Principals

1. US in Syria
2. Trump’s big plans
3. GOP border agenda
4. Obamacare approval
5. China investment curbs
6. Trump’s Washington
7. Dem governors on Trump
8. Public media targeted

PDB: Biden offers hope for US journalist missing in Syria

Hegseth back on Capitol Hill … China pledges more stimulus … WSJ: Dems angry at Biden for ceding presidential influence to Trump

What happens to US presence in Syria

The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria is raising questions about the presence of US forces in the region as Donald Trump prepares to take office. President Biden called the developments a moment of both opportunity and “risk and uncertainty” for Syria and said US forces would maintain the counter-Islamic State mission in the country. “We are clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum,” Biden said. “We will not let that happen.” To that end, the US conducted airstrikes on 75 ISIS targets in Syria on Sunday. However, Trump again signaled a desire to wind down the US’ presence in the country, a position that puts him at odds with some in his party. “It is vital the international community continue working to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and other terrorist organizations,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said in a statement.

Trump lays out key administration plans

Donald Trump laid out a series of sweeping initiatives for the start of his administration. In an interview with NBC News that aired Sunday, the president-elect said he would seek to end birthright citizenship, while expressing openness to protecting “Dreamers.” Trump also said American citizens could be deported alongside family members in the country illegally because “the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.” On tariffs, Trump notably admitted that he “can’t guarantee” they wouldn’t lead to higher costs for American families. He weighed the possibility of raising the federal minimum wage, telling NBC News that “it’s a very low number,” and reaffirmed his plans to pardon Jan. 6 rioters on day one, while also indicating he wouldn’t try to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

— Shelby Talcott

Republicans’ aggressive border plan

A top Trump aide is endorsing an aggressive two-step legislative strategy for next year, building on plans first unveiled by Senate Republicans. Incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on Fox News that the hope is to finish a border-focused bill “within a week or two” of Trump taking office to complement immediate border executive actions. “John Thune and Lindsey Graham have promised a full-funding package for the border … to the president’s desk in January or early February,” Miller said. Thereafter, he added, the plan “is to move immediately … to the comprehensive tax package.” No one is abandoning GOP plans for a major tax bill, Miller added, but he acknowledged it will “take some time” with the tight House majority. It’s unclear if that plan will fly with the House.

— Burgess Everett

Obamacare approval on the rise

It’s no surprise Republicans aren’t exactly rushing to repeal Obamacare. Fifty-four percent of US adults approve of the Affordable Care Act, according to Gallup, including record highs of Democrats and Republicans. And 62% of US adults say the federal government has the responsibility to ensure all Americans have healthcare coverage, a figure that has been steadily rising in recent years after reaching a low point during the bungled Obamacare rollout. The public is divided on whether a government-run healthcare system or a private system is better, but the share of Republicans who favor a government-run system — 21% — is the highest on record. House Speaker Mike Johnson backtracked after suggesting Republicans would try to gut Obamacare. Trump, who tried unsuccessfully to repeal the ACA during his first term, said on NBC News he would only try again “if we find something better.”

Congress drops China investment curbs from defense bill

House Democrats derailed a bipartisan push to attach language to the annual defense policy bill to restrict US investment in China at the 11th hour. Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries prevented the language from being attached to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, text of which was released over the weekend. The outbound proposal, backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and eyed warily by Wall Street, would have essentially codified a Biden administration executive order restricting US investment in certain high-tech sectors in China. Johnson, who has been working for months to settle an internal Republican disagreement over the policy, is expected to attempt to attach it to the year-end continuing resolution — but that may prove difficult.

Trump’s Washington: Byron Donalds

Every week until Inauguration Day, Semafor’s team will profile someone who will play an influential role for Donald Trump in his administration, on Capitol Hill, or on the outside.

Byron Donalds will be one of the most critical House Republicans to the new president — that is, if he doesn’t run for governor of Trump’s home state. The Florida congressman is expected to be “an important bridge” between the old-guard conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus and younger, more MAGA-first conservatives who are newly elected, a Trump adviser told Semafor. Donalds backed Trump in April 2023, a move that angered outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis. From bus tours to barbershop visits, Donalds helped shape Trump’s Black outreach this year, yielding the highest support from Black voters for a Republican presidential candidate in nearly 50 years. His fiery exchanges with the media have received accolades from Trump supporters. That said, he’s considered likely to seek Florida’s governorship, and his closeness to Trump could earn him an endorsement (if Matt Gaetz doesn’t get one first).

