Punchbowl News: "We are 51 days until the federal government enters into a partial shutdown, with a full shutdown just two weeks later. Not only have the House and Senate not begun negotiations on the particulars of the 12 annual spending bills, congressional leaders haven't even decided on a topline number yet. Nothing can happen until that's done."
"Aides to the Big Four have begun discussions over a topline number. The challenge here is that the White House, Senate Republicans, House Democrats and Senate Democrats are going to insist on the 2024 topline spending number from the Fiscal Responsibility Act — $1.586 trillion. Perhaps even a little higher."
"But House Republicans have been conditioned by their own leadership to believe they'll be able to convince the rest of Washington to cut spending significantly. However, they lack the political leverage to make this happen, especially after the last few months of dysfunction."
Steven Pearlstein: The three fantasies that keep Congress dysfunctional.
"I'm not down on the institution. I'm not down on our ability to make decisions, but we've been in a particularly dumb chapter."— Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), quoted by the Washington Examiner.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told lawmakers in a closed party meeting that the chamber may vote in the coming weeks to officially authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, Punchbowl News reports.
Emmer told lawmakers in the closed meeting that the White House was not being forthcoming with information.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) denied Hunter Biden's request to testify publicly, saying that he wants the president's son to sit down for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, the Daily Beast reports.
Meanwhile, The Hill reports Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) ripped his GOP colleagues for rejecting Biden's request for an open hearing, calling it an "epic humiliation" for Republicans.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said impeaching President Biden would be a "political disaster" for Republicans, The Messenger reports. Said Huckabee: "To impeach Joe Biden in the House, knowing it's not going to go to the Senate — there's no point. All it becomes is a political disaster."
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) was interviewed on Fox Business by Maria Bartiromo:
BARTIROMO: Have you been able to identify any actual policy changes that Joe Biden made as a result of getting money from China?
McCLAIN: The short answer is no.
"A growing number of Senate Democrats appear open to making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in order to secure Republican support for aiding Ukraine and Israel," Politico reports.
"They are motivated not just by concern for America's embattled allies. They also believe changes are needed to help a migration crisis that is growing more dire and to potentially dull the political sting of border politics in battleground states before the 2024 elections."
"The Senate border security talks have reached a crucial stage for any potential bipartisan deal: the left and the right both hate it," Politico reports.
"When both sides of a negotiation are publicly taking shots at each other, that's usually a sign that a deal is close," Punchbowl News reports.
"That's what's happening today in the Senate, where a bipartisan group negotiating border policy changes is inching closer to an agreement. A deal on border policy would unlock GOP support for a massive $100 billion-plus foreign-aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan."
"As Democrats hammer Republicans for even trying to link further Ukraine funding to a border fix, GOP leaders are pushing back."
Noah Smith: "Immigration is deeply ingrained in our national self-concept. But every once in a while, a sufficiently large number of Americans get the idea that immigration is a threat to our nation, and they take actions to limit that perceived threat."
"Unfortunately, now appears to be one of those times. Anti-immigration sentiment collapsed during the Trump years, but has come roaring back under Biden."
"Elon Musk voiced support Tuesday for Pizzagate, the long-debunked conspiracy theory that led a man to fire a rifle inside a Washington, D.C., restaurant in 2016," the Washington Post reports.
"The far-right theory, a predecessor to QAnon, alleged that the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders ran a secret satanic child sex ring in a D.C. pizzeria known as Comet Ping Pong."
If Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he'll likely he'll have a governing trifecta. That's because Republicans are favored to take control of the Senate next year due to a favorable map and a Trump victory would probably boost Republicans in key House races too.
The House and Senate have never both flipped in different directions at the same time.
That should worry Democrats because as weak as congressional resistance was to Trump in 2017, Republicans will be much more enthusiastic about him in a second term.
Brian Beutler writes: "We forget now, because of how badly things have slipped since then, but congressional Republicans in 2017 weren't entirely sure how tightly to hug Trump, or what secrets he might have been hiding. They thus took a number of steps to try to protect themselves from him. They launched the first congressional Russia investigations; they were the ones who called on DOJ to appoint a special counsel after Trump fired FBI Director Jim Comey.
Congressional Republicans in 2025 won't be anything like that. If, for instance, Trump fires federal employees who fail his loyalty tests en masse, they can surely sue. They might even win favorable judgements from lower-courts. But what happens when Trump just summarily ignores court orders? 2017 Republicans probably wouldn't have impeached him, but they might've felt uneasy enough about it to try to force his compliance.
