📝 The Readback: Cheez Whiz Christmas mood on the Hill

IN THIS EDITION

Watching Little Tech get ready for the big-time

Cheez Whiz, Carhartt and Santos Claus: Christmas spirit hits the Hill

CBC distances from David Scott amid Ag fight

The reconciliation rumble begins

THE TOP

Watching Little Tech get ready for the big-time

Welcome to The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week. We share a quick roundup of our scoops, analysis and Capitol Hill insight you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve also included a few of our favorite outside reads from the week.

This week, we were excited to launch Punchbowl News Tech. In this newest newsletter, we’ll be bringing you the latest on all things tech on the Hill and beyond, including privacy, artificial intelligence, digital diplomacy and much, much more.

We kicked off with a quarterly edition featuring our sitdown with Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan. He told us about the (tentative) bipartisan excitement for President-elect Donald Trump in Silicon Valley. The industry, Tan said, sees the incoming administration as letting AI improve Americans’ lives and allowing crypto to come in from the regulatory cold.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t pause here to plug the link to get in on all our tech coverage. You don’t want to miss it.

Tan’s a new voice in Washington. His pitch is that the government needs to make sure “Little Tech” can innovate, free from the suffocating weight of Big Tech. It’s the perfect moment, Tan said, for a “Golden Age of building” — a time for 1,500 major new companies to debut every year.

Maybe! Tan runs a startup accelerator, so of course he’s mega-optimistic about tech’s economic and social potential. He didn’t invent speaking for startups in D.C., or speaking for the priorities of all kinds of businesses by focusing on what startups want. He admits he’s still refining his priorities.

Still, Tan’s perspective is the kind that Congress is hearing a lot more of. The policy we’ll be covering in Tech centers on AI, not just social media or software. Its experts come from the world of venture capital, not just antitrust and telecom law conferences.

And these developments are happening when firms are realizing they can no longer scoff at populism or roll their eyes at calls to put the good of the U.S. first.

In other words, the conversations that Tan is interested in are the new ones that we’ll be guiding our readers through.

Congress and regulators are going to have to catch up quite quickly on AI investments, energy for data centers, labor, rogue computers and all the ways that tech can become a tool of global strategy. That’s alongside all that good old-fashioned privacy, antitrust and intellectual property that lawmakers still haven’t managed to master.

We’ll be delivering indispensable breaking news and analysis on all this, from regulators, businesses and the members of Congress who actually have a say.

The future of tech policy isn’t written yet. Its stakeholders will be far from united, and some of the optimism we’re hearing from people like Tan is going to look like folly. “Old” issues will be with us, alongside exciting new developments, for a long time. Ditto the powerful players of today.

But whatever’s next, Tech is going to cover it with all the Punchbowl News passion. And it’s going to be about more than just what we see on our browsers — a lot more.

What I’m listening to: “I’d Rather Go Blind” by Etta James — at least, according to my Spotify Wrapped. Apparently, I listened to the song 19 times this year. I’m fond of it, but I think it was mostly just on a couple different playlists. “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” is really her best, IMHO.

— Ben Brody

You can find The Readback in your inbox every Saturday at 8 a.m. And don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with feedback. Enjoy The Readback.

Cheez Whiz, Carhartt and Santos Claus: Christmas spirit hits the Hill

This week, we witnessed bipartisan lawmakers put their differences aside and break bread together for the holidays. Well, not exactly bread — more like Cheez Whiz and crackers.

I’m talking, of course, about Rep. Tim Burchett’s (R-Tenn.) third annual “A Very Carhartt Christmas” party, which has quickly become one of the hottest holiday shindigs on Capitol Hill.

The legendary party is strictly a 15-minute affair. (Burchett tried hosting a 16-minute gathering last year, but he said that was too long.) And after the lore of this event has spread far and wide, this year’s celebration was absolutely packed, with dozens of partygoers lining up in the hallway to get inside Burchett’s congressional office.

In a sign of how high-profile the party has become, Speaker Mike Johnson even popped by, with Burchett serving him up the first helping of crackers and Cheez Whiz. Or “redneck charcuterie,” as Burchett calls it.

There was also a much-hyped “celebrity Santa Claus,” who turned out to be none other than expelled former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). Decked out in a red Santa suit and white beard, so-called “Santos Claus” mingled with guests and posed for pictures. “Who said Santa can’t be fabulous?” Santos was overheard saying to guests.

Even some Democrats got in on the action. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) posed for a picture with Santos, writing on social media that it was “great to share some bipartisan holiday spirit.” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) — who was dressed up as Santa for last year’s party — was also spotted in attendance Thursday.

