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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun | | | HAPPY ANNIVERSARY — Today marks one year since DONALD TRUMP and MITCH McCONNELL last spoke to each other. (h/t Burgess Everett) MORE BAD SIGNS FOR BBB — We’re 10 days out from Christmas and the conversation on Capitol Hill right now is as much about Democrats’ elusive voting rights push as it is about passing Biden’s Build Back Better Act — which bodes poorly for BBB’s chances of passing any time soon. Senators like to say they can walk and chew gum at the same time. But that’s actually pretty difficult in a chamber that moves about as fast as a three-toed sloth — particularly when dealing with two ginormous issues that have befuddled the party all year. — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER met with JOE MANCHIN today, but it wasn’t to talk about BBB; it was to discuss possible rules changes that would ease the path forward for election reforms. Sens. TIM KAINE (D-Va.), ANGUS KING (I-Maine) and JON TESTER (D-Mont.) joined along. — You could sense the fading hope for BBB at Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s presser today. “I’m still hopeful this will pass,” she said when CNN’s Manu Raju asked her if Democrats “miscalculated” in downplaying Manchin’s resistance. “I’m not going to have a postmortem on something that hasn’t died.” Pelosi also suggested that if Dems wait until next year to pass BBB, they could make some of the programs retroactive. — Important note: “If Dems don't finish BBB in next few weeks, *today* will be the last day that child tax credit payments go out,” our own Sarah Ferris notes on Twitter. “Next pay date set for Jan. 15 but the IRS has told Dems they need to act by Dec 28 to avoid lapse.” — Asked about passing a standalone child tax credit extension if BBB can’t pass the Senate by the end of the year, Pelosi shot the idea down. “I don’t want to let anybody off the hook on the BBB, to say, ‘Well, we covered that one thing, so the pressure is off.’ I think that is really important leverage.” But here’s the problem, as we’ve said before: Manchin doesn’t see Democrats’ signature child tax credit enhancement as necessary. He’s been pushing to scale it back. This afternoon, WaPo’s Tony Romm and Seung Min Kim reported that the West Virginian “hopes to defund” the child tax credit in full — and though Manchin has since told reporters that this is not the case, it remains unclear whether he wants it in the BBB or prefers to move it separately. So good luck using it to bait him into a yes vote on BBB … Speaking of the Senate’s most-watched man, the one-and-only Ben Terris has a stepback looking at the first year of “President Manchin’s” term for WaPo. ONWARD NDAA — Meanwhile, the Senate passed the final compromise National Defense Authorization Act by an 89-10 vote today, sending the $768 billion defense policy bill to Biden for signing. More from Connor O’Brien Good Wednesday afternoon. | | A message from Amazon: The Economic Policy Institute reports that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would lift up to 3.7 million — including an estimated 1.3 million children — out of poverty.
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Here’s how the company’s industry-leading wages and benefits, like health care on day one, impact employees. | | | CLICKERS — NYT: “The Year in Pictures 2021,” curated by Meaghan Looram … “21 photos that defined 2021 on Capitol Hill,” by Roll Call’s Bill Clark, Tom Williams and Caroline Brehman THE WHITE HOUSE JFK DOCS DROP — The Biden administration today released a trove of previously classified documents on the assassination of former President JOHN F. KENNEDY. “The release of almost 1,500 documents still leaves more than 10,000 either partially redacted or withheld entirely. It is expected to prolong the bitter debate between the federal government and JFK researchers, who have argued that the CIA, the FBI and other national security agencies have continually stonewalled a congressionally mandated release,” CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis writes. … The documents … Related: “What’s Missing From the New JFK Document Release,” by Philip Shenon for POLITICO Magazine CONGRESS BIG INVESTIGATION — Insider is up with a deeply reported look into the “rampant disregard” for the STOCK Act, “a decade-old law designed to prevent corruption at the highest levels of American government.” The package, called “Conflicted Congress,” finds that “Dozens of federal lawmakers and at least 182 top congressional staffers are violating a federal conflict-of-interest law known as the STOCK Act. Others are failing to avoid clashes between their personal finances and public duties.” Insider gave members a rating: Green “if their financial compliance is solid. Yellow means caution — their actions are borderline and deserve greater scrutiny. Red means danger — that a member has multiple issues that could expose them to ethical problems.” The stories: “Congress and top