Principals

1. A pivotal day
2. China provision stripped
3. Trump’s Capitol Hill man
4. GOP DOJ demands
5. Sinema speaks
6. Satellites for human rights
7. Ukraine war views
8. Amazon strike

PDB: Trump’s latest court victory

Biden cancels $4.3 billion in student debt for public service workers … US diplomats in Syria … What happens if the government shuts down

Shutdown chances are peaking

The collapse of the House’s 11th hour funding Plan B is shifting Congress into spaghetti-at-the-wall mode as a shutdown looms at 11:59 p.m. ET tonight. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said one possible option is a three-week stopgap “with nothing about the debt limit in it. But I don’t know if [Donald] Trump will support that.” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she’d support that if it came down to it. Democrats aren’t there yet — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House needs to embrace its original failed deal, which seems unlikely. All eyes are now on whether Speaker Mike Johnson can find a majority within the GOP, or win over enough Democrats, to save Christmas. Still, senators insist they can’t be blindsided. “They need to be talking to the Senate, too,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of leadership.

— Burgess Everett

GOP funding bill cut China curbs

Another apparent casualty of the Republicans’ funding debacle: a bipartisan effort to restrict US investment in China. That provision was a priority for House Speaker Mike Johnson in the first short-term funding deal — after falling out of the defense policy legislation — but got axed from the slimmed-down version endorsed by Trump that failed on the House floor. Trump didn’t publicly take issue with the China piece, and Johnson’s office didn’t explain why it was axed. Some liberals speculated Elon Musk was to blame because of his business interests. “He clearly does not want to have to answer any questions about how much he plans to expand his business in China,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., while Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. suggested House Republicans are not “serious about their tough talk on China.” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said he planned to work with incoming House Financial Services chair French Hill to “tee it up” next Congress.

— Morgan Chalfant and Kadia Goba

JD Vance, Trump’s Capitol Hill ‘diplomat’

JD Vance has been all over Capitol Hill this week working to rebuild the GOP spending plan after his joint statement with Donald Trump doomed the original bill. Vance, who was the junior senator from Ohio for just two years, is offering a preview of the role he might play as Trump’s vice president: That of a leading emissary between Congress and the White House. Republicans predict he’ll be “involved in a lot of decisions” that Trump makes, as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito put it, and they’re so far not concerned about his more junior status. And Vance is sure to approach the job differently than Trump’s last vice president, Mike Pence: he’s far closer to Trump ideologically and is well versed in the online battle space. Trump, one person close to Vance said, “is the hammer” while Vance is a “diplomat” — a skill that’s likely to help as he wrangles lawmakers over to Trump’s side.

— Shelby Talcott and Burgess Everett

Semafor announces the launch of The CEO Signal from Semafor Business, an exclusive, invitation-only membership for chief executives of the world’s largest companies.

Helmed by veteran Financial Times editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the initiative builds on the success of Liz Hoffman’s Semafor Business and sets a new standard for how global leaders connect, learn, and navigate future challenges. Focusing on exclusivity over scale, the platform will debut as a weekly briefing in January 2025 offering candid, practical insights and interviews tailored for global CEOs who are short on time and seeking actionable intelligence.

GOP lawmakers urge Trump to replace US attorneys

A group of Republican House members is calling on Trump and attorney general nominee Pam Bondi to immediately replace all 93 US attorneys with interim replacements, according to a letter shared first with Semafor. The move would ensure any Biden-era federal prosecutors don’t automatically rise in the ranks to fill the slots of outgoing US attorneys while new ones are considered by the Senate. “President Trump was given a mandate to root out the rot from our weaponized, two-tiered justice department,” Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., the lead author of the letter, told Semafor. “We don’t need lingering Biden-era officials.” The signatories make up a broad coalition of more than 30 GOP members, including Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.

— Kadia Goba

The Sinema exit interview

Kyrsten Sinema’s six-year Senate run is hard to equal in terms of results and intraparty drama, punctuated by bipartisan deals and her decision to leave the Democratic Party. But if you know Sinema, you know she looks more at results than vibes: “Honestly, I feel like we got 40 years worth of work done in one term,” Sinema told Semafor’s Burgess Everett this week. “I do wish we had gotten immigration done. We tried really hard, but everything else was just pretty freaking amazing.” Sinema said her biggest and most important vote was to protect the filibuster, and said she even got some unexpected props from a Democratic colleague after the election about her vote. As for those who criticized her votes and actions along the way, like her recent vote against a labor nominee? A very Sinema response: “Don’t give a shit.”