Other refreshments included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which is Burchett’s go-to lunch, and Mountain Dew. At one point, Johnson was caught looking at the nutrition label on the soda can and remarking, “holy smokes!”

Amid concerns that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, may try to ban Mountain Dew and Cheez Whiz, Burchett is already thinking of backup options to serve next year: “Jack Daniels and popcorn,” Burchett told me.

What I’m watching: I am planning to get into the Holiday spirit myself, which means I’ll be watching Lindsay Lohan’s new Christmas movie: “Our Little Secret.”

— Melanie Zanona

CBC distances from David Scott amid Ag fight

I spent the week chasing down members of the Congressional Black Caucus to see what they thought of their colleague Rep. David Scott’s (D-Ga.) bid for another term atop the House Agriculture Committee.

While I went into this story expecting widespread support, I learned that the caucus is actually being extraordinarily mum and even distancing from Scott as concerns about his health grow.

Scott, 79, is the last remaining longtime ranking member who is adamant about keeping his post after two senior members — Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) — stepped down as the rankers on their respective committees. Scott, of course, made history by becoming the first Black man to lead the Agriculture panel back in 2021.

So, you’d think Scott would have slam-dunk support from the Congressional Black Caucus — one of the biggest voting blocs whose job is to support Black members and one that often rewards seniority. But the group as a whole has remained unusually quiet on backing Scott for another term. Odd, indeed.

In fact, most CBC members said they’re undecided or declined to comment on the state of the race.

And the group is even holding a candidate forum for Scott’s challengers next week. Scott is facing Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.).

We reported this week that Scott skipped two candidate forums already which were hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

While some CBC members said they’ll be supporting Scott, they didn’t mince words when it came to concerns about his health. Scott was absent for weeks to get treatment for a back ailment before returning to Capitol Hill this week.

“It hurts to see him struggle,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told us. Still, Cleaver is one of Scott’s few supporters, saying he’s a friend and that he’d vote for him no matter what.

Others have privately speculated that Scott could step down in the coming weeks, while some have said he may not have the votes this time.

“When I ran for chairman, I had to count those numbers,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told us. “I didn’t make a presumption or anything of that nature and I went back and forth to find out how much support I had.”

Meeks, who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, still said he will support Scott.

Of course, some members are still publicly praising Scott and dismissing any concerns regarding his health.

“David Scott is fine,” said Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.). “He’s worked hard. He’s earned it and I believe in the seniority system.”

What I’m reading/watching/listening to: This week I have been watching “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” on HBO.

– Mica Soellner

The reconciliation rumble begins

Republicans’ sprint to pass a package of President-elect Donald Trump’s priorities fast next year broke into a public clash this week. The first of many, we’re sure, as the GOP tries to deliver on campaign promises at breakneck speed.

First, we scooped this week that incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune pitched his conference on a strategy of passing a non-tax bill including border, energy and defense spending priorities through the filibuster-proof reconciliation process in the first 30 days of Trump’s presidency. A package extending the Trump tax cuts would then go second.

That pitch happened inside a closed-door Senate GOP policy retreat over at the Library of Congress on Tuesday. But big announcements like that don’t stay private for long around here.

Pretty quickly after we broke that news, I heard there might not be unanimity on the idea in Republican circles. The debate hasn’t been settled on the House side.

I cover the tax committees, so I spend hours every week chasing down Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and incoming Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).

On Tuesday night when House members flew back into town for their work week, I spent a long time standing in one of my go-to stakeout spots: outside the Ways and Means chair’s hideaway off the House floor. It’s a beautiful little room in a prime spot that each chair gets to use while they hold the gavel. Smith has decked out the room with a lot of committee photos and, this week, he broke out the Christmas decorations.

After more than an hour of staking out the hideaway, I got about 45 seconds to ask Smith a question while he rushed to the House floor. Around here, we’ve got to make the best of whatever time we can get with lawmakers. So I asked Smith about Thune’s pitch. Smith was fired up and said it was “reckless” and “risky.”

Then there was also word going around about conservative groups outside the Hill getting frustrated with Thune’s ideas. There were worries about waiting on a tax bill and that it could risk or delay a huge GOP priority.

Since then, I’ve been tracking down all the chatter from private meetings around the Hill on this with Jake Sherman. Republicans haven’t hit the point yet where they’re battling over what actually goes in a bill. It’s really a strategy fight. One or two reconciliation bills? What gets the votes?

This is the first of many, many, many decisions Republicans will need to make to land a big policy package that Trump can tout as a win next year. Off to the races.

What I’m watching: Saquon Barkley highlights!!! Say it with me: M-V-P. Go Birds.

– Laura Weiss