Capitol Hill staff have violated the STOCK Act hundreds of times. But the consequences are minimal, inconsistent, and not recorded publicly,” by Camila DeChalus, Kimberly Leonard and Dave Levinthal … “Congress makes it nearly impossible to investigate whether its aides are violating financial conflict-of-interest laws. We went and did it anyway,” by Camila DeChalus, Warren Rojas and Kimberly Leonard … “The SEC could be the last, best hope to keep members of Congress from insider trading. The agency already has one Republican senator on its radar,” by C. Ryan Barber — Speaking of which … Pelosi, asked today if lawmakers and their spouses should be barred from trading stocks, gave a firm “no”: “This is a free market, we are a free market economy; they should be able to participate in that.” | | | | DON’T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | THE PANDEMIC OMICRON LATEST — ANTHONY FAUCI said this morning at the Covid-19 briefing: “Our booster vaccine regimens work against Omicron. At this time, there’s no need for a variant-specific booster.” — But with a surging Omicron variant threatening to wreak havoc during the holiday season around the globe, some are calling for the White House to either ramp up global vaccine manufacturing or “waive intellectual property protections on coronavirus vaccines and share them with the developing world,” WaPo’s Dan Diamond reports. TRAVEL TROUBLE — Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN said today that he is cutting his planned travel short, canceling appearances in Thailand and Hawaii due to concerns over the coronavirus, Quint Forgey writes. WaPo’s John Hudson tweeted a picture of the eerie scene after a member of Blinken’s traveling pool tested positive DEEP DIVE — AP’s Michelle Smith peels back the curtain on how ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. turned anti-vax conspiracy theories into a booming charity empire worth more than $6 million. “An investigation by The Associated Press finds that Children’s Health Defense has raked in funding and followers as Kennedy used his star power as a member of one of America’s most famous families to open doors, raise money and lend his group credibility. … Since the pandemic started, Children’s Health Defense has expanded the reach of its newsletter, which uses slanted information, cherry-picked facts and conspiracy theories to spread distrust of the COVID-19 vaccines. The group has also launched an internet TV channel and started a movie studio. … As Children’s Health Defense has worked to expand its influence, experts said, it has targeted its false claims at groups that may be more prone to distrust the vaccine, including mothers and Black Americans.” TRUMP CARDS TAX APPEAL — After a federal judge ruled against DONALD TRUMP’s attempt to block the release of his tax returns to Congress, Trump’s team said it would appeal the ruling. “Trump's appeal will extend the uncertainty surrounding the House investigation for months. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia leans liberal, and the former President would undoubtedly turn to the Supreme Court if necessary,” CNN’s Tierney Sneed writes. BEYOND THE BELTWAY THE GOP INFRASTRUCTURE DANCE — Across the country, GOP governors doing an “awkward dance … as they accept — and often champion — money” from the Biden administration’s stimulus bill — legislation they vocally assailed, NYT’s Alan Rappeport writes. — South Dakota Gov. KRISTI NOEM criticized the “giant handout,” but decided not to turn it down. (In fact, no state has declined the relief money.) Noem has “outlined how she would use some of the nearly $1 billion slated for her state to invest in local water projects, make housing more affordable and build new day care centers.” — Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS intends to use some of his state’s pool of $8.8 billion to pay for “ infrastructure, transportation and workforce retention,” as well as “priorities that are unrelated to the pandemic. Mr. DeSantis proposed a gas tax holiday and an $8 million program to remove “unauthorized aliens” from … the state.” — Ohio Gov. MIKE DEWINE “opposed the entire package and, after it passed, his state took a leading role in litigation contending it was unlawful to put conditions on the relief money that prohibited states from using it to finance tax cuts.” Now, he’s using “more than $2 billion of the federal funds to replenish the state’s jobless benefits fund, to improve water and sewer quality and to improve pediatric behavioral health facilities.” And so on … more examples, including from Texas and Arizona, at the link DUELING CRISES — Refugees from Afghanistan are running up against the burgeoning housing crisis in the U.S. as they seek permanent residences, NYT’s Miriam Jordan reports in Owensboro, Ky. “As of Monday, more than 40,000 Afghans had completed their processing and departed for new homes; some 30,000 others remained on seven military bases that the government hopes to empty as soon as