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The House passed a short-term extension on Tuesday afternoon to fund the government through early next year. But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) relied on Democratic votes just like his predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did, an outcome that cost the latter his job. (FWIW, Johnson is expected to keep his—mostly because there’s no one else left to elect if they booted him, to be honest.)

Below is all my reporting on why Democrats bailed out the new speaker, why House conservatives rejected the bill and what’s next with two days before a government shutdown.

But first things first…

Supercreator turned four over the weekend (!!!). Talk about an unbelievable milestone. I was a personal and professional mess before I launched this project on a prayer and with pennies. I’m so grateful that I rediscovered myself and established myself as one of the journalists mentioned in the same breath as those I used to admire from afar.

This newsletter took me to the campaign trail last midterm election cycle to cover the red wave that wasn’t and to the White House to bring you closer to the Biden administration. It helped me become the only Black independent accredited congressional reporter during one of the zaniest eras in the institution’s history. It’s been a space to examine the human impact of the rollback of abortion rights, the gun violence epidemic, and the crises in health care, student loan debt, and affordable housing. Because as you know, creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it happens or is suppressed due to or despite what’s happening around you.

As I often say, though, what got me here won’t get me there. So ahead of the critical 2024 election that will require a renewed focus on the threats to American democracy, the Democratic Party’s attempt to reclaim the House and somehow hold the Senate, and the stakes of a potential second Trump term, I have some bittersweet news that I’ve been holding for a while: This will be the last week of Supercreator News.

Now that I’ve ripped the bandaid off rest assured that I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be writing a newsletter, one that will be better suited for the moment and my current reportorial pursuits. If you’re signed up to Supercreator, you’ll get the new newsletter. And if you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll enjoy the upcoming premium experience. I’ll have more to say about the new thing after Thanksgiving.

For now, in the spirit of the season, know that I’m grateful that thousands of you have welcomed me into your most sacred (perhaps scattered!) digital space—the email inbox—to share the news as my sources and I see it. You’ve made me better in all ways. I’ll appreciate you always.

Now, back to the news…

The House-passed CR sets up two funding fights early next year.

The first deadline is Jan.  19, when lawmakers must fully fund the Agriculture and Transportation Departments, FDA, military and veterans initiatives, housing, energy and water programs.

The second cliff arrives on Feb. 2 and will force Congress to contend with the remaining appropriations bills unresolved in the January window.

The bill maintains fiscal year 2023 funding levels but excludes funding for national security priorities, including aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and additional resources to secure the southern border. It also omits emergency dollars to address the child care crisis and invest in broadband access for underserved communities. A bill to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which the government now uses for domestic surveillance and expires on Dec. 31, was also left out of the extension. Speaker Johnson said the bill would be considered separately and likely hitch a ride on the annual Pentagon reauthorization bill that must pass by the end of the year.

But a one-year extension to the farm bill is attached, a win for agriculture-minded lawmakers and advocates for nutrition programs like SNAP and The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

The 336-95 vote was almost identical to the McCarthy tally from the end of September, which was 335-91. In both cases, 209 Democrats carried the bill. 127 Republicans voted for the measure, which was passed under suspension of the rules—a fast-track mechanism that requires a two-thirds majority for passage but allows the House to skip procedural and amendment votes and limit debate on a bill.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, where the expectation is it will pass pretty quickly before President Joe Biden signs it into law.

New speaker, same math 

It was inevitable that House Republicans would find themselves looking across the aisle for help fulfilling one of Congress’s fundamental responsibilities: Funding the government.

Sure, they ousted McCarthy for putting a “clean” continuing resolution on the floor at the end of September devoid of any spending cuts or conservative policy priorities. But as White House Budget Director Shalanda Young, a former Capitol Hill workhorse, often says: The math is the math.

And a Johnson-for-McCarthy swap didn’t erase the reality of a divided government. Even under new management, House Republicans still hold a slim majority against Democratic control of the Senate and White House. (In fact, the House GOP’s margin is one vote thinner after the election last week and swearing in this week of Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), which brought Democrats to full strength at 213 members and means Johnson can only lose three Republican votes on party-line bills.)

The only difference between the CR that McCarthy brought up and the one that passed this week is that Johnson split what’s usually one deadline into two, an idea put forward by the far-right House Freedom Caucus. (Ironically enough, the HFC came out in formal opposition to the bill the morning before the vote. And Johnson voted against the McCarthy bill.)

Democrats would have preferred a short-term funding extension that expired mid-December to provide appropriators with roughly a month to draft what’s known ‘round these parts as an “omnibus,” or a comprehensive funding agreement for the full fiscal year, that Congress can pass before they head home for the holidays.

But Republicans haaaaaaaate these “Christmas tree” bills, as they describe them. They argue that omnis prevent debate on the merits of the 12 individual funding bills that support US departments and agencies. Instead, they are written by leadership staff with little time to review before a vote is called for the final package because we know lawmakers always read the bills they vote on, right? Omni haters also despise the omission of an amendment process, which gives rank-and-file members a chance to put their stamp on a piece of legislation.

House Democrats were reluctant to initially support the bill because of the two deadlines, which many viewed as a gimmick. Case in point: House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (Calif.) said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe just gave Republicans two more chances to shut the government down instead of one. 

Speaker Johnson defended the two-step approach as the best strategy to avoid a holiday omnibus and ensure that the domestic and national security emergency funding requests are debated separately while keeping the government open.

The White House immediately came out in opposition to the plan but quietly ended up changing its tune. And after Senate Democrats expressed an openness to the Johnson CR and a better alternative failed to emerge, House Democratic leadership ultimately endorsed the legislation.

The Dems’ case against a House GOP majority

The vote came on the same day Capitol Hill was beset with several instances of congressional Republicans behaving badly.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the eight House Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy from the speakership, accused the former speaker of elbowing him in the kidney in the basement hallway outside of where the GOP met for their weekly conference meeting.

And Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) challenged a witness during a congressional hearing to a tussle so out of order Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had to remind Mullin was a United States senator.

If that wasn’t enough, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) called Rep. Jared Moskowitz a “Smurf” after the Florida Democrat called Comer out for his hypocrisy in allegedly loaning his brother money while using a personal loan President Biden made to his brother as evidence of malfeasance in his toothless impeachment inquiry.

What’s more, the House had to pass the CR under suspension with majority Democratic support because Republicans didn’t have the votes to pass the procedural measure that would have allowed the bill to be considered in the first place. This isn’t supposed to happen when you’re in the majority, no matter how slim. And it never did when Democrats controlled the House with similar margins last Congress.

There is a real second-hand embarrassment among Democrats for the dwindling decorum among their Republican counterparts. But this is politics, honey. And one party’s drama is the other’s opportunity.

In addition to the argument that Democrats are better suited than Republicans to address the kitchen-table concerns of everyday Americans, they’ll also supplement their 2024 message with examples of the GOP’s inability to govern.

Several members told me this week that it’s one thing for the new speaker to need Democratic help on one bill, as he did on Tuesday. But the CR vote isn’t an isolated incident, they say. It’s the latest instance in a long pattern of ineptitude dating back to January when it took 15 ballots and four days for House Republicans to elect McCarthy as speaker only to remove him nine months later.

Since then, Republican leadership has been unable to bring at least five bills to the floor and has had to pull even more ahead of final passsge due to unfavorable whip counts. Democrats had to rescue Republicans from allowing the US to default on its debt for the first time in American history. And as reported, they had to carry the first funding extension six weeks ago before doing so again this week.

And although Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), who leads the House Democrats’ campaign, is far from an objective observer, she said the House GOP dysfunction will cost them their majority next November.

“House Democrats helped prevent a catastrophe today, but make no mistake—this is no way to run the country,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), who leads the House Democrats’ campaign arm and is responsible for leading the party back to power, said in a statement after the CR was approved. “House Republicans remain dysfunctional, embracing MAGA extremism and pushing us time and again to the brink. We will hold them accountable for their chaos and failure to govern responsibly—which will cost them the majority next year.”

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Early 2024 will be messy

The state of play is frustrating for Democrats who think all of this could be avoided had House Republicans simply honored the plan McCarthy negotiated with President Biden in May that ultimately passed Congress and was signed into law.

But that ship sailed once House GOP appropriators ended up writing their funding bills billions of dollars below the threshold set in the McCarthy-Biden agreement.

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who leads the House Appropriations Committee, said this week that the House would need to agree on a topline funding level before negotiating final bills with the Senate.

This means Congress will start the new year by picking up the mess it failed to reconcile this year. And the country—along with the friends and allies who rely on us—will be worse off for it.

👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome to Supercreator, the premier politics newsletter for the creative class. Who’s still noshing on leftover Halloween candy? 

In this issue:

• Lawmakers propose immigration courts fix

• Santos survives

• Farm bill leaders eye CR-attached resolution

• AI policy overtakes DC—and beyond

• House, Senate notch funding wins

But first things first: Shoutout to all the rebels like me who don’t count Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as their favorite candy. (KitKat hive, stand up!) A few more Halloween-themed takeaways—courtesy of the latest Navigator Research survey—before we get to the pressing news of the day:

• Snickers came in at a distant second to Reese’s.

• Related: Dads have a stronger preference towards Snickers as their number-two pick, while Moms are partial to M&Ms.

• Candy corn is most commonly cited as Americans’ least favorite Halloween candy. The abomination does have a net positive favorable rating, though.

Oh, and I can’t go on without showing some love to actress KERRY WASHINGTON, who nailed her costume as track star SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON.

Onto more pressing matters, though: We’re almost at the end of the first full week of the MIKE JOHNSON (La.) speakership, and he’s picked up where his predecessor KEVIN McCARTHY (Calif.) left off: Siding with the right flank of his conference to jam through a bill that could have earned Democratic support had it excluded a poison pill.

Allow me to explain: The politics of the House GOP Israel bill

The House approved $14.3 billion in US aid to Israel as it avenges a series of coordinated attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas—that killed more than 1,000 Israeli citizens and more than 350 Israeli soldiers—with an aggressive ground invasion in the Gaza Strip.

12 pro-Israel Democrats withstood a fierce whip operation from their leadership and joined almost all Republicans to pass the bill. Reps. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (Ga.) and THOMAS MASSIE were the only Republicans who opposed the legislation.

The funding meets an emergency request for the White House. But in one of his first meaningful acts holding the top gavel, Speaker Johnson splintered the Israel aid from a broader national security wish list from the Biden administration that included billions in assistance for Ukraine, Taiwan, and the US southern border.

Most significantly, House Republicans are breaking with emergency funding precedent and not only requiring the Israel aid be paid for but with resources approved in the Inflation Reduction Act to bolster the IRS.

Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) said before the vote that the Senate won’t consider the legislation. And the White House issued a veto threat on President JOE BIDEN’s behalf. Sens. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.) and SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine)—the two top Senate appropriators—are working on a separate measure that includes all the national security priorities excluded from the House Republican bill. 

House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) offered a forceful rebuke of the bill during a closed-door meeting on Thursday morning in the basement of the Capitol, multiple Democratic members told me. 

“Anyone who didn’t get Jeffries’ message either wasn’t there or they just don’t care,” one House Democrat who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about a private meeting said. Another member who attended the meeting agreed with this characterization.

I’m told House Minority Whip KATHERINE CLARK (Mass.), House Democratic Caucus PETE AGUILAR (Calif.) and Reps. GREG MEEKS (N.Y.), ADAM SMITH and ROSA DeLAURO, the top Democrats on the Foreign Relations, Armed Services and Appropriations Committees, also opposed the bill in front of the entire caucus.

