The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Get ready for a three-week sprint to the end of the 118th Congress

Cameo and the pitfalls for members of the House

Malliotakis on SALT and more 2025 tax cuts

Schneider’s advice: Economy is always number one

THE TOP

Get ready for a three-week sprint to the end of the 118th Congress

Happy Tuesday morning.

The House and Senate are out of session. And when lawmakers return next week, they’ll face a three-week sprint to the end of the 118th Congress centered around resolving two huge issues — government funding and the annual defense authorization bill.

Both of these are “must pass” bills, so Hill leaders and the White House have to come to a deal. We’ll tackle government funding first, and then look at the National Defense Authorization Act.

Government funding: The current continuing resolution funding federal agencies runs out on Dec. 20. With President-elect Donald Trump taking office just weeks later — and more importantly, a floor vote for speaker on Jan. 3 — Speaker Mike Johnson wants to pass a short-term CR that extends into 2025. That would provide Trump to his stamp on government funding while mollifying hardline conservatives that Johnson needs – and will likely get – to stay in his post.

The issue is how long the CR will last. We’ve now heard Republicans are considering a mid-March end date. This is a change from earlier suggestions of a late January or February deadline.

This is all tentative, there’s no deal right now and the discussions remain fluid. Democrats complain that different Republicans are saying different things. We’ll also note Johnson needs Democrats and the White House to pass anything, so this is a challenge for him.

Once there is a bipartisan deal on the CR’s end date, it’ll still take some time to finish drafting the package, run all the traps on both sides and pass the measure on the floor. The Senate needs a week to pass anything unless there’s an agreement to move faster. All of which means that Hill leaders and the White House, along with Trump, need to move quickly to reach some kind of consensus once Congress is back in town.

Don’t underestimate the importance of disaster aid here, either. While the final package won’t be the nearly $99 billion that President Joe Biden requested, it’ll still be a huge amount. The challenge for those lawmakers from impacted states — especially North Carolina and Georgia — is whether they can get more next year under a Republican president.

NDAA: Congress has passed a defense authorization bill every year for the past six decades-plus, and 2024 isn’t going to be any different. The NDAA sets U.S. defense policy as well as a topline spending figure, though it’s ultimately up to appropriators to figure that out. More on this below.

Legislative text for the compromise bill is likely to be made public as soon as the end of next week. Before that happens, the House and Senate Armed Services panels will kick it up to party leaders to hammer out the few remaining hang-ups. It’s worth noting that the controversial culture-war provisions included in the House GOP bill won’t be in the final product.

The Big Four need to decide on a topline number. You’ll recall that this was a major point of contention when the Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version of the bill back in June. At the urging of the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the committee approved a $25 billion topline boost, bringing it to a staggering $923 billion.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the committee’s chair, took the extraordinary step of voting against the final bill. At the time, Reed noted that the topline increase — if enacted by appropriators — would trigger sequestration under the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The House will likely move to pass the bill first, which means Senate passage probably won’t come until the week before Christmas. Cutting it close!

Also happening … Senate Democrat leadership elections: Senate Democrats will convene a week from today for their leadership elections. Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will remain the top two Democrats in the 119th Congress, but the No. 3 position will be vacant with the retirement of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has expressed interest in the role, which heads up Senate Democratic messaging. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the current No. 4 in Democratic leadership, could also seek the post.

— John Bresnahan, Andrew Desiderio and Jake Sherman

NEW POWER PLAYERS: Join us on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 9 a.m. ET for a conversation with Senators-elect John Curtis (R-Utah) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). We’re discussing the news of the day and bipartisanship in the lame-duck session and the new Congress. There’s still time to RSVP!

THE HOUSE

Cameo and the pitfalls for members of the House

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) made a brief foray into the world of being an online influencer this week when she started a Cameo account. Our friend Kadia Goba of Semafor posted the news Monday.

Boebert appeared to have taken the account down at some point the same day.

We asked Boebert’s office if she had approval from the House Ethics Committee to open the account. We didn’t hear anything back.

But this episode does highlight a newfound peril of Cameo for members of Congress. Let’s discuss this for a minute.

If you’re not familiar with Cameo, it’s an app that connects famous people to mere mortals, if you will. You can pay a fee and have, let’s say, former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), Kenny G or the Naked Cowboy record you a personalized message.

But, believe it or not, this raises a number of questions for elected lawmakers.

Fundamental in the rules for members of the House is that lawmakers “may not receive compensation and may not permit compensation to accrue to his beneficial interest from any source, the receipt of which would occur by virtue of influence improperly exerted from his position in Congress.”

In other words, members of Congress cannot profit from their office. Any member of Congress going on Cameo would, indeed, be making money off of their position in Congress.

The House Ethics Manual lays out quite clearly that “Members … are prohibited from receiving any honoraria. An honorarium, as defined in the rules, is ‘a payment of money or a thing of value for an appearance, speech, or article.’”

A speech is defined by the Ethics Committee as “an address, oration, talk, lecture, or other form of oral presentation, whether delivered in person, transmitted electronically, recorded, or broadcast over the media.”

A pretty clear reading of this would seem to preclude a member of the House from going on Cameo to give what is the equivalent of a speech or an appearance.

