| | |  | BY ELANA SCHOR | | | 
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | CHAOS AVERTED — We’re 13 days into December, a month that was forecast as uniquely brutal for Congress. Yet lawmakers’ two biggest must-pass bills — a debt limit fix and a government funding stopgap — are on track to pass and long since passed, respectively. The third item on the legislative branch’s high-priority list, the defense policy bill, is expected to pass the Senate soon. It’s tempting to look at that progress — the Hill’s avoidance of two big cliffs — and see the potential for more to come. We should resist that urge. There is no reason to grade Congress on that steep of a curve, even in the context of avoiding a repeat of recent debacles like the shutdowns in 2013 and 2018 and the 2011 downgrading of the nation’s credit rating. And the reason is simple: Things aren’t back to normal. These deals were reached only in the face of grinding partisan pressure and historically toxic relations between Democrats and Republicans. In the case of the debt limit, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pivoted from months of promising not to lift a finger to help Democrats and agreed to give the 50-vote majority a path out of its bind. As POLITICO reported, McConnell’s move hinged on “some of the most involved face-to-face negotiating the two Senate leaders conducted all year.” The debt fix hardly set a new standard of bipartisanship for a chamber that’s — pardon me for quoting our Congress team again — “leagues away from the days when the two party leaders met regularly.” And it hinged on some truly tortured procedural logic for the Republican Party, which gave the Democrats the votes for a special debt fix that couldn’t be filibustered after declining to take the much easier step of simply … not filibustering a debt fix. As for the government funding stopgap, that bill effectively locks in Trump-era budget levels until Feb. 18, longer than Democrats had hoped for given their complete control of Washington. Until we know whether more stopgap bills will be needed to keep the government open through the bulk of 2022, it’s tough to see this patch as a serious victory for Democrats or sign of a new comity between the two parties. Come February, with the midterm elections even closer, Democrats are unlikely to find the GOP any more amenable to the majority party’s spending priorities. A Congress that earned its kudos would be able to meet Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) preference for a bipartisan paid-leave bill with serious negotiations. A Congress worth congratulating would have seen both parties’ leaders get behind a collaborative investigation of the violence of Jan. 6. Neither of those things have happened, because the leading incentive of the modern legislative branch is no longer policymaking; it’s political advantage. So if we’re going to laud lawmakers for clearing a low bar, let’s choose one that rewards their hard-working staffers and conjures the Ghost of Congress Yet to Come: Both chambers should be able to finish the defense bill, forge a workable schedule for votes on President Joe Biden’s social spending plan and adjourn for the year before Christmas Eve. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at eschor@politico.com, or on Twitter at @eschor.
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A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations, including Section 230
Aaron is one of 40,000 people working on safety and security issues at Facebook.
Hear from Aaron on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet’s most pressing challenges, including reforming Section 230 to set clear guidelines for all large tech companies. | | | | | NEW TONIGHT: JAN. 6 PANEL RELEASES MEADOWS TEXTS — As rioters swarmed the Capitol, President Donald Trump’s eldest son pleaded with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get his father to do more to end the violence, Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney write. “He’s got to condemn this [shit] Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Donald Trump Jr. texted, one of a series of messages Meadows provided to the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the former president’s effort to overturn the election. After they described the messages, the panel held Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to investigators. The matter now goes to the full House, which is expected to refer Meadows to the Justice Department on Tuesday. CHATTING OVER SOME JOES — Manchin remains at the negotiating table, despite deep concerns about Biden’s climate and social spending bill, Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine write. After speaking with Biden this afternoon, Manchin said he was still “engaged” in discussions. And as he left the Capitol, the key Democratic senator made clear he wasn’t ready to commit to voting for or against a bill that is still coming together behind closed doors. “Listen, let’s at least see the bill. Need to see what they write, what’s the final print. That tells you everything,” Manchin said this evening. With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pressing for action by Christmas, the afternoon phone call between Biden and Manchin came at a critical moment. And Manchin is expressing privately and publicly that he’s not yet sold on the $1.7 trillion social spending bill. In a sign of the fluid state of negotiations, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates signaled that Biden and Manchin would speak again in “the coming days.”