Aguilar would tell reporters during his weekly press conference moments after the private caucus meeting that leadership opposed the bill because it believes a bipartisan solution will emerge from the Senate that looks out for US allies and partners in a responsible way.

“The speaker could have started out his tenure in a very different way. We could have put 400 people on support of a bill to send aid to Israel,” Aguilar added. “He chose not to do that and to politicize those efforts. It's wrong, it's dangerous. The Democratic caucus will not support that.”

Another member confirmed that leadership also warned members who voted for the bill that they risked breaking with the Democratic-controlled White House and Senate at a time when House Democrats wanted to present a united front. 

A third House Democrat called the Inflation Reduction Act one of President Biden’s signature achievements undergirded by the IRS enforcement provisions, which represented a key plank of the law. 

The thought of politicizing aid to America’s closest ally in the Middle East was one thing. But to do so with a pay-for so fundamental to Bidenomics was a bridge too far for some members.

“It was conditional,” a senior Democratic aide whose member voted against the bill told me after the vote. “You can’t put conditions on aid. You can’t do that to allies.” 

It didn’t help that the IRS clawback is fiscally irresponsible.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said reallocating the IRS dollars to cover Israel aid would add $12.5 billion to the deficit over the next decade and decrease revenue by $26.7 billion during the same time period.

Moskowitz told reporters on the House steps that he was clear from the beginning that he would be a yes vote. He also didn’t hold back in his criticism of his colleagues across the aisle.

“It’s disgusting behavior,” the first-term congressman and a descendent of a Holocaust survivor said. “And it was disgusting for Republicans to do this in the Jewish people’s greatest time of need since the Holocaust.”

In addition to Moskowitz, Reps. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (Fla.), LOIS FRANKEL (Fla.), JARED GOLDEN (Maine), JUAN VARGAS (Calif.), ANGIE CRAIG (Minn.), DON DAVIS (N.C.), GREG LANDSMAN (Ohio), DARREN SOTO (Fla.), HALEY STEVENS (Mich.) and FREDERICA WILSON (Fla.) voted yes on the bill.

Now, let’s go inside my notebook for the rest of the news I reported this week:

LAWMAKERS PROPOSE IMMIGRATION COURTS FIX

Sens. MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.) and LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska) and Reps. DAN GOLDMAN (D-N.Y.) and MARÍA ELVIRA SALAZAR (R-Fla.) introduced a bill that would create a children’s immigration court specialized to handle sensitive cases, which the lawmakers say would reduce strain on immigration courts nationwide.

Goldman told me that the bill was able to attract bipartisan and bicameral support because it doesn’t propose a change in policy or for new funds to be appropriated.

“This is simply a recognition of the unique needs of children and those with kind hearts and big hopes who simply just want to make sure that children get the proper process, information and support that they need as they go through any judicial proceeding,” he said. “And it’s a recognition that there are different needs that are not being met, and it’s simply a desire to focus and train those in the system to be able to deal with those needs.”

Bennet said he believed that there wasn’t a problem Congress couldn’t solve if it put the kids’ interest first.

“I think one of the things you see here is that when it comes to kids at the border and acknowledgment that their situation is different from the adults that arrive,” he told me. “Republicans and Democrats can work together to recognize those differences and come up with policy suggestions about how we improve the system for the benefit of the kids, as well as for the American people.”

Although the issue is urgent, floor time is at a premium so it’s uncertain if and when the bill would receive consideration in the Republican-controlled House.

Goldman expressed frustration that several bipartisan measures are waiting to reach the House floor.

“But because [former Speaker] KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.) was held hostage by the extreme right, and now the new speaker is squarely a part of the extreme right, a lot of those bipartisan bills do not come to the floor,” Goldman added. “Hopefully, this will be added into some legislation that can be passed.”

SANTOS SURVIVES

Rep. GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.) outlasted a motion to remove him from Congress on Wednesday evening after an expulsion resolution failed by a vote of 179-213, a surprisingly wide margin.

31 Democrats voted against expulsion, while 24 Republicans voted to boot Santos, the first openly gay LGBTQ Republican elected to Congress. 19 members voted present.

“I think he’s clearly not going to be in Congress much longer,” Rep. ROBERT GARCIA (D-Calif.), who with Reps. RITCHIE TORRES (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution to expel Santos from the House in May. “So whether it was tonight or another day, he’ll either be removed or he’ll plea, or he’ll get beat in reelection.”

Rep. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-Calif.) told me the vote reflected the crisis Republicans face as a party that’s turned pro-insurrectionists and anti-establishment.

“How do you wrap your head around being a family-values person and then supporting someone who has been under investigation for all these crimes,” the Los Angeles congresswoman said.

Santos was indicted in May for allegedly drawing unemployment benefits for a year during the pandemic despite holding a six-figure job at an investment firm. He was indicted on additional charges in October. (Kamlager-Dove called Santos a “welfare queen” in May after he voted for a border security bill that would help recover dollars lost to unemployment fraud during the pandemic and improve the integrity of the government’s insurance programs to prevent future fraud.)

The House approved a motion to refer the Garcia-Goldman-Torres resolution to the Ethics Committee by a vote of 221-204, along party lines and with seven Democrats voting present. None of the five New York Republicans who sponsored the October expulsion resolution voted to remove Santos in May.

The resolution was introduced by Rep. ANTHONY D’ESPOSITO (R-N.Y.) and four members of the New York Republican delegation—Reps. MARC MOLINARO, MIKE LAWLER, NICK LaLOTA and BRANDON WILLIAMS. 

Following the vote, Santos characterized the resolution as a political stunt by his colleagues in swing districts. He also claimed the result was a victory for due process. (Molinaro, D’Esposito, Lawler and Williams each represent a district President Biden won in the 2020 presidential election and have faced criticism for voting with House conservatives on various partisan bills.)

