It’s do-or-die week on Biden’s national security package
With talks among Senate negotiators teetering on the brink of collapse, the White warns Congress of the trouble ahead if it fails to pass the president’s funding request.

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FIRST THINGS FIRST
Jeffries buzzy NH speech: It wouldn’t be politics if pundits didn’t look past the election before us toward the next cycle. But that’s what’s happening for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who gave a rousing speech in New Hampshire on Friday night that’s sparking some 2028 presidential buzz for the Brooklynite.
Jeffries is known for Obamaesque oratory skills. But in public interviews and private conversations with House Democrats and people close to Jeffries, members say that what separates him from his contemporaries is his ability to listen with an open mind and inspire trust among members and persuade them to avoid allowing perfect to be the enemy of good.
This has been on display throughout the year as Jeffries delivered the majority of the votes to prevent the US from defaulting on its debt and keep the government open, not once but twice.
And while I’m told his focus is on the here and now, it’s a competency that will serve him well if Democrats win back the House next year, as his top task will be to unify moderates and progressives around a governing agenda that makes all his members feel seen and heard.
Israel-Hamas war latest: Israel announced it has expanded its war against Hamas into every part of the Gaza Strip, including the southern part of the region where civilians were told to evacuate at the outset of the war.
Vice President Kamala Harris met with leaders in the Middle East at the COP28 climate summit this weekend to discuss the day after the war ends.
“The world must prepare for what happens the day after the fighting ends,” she said in a speech on the conflict.
Harris outlined principles guiding the US’s approach to a post-war Gaza and listed the focus areas to ensure the plan is effectively implemented.
She also reaffirmed Israel’s right to defense itself but noted how it does so matters.
“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” Harris added. “We believe Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians.”
But it’s unclear if the US pressure campaign against Israel to limit civilian casualties has had any impact on its conduct on the battlefield.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told Kirsten Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press that the US intelligence community was unaware of Hamas’ attack plan on Israel after the New York Times reported Israel knew about it for a year. (Kirby declined to comment when asked about it by reporters on Friday.)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus and claimed Israel is a “racist state” earlier this year, ignited another controversy on Sunday after she failed to explicitly condemn Hamas for raping and commitment acts of sexual violence against Israeli women during an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union.
Pro-Israel House Democrats Ritchie Torres and Debbie Wasserman Schultz rebuked what they characterized as Jayapal bothsidesing Israel’s war with Hamas’s terror. It's worth noting that Jayapal was among the several House progressives Wasserman Schultz publicly thanked last week for voting to pass two separate condemning Hamas and reaffirming Israel’s right to exist as a democratic Jewish state. (She also thanked the members during the House Democrats’ weekly closed-door meeting.)
Another Trump flip-flop on Obamacare: Over the Thanksgiving holiday, former President Donald Trump announced he would revive his plan to “terminate” the landmark Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Following widespread media coverage of the threat, days later, he tried to walk it back.
During a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this weekend, Trump flip-flopped back to calling for the ACA’s repeal.
“Obamacare is a disaster,” he said. “We’re going to do something about it.”
But after coming one vote away from repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017, he’s likely to find acting on his threat may be easier said than done.
Since Trump’s last attempt to repeal the ACA failed, the law has never been more popular, with nine red or purple states expanding Medicaid and total enrollment up 50 percent. The most controversial provision in the law—the individual mandate—is gone. Investments in the Inflation Reduction Act have helped millions of Americans get or keep their health care. People don’t like benefits taken away even if they don’t like the president that enabled them.
Trump isn’t alone in his mission to undo Obamacare.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press that he’d replace Obamacare with a better plan without providing details. He said his campaign would likely introduce a proposal in the spring. This is audacious because it assumes he’ll still be in the race for second place to Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who’s surpassed DeSantis for the mantle of the distant second challenger to Trump, has opposed the ACA dating back to her days as governor of South Carolina.
Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden campaign, called Obamacare a lifesaver for Black America and it’s no surprise that the architect of the birther movement, who has a deep-seated disdain for the signature accomplishment of the first Black president, would seek to undo it.
“In Donald Trump’s America, millions of Black Americans will get sick, go broke, or worse. That’s the stakes for what’s going to be on the ballot next year,” Tyler told me last week. “This will be a central pillar of what we’re communicating to core constituencies across the country for the next 12 months.”
Why Williams and Scott voted no on Santos: In my report on the George Santos expulsion on Friday, I wrote that Reps. Nikema Williams (Ga.) and Bobby Scott (Va.)—the two House Democrats who voted against expelling Santos—didn’t explain their votes before press time.
That was incorrect.
The two members released statements but I missed them because they were sent to my old Supercreator email, which I hadn’t checked until this past weekend.
“This is the People’s House,” Williams said. “And although the House Ethics Committee findings were damning, the people of New York’s third congressional district should decide who represents them. I’ll always side on giving power to the voters.”
Scott said in his statement that while Santos should have resigned but he had a right to due process.
“In the final analysis, we have to recognize that expelling a members is one of the most serious and solemn actions members can take and we have to recognize that precedent will be set,” he said. “Unlike both prior cases of expulsion since the Civil War, Mr. Santos has not been convicted of a crime, and few of the allegations involve conduct that occurred during his service as a member of Congress.”
My apologies for missing this on Friday.
Alabama lawmakers to “eat mor chikin”: Williams and Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter owe Reps. Terri Sewell and Robert Aderholt Chick-fil-A after Alabama beat top-ranked Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. Williams and Carter would have received from Dreamland, a BBQ restaurant in Tuscaloosa, has the Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide.
