Wednesday, December 18 | By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch |
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| ▪ House funding fix: Farmers, disasters, health care ▪ Judges appointed by Democrats put off retiring ▪ Patient benefit managers in legislative crosshairs ▪ Negotiators closer to Israel-Hamas ceasefire |
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© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite |
Congress tries to keep the lights on |
Congress is poised to avert a government shutdown — with hours to spare, necessary assistance from Democrats and some uproar from conservatives. As lawmakers stare down a Friday deadline to fund the government, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday worked to reassure his colleagues there's compromise in sight. House GOP leaders released the text of the 1,500-page stopgap Tuesday evening, a classic December catch-all package that has become prevalent in recent years. The stopgap bill is a massive undertaking that would fund the government through March 14. That deadline would buy more time for the next Congress and incoming president — the first Republican trifecta since 2017 — to hash out how the government should be funded for much of next year. The package features a host of add-ons, including a one-year farm bill extension, roughly $100 billion in disaster relief, about $30 billion in disaster and economic assistance for farmers and other authorizations. Johnson on Tuesday tried to reject a typical end-of-year assessment. "It's not a Christmas tree," he said, calling the measure a "small" funding patch "that we've had to add things to that were out of our control. These were not man-made disasters. These are things that the federal government has an appropriate role to do. So I wish it weren't necessary. I wish we hadn't had record hurricanes in the fall." House Democratic leaders, who predict dozens of GOP members will vote against the stopgap, warned Johnson. "One of the things that we know very clearly is that House Democrats will be needed to pass government funding," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). "But this is a lesson for Speaker Johnson. Work with us, let's find solutions, let's tune out the most extreme voices in your conference, and let's find that consensus that will be necessary to fund government." Republicans of all stripes — including hardline conservatives, committee chairs and moderates — spent weeks hammering away at Johnson objecting to the measure's contents, the process he followed to craft it and how he plans to bring it to the floor for a vote. Throughout the funding process, Johnson has struggled to make his razor-thin and fractious majority happy. House Republicans are fuming at the sprawling nature of the stopgap bill, saying it is more like an omnibus package — which they abhor — than a simple temporary funding measure. "It's a total dumpster fire. I think it's garbage," said Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. "This is what Washington, D.C., has done. This is why I ran for Congress, to try to stop this. And sadly, this is happening again." "We get this negotiated crap, and we're forced to eat this crap sandwich," echoed Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), another Freedom Caucus member. "Why? Because freaking Christmas is right around the corner. It's the same dang thing every year. Legislate by crisis, legislate by calendar. Not legislate because it's the right thing to do." The negotiations offer a grim preview of what Johnson is up against next year. If he wins the gavel in January, his GOP majority in the 119th Congress will be thinner than it is now — and votes will come down to the wire as attendance will prove crucial. While Republicans have expressed hope that the second Trump era can help them unify, they are also acknowledging their reality: Their fractious conference has enough independent actors that the current spending fight is just a preview of their new normal next year. What's next? Johnson said earlier Tuesday that the goal is to go "through regular process" for consideration of the text in the lower chamber. If he goes that route, the earliest lawmakers could vote on the text would be Friday under the House's 72-hour rule — which would mean the Senate needs to act quickly before the Friday midnight funding deadline. Trump's Tuesday message to Senate: Meanwhile, President-elect Trump offered a new warning to Senate Republicans serving in this Congress. "To all Senate Republicans: NO DEAL WITH DEMOCRATS TO FAST TRACK NOMINATIONS AT THE END OF THIS CONGRESS," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "I won the biggest mandate in 129 years. I will make my appointments of Very Qualified People in January when I am sworn in." ▪ The New York Times: The era of U.S. military support for Ukraine in Congress is coming to an end. The Biden administration is unlikely to spend all of the remaining $5.6 billion that Congress allocated to send weapons and other military help to Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official said Tuesday. ▪ Bloomberg News: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday pressed Trump on "massive" conflicts of interest tied to Elon Musk. ▪ The Hill: Republicans released a report Tuesday reviewing the "failures and politicization" of the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee, capping their investigation by recommending a criminal investigation aimed at former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). ▪ The Associated Press: Former longtime Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), 82, who served his district for nearly three decades and championed a balanced budget, died Saturday from complications of Parkinson's disease. |
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Smart Take
with Bob Cusack |
| There will be plenty of big stories in 2025, but there is a potential news earthquake that could reshape history at some point in Trump's second term. Trump has promised to release secret files on the assassination of President Kennedy, which he also pledged during his first term. But back then, the CIA and FBI convinced Trump not to make the most sensitive documents public. There have been countless investigations, books, movies and documentaries that raise legitimate questions about whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Most Americans, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., think Oswald had help. Many scholars have pointed to evidence that suggests both the CIA and the mafia were involved in the assassination. If the files show that was indeed true, it would not shock the country since it's long been suspected. So that has triggered speculation there is a lot more in those classified documents. Some experts have said the public shouldn't anticipate smoking guns that upend history. But then why did Trump say in 2017 he had "no choice" other than keeping the information under wraps, citing "potentially irreversible harm" to national security? It's been more than 61 years since Kennedy was killed, and the government hasn't been transparent about what it knows. It's time to tell people the entire truth. |
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- President Biden, like other lame-duck presidents, is fading from the political scene, all but leaving the stage before the final curtain. He's checking a few last boxes on his presidential bucket list and the largest left is an elusive ceasefire in Gaza.