Rep. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.) said he voted against the measure, which required a two-thirds vote in favor because it would be an unsustainable precedent to set to expel people from Congress who have not been convicted of a crime and without internal due process.

“If and when Santos is convicted of these serious criminal offenses or ethics charges, I will certainly vote to expel him,” Raskin, the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “Until then, it’s a very risky road to go down, and we have to stick by due process and the rule of law, as obvious as the eventual result seems.”

On Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee announced it has contacted almost 40 witnesses, reviewed 170,000 pages of documents, and authorized 37 subpoenas in its investigation into Santos. (Torres and Goldman filed an ethics complaint in January over Santos’s financial disclosure reports.)

House Ethics said it would announce its next action in the investigation on or before Nov. 17.

FARM BILL LEADERS EYE CR-ATTACHED EXTENSION

Amid the debate around how to keep the government open beyond the middle of this month and the Biden administration’s national security supplemental funding request is a discussion about the future of the farm bill.

More than a full month after the legislation that funds and implements US and global food aid and agriculture programs expired, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee told me Congress would likely need to pass an extension to the current farm bill as lawmakers to reauthorize it in the spring fully.

“That happened to us last time in 2013. That’s not unusual,” Sen. DEBBIE STABENOW (D-Mich.) said. “I’d love to have this whole thing done now. It’s been just one barrier after another at this point.”

Stabenow added that given the technicalities of how the programs work, the extension would have to be for one year, not three months at a time, the length of past continuing resolutions, for example.

JOHN BOOZMAN (Ark.), the top Senate Republican on the Agriculture Committee, told Aris Folley at The Hill that he hopes an extension would be attached to CR Congress will have to take up this month to fund the government.

“We’ll attach it to whatever’s moving,” Stabenow said with a chuckle.

Hakeem Jeffries told me that failing to extend the farm bill would hurt everyday Americans, the nation’s farmers, and vital nutrition programs. Still, he said House Democrats hadn’t come to a decision about what an extension would look like.

He drew a red line at reports Republicans have proposed $50 billion in farm bill clawbacks.

“It’s not happening,” Jeffries said. “So let’s end the games, let’s end the ideological crusade and let’s actually engage in authentic efforts to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans.”

The next farm bill will be Stabenow’s swan song. The six-term senator announced in January that she would not seek reelection in 2024.

AI POLICY OVERTAKES DC—AND BEYOND

Artificial intelligence dominated Washington and abroad this week.

As I reported in Monday’s newsletter, President Biden signed a sweeping executive order on the safe development of AI. The president then met with a Senate gang—led by Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.)—about regulating the technology through robust legislation. Senators also held the third and fourth sessions on AI focused on its intersection with the workforce and AI’s use in sectors like finance, health care and law enforcement. 

Across the pond, Vice President KAMALA HARRIS delivered a major policy speech in the United Kingdom on Wednesday about the Biden administration’s vision for the future and its steps to make it a reality. Harris followed up the speech with her participation in two sessions of the Global Summit on AI alongside fellow leaders, heads of AI companies, and members of civil society.

House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair TED LIEU (Calif.) commended the president on the executive order and pointed to its incorporation of a framework he and Rep. HALEY STEVENS (D-Mich.) asked the administration to include that would require agencies to set best practices from the National Institute of Standards and Technologies for how they regulate AI.

But it’s unclear how much attention the issue will receive from Speaker Johnson. Schumer said Wednesday after his White House meeting that he worked closely with former Speaker McCarthy, whom he described as interested and eager to work across the aisle.

“I’m hopeful that the new speaker will have the same attitude,” he added. “I’ve not yet talked to him.”

HOUSE, SENATE NOTCH FUNDING WINS

After two months of fits and starts, the Senate finally passed its first three 2024 funding bills on Wednesday in a minibus package that appeared on a glide path before leaders faced snags during the amendment process.

The bills received unanimous support from the Senate Appropriations Committee this summer and cruised through final passage with an 82-15 vote to give the Senate bipartisan bragging rights.

Across the Capitol, the House passed their Legislative Branch bill, the sixth of the 12 measures that fund the government hours after the Senate acted on the minibus. But it received just four Democratic votes, a continuation of the party-line tallies that have defined the previous five bills that cleared the chamber. 

As I noted above, Congress must pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open while both chambers work out an agreement to fund agencies and departments for the fiscal year. But the theory is that each bill each body passes increases the negotiating power it has in a fiercely divided government.

It’s unclear which package of funding bills the Senate will take up next. But four bills unanimously advanced out of the Appropriations Committee—Energy and Water, Financial Services, Interior and Environment, and Legislative Branch—so it’s a safe bet those could be next.

The House will return to the floor at 10 p.m. tonight for a third vote series on pending amendments to the Interior and Environment funding bill. House Republican leadership punted the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development bill to next week after it ran into a math problem ahead of a previously scheduled floor vote tomorrow.

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READ ALL ABOUT IT

“Outraised and embattled, Lauren Boebert heads back to Colorado with a revamped campaign strategy” by Jesse Bedayn • “Why less engaged voters are Biden’s biggest problem” by Nate Cohn • “As carjackings spike, police need to be able to chase vehicles again” by The Washington Post Editorial Board • “The secretive industry devouring the US economy” by Rogé Karma • “The untold story of Tucker Carlson’s ugly exit from Fox News” by Brian Stelter • “Everything I thought I knew about nasal congestion is wrong” by Sarah Zhang • “The sociopaths among us—and how to avoid them” by Arthur C. Brooks • “Labels want to prevent ‘Taylor’s Version’-like re-recordings from ever happening again” by Steve Knopper • “I work at Spirit Halloween. It’s as bloodcurdling as it seems” as told to Luke Winkie

Enjoying the Supercreator newsletter? Forward it to a friend—they can sign up for it to receive it in their inbox. Questions, comments, ideas, or memes? Write me at michael@supercreator.news or just reply to this email.

👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome to Supercreator, the premier politics newsletter for the creative class.

Today marks the first full week of MIKE JOHNSON’s speakership and, as you’ll see below, although House Republicans may have a new leader, they’re embracing the same legislative strategy that runs counter to the White House and Senate’s approach.

On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House unveiled a sprawling executive order on artificial intelligence that the administration says will help the US harness the opportunities of the technology while minimizing its risks. While Congress has made AI regulation a priority this year, critics say lawmakers are moving at too glacial a pace. A senior administration official told me the EO is a result of President JOE BIDEN’s sense of urgency on the issue, not any congressional inaction.

In other news, on the heels of the Biden administration’s $56 billion supplemental funding request to invest in top domestic priorities, including child care, I asked one of the youngest members of Congress how the child care affordability crisis is impacting our generation’s family planning decisions.

Finally, in Read All About It, you’ll find a touching profile of JOHN FETTERMAN, the larger-than-life first-term senator from Pennsylvania, who’s been through more than his fair share of personal devastation in the past year. 

One more thing: The United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement with General Motors to end a six-week strike. UAW agreed to similar terms with Ford on Oct. 25. Three days later, the union announced a similar deal with Stellantis, the manufacturer of Chrysler automobiles.

“I think it’s great,” President Biden told reporters this morning as he was boarding Air Force One to return to the White House from Wilmington, Delaware.

Thanks in advance for reading and supporting my reporting. Please share it far and wide. And, if you haven’t already, upgrade your subscription so I can keep bringing you unbossed, unbought, and unfiltered coverage of Capitol Hill and beyond. 

I hope the rest of the day is everything for you.

—Michael

House plans to move on Israel-only funding bill this week

When the House returns to Washington on Wednesday from a long Halloween weekend, members will take up a $14.5 billion bill to provide support to Israel in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks earlier this month.

Speaker Johnson said on Sunday morning during an interview on Fox News that the legislation would exclude the White House’s $60 billion request for Ukraine aid the administration paired with its Israel ask.

The decision by Johnson to decouple aid for the two embattled countries proves House Republicans may have a new speaker, but they’re still resorting to the same unworkable legislative tactics that have pushed the country to the brink of catastrophe multiple times this year.

It could force Democrats into a thorny vote to support one of America’s closest allies at the expense of a democratic nation fighting for its freedom. But beyond the politics, supporters of Ukraine aid argue that failing to continue to provide assistance would amount to the US reneging on its word to stand with the wartorn country for as long as it takes, which could embolden adversaries to attack American allies and partners and wait out—or erode the trust those allies and partners have that America’s word is its bond.

And if separating Israel aid from Ukraine didn’t make the legislation a heavy lift from the House through the Senate and to the president’s desk, House Republicans are demanding the funding be paid for, an unusual red line for emergency funding requests.

“When your neighbor’s house is on fire, you don’t haggle over the price of the garden hose,” Rep. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), Florida’s first female Jewish member of Congress, said in a statement. “Speaker Johnson’s political games are offensive to all pro-Israel Americans, and I hope he changes course immediately.”

It’s unclear what programs the House GOP are looking to cut from. Once the bill text is out, Senate Democrats and White House officials will determine if there’s any negotiating room.

In addition to the Israel aid bill, the House will also consider two Republican bills to fund the legislative branch and environmental agencies, two censure resolutions against Reps. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.), and an expulsion resolution against Rep. GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.).

WH takes the lead on American AI

President Biden will sign what the White House describes as a landmark executive order on artificial intelligence.

The order focuses on six key areas: (1) safety and security standards, (2) American privacy protections, (3) equity and civil rights, (4) consumer and worker protections, (5) innovation and competition, and (6) American leadership around the world.

The executive order also builds on previous executive actions and the voluntary commitments from 15 leading companies to prioritize safety, security and trust in their AI products.

It also comes at a time when scholars, advocates and even some federal lawmakers feel the technology is outpacing Congress’s momentum to regulate it. But a senior administration official told me on Sunday afternoon that the executive order is a response to the extent of the promise and peril of the technology, not a reaction to congressional inaction.

“I think the breadth of the executive order is a recognition of the fact that AI policy is like running a decathlon and there’s 10 different events here,” the official said. “And we don’t have the luxury of just picking, ‘We’re just going to do safety,’ or ‘we’re just going to do equity,’ or ‘We’re just going to do privacy’—we have to do all of these things. And that was the direction from the president.” 

The official added that the administration understands Congress has a lot to do between now and the end of the year but shared an expectation that the House and Senate would continue to focus on reaching a bipartisan consensus..

“Far be it for me to guess what congressional priorities would be, but I think the that the fact pattern here is such that AI is already very important. The technology is accelerating,” they said. “But we think that it is important, and it is likely that Congress will continue to focus on AI.”

The White House is encouraged, the official told me, by the “extraordinary levels of interest” in the insight forums Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) and a trio of bipartisan senators are leading.

The Senate held its second forum, a three-hour session that surfaced $32 billion as the minimum initial investment if the US wants to lead in the AI sector.

“We are still just at the beginning—we will continue to hold bipartisan AI insight forums in the weeks and months to come, and encourage the relevant committees to begin drawing up bipartisan legislation,” Schumer said.

House Dem women spotlight child care investments in WH funding request

The White House last week asked Congress for $16 billion in emergency child care funding to support the estimated millions of families that will lose access to care and the thousands of child care centers that will close without additional resources. 

Child care is more expensive than college tuition in more than half the country—28 out of 50 states, if you’re counting—and data from the Labor Department in August found that the average price of preschool and daycare is up six percent from the previous year. The cost of child care is rising by nearly double the rate of inflation. By one measure, it’s outpaced the inflation rate by 214 percent since 1990.