Then there are a variety of practical concerns about members of Congress going on Cameo. A foreign government could order a video with a member of Congress saying something inappropriate. A lobbyist could use it to pay members of Congress to endorse certain policy positions.

All of these scenarios would be potentially problematic.

In short, if you want to get on Cameo, you should probably get out of Congress.

— Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

Malliotakis on SALT and more 2025 tax cuts

New Yorkers in Congress tend to have big ideas about taxes. And as Republicans hammer out their tax bill next year, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) will be right in the heart of it all.

Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, has been a notable addition to the House Ways and Means Committee this Congress.

The two-term lawmaker has become a vocal advocate for key district issues like allowing more deductions for state and local taxes, or SALT. Malliotakis’ other priorities next year include increasing the standard deduction, preserving the 2017 child tax credit and reviving domestic manufacturing supply chains, including for pharmaceuticals.

We interviewed Malliotakis for the latest in our series of Q&As on taxes in 2025 — when much of the 2017 Trump tax cuts expire. This interview was edited for length and clarity. Let’s get into it.

Q: I know some of your colleagues have gotten pretty aggressive in their tactics on SALT. You’re a voice on the committee — what do you think colleagues should be thinking about in terms of what makes sense on SALT?

Malliotakis: I think the major thing to keep in mind is anything that’s added, something’s got to be removed and it’s got to work out. And there’s many ways we can provide tax relief for our constituents…

The child tax credit is important. The standard deduction is important. SALT is important. Tax relief for seniors on Social Security is important. I’ll be for anything that provides the lowest taxes for my constituents…

My proceeding with caution is we need to make sure that the [alternative minimum tax] does not come back. That to me has to be part of it. We can’t do SALT and have the AMT come back. It’ll hurt — it’ll kill middle-class families. And the committee understands how I feel about that.

I do want to see some SALT relief, and I think that the best thing would be increasing the deduction, limiting it so it’s based on income and getting rid of the marriage penalty.

Q: Do you feel like President-elect Trump is proposing getting rid of taxes on Social Security benefits, taxes on overtime pay and taxes on tips — is the committee taking that really seriously?

Malliotakis: Overtime is probably the most complicated of that group, but I would say I think there’s something that can be done in each of those areas. It won’t be a complete elimination of tax — there’s got to be parameters.

But I think that there is something that can and should be done in each of those categories that the president will be fulfilling his campaign promises and we will be helping real middle-class Americans keep more of their money.

Q: How are you thinking about how much of the tax cuts’ cost needs to be offset?

Malliotakis: Everyone wants tax cuts, but nobody really wants to pay for them. So that’s always the challenge here when you have 435 members and everybody wants something different.

I think that’s why we have to be reasonable in our approach and try to spread the tax relief, but understand that we’re not going to be able to get everything.

— Laura Weiss

HOUSE DEMS

Schneider’s advice: Economy is always number one

Despite a disappointing election cycle for House Democrats, the New Democrat Coalition feels good. The coalition is welcoming more than 20 new members — including several that flipped GOP-held seats — and now represents over half of the House Democratic Caucus.

We sat down with Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the incoming New Dem chair, to hear his take on the 119th Congress and the party’s minority status.

Schneider’s advice for Democrats to win back power? Spend “less time preaching and more time listening.”

“Understand that the economy is always the number one issue,” Schneider said. “If the people feel confident about the economy, all the other challenges become much more addressable.”

New Dems position themselves as a center-left, pro-business bloc that, in Schneider’s words, is “united in the idea of finding common ground and getting to solutions for the American people.”

But with Republicans controlling the House, Senate and the White House, opportunities for New Dems to exert power will be few and far between. As a Ways and Means Committee member, Schneider was realistic that he wouldn’t play a role in the reconciliation process when Republicans try to extend the Trump tax cuts.

Given the narrow House GOP majority, Schneider still thinks Democrats could swoop in if there’s internal Republican infighting.

“They’re going to have to go to the furthest extreme to keep the Freedom Caucus happy,” Schneider said. “I can’t imagine some of the more responsible Republicans who represent swing districts are going to be happy about going along with that.”

Schneider beat Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) last week for the top New Dem slot. The Illinois Democrat said he wanted to give the coalition “servant leadership” and “tap into the extraordinary experience and great wisdom” the group’s members have.

On the DCCC: The biggest outstanding question in House Democratic leadership is who House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will select as the next DCCC chair. Schneider said he would be pleased if Jeffries asked current DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene to stick around for another term.

“[DelBene] has led the DCCC with amazing skill. The amount of money raised, the team that was built and the lack of controversy over the course of her tenure is noteworthy,” Schneider said.

— Max Cohen

… AND THERE’S MORE

Downtown Download. Perry Johnson Inc., the company helmed by the kind-of presidential candidate with the same name, has signed up Ervin Graves Strategy Group to lobby on “FY25 legislative policy provision for greater competition in mortgage lending industry.” Ervin Graves is former Rep. Tom Graves’ (R-Ga.) firm.

The Drug Policy Alliance has signed up to lobby on the farm bill. Valentine Strategies will lobby for the alliance.

The Campaign. As the tax wars heat up, keep an eye on the airwaves. AARP is now running an ad promoting a tax credit for family caregivers. This TV spot is running in D.C.

— Jake Sherman

MOMENTS

CLIPS