Can Boeing, SpaceX help advance human rights?

Lawmakers in both parties want the State Department to tap the private sector for help exposing repressed communities to the internet. A group of House China select committee members wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Agency for Global Media chief Amanda Bennett, urging the sponsorship of a “federal prize competition” that would encourage satellite technology companies to build systems to connect people living under authoritarian leaders or in war-torn countries to the internet, as a way to advance human rights globally. The letter namechecks companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and SpaceX as already working in this space, arguing that a competition would increase the pool of companies and ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted. “The value of access to untainted information cannot be understated,” reads the letter led by Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., and signed by China committee leaders.

— Morgan Chalfant

More Americans want quick end to Ukraine war

More and more Americans want to see a quick end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, a trend extending to both Republicans and Democrats. New Gallup research shows half of US adults now back the US trying to end the conflict as quickly as possible, even if it means Ukraine ceding territory to Russia. For the first time, the share of Americans who want to see the US support Ukraine reclaiming territory from Russia dropped below half, to 48%. The results are a potential boon for Trump’s designs on bringing an end to the war, though he hasn’t offered details yet. Nearly seven-in-10 US adults believe neither side is winning the war. Meanwhile, US allies are blaming President Biden’s cautious approach for costing Ukraine possible victory, Bloomberg reports.

Amazon drivers walk out amid holiday crunch

Amazon delivery drivers walked out in seven facilities across four states — but the strike may have little impact on the holiday shopping season. The protest, organized by the Teamsters union, was advocating for better benefits, pay, and working conditions for drivers who ferry Amazon packages across the US. “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said. But the e-commerce giant said the strike would not affect shipments and insists it isn’t obligated to bargain with the workers because they don’t work for Amazon, but for companies that Amazon contracts with. Teamsters says 10,000 workers have joined the union — a tiny fraction of Amazon’s 1.53 million-strong workforce. One looming question is what the federal government will do, if anything, to address the situation (the White House declined to comment).

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: JD Vance and Russ Vought, who is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, are meeting with the House Freedom Caucus this morning in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office to attempt to resolve the funding impasse.

Playbook: Trump and Johnson are contemplating the upsides of a shutdown.

WaPo: The 38 Republicans who opposed the new funding bill last night did so largely because of the proposed increase of the debt ceiling.

Axios: Podcaster (and ex-Washington Post reporter) Kara Swisher is trying to buy the Post.

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: President Biden’s aides went to great lengths to prevent him from “making gaffes or missteps that could damage his image, create political headaches or upset the world order.” That includes limiting who spoke to him and what they said, including some Cabinet secretaries, The Wall Street Journal reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: A BBC report claims that Facebook restricted the reach of Palestinian news outlets during the Gaza war.

White House

• President Biden and first lady Jill Biden are making a holiday visit to Children’s National Hospital this afternoon.
• Biden will visit Rome from Jan. 9-12 to meet with Pope Francis as well as Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Congress

• Legislation that would end double taxation of Americans living overseas appears to be gaining traction.

Transition

• Donald Trump threatened the European Union with tariffs if the bloc doesn’t buy more US oil and gas.

Outside the Beltway

• Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned earlier this week as chief adviser to New York Mayor Eric Adams, was indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges.
• Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo intends to sue a former aide who accused him of sexual harassment while he was in office.

Economy

• The US will release the November personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — later this morning.
• US gross domestic product grew more than initial estimates during the third quarter of this year.

Business

• Unionized Starbucks baristas in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle are beginning a five-day strike today.

Courts

• An appeals court in Georgia disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from Donald Trump’s state prosecution on election interference charges.
• Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione faces additional federal charges.

National Security

• The FAA imposed a month-long ban on flying drones in areas of New Jersey.
• US immigration authorities deported the highest number of immigrants last year that they have in a decade.

Foreign Policy

• The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria to fight the Islamic State — double the previous number — a change the Pentagon said preceded the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would meet Donald Trump “whenever.”

Technology

• The White House is working on an executive order that would allow for data centers and electrical power plants to be built on federal land to help power AI systems. — WaPo
• The US government asked Nvidia to look into how its chips found their way into China. — The Information

Media

• Donald Trump transferred his nearly 114.8 million Trump Media shares to a revocable trust of which he is the only beneficiary.
• Neil Cavuto is departing Fox News. — Mediaite

Principals Team

• Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant
• Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Brendan Buck is a former top aide to then-House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner. He is a partner at the strategic communications firm Seven Letter.