For SARA JACOBS, a 34-year-old congresswoman who has frozen her eggs and has not yet had children, the cost of child care comes up in conversations with her friends and peers at a time when birth rates continue to fall, and women are having babies later in life.

“It’s definitely factoring into people’s decision-making,” Jacobs said. “The ability to buy a home, the ability to afford childcare, the climate of the world that we are leaving to future generations, is all definitely something I know on my friends and peers’ minds as they make this very important personal decision on whether and how to build a family.”

And while women are culturally expected to carry the child care burden, Rep. SUZANNE BONAMICI (D-Ore.) told me the crisis impacts our men when working moms are forced to choose between their careers and their families.

“This is not just affecting women—although primarily, women are in the workforce providing childcare and that's important as well to make sure that they're getting the wages they deserve—it affects families, and it affects the economy. So yes, of course, men are involved.”

Rep. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-Calif.), father to HODGE, one of Congress’s most famous babies, and an emerging leader on the issue as co-founder of the Congressional Dads Caucus, said the White House’s emergency funding request was a step in the right direction but that Congress needed to pass a permanent funding solution.

“Having child care allows workers to get to work and it prevents us from keeping our best and our brightest on the sidelines,” he added in an interview with me on the House steps. “Without it, we’re at a deficit. So [congressional Republicans] shouldn’t view this as a handout or as something separate from our economic and security competitiveness. This is a big part of it.”

IN THE KNOW

The White House today will host a bipartisan youth substance use prevention summit. The event will feature youth leaders and community-based coalitions from across the US to discuss how to raise awareness of the dangers of deadly drugs like fentanyl and decrease stigma around mental health and substance use disorder.

During the summit, which will occur two days before the end of National Youth Substance Use Prevention Month, Dr. RAHUL GUPTA, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA will call on schools and educators to support youth drug use prevention before it happens and make sure students have the help they need in the event of drug poisoning. Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa) will join Gupta, Cardona and other senior White House officials at the summit.

The White House requested $1.2 in emergency funding from Congress earlier this month to respond to the fentanyl crisis, which continues to spiral as young people confront counterfeit pills on college campuses and throughout their communities.

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ICYMI

The House is out.

President Biden and First Lady Dr. JILL BIDEN returned to Washington, DC, from Wilmington, Delaware, where they spent the weekend. He received his daily intelligence briefing with Vice President KAMALA HARRIS when he got back to the White House.

LOOKING AHEAD

2:15 p.m. Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF will meet with Jewish leaders to discuss the alarming uptick in antisemitism at schools and on college campuses following the Hamas attacks in Israel. Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA will also attend.

Related: “WH announces new actions against antisemitism” 

2:30 p.m. President Biden will participate in an event highlighting his artificial intelligence executive order.

3 p.m. The Senate will meet with a vote at 5:30 p.m. to end debate on the nomination of MATTHEW MADDOX to be US District Judge for the District of Maryland.

3:30 p.m. Vice President Harris will ceremonially swear in the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States.

5:30 p.m. The president and first lady will host students, kids from military families, and neighborhood families for trick-or-treating at the White House.

Biden’s week ahead:

• Tuesday: The president will speak about protecting Americans’ retirement security.

• Wednesday: President Biden will travel to Minnesota to speak about the impact of Bidenomics on rural communities. He’ll also speak at a campaign fundraiser.

• Friday: The president will host Western Hemisphere leaders at the inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit and participate in a family photo with summit leaders.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

“‘How much blood is your fun worth?’” by Tyler Austin Harper: “I saw the gun-violence epidemic—and my relationship to it as a gun owner—as an abstraction. Then a mass shooting happened in the little city where I work.”

“John Fetterman is grateful to be here” by Ryan D’Agostino: “First came the stroke. Then the deep depression in the midst of running for, and winning national office. How much can one guy take in a year, and what stopped him from putting an end to it all? In the case of John Fetterman, destruction breeds creation.”

Kyrsten Sinema’s delusional exit interview” by Jason Linkins: “The Arizona senator believes she single-handedly saved the US Senate.”

“The mental health crisis among doctors is a problem for patients” by Keren Landman: “Why doctors are so stressed out, depressed, and suicidal—and what can be done about it.”

“Why America doesn’t build” by Jerusalem Demsas: “Even green-energy projects get quashed by local opposition.”

“The water wars deciding the future of the west” by Kyle Paoletta: “From conservation to importing water from the Pacific, Democrats say they have all the answers to historic drought. The one thing no one wants to talk about: stopping the sprawl.”

“The dubious conversion therapy case being pushed on the Supreme Court” by Catherine Caruso: “The anti-LGBTQ movement hopes the high court might agree to overturn bans on the discredited practice on First Amendment grounds.”

“Let Britney Spears be weird” by Rebecca Jennings: “She spent her whole life at the mercy of toxic media narratives. Her new memoir, The Woman in Me, clears the air.”

“The science behind basketball’s biggest debate” by Ross Andersen: “Playing in the NBA really is harder now.”

“Everything Elon Musk broke in the heat he’s owned Twitter” by Alex Kirshner: “It’s sunk in.”

Enjoying the Supercreator newsletter? Forward it to a friend—they can sign up for it to receive it in their inbox. Questions, comments, ideas, or memes? Write me at michael@supercreator.news or just reply to this email.

First Things First

WOWZERS • The economy grew by a remarkable 4.9 percent in the third quarter, a huge increase since the end of 2021 and a significant surge from Q2, which saw a 2.1 percent bump.

It’s yet another data point that demonstrates the disconnect between how people feel about the economy and how the economy actually is. • Read the full report • Read President Biden’s statement

TRAGEDY IN LEWISTON • Schools and city buildings are closed as police search for ROBERT CARD, a 40-year-old person of interest in connection with three mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, that killed at least 18 people and injured at least another 13 at a local bowling alley and bar on Wednesday night.