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| | JOIN TUESDAY FOR A WOMEN RULE 2021 REWIND AND A LOOK AHEAD AT 2022: Congress is sprinting to get through a lengthy and challenging legislative to-do list before the end of the year that has major implications for women’s rights. Join Women Rule editor Elizabeth Ralph and POLITICO journalists Laura Barrón-López, Eleanor Mueller, Elena Schneider and Elana Schor for a virtual roundtable that will explore the biggest legislative and policy shifts in 2021 affecting women and what lies ahead in 2022. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | — Biden to survey Kentucky tornado damage Wednesday: Biden said today he would travel to Kentucky later this week to survey damage left by a deadly tornado storm that struck late last week. The White House put out an advisory shortly after the president’s announcement indicating Biden will visit the U.S. Army base at Fort Campbell, which is located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, as well as the towns of Mayfield and Dawson Springs in Kentucky. — ‘Dr. Oz Show’ will end in 2022 during host’s Senate bid: The “Dr. Oz Show” will end its 12-year run early next year as its host, Mehmet Oz, ramps up his bid for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, Sony Pictures Television confirmed in a statement today. The daytime television show, currently in its 13th season, will air its last episode on Jan. 14, 2022 and be replaced by “The Good Dish,” a cooking show hosted by Oz's daughter Daphne, food writer Gail Simmons and “Let's Eat” co-host Jamika Pessoa. The “Dr. Oz Show” had previously been renewed in September 2020 for seasons 13 and 14. — Supreme Court rejects move to block New York vaccine mandate: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to block New York’s vaccination mandate for health care workers because it doesn't have a religious exemption . Three of the court’s six conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — dissented, saying they would grant relief. The mandate covers staff in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities.
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A mural of George Floyd painted in downtown Atlanta to memorialize the life of George Floyd. | Megan Varner/Getty Images | — Chauvin expected to plead guilty in Floyd civil rights case: Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin appears to be on the verge of pleading guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights , according to a notice sent out today by the court’s electronic filing system. The federal docket entry shows a hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case. These types of notices indicate a defendant is planning to plead guilty. — California to require indoor masking statewide: California residents will be required to wear facial coverings in all indoor public spaces from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15 to help fend off a rise in Covid-19 cases as the holidays approach. “We are proactively putting this tool — universal indoor masking in public settings — in place to ensure we get through a time of joy and hope without a darker cloud of concern and despair,” said Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, during a press briefing today. — No troops disciplined in U.S. strike killing Afghan civilians: No U.S. troops involved in the August drone strike that killed innocent Kabul civilians and children will face disciplinary action, U.S. defense officials said today. Officials said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved recommendations on the disciplinary matter from the generals who lead the U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, based on the findings of an independent Pentagon review released last month. — Defense claims politics behind indictment of Rep. Jeff Fortenberry: A lawyer for Rep. Jeff Fortenberry said today that the Nebraska Republican was being targeted for political reasons in a federal prosecution on charges of making false statements during an investigation into campaign finance violations, including raising funds from a foreign donor. “Our core defense in this case will be that this prosecution is a political prosecution,” Fortenberry’s lead defense attorney, John Littrell, said during a hearing in federal court in Los Angeles.
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| | | | | EU HITS RUSSIA’S WAGNER — EU foreign ministers decided today to slap sanctions on Russian private military contractor Wagner as well as eight individuals and three entities connected to the group. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes. The targeted people include Dimitriy Utkin, who is described in the legal announcement of the sanctions as “a former Russian military intelligence officer” and “the founder of the Wagner Group” who is deemed “responsible for coordinating and planning operations for the deployment of Wagner Group mercenaries in Ukraine.” Wagner first attracted international attention in 2014 when it supported pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Since then, it has been involved in conflict zones including in Syria, Sudan, Mozambique and the Central African Republic. Western officials consider the group to be entangled with the Russian security apparatus, although Moscow has always denied any link. POLITICO reported last week that Brussels was planning to impose sanctions against the group.
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| | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | |
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The United States Air Force Thunderbirds fly over the Huntington Beach Pier. | Michael Heiman/Getty Images | HITTING EJECT — The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots. The Air Force gave its forces until Nov. 2 to get the vaccine, and thousands have either refused or sought an exemption. Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said today that these are the first airmen to be administratively discharged for reasons involving the vaccine. She said all of them were in their first term of enlistment, so they were younger, lower-ranking personnel. And while the Air Force does not disclose what type of discharge a service member gets, legislation working its way through Congress limits the military to giving troops in vaccine refusal cases an honorable discharge or general discharge under honorable condition. None of the 27 sought any type of exemption, medical, administrative or religious, Stefanek said. Several officials from the other services said they believe that so far only the Air Force has gotten this far along in the process and discharged people over the vaccine refusal.
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A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations, including Section 230
Aaron is one of 40,000 people working on safety and security issues at Facebook.
Hear from Aaron on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet’s most pressing challenges, including reforming Section 230 to set clear guidelines for all large tech companies. | | |
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