In 2025, having rebuilt the party in his image, and perfected the art of abetting and covering up for him, they would just shrug it off. More likely, they would start investigating the judges who tried to make Trump follow the law or whoever else got in his way."
Trump's authoritarian instincts were muted during in his first term due to resistance from Congress and, of course, his general incompetence. He won't likely get much push back from Congress next time.
A giant balloon featuring a likeness of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was flying in front of the Capitol today.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) plans to notice the privileged resolution to expel fellow Rep. George Santos (R-NY) at 2 p.m. this afternoon, Semafor reports.
The procedural move would force a vote on the expulsion measure to come to the House floor within two legislative days, though House leaders could call it up sooner.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke to Rep. George Santos (R-NY) earlier today and told him that that one of his options is to resign, CNN reports.
Playbook: "Multiple lawmakers moved yesterday to call up measures expelling the New York Republican, starting a two-day legislative clock. House GOP aides say the precise timing is unclear, but leaders might see no reason to wait: Santos made perfectly clear in comments on the floor and to reporters yesterday that he won't be going quietly."
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Senate Republicans on Tuesday that he'd resolve the standoff over his military promotions blockade before Democratic leaders force them to take an uncomfortable vote on a rules-change resolution, Punchbowl News reports.
Said Tuberville: "Listen, everyone. I got y'all into this mess. I'm gonna get you out."
"Tuberville also extolled the long-standing traditions of the Senate, which he said would be eroded if the Senate passes a Democratic-led resolution that would allow most military promotions to be voted on simultaneously. Tuberville indicated privately to Republicans that he wants to avoid ever getting to that point, acknowledging that it would be a difficult vote for many GOP senators who desperately want the blockade to end."
"This is indeed a shift for Tuberville, who had previously said he didn't view Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's timing for a floor vote on the resolution as a deadline to decide on an off-ramp."
Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, despite earlier reports that indicated both President Biden and Harris would not be there, Bloomberg reports.
Axios: Pope Francis cancels trip to COP28 due to illness.
"Climate envoy John Kerry previewed new U.S. ambitions for producing nuclear fusion energy during a visit to Massachusetts on Monday," Axios reports.
"The full announcement at the COP28 summit later this month is expected to coincide with a renewed U.S. effort to deploy nuclear energy — a campaign whose targets may be hard to achieve without fusion projects."
"The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides for a long-term cease-fire that would prolong the truce in Gaza beyond the current two-day extension and start talks that would end the war altogether," the Wall Street Journal reports.
"A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails… And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas's top leadership… Hamas could also have to accept demilitarization."
"A pair of Jewish House Democrats is introducing a resolution on Tuesday condemning a Republican bill to expel Palestinians from the U.S.," Axios reports.
"While lawmakers often condemn or censure each other for controversial rhetoric, it's rare for legislation to spark a formal rebuke."
"The two-page resolution, a copy of which was first shared with Axios, is being introduced by Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), both of whom are Jewish and steadfastly pro-Israel."
"In any other circumstance it would have been a shocking sight. But it was only fitting that in her death Rosalynn Carter, the pioneering woman who turned the role of first lady into a job, did one final thing no one else has been able to do this year: lure Melania Trump out of Mar-a-Lago and back into the public eye. Not only that, but she created a situation in which Mrs. Trump was seated right next to Michelle Obama," the New York Times reports.
"Mrs. Trump has eschewed almost every major event since leaving the White House in January 2021, including her husband's several court appearances (the rare exception being his November 2022 announcement that he was once again running for president). But on Tuesday, as is custom, she joined the three other living former first ladies — Mrs. Obama, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush — as well as Jill Biden, the current first lady, at the Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta, for Mrs. Carter's memorial service."
New York Times: "His face was pale and gaunt, his legs were wrapped in a blanket, and his eyes never seemed to make contact with the family members huddled around him. But on Tuesday, Jimmy Carter was there, in the front row of a church in Atlanta, just a few feet from the coffin holding Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years…"
"That he would make such a trek in his condition was, to some, shocking — and, to his family, worrisome."
"And yet, it was also very true to form: a display of the tenacity, bordering on stubbornness, that has been a defining characteristic of Mr. Carter, the longest-living president in U.S. history."
"Russian President Vladimir Putin will not make peace in Ukraine before he knows the results of the November 2024 U.S. election, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday, amid concerns that a potential victory for former President Donald Trump could upend Western support for Kyiv," Reuters reports.
"Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024 and is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has been sharply critical of U.S. support for Kyiv."
