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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | |  The U.S. added 199,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7%, in positive signs for Fed Chair Jerome Powell. | Mark Schiefelbein, File/AP Photo | JOBS DAY — Will slower but steady win the race? Fed Chair JEROME POWELL is having a pretty good day: The November jobs report out this morning offered fresh evidence that the U.S. economy really is heading for a “soft landing” as the labor market remains solid despite a cooldown. The U.S. added 199,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7%. The numbers got a slight boost from the end of auto workers’ and actors’ strikes, which sent tens of thousands of people back to work. The overall picture is of a labor market that is still growing but at a slower clip — as are wages — while policymakers try to hit the sweet spot of bringing down prices without triggering a recession. The Labor Department data shows “there is still juice left in a labor market that has been slowing almost imperceptibly,” NYT’s Lydia DePillis writes. And moderating wage growth itself could help ease inflation, even as Americans are still seeing their earnings rise faster than prices. “Almost perfect,” one analyst told WSJ’s Amara Omeokwe and Nick Timiraos. One striking statistic that the White House Council of Economic Advisers touted: The stretch of months with sub-4% unemployment has now hit a more-than-half-century record. Health care and government hiring (sectors less dependent on interest rates) contributed to the growth, helping to prevent a recession, while retail and temporary help services lost workers. Overall, the report will likely keep the central bank on the path to hold interest rates steady at its meeting this month. “On my watch we have achieved better growth and lower inflation than any other advanced country,” trumpeted President JOE BIDEN in a statement, while acknowledging that prices are still too high. “A year ago, forecasters said it couldn’t be done.” Here’s the even more interesting dynamic to watch: Could Biden’s long failure to improve Americans’ view of the economy be starting to turn around? The University of Michigan’s latest gauge of consumer sentiment leapt today. The one-year inflation outlook plummeted from 4.5% to 3.1% in just a month, hitting its lowest point since two months into Biden’s presidency (though this number can be volatile). Lower gas prices in particular helped. Needless to say, ongoing economic pessimism — especially due to high prices, regardless of overall economic strength — has been one of the central factors imperiling Biden’s reelection. His campaign will surely hope that this is the start of something new. “So now we enter Vibescession II,” WaPo’s Jeff Stein posted on X. “Is sentiment improving because inflation cooled off and inflation-adjusted income improved, or because enough people got mad on Twitter that it successfully changed the media environment?” TOMORROW’S BIG ELECTION — Houston heads to the polls this weekend for a runoff to select the next mayor of America’s fourth-largest city. The race, while officially nonpartisan, features two Democrats — Rep. SHEILA JACKSON LEE and state Sen. JOHN WHITMIRE — whose campaigns have been relatively non-dramatic, NYT’s J. David Goodman reports. Both longtime politicians, they’ve struggled to highlight many stark differences between them on crime, housing and the economy, and no single issue has dominated the campaign. Whitmire seems to have the advantage in polling, and he could benefit from Republican support as he stakes out somewhat more moderate positions, including having state troopers parachute in to help with public safety. AP’s Juan Lozano notes a familiar dynamic: Despite Houston’s youthful population, this is a battle of septuagenarians. Read more from the Houston Chronicle on turnout and demographics questions TOP TALKER — “Judge says Texas woman may abort fetus with lethal abnormality,” by The Texas Tribune’s Eleanor Klibanoff and Neelam Bohra: “For the first time in at least 50 years, a judge has intervened to allow an adult woman to terminate her pregnancy. … Texas Attorney General KEN PAXTON responded Thursday afternoon in a letter addressed to three hospitals … saying the temporary order would ‘not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws.’” Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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Learn how Amazon supports selling partners. | | | THE WHITE HOUSE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER — In his most extensive comments in a long time, HUNTER BIDEN blasted the congressional Republicans investigating him in a new podcast interview with Moby, per Kierra Frazier. “They are trying to, in their most illegitimate way, but rational way, they’re trying to destroy a presidency,” the president’s son said. “And so it’s not about me, and [in] their most base way, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle.” Hunter Biden also tarred Reps. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) as “just sad, very very sick people that have most likely just faced traumas in their lives.” CONGRESS HOLDING THE LINE — The House Freedom Caucus today warned that it’s playing hardball in upcoming legislative battles. In a new official position, the far-right bloc said it will oppose Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization without major reforms and fight against attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act; push for the entirety of the hard-line H.R. 2 to be included in any immigration policy; and oppose any Ukraine aid unless it’s fully offset and paired with immigration demands. And, they warned, they’ll use any leverage they can find to gum up the works: “We will not simply vote ‘no’ on bad legislation and go home for Christmas.” HELPFUL GUIDE — NBC’s Scott Wong and Julie Tsirkin have a handy breakdown of the staffers and advisers who make up Speaker MIKE JOHNSON’s inner circle, newly elevated to power on the Hill. Top staffers include HAYDEN HAYNES, GARRETT FULTZ and RAJ SHAH, while Johnson is close with many representatives and senators, from some of the men who failed to become speaker before him to other members of the class of 2016. ONE TO WATCH — “Top US Lawmakers Seek V-22 Osprey Probe After Deadly Japan Crash,” by Bloomberg’s Anthony Capaccio
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes. | | | | | TRUMP CARDS TRUMP TRIAL TIMING — In DONALD TRUMP’s appeal of Judge TANYA CHUTKAN’s ruling on his lack of criminal immunity, the D.C. Circuit set some filing deadlines today for Dec. 26 — not as fast as prosecutors likely would have preferred, per The Messenger’s Darren Samuelsohn. ANATOMY OF A FLIP — Add Michigan and Wisconsin to the list of state investigations with which KENNETH CHESEBRO is now cooperating, CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Marshall Cohen scooped. The former architect of the 2020 fake elector scheme to subvert the presidential election is working with multiple probes into the plots; this is the first time that the existence of such an investigation in Wisconsin has been made public. The proffer agreements under which Chesebro is talking to authorities may protect him from prosecution, though that’s not guaranteed. CNN also reports that beyond the 16 fake electors already charged in Michigan, AG DANA NESSEL has investigated lawyer IAN NORTHON, too. ALL POLITICS EVERYBODY JUMPING IN — Former Rep. TOM MALINOWSKI is the latest Democrat to explore a potential New Jersey Senate bid, the New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein reports. ANNALS OF GERRYMANDERING — New Hampshire recently became the latest state to say that partisan gerrymanders can’t be challenged in state court, likely allowing Republican gerrymanders to remain for the rest of the decade, Bolts’ Quinn Yeargain reports. BATTLE FOR THE SENATE — “GOP Star Tim Sheehy Forgot to Mention the Family Money in His ‘Self-Made’ Success Story,” by The Daily Beast’s Sam Brodey: “In a forthcoming memoir … [TIM] SHEEHY divulges the hard work and determination that went into building Bridger Aerospace. But he also details the extensive financial support from his family that made its success possible.” WHERE BIDEN’S AGENDA IS POPULAR — A new CNN survey finds that Americans want the government to tackle climate change and curb pollution by wide margins, in line with the policies Biden has pursued, Ella Nilsen and Ariel Edwards-Levy write. That includes three-quarters of independents and half of Republicans. But the challenge for Biden is that he still has just a 43% approval rating on his climate policy, as many Americans remain unaware of his actions or focused on other issues.