Lewiston, Maine’s second-largest city, is the hometown of Rep. JARED GOLDEN (D), who said he was horrified by the shootings.

“Our hearts break for those who are affected,” Golden said in a statement last night.

Sen. ANGUS KING (I) said in a separate statement he would travel to Lewiston to support the city in any way that he can. 

President JOE BIDEN called Golden, King, Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R), and Gov. JANET MILLS (D) individually about the shootings and offered full federal support as the city recovers.

Collins expressed her appreciation for the support Maine has received from across the country, including the call from the president offering assistance. • Stay up to date with the latest developments • Read Biden’s statement and presidential proclamation

SPEAKER JOHNSON: THE DEM FACTOR • Moments after Rep. MIKE JOHNSON (R-La.) was sworn in as the 56th speaker, many of the same House Republicans who unanimously elected the relatively unknown for vice chair of the conference filed out of the chamber down the outside steps to back Johnson as he made his first remarks to the press as the person two heartbeats away from the presidency.

The pressing issues of the nation, the dwindling legislative calendar, Johnson’s learning curve and a well-coordinated Democratic opposition campaign will almost ensure Johnson will have a brief honeymoon. And you can bet there will be plenty of ink spilled in the days, weeks and months ahead on how the House GOP will try to recover from three weeks of 

But the more pressing interest is how Johnson will work across the aisle to pass a mix of must-pass legislation and emergency funding requests, given his slim House majority and that Democrats control the Senate and White House.

Rep. TROY CARTER, the only Democratic member of Louisiana’s congressional delegation, told me on Wednesday that, despite their ideological differences, he and Johnson have a genuine friendship that dates back to their time in the Louisiana legislature.

Carter said he spoke with Johnson the night before the election and that the new speaker committed to leading with an inclusive spirit that invites everyone to participate in the democratic process, not just Republicans. 

Johnson’s anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ track record and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election on behalf of former President DONALD TRUMP have inspired little confidence among other Democrats.

“Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans will have a choice,” House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) told reporters on Thursday morning. “Are they going to double down on the chaos, triple down on the dysfunction and quadruple down on their extremism or are they going to partner with us in a bipartisan way?”

Carter said he isn’t viewing the new speaker through rose-colored glasses either.

“I think the country will be watching,” he added. “We certainly will be holding him accountable with a great cautious optimism that we're able to move forward in a fashion of moving the agenda forward, recognizing that bipartisan is not a bad word.”

Rep. JULIA LETLOW, a Louisiana Republican whose district neighbors Johnson’s, was unsurprisingly generous in her praise of the 51-year-old new speaker.

“I think you'll find in him a person with a really strong faith, and that means that you treat everyone with respect,” she said to me before the speaker election. “So I'm very encouraged that he'll be able to work across the aisle.”

And while Rep. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-S.D.) doesn’t share a deep personal relationship with his namesake, he did point to Speaker Johnson’s co-founding of the bipartisan Congressional Civility Caucus in 2017 as an example of his capacity to disagree without being disagreeable.

“That is not something very many members will spend capital on in these halls, is preaching the importance of civility,” South Dakota’s Johnson said. “I bring that up because that is at his heart who Mike Johnson is, and although being in leadership has meant that he spent that capital in some other areas in the last nine months, it's still at the heart of who he is.”

Related: “A speaker without enemies—for now” (Russell Berman / The Atlantic) • “Don’t know who Mike Johnson is? Neither do Senate Republicans.” by Grace Segars

👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Good Thursday afternoon. It’s October 26, 2023. You’re reading Supercreator News, the premier newsletter for the creative class. Get in touch: michael@supercreator.news. 

Jackson launches NC AG bid after being gerrymandered out of district

JEFF JACKSON, a first-term House Democrat from North Carolina, announced this morning that he would run to be the state’s top law enforcement t official after Republicans in the Tar Heel State passed new congressional maps on Wednesday that could flip his seat in 2024, along with those of two or three other House Democrats.

“I’ve been officially drawn out of my congressional district by a small group of politicians,” Jackson said in a post featuring his announcement video. “It’s blatant corruption, but I’ve got news for them: I’m running for attorney general, and I’m going to use that job to fight political corruption.”

Rep. DON DAVIS, another first-term North Carolina Democrat who will now be forced to run in a competitive district, said the gerrymandered map was unfortunate but not unsurprising.

“You can take experts who had been watching North Carolina’s redistricting process to the most amateur and people who don’t really follow this stuff, and everybody forecasted the same thing,” Davis told me. “And that is clearly when you often see political parties in the majority, those lawmakers would tend to do things to help their candidates.”

Opponents of the North Carolina map say it unjustly dilutes the power of Black and brown voters. Supporters of the aggressive gerrymander said Republicans are entitled to do so because they control both chambers. Some note Democrats gerrymandered the state’s district in their favor when they were in the majority.

Davis added that constituents like those who live in his rural northeastern North Carolina district are the ones who suffer the most from the political back-and-forth.

“People are hurting. People feel left out. They feel that their elected officials often in Raleigh and in DC don’t care about them and they’re forgotten,” he said. “What we lose sight of is this is about the people. I’ve been fighting for this part of the state for a long time—I fight just as hard for Republicans and independents as I do for Democrats. And I’ll continue to fight.”

Related: “Republicans are about to win their war against democracy” (Matt Ford / TNR)

Tlaib faces censure resolution from MTG

One of the most controversial House conservatives made a move on Thursday morning to publicly condemn the only Palestinian-American member of Congress.

Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) filed a resolution to censure Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) for her criticism of Israel.

Because the motion is considered privileged, it must be brought to the floor for a vote by next week. The resolution could deepen the fissures between pro-Israel moderates and pro-Palestinian progressives. 

The resolution accuses Tlaib of antisemitic activity and sympathizing with terrorist organizations for her criticism of the Israeli government and US military aid to Israel.