"Donald Trump urged a New York appeals court to continue to pause the gag order against him in his civil fraud trial, saying that threats to the judge and his law clerk do not 'justify' limiting the former president's constitutional right to defend himself," CNN reports.
Special Counsel Jack Smith seized on the revelation in the New York fraud case to press the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the gag order in the Jan. 6 case against Trump. With the appeals court having already heard oral arguments and poised to rule any day now, Smith filed a rare Thanksgiving Day supplement to the appeal alerting the court to the New York filing detailing the threats against the judge and law clerk. Trump responded that the filing was "impermissible" and "irrelevant."
"Donald Trump will defend himself against charges that he illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia by arguing his claims about voting fraud were 'core political speech' protected by the First Amendment," the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
"In a filing on Monday in Fulton County Superior Court, Trump attorney Steven Sadow said the former president will challenge his indictment on racketeering, conspiracy and other charges by asserting his right to political speech and expressive conduct."
A federal judge on Monday rejected Donald Trump's efforts to subpoena information related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack that the former president had accused government officials of failing to preserve, determining the request amounted to a "fishing expedition," The Hill reports.
Daily Beast: "The former president is battling conflicting trial dates in a number of courts, and judges are now hopping on the phone to coordinate their schedules. In fact, two judges may have already double-booked him. (In March, Trump has three weeks to wrap up a D.C. federal trial that's potentially six weeks long—before he's due in New York for a state trial.)"
"But those private exchanges have caused some drama, particularly as Trump's lawyers keep trying to push back his upcoming New York criminal trial for paying hush money to a porn star."
"President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) have made confirming judges a top priority — but their pace is slowing as Biden nears three years in office," the Washington Post reports.
"Biden fell behind the number of judges the Senate had confirmed at the same point under former president Donald Trump over the summer, and the gap has grown. The Senate has confirmed 154 judges since Biden took office, compared with 164 judges at this point during Trump's presidency."
Associated Press: "All five justices signed a shortly worded order to affirm a lower court decision that the redistricting plan enacted by Democratic state lawmakers in 2021 succeeded in substantially diluting votes of their political opponents — but that the changes fell short of 'egregious' gerrymandering."
"The district is one of about a dozen in the national spotlight as Republicans campaign to keep their slim U.S. House majority in 2024."
No judge has had a better global view of the Trump prosecutions than U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who as chief judge in DC until earlier this year oversaw the grand juries investigating Trump's election subversion efforts and his unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
It was Howell who made key rulings during the Jan. 6 grand jury proceedings on executive privilege, the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, and other investigative issues. As chief judge, she also had administrative responsibilities for the district court's heavy case load of Jan. 6 rioter cases.
So when Howell warns of creeping authoritarianism in the United States, it's worth taking notice.
Speaking last night at a lawyers event in DC, Howell quoted from Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson's new book, including:
"Big lies are springboards for authoritarians."
The U.S. "is at a crossroads teetering on the brink of authoritarianism."
Howell's comments were reported by Politico's Josh Gerstein:
"We are having a very surprising and downright troubling moment in this country when the very importance of facts is dismissed, or ignored," Howell told the annual gala of the Women's White Collar Defense Association at a downtown hotel. "That's very risky business for all of us in our democracy. … The facts matter."
Howell did not mention Trump by name but noted that the DC judges "regularly see the impact of big lies at the sentencing of hundreds, hundreds of individuals who have been convicted for offense conduct on Jan. 6, 2021."
"Far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders' attempts to form a cabinet began anew with the appointment of a former Labor Party minister as coalition negotiator after an earlier failure to make headway in talks," Bloomberg reports.
"Wilders Tuesday picked Ronald Plasterk as a so-called scout tasked with exploring the various options available for the formation of a new cabinet. He was previously a minister of education and interior as part of the Dutch Labor Party and is nowadays a conservative columnist for local newspaper De Telegraaf."
"Giorgia Meloni's ascendancy to the Italian premiership last year sent a shiver down the spines of centrists across the Continent and beyond. Brussels braced for a member of a post-fascist party getting a seat (and a vote) at its top tables, bolstering the ranks of the EU's problem children," Politico reports.
"Kyiv prepared for Italy to break from the pack and seek to soften support for Ukraine and wind back Russia sanctions. But a year after becoming the leader of the EU's third-largest economy, Meloni has defied expectations — and built a significant (if cautious) fan club."
"Argentina's right-wing President-elect Javier Milei will meet with President Joe Biden's national security adviser on Tuesday in Washington," the AP reports. "Biden, who will be traveling on Tuesday to Georgia for a memorial service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter and then to Colorado, will not meet with Milei."
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