gaza Health Ministry claimed that an Israeli airstrike hit a Gaza City hospital, killing hundreds of people seeking shelter. Israeli officials were quick to deny the claim, blaming a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad.

The tragic loss of life and the back-and-forth between the two sides has bolstered the case made by those inside the West Wing that the trip was unnecessary and politically risky. Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) was quick to call out Biden on X following the hospital attack, writing: “@POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate. Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslims Americans like me. We will remember where you stood.”

After the reported strike, Palestinian Authority Leader MAHMOUD ABBAS canceled his plans to participate in a meeting with Biden and the leaders of Jordan and Egypt scheduled for Wednesday.

THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY: The White House is considering sending Congress a roughly $100 billion supplemental request, which would include funding for Israel, Ukraine, border security, and Indo-Pacific nations, including Taiwan, per our JENNIFER HABERKORN and LARA SELIGMAN. The request is expected to be for a full year, which explains the large price tag. The White House plans to bill it as a national security package though officials caution the figure could still change.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This column by NYT’s BRET STEPHENS about how the president has provided Israel with moral leadership following Hamas’ attacks. “We need political leaders who maintain the capacity to call out barbarism by name and who commit themselves to its defeat,” Stephens writes. He applauded Biden’s upcoming trip to Israel and contrasted the president’s response to DONALD TRUMP, who called Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, “very smart.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WSJ’s ROBBIE WHELAN and ANNE STEELE about how “it’s getting too expensive to have fun” as the cost of tickets for live entertainment events has soared. A Wall Street Journal/Credit Karma survey found that roughly 60 percent of Americans limited their spending on events due to rising costs. “Some consumers have cut back on the total number of events they attend, saving their money for one or two big-ticket attractions this year, or have stopped splashing out for entertainment entirely,” the reporters write.

SHOT: In an NYT op-ed published Tuesday, Democratic adviser JOEL BENENSON argues that the Biden team needs to deal directly with the age question and to do it by making the president more public.

“The fact is, he’s old. A failure to confront the issue risks reinforcing that impression rather than overcoming it,” Benenson writes. “The Biden team needs to get the president out in front of the public more, finding opportunities for him to talk about age with a directness and confidence that convinces people it isn’t the core issue. Talk about it now so you aren’t talking about it next summer, then use the fall debates in 2024 to deliver a Reaganesque line that puts the topic to bed.”

CHASER: As WaPo’s MERYL KORNFIELD notes in a piece out today, Biden isn’t engaging with the press. “Biden has granted a sit-down interview to one daily news print journalist, the Associated Press’s Josh Boak, during his term so far. He has also spoken to ProPublica, an investigative journalism organization,” Kornfield notes

THIS GUY…. HE’S EVERYWHERE: ANTHONY POLCARI, known by many as “Tony P,” was spotted Tuesday at the White House. Tony P posted a pic to his Instagram story of his name tag at what appeared to be some sort of roundtable event. Unclear what it was. The White House did not respond to West Wing Playbook’s email for more info. Tony P also did not immediately respond to our DM. Predictably, White House staffers posted selfies with Tony P to their social media accounts (looking at you, digital team).

FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: REBECCA KASPER will be the chief of staff of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She most recently was special assistant to the president for climate and science personnel.

MORE PERSONNEL MOVES: ELIZABETH LEVINE ROBERTS has been promoted to be deputy director of writing for the Office of Presidential Correspondence at the White House.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: The U.S. secretly transferred long-range missiles to Ukraine, marking a significant effort by the administration to bolster its support for Kyiv, our LARA SELIGMAN, PAUL MCLEARY and ALEXANDER WARD report.

Debate over whether to provide Ukraine with the missiles — known as ATACMS — had persisted since the war began until Biden and senior administration officials agreed to provide the weapons in August before relaying the news to President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY at the White House last month.

NO CHIPS FOR YOU: The Biden administration tightened restrictions on the types of semiconductors U.S. firms can sell to China in an effort to limit Beijing’s progress in developing artificial intelligence and supercomputing capabilities, our GAVIN BADE reports for Pro subscribers.

The new rules strengthen restrictions announced last year that curtailed the country’s access to American chip technology and require manufacturers of less advanced chips to notify the U.S. government if they plan on selling to China or other countries subject to an arms embargo.

Longer Commutes, Shorter Lives: The Costs of Not Investing in America (NYT’s David Leonhardt)

‘So freaking boring’: 2024 is sucking the life out of retail politics (POLITICO’s Natalie Allison and Lisa Kashinsky)

White House calls Trump's Israel-Hamas war response 'revolting and dangerous' (NBC News’ Amanda Terkel)

ADRIENNE ELROD, director of external affairs for the Commerce Department’s CHIPS program, is very attached to her 16-year-old corgi-terrier mix, BERNIE. The two go just about everywhere together. And Elrod even threw Bernie a “Sweet 16” party earlier this year.

However, Elrod would really like everyone to know that her beloved dog is not named after that Bernie. A former 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign staffer, Elrod has been quoted in multiple articles over the past few years noting that her dog is not named after the Vermont senator. “No, she is not named after Bernie Sanders!,” Elrod told POLITICO in 2017.

We get it. He’s named after this guy.

RONALD REAGAN was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947-1952 and again from 1959-1960. Although the union is currently on strike, the last time Hollywood actors and writers both went on strike was while Reagan led the union, according to the Washington Post.

Thanks to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute for this question!

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

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