Scott wants answers on FSU snub: In related news, Alabama earned the final spot in the College Football Playoff with their upset victory and squeezed undefeated Florida State University out of a chance to compete for a national championship next month. The SEC is the most competitive college football conference, and FSU’s starting quarterback broke his leg earlier this month, so the committee went with the better team over the more deserving one.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he would be demanding answers from the CFP selection committee on why FSU was excluded from the four-team competition.
THE MAIN EVENT
With just two legislative weeks until lawmakers head home for the holidays, we’ve entered the do-or-die phase for the national security supplemental package President Joe Biden requested from Congress in October.
Ukraine is struggling in its counteroffensive against Russia. Israel will need to replenish its resources as it wages an aggressive war against Hamas to wipe out the terrorist organization that attacked its country on Oct. 7. The supplemental request also includes billions of dollars to invest in the Indo-Pacific to deter President Xi Jinping of China from attacking Taiwan, humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, and to strengthen our southern border.
There’s a chance members go home without passing a supplemental national security package. House conservatives oppose Ukraine funding and will sink any bills that provide aid without policy concessions from the White House and congressional Democrats.
As a result, an all-white group of six senators have engaged in private negotiations to solve a decades-long problem in a matter of weeks. Unsurprisingly, the talks seem to have fallen apart over the weekend over Republicans’ insistence that the bulk HR 2, the House GOP signature border bill, be included in a final package. The bill received unanimous opposition from House Democrats and has languished in the Senate since it passed the House along party lines in May. The White House issued a veto threat then and more recently has called Republicans unserious for believing they could slip the legislation into the supplemental now. The negotiators had made progress on asylum reform, but Republicans have also demanded changes to the parole system.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) told me over the Thanksgiving break that the current debate demonstrates Republicans’ skewed policy priorities.
“As a border member, I want supplemental funding,” she said. “We need that supplemental funding, but that supplemental funding should be linked instead to good public policy that helps truly address the situation.”
Escobar added that it’s ineffective to focus on border security without also providing legal pathways to citizenship or legal protections to undocumented people who are who have been in the country for a decade or more and who are critical to our economy and our communities. Republicans argue the first step is to stop the crisis-level flow of migrants crossing the southern border first.
“My hope is that sanity prevails and that our Republican colleagues in the Senate and in the House recognize that this is a moment for good public policy and not performance,” she said.
Meanwhile, the White House has warned it will run out of funding by the end of the year if Congress doesn’t replenish its coffers, an outcome they say would benefit Putin and endanger US national security.
Still, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told senators in a letter last week that he planned to bring the supplemental package to the floor this week. The idea was to inspire a sense of urgency among the negotiators to reach a deal. But without a border deal, even Senate Republicans who support Ukraine aid are expected to block the supplemental from final passage. As much as Schumer wants to force the negotiators’ hand, a failed floor is an unappealing prospect because of the poor message it would send to Ukraine and other US allies and partners.
The Senate returns to DC this afternoon with an all-senators classified briefing on Ukraine and Israel scheduled for tomorrow. Schumer teed up several votes on nominations to start the week to give negotiators a final window to make a miracle happen.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Committee Corner: The House Rules Committee will meet this afternoon to tee up several measures the House will consider this week, including a disapproval resolution to overturn an Education Department rule that streamline several income repayment plans for student loan debt.
The Senate Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday to examine supply challenges and impacts of drug shortages and policy solutions. The House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on “the importance of protecting female athletics and Title IX.”
House Oversight will hold a hearing on Wednesday about the White House’s policy on artificial intelligence.
Biden big fundraising week: As President Biden travels the country this week, he’ll speak at several fundraisers for his reelection campaign. The president will speak at three events tomorrow in Boston, one in DC on Wednesday, and one each on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
The president is often his most candid during these intimate gatherings with his most moneyed supported, so I’m looking forward to the notes reporters traveling with Biden will pass along to the press corps and the official transcripts for any insight into how he feels about current affairs.
The rest of Biden’s week:
Wednesday: The president will also speak at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.
Friday: Biden will also speak in Las Vegas before traveling to LA.
Sunday: The Bidens will travel from LA to Wilmington,
Tuberville’s military holds: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) could finally release some of the holds he’s placed on hundreds of military promotions since March in protest of a Pentagon policy that allows pregnant service members leave and reimbursement of travel costs to receive abortion care if they’re stationed in a state that bans or restricts abortion.
If he fails to lift the holds, Leader Schumer has said he would bring a resolution to the floor that would bypass the holds. The measure would require support from at least nine Republican senators to pass, which it seems to have, and represent a public embarrassment for Tuberville.
Harris back home after quick Dubai trip: Vice President Harris returned to Washington Sunday evening from Dubai and will receive the daily intelligence briefing with President Biden this afternoon. She’ll also attend the White House Congressional Ball on the State Floor tonight with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
THE 60-SECOND INTERVIEW: ROBERT GARCIA
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) introduced the first expulsion resolution against George Santos in May after Santos was indicted on federal charges. Ahead of the vote to expel Santos, I checked in with Garcia to ask why he stayed on Santos’s neck until there were enough votes to force the former New York congressman out of office. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
George Santos survived two previous votes to expel him, but you remained confident he would ultimately be removed. What gave you that assurance?
We were already close and I also don’t think a lot of Republicans want to face their voters and say that they actually thought it was okay to save someone who has clearly committed massive crimes and has broken his oath to the Constitution.
Why was it important for you to keep reintroducing your expulsion resolution and not give up on this?
A couple of things. Number one, he's a freshman [member]. I'm a freshman. And so for me just having another freshman that was doing these horrible, vile things, it really bothered me, partly as president of freshman class. And also, I take the oath very seriously. I'm an immigrant. I didn’t become a citizen until my early 20s and that meant something to me. And so I think to distort it the way that he has is a travesty.
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