Principals

1. Govt funding endgame
2. Senate GOP braces for ’26
3. AOC loses
4. US on Russian general
5. Fed meeting
6. Hopes rise for Gaza truce

PDB: Accused UnitedHealthcare shooter indicted

Bessent to meet with Warren … Senate eyes final passage of defense bill … WSJ: US considering banning Chinese-made internet routers

Congress races to vote on funding measure

Republicans finalized a bill to fund the government until mid-March and avert a government shutdown. The 1,547-page bill includes a one-year extension of federal farm programs, a commitment to fund Maryland’s Key Bridge rebuild, around $115 billion in disaster aid, health care provisions and restrictions on US investment in China — as well as the first congressional pay raise since 2009. The additions have upset some Republican members and will force GOP leaders to lean on Democratic votes to pass it. “If we’re gonna do short three-month funding, it should be the most basic funding for government,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told Semafor. The delayed release triggers a scramble to get the bill through Congress before Friday’s deadline. Good news for the capital’s sports fans: Congress added a measure that could bring Robert F. Kennedy Stadium back to Washington.

— Kadia Goba

The brewing MAGA primaries

Donald Trump’s tacit endorsement of primaries for senators who show “unreasonable” opposition to his nominees is fueling more and more tension within the Republican Party, Semafor’s David Weigel and Burgess Everett report. There’s already one major primary challenger as John Fleming takes on Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, and that could be the tip of the iceberg for Senate Republicans heading into 2026. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he’s certain to face an internecine opponent but also said Trump has a “valid point” on making senators explain themselves: “You just can’t be ‘no’ because you want to be ‘no.’” In the end, the whole episode may just result in confirmation of most of Trump’s nominees. “I don’t think they’re gonna have a problem getting nominees across the finish line,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.

Democrats reject AOC for Oversight role

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost a last-minute bid to lead Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, after a majority of her colleagues backed Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly. Connolly had been passed over for the role before, and House Democrats separated this race from the other young vs. old committee fights. “I love Gerry, and he’ll do a good job,” said New York Rep. Pat Ryan, who had backed Ocasio-Cortez. “I’ve just said that we have to be clear who we fight for and who we fight against, and no one better encapsulates that than Alex.” Democrats downplayed the ideological stakes, after the Congressional Progressive Caucus endorsed Ocasio-Cortez and the congresswoman had said that people celebrating the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “experience denied claims as an act of violence.” “A lot of times, seniority reigns supreme here,” said Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens.

— David Weigel

US tiptoes around killing in Russia

The US quickly distanced itself from Ukraine’s killing of a senior Russian general in Moscow. “The United States was not aware of the operation in advance and we do not support or enable these kind of activities,” a US official said. A bomb killed Igor Kirillov a day after Ukraine charged him for directing the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces. Russia detained a suspect in the attack earlier today. While an embarrassment for Russia, Kirillov’s death isn’t likely to significantly impact the battlefield, or potential negotiations to end the war. “It will piss [Vladimir] Putin off but he is pretty good at forgetting other people’s pain,” said Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution. “Putin will worry more about demographic and economic and battlefield trendlines and how he reads Trump.” One European official remarked: “The more Russia loses and the more of them die, the easier to deal.”

— Morgan Chalfant

Fed prepares for 2025

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by another quarter point at its final meeting of this year. But the big question hanging over today’s meeting is what the central bank will do in 2025 — when Trump’s policy plans could shift the inflation outlook. Some have suggested that the central bank could pause after three cuts in a row. “We are at or near the point where it makes sense to slow the pace of rate reductions,” the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland said this month. Chair Jerome Powell is likely to field more questions about Trump, after the president-elect signaled he wouldn’t remove Powell before his term ends. Meanwhile, November retail sales carried mixed signs: they outperformed expectations, driven largely by strong auto sales, but spending at restaurants, grocery stores, and clothing stores declined.

Hopes rise on Gaza ceasefire talks

US officials and the Palestinian militant group Hamas raised hopes that a ceasefire in Gaza may finally be in the offing. Talks over a truce have languished for months as Israel instead focused on dismantling the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon and, more recently, establishing a buffer zone in Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Yet the Gaza portion of the conflict has persisted, with an estimated 45,000 people killed and millions displaced since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The onslaught has reshaped the Middle East in ways the group did not anticipate: Its patron, Iran, has been weakened and Tehran’s proxies in Lebanon and Syria have been diminished or ousted.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Speaker Mike Johnson may have trouble getting the short-term government funding bill through the House Rules Committee because of its three hardline conservatives, which means he would need to bring it up for a vote under suspension of the rules and get a two-thirds majority to pass it.

Playbook: Johnson’s job will get even harder come March, when he has to pass the next government funding bill with a slimmer GOP majority.

WaPo: Some Libertarians think Donald Trump is breaking his campaign pledge to nominate a Libertarian to his Cabinet.

Axios: Young Americans are richer than ever.

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: A group of Senate Democrats proposed a bill to end the Electoral College.

What the Right isn’t reading: Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth suggested without evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was carried out by leftist groups, CNN reported.

White House

• President Biden said there is “nothing nefarious” about the recent drone sightings on the East Coast.
• Biden supports a ban on congressional stock trading.

Congress

• The bipartisan House task force on artificial intelligence released a report to guide future policymaking regarding the technology.
• House Republicans called for a criminal investigation of former Rep. Liz Cheney for her role on the Jan. 6 select committee.

Transition

• Tucker Carlson helped block former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from Trump’s second administration. — WSJ
• Herschel Walker was nominated by Trump to be the ambassador to the Bahamas.

Outside the Beltway

• A federal judge rejected New York Mayor Eric Adams’ attempt to have the bribery charges against him dismissed.

Business

• Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will begin merger negotiations. — Nikkei
• FTC issued a final rule banning “junk fees” on tickets and hotels.

Courts

• A grand jury in New York indicted Luigi Mangione, the suspect alleged to have murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, on several charges, including first-degree murder as an act of terrorism.
• Donald Trump sued the Des Moines Register and its pollster J Ann Selzer over a pre-election poll that showed Kamala Harris ahead of him in Iowa.

National Security

• An industry watchdog warned that artificial intelligence could cause blackouts in North America. — FT

Foreign Policy

• The Pentagon believes that North Korean soldiers fighting alongside the Russians in Ukraine have suffered casualties.
• NATO took over coordinating military support for Ukraine. — Reuters

Technology

• Elon Musk and SpaceX “have repeatedly failed to comply with federal reporting protocols aimed at protecting state secrets, including by not providing some details of his meetings with foreign leaders.” — NYT
• The EU is formally investigating TikTok over alleged election meddling in Romania.

Media

• A memo written by editors at the Los Angles Times said the “meddling” by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong into the newspaper’s coverage, especially of Donald Trump, has “grown more pervasive than previously realized.”

Big Read

• Donald Trump’s transformation of the Republican Party carries echoes of the post-Civil War South, Walter Russell Mead writes in Tablet Magazine. Trump will be remembered not for the humiliation he dealt the Democratic Party but first and foremost for the “devastating defeat he has inflicted on the Republican establishment he has marginalized and dispersed,” Mead writes.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant

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

Raja Krishnamoorthi is the top Democrat on the House select committee on China and one of the cosponsors of the TikTok legislation that passed overwhelmingly earlier this year.

Canada is in a moment of political upheaval, Semafor’s Diego Mendoza wrote.

The resignation of finance minister Chrystia Freeland capped a concern that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has lost grip on the country’s finances and direction, just as Ottawa braces for trade tariffs threatened by US President-elect Donald Trump.