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PRESENTED BYBY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPIf you’d like an idea of the flavor, vibe and tenor of a potential House Republican majority, consider the following: → Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) — who has appeared at white nationalist events — tweeted an image of someone killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York the other day, and then later doubled down on it following a public outcry. House GOP leaders have said precious little about the incident despite calls from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats for an ethics investigation. Gosar quietly removed the tweet late Tuesday. → During a floor debate last week over the bipartisan infrastructure package, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) screamed across the floor that Pelosi deserved an “Emmy” after she gave a speech on the bill. It was quite bizarre behavior that caught most of the chamber off guard. A bit later that night, Mast yelled at Democratic Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) that no one in his district wanted the IRS to hire 80,000 more agents. → Several House Republicans have used the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” on the House floor, a coded reference to “F*** Joe Biden,” including Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.). Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) wore a mask on the floor with the phrase on it, while Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) sells t-shirts and bumper stickers featuring the insulting slogan on his campaign website. (To be fair, Dems didn’t have much nice to say about Donald Trump.) → The House Republican Conference is facing a big internal fight after 13 GOP lawmakers voted for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package last week. Ideological diversity is so taboo that a group of Republicans want to strip committee assignments from the offenders. And the GOP leadership is so distrusted by the moderates in the party that they were unable to convince them to force Democrats to come up with 218 votes to pass the bill before casting their own votes for the package. Remember — this is a traditional infrastructure bill. Roads, highways, bridges, etc. Congress has been doing this for hundreds of years. → Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) has given up nearly a third of her congressional salary because she refuses to wear a mask on the House floor. She keeps getting hit with automatic fines. In the last few days, MTG has tweeted the phone numbers of GOP colleagues that voted for the infrastructure bill (Michigan Rep. Fred Upton has been getting death threats) and seemed to find common cause with the Nation of Islam over their aversion to vaccines. The Nation of Islam, of course, is Louis Farrakhan’s group, which is seen as racist and antisemitic. → There’s one House Republican under federal criminal indictment — Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska — and another being investigated by the FBI and Justice Department for sex trafficking, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. And we’re not even going to get into the Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) drama or the fact that Trump is seeking political revenge against the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him months ago. There’s no question that the 117th Congress may be the most bizarre, the most troubled, in American history. There’s the pandemic. The Jan. 6 insurrection and the aftermath of that. Thousands of National Guard troops stationed for months in a fenced-off Capitol. Metal detectors outside the House floor and mask mandates when on it. Trillions of dollars worth of legislation being approved on party line votes. Ugly partisan exchanges everywhere. The House is a tense, deeply unhappy place right now. But Republicans are in a good place politically. They have momentum, money, history and redistricting on their side, and even many House Democrats admit their majority is in trouble of disappearing after only four years in power. Now imagine what happens when Republicans are in a tough spot. Our bad! In Tuesday’s morning edition, we erroneously said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) was the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. He’s not. He is the ranking member of a Natural Resources subcommittee of Indigenous Peoples of the United States. PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL ExxonMobil is Advancing Climate Solutions: We support the US and EU-led Global Methane Pledge. We must work together to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030, and we encourage others in and out of our industry to join. Learn more. THE BIDEN AGENDA Pelosi and Jayapal keep up pressure for BBB vote next week Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Preogressive Caucus, are pressing for a floor vote next week on the massive Build Back Better Act even as moderate Democrats are waiting for more data on the package from CBO. Pelosi told reporters in Glasgow on Tuesday at the U.N. climate change conference “That is our plan, to pass the bill the week of November 15th, as is indicated in our statements that were made at the time of passing the infrastructure bill.” And Jayapal tweeted on the issue late Tuesday night, making it very clear where she stood — next week is the deadline for a BBB vote. “To clarify for everyone: the agreement we made w/our colleagues was NOT for CBO score,” Jayapal said. “It was for some additional financial information from CBO. Agreement also says that in no event would the vote take place later than the week of Nov. 15. We trust our colleagues’ commitments.” Jayapal’s comments are in line with the statement issued last week by moderate Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Kathleen Rice (N.Y.) and Kurt Schrader (Ore.), although this group noted that the “fiscal information” they’re waiting for from CBO must be “consistent with the toplines for revenues and investments” from a White House preliminary estimate. CBO said on Tuesday that it could release some information on BBB as early as this week. “We anticipate releasing estimates for individual titles of the bill as we complete them, some of