— Kadia Goba

Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, will sit down with Semafor’s Senior Washington Editor Elana Schor to share personal insights on the powerful Ways & Means committee, discussing the GOP’s plans for taxes, tariffs, and the future of the Republican party.

RSVP to the last Principals Live of the year.

Dem governors keep their powder dry on Trump

Democratic governors took a wait-and-see approach to the coming Trump administration this weekend, emphasizing possible areas of agreement over mass resistance. Most of them gathered in Beverly Hills for the Democratic Governors Association’s post-election meeting; none were ready to join Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Colorado’s Jared Polis’ promised coalition against the threat of “autocracy.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told Semafor he congratulated Trump after the election and “invited him to cut the ribbon” on a project he approved that got built in the Biden administration. Incoming North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said his state would cooperate if Trump mobilized law enforcement to deport non-citizens who’d committed crimes. Tim Walz got a hero’s welcome, though, and governors didn’t agree on exactly what went wrong. Several said they’d run against Trump’s proposed tariffs, which would hit their states financially.

— David Weigel

Weakened US public broadcasters will fight for their lives in 2025

Republican Sen. John Kennedy’s proposed “No Propaganda Act” would end funding for public media in the US, Semafor’s Max Tani reports. Kennedy joined an effort by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are leading an amorphous cost-cutting advisory group for incoming President Trump, and they have suggested eliminating support for public media from the federal budget. The idea got little press coverage because it’s not new; efforts to defund NPR, PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have been raised by Republicans and batted away for decades. But it could be different this time. PBS has had some success on YouTube, but NPR’s digital transformation is incomplete amid declining radio listenership and high-profile political stumbles. “Not a dime of taxpayer dollars should be forced to go to these organizations,” Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Semafor.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Former GOP Sen. Cory Gardner will take over as chair of the board of the Senate Leadership Fund.

Axios: The US wants to make sure that chemical weapons that belonged to Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria don’t fall into the wrong hands.

Playbook: Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence, will begin her meetings with senators today, just as she faces renewed scrutiny for expressing sympathy for Assad in the past.

WaPo: A group of former prison officials, civil rights advocates, and religious leaders is asking President Biden to commute all federal death sentences before leaving office.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Goldman Sachs bowed out of a bank coalition designed to address climate change.

What the Right isn’t reading: Democrats proposed a deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies by a year.

White House

• President Biden and Vice President Harris will each deliver remarks at a Tribal Nations Summit at the Interior Department today. They’ll also host congressional lawmakers for a holiday ball.
• Biden said the US government believes that journalist Austin Tice is alive in Syria.

Congress

• A group of frontline House Democrats is backing Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., to serve as the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee.
• The House Rules Committee will meet this afternoon to consider the NDAA.
• Democratic Senators-elect Adam Schiff and Andy Kim will be sworn in at the US Capitol today.

Transition

• Donald Trump named Christopher Landau as deputy secretary of state, Michael Needham as counselor to the State Department, and Michael Anton as director of policy planning at the department.
• Trump named personal attorney Alina Habba as White House counselor.

Business

• China’s top EV maker, BYD, recorded its fastest-growing month this year, and is poised to overtake Ford and Honda in global sales.

Courts

• A federal judge paused a lawsuit against education secretary-nominee Linda McMahon in Maryland for allegedly failing to respond to stop the abuse of “ring boys” while she was an executive at World Wrestling Entertainment while another court considers a new state law that involves such cases.

Campaigns

• Lara Trump will step down as Republican National Committee co-chair, saying she will consider replacing Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., if he is confirmed as secretary of state. — AP

Foreign Policy

• The US will dispatch senior officials to the Middle East in the coming days following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, President Biden said.
• The UN Security Council is expected to convene today for an emergency meeting regarding Syria, at Russia’s request. — AFP
• South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol escaped impeachment, but he’s now barred from leaving the country amid an investigation into his attempt to impose martial law.

Technology

• Apple is facing a $1.2 billion lawsuit alleging that it failed to curtail images of child sexual abuse on iCloud.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Suzan DelBene is a Democratic congresswoman from Washington and the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.