  Monday 09.27.21
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by Paul LeBlanc and Zachary B. Wolf : What went so wrong in Afghanistan? In a highly anticipated Senate hearing slated for Tuesday morning, lawmakers will have a chance to grill three military leaders for the first time since the US' chaotic exit from Afghanistan:
Read this story from CNN's Zachary Cohen. Though President Joe Biden has fiercely defended the decision to leave Afghanistan, questions about what went so wrong have only intensified in the weeks since the terrorist attack that killed 13 US service members and more than 170 others outside Kabul's airport.
What can we expect from the hearing? All three officials will undoubtedly face questions about the chaotic nature of the withdrawal, be pressed to explain the Biden administration's plan for conducting counterterrorism missions in the country going forward and be called upon to answer for the failures that led to a drone strike killing 10 civilians, including seven children, in Kabul during the final days of the evacuation.
What has the Biden administration told Congress so far? Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan during consecutive congressional hearings earlier this month.
"We made the right decision," he said, "not sending another generation of Americans to fight and die in Afghanistan. We did the right thing by our citizens, working feverishly to get every one of them out. We did the right thing by 5,000 Afghans to bring them to safety, and now we're working to do the right thing to hold the Taliban to the expectations of the international community."
Afghan refugee resettlement update? It's possible that the Pentagon leaders could be asked about tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who are temporarily being housed at military installations around the US.
Several of those installations are nearing capacity, according to new numbers provided by Northern Command on Monday, raising more questions about where the administration plans to send those who are still trying to flee Afghanistan. : Capitol Hill speed read Government shutdown looms large. Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed bill to suspend the debt limit and avert a government shutdown from advancing in the Senate on Monday.
Democrats now have just three days to fund the government. There is no public Plan B at the moment, but multiple people with direct knowledge told CNN the expectation is the debt ceiling suspension will be ditched and a smaller-scale short-term funding bill will likely move.
Bipartisan infrastructure vote set for Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was strategic about moving this vote to Thursday. That is the date that the country's surface transportation bill expires.
The infrastructure bill is the road to highway funding, and for a lot of members on the fence, Pelosi is hoping that might move the needle here.
Policy gaps remain in social safety net bill. Over the weekend, the House Budget Committee passed its own version of the $3.5 trillion social safety net bill. But the move did little to assuage progressives' trust gap with their more moderate colleagues.
CNN's Lauren Fox and Phil Mattingly put it this way: The week ahead is going to be high-stakes, dramatic and it's going to look like everything is falling apart. It could very well be the beginning of the end of Biden's sweeping agenda. It could also be the week that the real negotiations begin. Read their analysis here. : Biden gets his booster  The President received his Covid-19 vaccine booster shot on Monday afternoon at the White House, just days after booster doses were approved by federal health officials.
"We know that to beat this pandemic and to save lives ... we need to get folks vaccinated," Biden said during remarks ahead of his shot. "So, please, please do the right thing. Please get these shots. It can save your life and it can save the lives of those around you."
Biden received his first two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine ahead of his inauguration in January. The 78-year-old President qualified for a booster dose since he had received his second Pfizer/BioNTech shot more than six months ago and is in an eligible age group.
: What else? Sharp rise in murders. The FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Report for 2020 on Monday, showing that the number of homicides increased nearly 30% from 2019, the largest single-year increase the agency has recorded since it began tracking these crimes in the 1960s.
Liz Cheney gets personal. The Wyoming Republican told CBS News' "60 Minutes" that she had been "wrong" to oppose same-sex marriage as she reflected on the stance that sparked an open rift with her sister during her unsuccessful Senate bid in 2013.
Supreme Court justices prep for big term. The high court met behind closed doors on Monday to discuss petitions that have accumulated over the summer and decide which cases should be added to the court's docket.
New steps to preserve DACA. The Biden administration on Monday morning moved to save the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation.
Rep. Karen Bass running for mayor of Los Angeles. "Our city is facing a public health, safety and economic crisis in homelessness that has evolved into a humanitarian emergency. I've spent my entire life bringing groups of people together in coalitions to solve complex problems and produce concrete change -- especially in times of crisis," Bass said in a statement.
No release restrictions for Reagan shooter. The Justice Department reached a deal with John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, to free him from the strict conditions of release that he's been living with for several years. : What are we doing here? We're trying to connect the dots at a time of political, cultural and economic upheaval. All CNN Newsletters | Manage Profile
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