Presented by Facebook. Good Wednesday morning. I'm Adrienne Hurst and welcome to your Playbook

Daily briefing. Driving DC today, Tammy Duckworth's dust up with the White House over Asian-American

and Pacific Islander cabinet appointments. Duckworth and fellow Democratic Senator Maisie Hirono

threatened to oppose any Biden nominee who isn't part of a minority group. They backed

off that threat yesterday, but the whole thing reveals a lot about the dynamics in Washington right now.

We've got Eugene here with us this morning.

Hey, it's Eugene, played with co-author and White House correspondent. He's got all the details for us.

For months, Senator Tammy Duckworth has been nudging the Biden administration to appoint

more Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to his cabinet, to no avail.

When she brought up the issue again on a conference call Monday night with White House officials,

apparently White House Deputy Chief of Staff, General Malley Dillon, pointed to Vice President

Kamala Harris's South Asian American Heritage, almost as if to say that the box was checked

according to Duckworth.

The senator called the reply incredibly insulting.

Duckworth vowed to reject any nominee who was white and straight.

Then, late Tuesday night, the White House announced

that a senior-level AAPI official would be named and promised more appointments and, quote,

policy proposals that are relevant and important to the community. Duckworth issued a statement and

backed off. But the whole thing tells us a few things about where we are right now.

One, the episode speaks to the continued precariousness of Biden's agenda. It's a 50-50 Senate. One member

can credibly threaten to derail the nomination or legislation at any point. Duckworth, she just dipped her toes in the water a little bit and

snapped the White House to attention. Will other senators do the same thing follow suit? As one

...