possible.” | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH CHENEY SWATS AT TRUMP — Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) posted a Twitter thread calling attention to the text messages that Fox News hosts SEAN HANNITY and LAURA INGRAHAM sent to MARK MEADOWS, and called Trump’s refusal to act “a supreme dereliction of the President’s duty” that the Jan. 6 select committee is examining. HOW THE BIG LIE SPREADS — Army Gen. MICHAEL FLYNN and Army Reserve Col. PHIL WALDRON often worked together during the Afghan and Iraq wars. “Now the two military veterans, along with at least two other retired and reserve officers, are engaged in a new mission, this time with a domestic target: They are central to the far-right effort to persuade Americans that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump,” Reuters’ Aram Roston, Brad Heath, John Shiffman and Peter Eisler report. “In these efforts, Flynn, Waldron and their colleagues publicly touted their military-intelligence training, arguing that their expertise on the battlefield provided them special insight into alleged election fraud at home in America.” ‘TRUMP SIMPLY LIED’ — National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty takes Trump to task for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in light of the new text messages that further paint the picture of that day. “[T]he riot at the Capitol happened because President Donald Trump simply lied, and lied, and lied. … Treating Trump like a baby whose feelings had to be coddled at the end resulted in ASHLI BABBITT’S getting shot as she tried to break into Congress against a lawful order to desist. He could no more Stop the Steal than make Mexico pay for the wall. But, pay for his actions? Some people did.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN XI — As Biden tries to strengthen alliances across the world, he is watching two of his greatest adversaries team up. “XI JINPING addressed VLADIMIR V. PUTIN as his ‘old friend,’ and the Russian president called his Chinese counterpart both his ‘dear friend’ and ‘esteemed friend’ as the two leaders held a video summit on Wednesday — a display of solidarity in the face of Western pressure over Ukraine, Taiwan and other disputes,” NYT’s Anton Troianovski and Steven Lee Myers report in Moscow. “China and Russia, once adversaries, have formed an ever-tighter economic, military and geopolitical partnership under Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin — one that increasingly looks like a bloc against American influence as both countries’ confrontations with the United States deepen.” PLAYBOOKERS OUT AND ABOUT — The Bull Moose Project held a fundraiser in New York City on Tuesday night, titled “A Night to Save New York.” Andrew Giuliani, Saurabh Sharma, Ryan Girdusky and Stefano Forte all gave speeches, with topics including “Make New York Great Again” (Giuliani), “The Vision for American Greatness” (Girdusky), “Prepare: No One is Coming to Save Us” (Sharma) and “The Old GOP is Dead” (Forte). Also SPOTTED: Anthony Sabatini and Andrew McCarthy. — SPOTTED at a holiday party for the Senate Press Secretaries Association on Tuesday night hosted by Hamilton Place Strategies, Edelman and Forbes Tate Partners: Evan Dixon, Mike Inacay, Meghan Pennington, Igor Bobic, Ali Vitali, Ryan Taylor, Shahaley Carr Bornstein, Sean Neary, Ryan Kuntz, Tom Brandt, Roy Loewenstein, Jonathan Kott, Ben Garmisa, Julie Tsirkin, Stephanie Penn, Adam Webb, Julia Krieger, Rich Davidson, Ty Bofferding, Valerie Chicola, Bryan DeAngelis, Jason Donner, Niels Lesniewski and Ray Zaccaro. — Solidarity Strategies’ annual holiday party Tuesday night at Hill Country BBQ brought out many Latino VIPs around town. SPOTTED: Chuck Rocha, Cristela Alonzo, Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Cristina Antelo, Estuardo Rodríguez, Mayra Macías, Pili Tobar, Janet Murguía, Kara Turrentine, Ebony Payne, Louise Bentsen, Albert Morales, Jeff Weaver, David Sanchez, Alex Jacquez, Will Attig, Veronica Duron, Luis Alcauter, Eileen Garcia, Daysi Gonzalez, Tiffany Sotomayor, Roberto Nava, Kenna Kotinek and Lizeth Luna. TRANSITIONS — Erik Hotmire is joining Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen as managing director. He most recently was senior managing director at Teneo. … Emily Patt will join Lucid’s policy team as senior manager for trade and international, covering tax and trade issues. She most recently has been at Honda. … Joseph Howell is now an associate at Trivest Partners. He most recently worked on the Glenn Youngkin campaign, and is a Trump White House, USTR and Commerce alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Cassie McNamara, an editorial producer for CNN’s “State of the Union,” and James McNamara, senior manager of staff development at Synergy Fitness Group, welcomed Grace Lucille McNamara on Thursday. Pic BONUS BIRTHDAY: NRCC's Robert Boland (4-0) | | | | A message from Amazon:   How Amazon is advancing their employees’ careers through skills training. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