- Trump does not have a winning career record after suing news outlets but press freedom advocates warn that his aggressive use of the courts creates a significant chilling effect, pressuring media companies to pull punches to avoid legal scrutiny as he takes the reins of federal governance.
- Americans legally wagered more than $30 billion on sports in the last quarter. Some lawmakers on Tuesday described the huge surge in sports gambling as a public health issue. Federal regulation could be next, according to Senate hearing witnesses.
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© The Associated Press | Charlie Neibergall |
ON THE BENCH: Some federal judges who were appointed by Democrats are delaying their retirement plans following Trump's victory last month. That means judicial vacancies dwindle heading into the Republican-dominated White House and Congress next year. Are such decisions within bounds? Yes, but it's yet another sign that justice is not blind to political imperatives. "As the Senate becomes more partisan, more polarized, more politicized, it seems like the assumption of senior status and retirement — when people leave the bench or go to senior status — has become similarly politicized, partisan," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who studies federal judicial selection. "And I think that's unfortunate." LIGHTEN UP: A Republican brouhaha is front and center after Trump said the entire nation should eliminate daylight Saving time and make standard time permanent, resetting battle lines among GOP lawmakers. Trump last week waded into the precarious debate, surprising lawmakers who think he's thrown support behind both pro and con camps on Capitol Hill. "I'm confused," Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), a major proponent of making daylight saving time permanent, told The Hill. "I think he just doesn't want the clocks to go back and forth." ▪ The Associated Press: The winter solstice, otherwise known as the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, arrives Saturday. ▪ The Hill: A disruptive dockworkers strike could begin days before Trump takes office next month. The president-elect's recent support for workers who want protection from automation at ports could get both sides back to the negotiating table, observers suggest. TRANSITION: Trump on Tuesday named Herschel Walker, 62, who unsuccessfully ran for a Georgia Senate seat in 2022, as his pick for U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas. The United States has not had a permanent ambassador to the Bahamas in more than a decade. The president-elect also announced he wants Florida philanthropist and art collector Nicole McGraw to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Croatia. |
- The House will meet at 10 a.m. The Senate will meet at 10 a.m.
- The president is in Delaware and will receive the President's Daily Brief at 11 a.m.
- Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public events.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken will participate in a moderated conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City at 4 p.m.