| | | | Sponsored Survey WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Share what you think in a short, 1 minute survey about one of our advertisers | | | 2024 WATCH KNIVES OUT FOR ERIC — “Inside Trump’s Plot To Corrupt the 2024 Election With ‘Garbage’ Data,” by Rolling Stone’s Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng: “For more than a decade, election officials have relied on a system to reduce fraud and boost voter registration. Trump’s cronies are sabotaging it, state by state — and trying to replace it with something more MAGA.” THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING DEMOCRACY — Thanks to the Electoral College, a vanishingly small fraction of Americans will dictate the outcome of the next presidential election. That reality “increasingly distorts the democratic process as partisan divisions grow along geographic lines,” WaPo’s Michael Scherer, Clara Ence Morse, Josh Dawsey and Marianne LeVine report in the newspaper’s latest “Imperfect Union” installment. If you take Florida off the table, the battleground states next year are home to just 18% of Americans. Not only do few people decide the winner, but campaigns now can target their technological investments directly to those narrow slices. ICYMI — VIVEK RAMASWAMY has started to make some inquiries about potentially switching parties to run on the Libertarian ticket in Iowa, the Des Moines Register’s Galen Bacharier and Philip Joens scooped. ONLY IN THE GRANITE STATE — “A postcard from the Lesser-Known Candidate Forum, a New Hampshire primary tradition,” by NPR’s Tamara Keith in Manchester: Business owner RICHARD RIST “found himself sandwiched between a man wearing a big black rubber boot on his head, and a candidate named PAPERBOY LOVE PRINCE whose outfit evoked a wish-granting genie. … ‘VERMIN SUPREME will take away your guns … and give you better ones. And these better guns will shoot marshmallows, but they will still be lethal,’ [Supreme] said to laughter in the room. His stated platform had something to do with space alien ponies, though it was a bit hard to decipher.” JUMPING SHIP — CHRIS MAIDMENT, the staffer who resigned from Americans for Prosperity over its NIKKI HALEY endorsement, is joining the RON DeSANTIS-affiliated Never Back Down as its New Hampshire state political director, per NBC’s Katherine Doyle.
| | | | GET A BACKSTAGE PASS TO COP28 WITH GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Get insider access to the conference that sets the tone of the global climate agenda with POLITICO's Global Playbook newsletter. Authored by Suzanne Lynch, Global Playbook delivers exclusive, daily insights and comprehensive coverage that will keep you informed about the most crucial climate summit of the year. Dive deep into the critical discussions and developments at COP28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | POLICY CORNER I’VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD — This is quite the statistic for Amtrak Joe: Biden’s announcement today of $8.2 billion for various rail projects is “the largest federal investment in passenger rail transportation since Amtrak was created in 1971,” CBS’ Bo Erickson reports from Las Vegas. The money won’t get every project over the finish line, but it will go a significant way toward creating high-speed rail between Vegas and the LA area, among others. LANDMARK MOVE — “What you need to know about the first-ever approved gene-editing therapy,” by Lauren Gardner and Katherine Ellen Foley: “The Food and Drug Administration’s approval Friday … offers hope to patients with sickle cell disease.” COME TO YOUR CENSUS — “Census Bureau wants to change how it asks about disabilities. Some advocates don’t like it,” by AP’s Mike Schneider: “Disability advocates say the change would artificially reduce their numbers by almost half. At stake are not only whether people with disabilities get vital resources for housing, schools or program benefits but whether people with disabilities are counted accurately in the first place.” PLAYBOOKERS MEDIA MOVES — Elise Labott has launched “Cosmopolitics” on Substack. She previously has been a contributing editor at POLITICO Magazine and is a CNN alum. … Paul Waldman is now a columnist on Substack. He previously was an opinion writer for WaPo. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Matthew Allen, director of legislative affairs at the National Hydropower Association, and Brianna Ehley Allen, strategic comms adviser at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health and a POLITICO alum, recently welcomed June Sawyer Allen. She joins big brother Graham. Pic … Another pic Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton, producer Andrew Howard and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Wednesday’s Playbook PM misspelled Kadia Goba’s name.
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