which will be released this week,” CBO said. “Other estimates will take longer, particularly for provisions in some titles that interact with those in other titles. When we determine a release date for the cost estimate for the entire bill, we will provide advance notice.” But we understand the CBO data is likely to be limited. Several sources tell us that it may not produce data on the prescription drug provision or immigration language. So we’ll see whether that’s an issue for moderate Democrats. Let’s put it this way: Jayapal’s read of the deal is and what some moderates think the deal is seems to be quite different. We’ll have to see how this unfolds next week. Jayapal probably has the stronger argument than the six Democrats who held this up. But Pelosi has to get to 218 and that runs through progressives and moderates. THE POST JAN. 6 WORLD Trump loses out on bid to block Jan. 6 panel from White House records A federal judge ruled late Tuesday night that the Jan. 6 select committee can get access to more than 700 pages of records from former President Donald Trump related to the deadly attack on the Capitol. The ruling was a win for the select committee, although Trump’s attorneys have already made clear they will appeal. The issue of whether Trump may invoke executive privilege to block the documents from being turned over — a claim President Joe Biden opposes — may ultimately end up in the Supreme Court. “At bottom, this is a dispute between a former and incumbent President. And the Supreme Court has already made clear that in such circumstances, the incumbent’s view is accorded greater weight,” Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a 39-page decision. “[Trump’s] position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity’… But presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.” Chutkan also ruled that the select committee’s probe serves a “valid legislative purpose,” rejecting another argument by Trump’s legal team to challenge the legitimacy of the investigation. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chairs the select committee, hailed the decision as a victory for Congress’ ability to conduct investigations, even into presidents. “The Select Committee appreciates the Court’s swift and decisive ruling on the former President’s lawsuit, which I consider little more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our investigation,” Thompson said in a statement. "The presidential records we requested from the National Archives are critical for understanding the terrible events of January 6th. Along our country’s history, the Executive Branch has provided Congress with testimony and information when it has been in the public interest. This evening’s ruling is consistent with that tradition." The court decision was the latest in a whirlwind of activity by the select committee, which is dramatically ramping up the pace of its investigation. The committee has issued 35 subpoenas, including 10 on Tuesday alone to former Trump aides. Several of those aides held sensitive posts inside the West Wing. Here are some good details from a N.Y. Times report by Luke Broadwater and Mark Mazzetti:
PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL What will it take to achieve a 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030 in line with the Global Methane Pledge? A commitment to working together. Read ExxonMobil’s statement of support. → The American Edge Project is running an ad in New York, Philadelphia and D.C., touting the need for the U.S. to maintain its “competitive edge” by not over-regulating technology. → Paid Leave for All Action is running a 60-second spot in D.C., aiming to push Congress to enact a paid-leave policy in the Build Back Better Act. Both ads are courtesy AdImpact. FRONTS MOMENTS All times eastern 7:40 a.m.: Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emoff will lay a wreath at the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial. 10 a.m: President Joe Biden will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. … Emhoff will meet with embassy staff. 11 a.m.: The Covid-19 team will brief. 11:40 a.m.: Biden will leave the White House for Milford, Del. He will arrive at 12:25 p.m. to attend former Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s funeral at 1 p.m. 12:20 p.m.: Harris will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. 2:20 p.m.: Biden will leave Milford for Baltimore, where he’ll arrive at 3:15 p.m. 3:40 p.m.: Biden will get a briefing at 3:40 p.m. about the Port of Baltimore. 4:10 p.m.: Biden will speak about the infrastructure bill. 5:40 p.m.: Biden will leave Baltimore for the White House. He’ll arrive at 6 p.m. CLIP FILE NYT → “Brian Williams Says He’s Leaving NBC News,” by Michael Grynbaum → “Inflation probably sped up in October, dashing Washington’s hopes for a quick slowdown,” by Jeanna Smialek WaPo → “Tensions rise among Republicans over infrastructure bill and whether any agreement with Biden should be tolerated,” by Marianna Sotomayor, Paul Kane and Josh Dawsey WSJ → “Elon Musk’s Possible Tesla Share Sale Comes as Tax Bill Looms,” by Rebecca Elliott, Richard Rubin and Theo Francis Bloomberg → “Biden-Xi Virtual Summit Set for Next Week, With Date to Come,” by Peter Martin, Jenny Leonard and Nick Wadhams FT → “US justice department warns of impending corporate crime crackdown,” by Stefania Palma AP → “Climate talks draft agreement expresses ‘alarm and concern’” by Seth Borenstein and Frank Jordans in Glasgow, Scotland Philadelphia Inquirer → “Sean Parnell’s custody case is in a judge’s hands after testimony that shook the Pa. Senate campaign,” by Jonathan Tamari PRESENTED BY EXXONMOBIL No one can solve climate change alone. ExxonMobil supports the US and EU-led Global Methane Pledge, and we are calling on others in and out of our industry to join. By working together, we can help reduce methane emissions more quickly. Sectors such as agriculture, livestock, and landfills can all play integral parts in helping achieve 30% lower methane emissions by 2030. Learn more about ExxonMobil’s innovative solutions. Enjoying Punchbowl News AM? Subscribe 10 friends with your unique link (below) and get a Punchbowl News hat! Your referral link is: Or share via You currently have: 0 referrals
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