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PBMs get rebates on medicines. They should share those savings with you. |
PBMs get rebates that can lower the cost of some medicines by 50% or more. But you often pay full price at the pharmacy. Congress: Medicine savings should go to patients, not middlemen. |
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© The Associated Press | LM Otero |
UNHEALTHY PROSPECTS: Health insurance companies, insurance benefit managers, for-profit hospitals and pharmaceutical companies are facing a new round of populist public reckoning. State and federal officials are responding with renewed attention (not necessarily consensus) to patient complaints and unsustainable costs in the U.S. health care system. The brazen Manhattan murder of a UnitedHealthcare CEO reopened floodgates to a tsunami of anger about U.S. medical and insurance costs at a time when Americans say their wallet worries are paramount. Doctors and hospitals are only too happy to chime in. And drug companies, a powerful political lobby in Washington, place the blame elsewhere. Dissatisfaction with the U.S. health care system is decades old. But the volume of complaints is again on the rise. Biden and his administration used the Inflation Reduction Act to put Medicare in the driver's seat for the first time to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies for 10 commonly used medications, but those changes do not take effect until 2026. The president received scant voter applause for the breakthrough. Trump, who recently dined at Mar-a-Lago with drug company executives, on Monday criticized patient benefit managers (PBMs) that negotiate drug costs with pharmacies and drug manufacturers, mostly on behalf of employers and the government. They directly reimburse pharmacies for prescription drugs included under their agreed terms. "The horrible middleman that makes more money, frankly, than the drug companies, and they don't do anything except they're a middleman," Trump told reporters at a news conference. "We're going to knock out the middleman. We're going to get drug costs down at levels that nobody has ever seen before." State legislatures and Congress put the practices of PBMs in their crosshairs, but with mixed results. In the House Tuesday, lawmakers added to a stopgap spending measure a ban on linking PBM compensation to a drug's Medicare price. Lawmakers and PBM critics say higher drug prices lead to higher fees paid to PBMs; the higher the price of a covered drug, the steeper the potential discount, some of which PBMs keep as profit. So, there's an incentive for PBMs to steer patients to the priciest drugs. Critics have long argued PBMs operate essentially in the shadows, so the proposed government funding bill through mid-March includes new reporting requirements to increase transparency, including requiring PBMs to disclose the cost and reimbursement of drugs and any fees or discounts involved. ▪ The Hill: Will anger at health insurers spur action? Democrats are pessimistic. ▪ The New York Times: Drugmakers paid pharmacy benefit managers not to restrict opioid prescriptions. ▪ The Washington Post: Deny, delay: Practices fuel anger at insurers. Patients face hurdles and are denied coverage, often with little explanation. |
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© The Associated Press | Israel Government Press Office |
ISRAEL: After months of deadlock, Israel and Hamas could be moving closer to a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. A senior Palestinian official told the BBC that talks were in a "decisive and final phase." Meanwhile, Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said an agreement is closer than ever. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have resumed their mediation efforts in recent weeks — and are reporting greater willingness by both sides to conclude a deal to end the 14-month war. Still, Katz has vowed that Israel would maintain "full freedom of action" in Gaza after fighting ends in the Palestinian enclave, a day after raising hopes that a ceasefire and hostage deal was imminent. The New York Times: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday met with military officers in territory Israel recently took control of in Syria. SYRIA: The leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that spearheaded the ouster of Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime, said Tuesday that the rebel factions will be dissolved, and all fighters will unite under the country's Defense Ministry. "Syria must remain united, and there must be a social contract between the state and all sects to ensure social justice," said Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Golani. "The factions will be dissolved and the fighters will be prepared to join the Ministry of Defense, and everyone will be subject to the law." The rebel groups that joined HTS to topple the regime made for a complex network of fighters, at times backed by foreign nations who were focused on battling different enemies. Sharaa's goal of creating a national army comes as he makes moves to show that his government will be inclusive of all Syrians as it bids for international legitimacy. The Washington Post: Senior U.S. officials say Turkey and its militia allies are building up forces along the border with Syria, raising alarm that Ankara is preparing for a large-scale incursion into territory held by American-backed Syrian Kurds. RUSSIA: Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, a top Russian military leader accused of using banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, was assassinated in Moscow on Tuesday. Ukraine's security service has taken responsibility for the killing. The explosion that killed Kirillov on Tuesday seems to have been the most ambitious targeted attack of the war so far on Russian soil and reflects the urgency in Kyiv to wrestle back initiative as Trump prepares to return to the White House. |
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- Should the president have unilateral power to launch a preemptive nuclear strike? We asked 530 incoming Congress members, by Kathleen Kingsbury, opinion editor, The New York Times.
- The road back to power for Democrats, by Rahm Emanuel, ambassador to Japan, The Washington Post.
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© The Associated Press | City of Bend, Oregon |
And finally … 👀 I spy with my little eye… sets of googly eyes. In Bend, Ore., the mysterious googly-eyed bandit has struck again. The comical adornments to public art on Bend's Roundabout Art Route have ignited fervent discourse: While some passerby may be amused, officials have urged the culprit to stop. Since August, the so-called Googly Eye Bandit has used tape and permanent adhesive to affix oversized googly eyes to eight artworks throughout the route. City officials said that "while the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art." Locals are more enthusiastic, but no one has unmasked the culprit so far. |
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