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Presented by Binance: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | Presented by Binance | |  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell today urged fellow Republicans to vote for the omnibus. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | THE WHEELS ON THE OMNIBUS — This morning, we broke down some of the most notable big-ticket inclusions and omissions in the text of the omnibus government spending bill released overnight, from Electoral Count Act reform to Ukraine aid to the expanded child tax credit. But in such a behemoth — appropriating $1.7 trillion over more than 4,000 pages — there are plenty more consequential policy decisions to dig into. Here are some more provisions you should know: What else is in … — A bipartisan effort to block a tax avoidance scheme via syndicated conservation easements. ProPublica backstory on “The Tax Scam That Won’t Die” — A higher cap for Afghan special immigrant visas, moving from 34,500 to 38,500, and $2.4 billion to reimburse states for supporting Ukrainian refugees. — A 30% boost for child care spending through the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. That’s half the increase that Democrats had sought. More from Eleanor Mueller for Pros — Protections for the Maine lobster industry, for which the state’s delegation had fought hard. Unhappiness from whale advocates, via WaPo — The first major overhaul of cosmetics regulation in 84 years, giving more authority over the market to the FDA. More from Lauren Gardner for Pros — Significant changes to 401(k) retirement accounts that include allowing Americans to wait until age 75, instead of 72, to start taking out money. Details from the WSJ — A provision to expand access to summer meals for school children. Background from Food Fix — A waiver for Boeing to blow past a Dec. 27 deadline for getting its 737 Max models certified. Preview from the FT — Language to allow ANDRE CARTER and other college stars from the service academies to head to the NFL (or other pro leagues). More from the Military Times What else is out … — The Afghan Adjustment Act, which would have saved tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees from the risk of deportation but ran into opposition from Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa). Great WaPo feature on the U.S. veterans who fought for it — Two major antitrust bills aimed at Big Tech, which internet giants spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fight, per Bloomberg. — The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which would have given more bathroom breaks and other job protections to pregnant workers — and now likely won’t become law for years. Background from Eleanor Mueller — A ban on Huawei from the U.S. banking system. — The VALID Act, which would have changed the regulation of laboratory developed tests. Rep. CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS (R-Wash.) killed it, David Lim reports for Pros. WHAT’S NEXT — The Senate will hold a procedural vote on the bill at 2:30 p.m. Will any senators hold it up? Sen. MIKE LEE (R-Utah) today called it “an act of legislative barbarism,” but Minority Whip JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) told reporters he thinks it can pass by Wednesday after some amendment votes. On the floor, Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL urged fellow Republicans to vote for the omnibus, praising its defense spending plus-up and warning that failure would “give our armed forces confusion and uncertainty.” McCARTHY COMING IN HOT — House GOP Leader KEVIN McCARTHY, trying to shore up conservative backing for his speaker bid, threw his support behind the 13 House Republicans who said they’d tank any policy priorities of GOP senators who vote for the omnibus. “Agreed,” McCarthy tweeted. “Except no need to whip — when I’m Speaker, their bills will be dead on arrival in the House if this nearly $2T monstrosity is allowed to move forward over our objections and the will of the American people.” Good Tuesday afternoon, and thanks for reading Playbook PM. What other under-the-radar omnibus provisions caught your eye? Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Binance: It’s been a tough year for crypto. After unprecedented fraud and mismanagement, industry confidence has been shaken. As the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance believes greater transparency is critical. At Binance, user assets are backed 1:1 and our capital structure is debt-free, and we are eager to work with regulators to help bring order to the markets. Learn more about our commitment to moving forward in Politico this week. | | | CONGRESS PULL UP A CHAIR — Incoming House Democratic Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES is expected to tap Rep. SUZAN DelBENE (D-Wash.) as the next DCCC chair, Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman, Heather Caygle, John Bresnahan and Max Cohen report. Though Reps. AMI BERA (D-Calif.) and TONY CÁRDENAS (D-Calif.) were running for the position, concerns about both of them helped prod the caucus to turn the position into a Jeffries nomination instead of an election. (DelBene would still need caucus ratification.) A former frontliner now in a safe seat, DelBene has recently chaired the moderate New Democrat Coalition. She also adds more gender diversity to House Dem leadership. HAPPENING TODAY — As House Ways and Means meets this afternoon for a consequential decision on DONALD TRUMP’s tax returns, NYT’s Alan Rappeport writes that a move to release them “would represent both a significant act of transparency and what some fear is the end of an era of taxpayer privacy.” Not everybody — even in the Democratic Party — thinks making the returns public is the right choice: “If they get revealed, it seems to me they ought to have a pretty good reason for why that’s in the public interest,” former IRS Commissioner JOHN KOSKINEN says. “It’s a dangerous precedent.” PULLOUT FALLOUT — “GOP’s looming Afghanistan probe worries Biden aides,” by WaPo’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Dan Lamothe: “While much attention is focused on Republicans’ plans to investigate [President JOE] BIDEN’s son HUNTER , some White House and other administration officials privately say an Afghanistan probe could prove more emotionally difficult and politically damaging. … They also say they do not expect a big bombshell from any hearings because the episode has been so thoroughly examined.” ALL POLITICS IT’S ELECTION DAY — Amid a flurry of other news, you might have forgotten that we’ll likely know the next member of Congress in short order. Virginia’s 4th District, considered a safe Democratic seat, is holding its Democratic “firehouse primary” to replace the late Rep. DONALD McEACHIN, and state Sen. JENNIFER McCLELLAN is seen as the frontrunner, NYT’s Maya King reports. State Sen. JOE MORRISSEY is her main competition: A controversial moderate, he’s nonetheless earned support from Republicans (for his anti-abortion views) and Black voters (for his criminal justice work), and he’s upset the Democratic establishment before. Caveats from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Though polls close at 7 p.m., it could take a while to determine the winner. Vote counting won’t begin until Wednesday morning. And there are multiple lawsuits in the works alleging unfairness over the party’s decision to hold the primary on a Tuesday and with limited polling sites. 2024 WATCH — Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS’ political committee this weekend restarted paid ads on social media for the first time since his reelection, FWIW’s Kyle Tharp reports. “It’s unusual for a term-limited politician to continue running fundraising and email acquisition ads after winning re-election - unless he or she is planning to seek higher office.”
| | | | POLITICO AT CES 2023 : We are bringing a special edition of our Digital Future Daily newsletter to Las Vegas to cover CES 2023. The newsletter will take you inside the largest and most influential technology event on the planet, featuring every major and emerging industry in the technology ecosystem gathered in one place. The newsletter runs from Jan. 5-7 and will focus on the public policy related aspects of the event. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of CES 2023. | | | | | TRUMP CARDS THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING — AP’s Steve Peoples clocks a noteworthy development Monday: The House Jan. 6 committee recommended that prosecutors bring criminal charges against Trump, and the Republican blowback was … pretty quiet. The lack of outrage en masse among the GOP stands in contrast to how Republicans have responded to past actions against Trump. “The divergent responses are a sign of how quickly the political landscape has shifted for Trump as he faces a new legal threat and mounts a third bid for the presidency.” MUSK READS THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN — After Twitter users told ELON MUSK in an unscientific poll that he should step down as head of the social media company, he is indeed searching for a new CEO, CNBC’s David Faber reports. But in some ways, that’s not a surprise: Musk previously said that he would be CEO only temporarily, and his search predates the recent poll. POLICY CORNER A-COMIN’ DOWN THE STREET — The CFPB today announced a $3.7 billion settlement with Wells Fargo over various violations of the law, including $2 billion that will go to customers as restitution. Among the infractions, per NBC’s Rob Wile: “Improperly repossessing cars. Erroneously denying mortgage loan modifications. Wrongfully freezing or closing customers’ accounts.” BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE — It’s electric at the U.S. Postal Service. The agency will spend nearly $10 billion to purchase a next generation of vehicles, 66,000 of which will be electric, WaPo’s Jacob Bogage reports. That’ll make the Postal Service the owner of “one of the largest electric fleets in the nation,” he writes. “It’s a major achievement for a White House climate agenda that leans heavily on reducing greenhouse gases from vehicles.” CLEARING THE AIR — That’s not the only news at the intersection of the climate and the roads today. The EPA rolled out final new rules that will force buses and large trucks to reduce their pollution five years from now. Aiming to reduce smog and soot from heavy-duty vehicles, the regulation marks the first change to these standards in 21 years. The EPA says it will save 2,900 people from premature deaths. More from CNN AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR REPORT — U.S. Special Operations commandos took six Islamic State officials in Syria raids over the past two days, the military announced. Among those captured was a senior official, known as AL-ZUBAYDI , who the U.S. said helped plan terrorist attacks. “The fact that the Pentagon sent commandos to kill or capture the Islamic State officials, rather than use a less risky drone operation, indicated their significance,” notes NYT’s Eric Schmitt. AFTERNOON READ — “How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis,” by Alex Palmer in the NYT Magazine: “What often goes unnoticed in these conversations is that TikTok is as much a product of the West as it is of China. ByteDance owes its very existence to the intermingling of ideas, capital and people that defined the last five decades of U.S.-China engagement. … But now the world has changed. In the United States, being tough on China is one of the few areas of bipartisan agreement. … TikTok seems likely to be the last of its kind as well as the first. The company is caught in the middle between the old era and the new — too Chinese for America, too American for China.” — TikTok on the clock: Two top House Republicans, MICHAEL McCAUL (Texas) and MIKE ROGERS (Ala.), told several agencies that they want more info on the national security deal being negotiated with TikTok, WSJ’s John McKinnon scooped.
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY BORDER SONG — Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas, has emerged as a major new immigration chokepoint, as a surge of Nicaraguans and other migrants prompts fears of a humanitarian crisis, WSJ’s Santiago Pérez reports from the city. “Thousands of migrants … have arrived in Ciudad Juárez in recent days as word spread on social media that U.S. authorities were preparing to take tougher measures to deter illegal crossings.” STICKING TO THEIR GUNS — “In Public Schools, the N.R.A. Gets a Boost From Junior R.O.T.C.,” by NYT’s Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Mike Baker in Cape Coral, Fla.: “Instructors in military-sponsored J.R.O.T.C. classes have offered to promote the N.R.A. in high schools in exchange for money for their marksmanship programs.” PLAYBOOKERS SPOTTED at Off the Record at the Hay-Adams on Monday night: Alyssa Farah, Stephanie Grisham, Olivia Troye and Sarah Matthews having drinks together in a back booth. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the White House Hanukkah reception on Monday night: AG Merrick Garland, Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, chief of staff Ron Klain, Anne and Yehuda Neuberger, Matt Klapper, Samantha Vinograd, Jonathan Greenblatt, Tanya Mayorkas, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), and Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Office of the USTR is adding Roberto Soberanis as assistant USTR for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement (most recently at the New Jersey Department of Labor), Victor Ban as special counsel (most recently at Covington & Burling), and Angelica Annino as director of scheduling and advance coordinator (most recently at the SEC). — Rachel Ryan McKell has been named senior director in FTI Consulting’s energy practice. She most recently was senior manager/deputy head of comms at Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar). TRANSITIONS — Graeme Crews is now comms director for Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. He previously was comms director for the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis under Rep Clyburn, and is a Southern Poverty Law Center alum. … The American Medical Association has added Suzanne Joy and Jeff Coughlin as assistant directors of federal affairs. Joy previously was senior adviser for public policy and regulation at Holland & Knight. Coughlin previously was senior director of federal and state affairs at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
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