It also claims Tlaib led an insurrection at the Capitol last week for speaking to protestors at an anti-war demonstration outside of a House office building last week. (More than 300 people were arrested for gathering in a restricted area inside the building; three others were charged with assaulting a police officer.)

The Georgia congresswoman has been one of the fiercest defenders of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which resulted in multiple deaths, injuries to over 140 members of law enforcement, and millions of dollars in damages to the Capitol complex.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Tlaib referred me to a tweet from Rep. CORI BUSH (D-Mo.) last week that denounced any action to censure Tlaib.

“These Islamophobic [and] racist efforts are an attempt to discredit her perspective [and] scare those courageously speaking up for Palestinian human rights,” Bush wrote. “Solidarity with my sister-in-service.”

A spokesperson for Bush confirmed this morning the congresswoman stood by her words.

Bush is leading a resolution calling on the Biden administration to declare a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.

Hakeem Jeffries said Greene’s resolution is the latest example of the House GOP’s misplaced priorities.

“House Democrats are going to continue to focus on issues like inflation, and affordability, and the cost of food, and creating better paying jobs and making sure that we bring economic opportunity to every single neighborhood and town throughout America,” he said to reporters. “Clearly, House Republicans continue to be driven by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, [Rep.] GEORGE SANTOS [(R-N.Y.)], [Rep.] JIM JORDAN [(R-Ohio)], and others and they do not have the best interests of the American people at heart.”

Rep. BECCA BALINT (D-Vt.) introduced a separate censure resolution against Greene in July for alleged racist, homophobic, transphobic and antisemitic remarks and espousing conspiracy theories.

Jeffries indicated he wouldn’t block Democrats from forcing a vote on the Balint resolution if the House votes to censure Tlaib.

“I think that if the House decides that they want to go down this road in terms of censure, that should probably be at the top of the list.”

In the House’s first vote following the election of Speaker Johnson, 412 members voted for a resolution affirming support for Israel. One Republican voted against it and six Democrats voted present. Nine Democrats, including Tlaib and Bush, voted against it.

ICYMI

➟ The HOUSE this morning voted on a series of amendments to the 2024 Energy and Water appropriations bill.

➟ The SENATE this morning voted against an amendment to a trio of funding bills that would ban “earmarks,” or small grants to programs and projects in states and congressional districts and against a measure that would remove congressionally unauthorized US armed forces from Niger. 

Senators also unanimously voted this morning for a resolution condemning Hamas and condemning antisemitic student activities on American college campuses.

The Senate is currently voting to overturn an Agriculture Department regulation against anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

Sens. Schumer and McConnell and a group of bipartisan senators this morning held a photo op with Prime Minister ANTHONY ALBANESE at the Capitol. 

Schumer also held a photo op this afternoon with families of hostages held by Hamas.

➟ Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN hosted a luncheon this afternoon for Albanese and his partner JODIE HAYDON at the State Department. Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF attended. President Biden hosted Albanese and Haydon for an official state dinner at the White House on Wednesday evening.

➟ Biden received his daily intelligence briefing this morning. Vice President Harris attended.

Looking ahead

➟ The House will vote at approximately 3:15 p.m. on final passage of the Energy and Water bill.

➟ Vice President Harris at 5 p.m. will ceremonially swear in the President's Advisory Commission on Advancing Education, Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans in the White House Indian Treaty Room.

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Read All About It

“The far-right has a new big lie: Claiming to support Palestine” by Kiera Butler: “White nationalists with a racist agenda trying to curry favor by peddling vile forms of antisemitic trash.”

“Don’t blame media for the fog of war” by Peter Kafka: “Elon Musk and the other platform owners aren’t entirely to blame for misinformation around the Israel-Hamas conflict.”

“We’re lucky Biden’s in charge” by Michael McFaul: “Everyone’s looking to Washington for leadership in the Middle East.”

“How is this guy winning in Kentucky?” by David Faris: “A Democratic governor seems like he’s about to get reelected in the very red state.”

“Fossil fuel demand is predicted to peak by 2030. Oil giants are betting against it.” by Kate Aronoff: “Why Chevron and Exxon are doubling down on fossil fuels, despite what the international Energy Agency says about our renewable future.”

“The absurd lawsuit that could bankrupt Planned Parenthood” by Melissa Gira Grant: “An anti-abortion activist and Texas’s attorney general have teamed up to try to force the organization out of the state—and now an anti-abortion judge has advanced their cause.”

“It’s the most important tech trial in years. All the juicy stuff is happening in secret.” by Scott Nover: “Why a big chunk of the most important tech trial in years is happening behind closed doors.”

“Why Apple’s weather app is so bad” by Alex Abad-Santos: “Your local meteorologist is always going to be more accurate than a weather app.”

“You can learn to be photogenic” by Michael Waters: “Hollywood invented the idea that some people naturally look better on camera. Don’t believe it.”

THANKS FOR READING! I hope the rest of the day is everything for you. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up for free.

House Republicans claim they’ve finally found their guy.

Rep. MIKE JOHNSON (R-La.) was nominated late Tuesday night for speaker, the fourth Republican tapped for the role in three weeks and the second nominee of the day. 

Johnson claimed his nomination demonstrated a united conference that’s ready to govern. The 51-year-old House GOP conference vice chair is expected to ride his momentum straight to the House floor for a vote a little after noon. House Democrats are expected to be in full attendance and unanimously vote for House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.). With no Democratic absences, Johnson will need 217 votes to be elected speaker.

Despite the optimism from House Republicans expressed after nominating Johnson, the fact remains that we’re on day 22 without a speaker. Government funding runs out in less than a month. There are two competing wars in Europe and the Middle East, with allies Ukraine and Israel reliant on US support to defend themselves. Domestic issues abound as well—from an affordable housing crisis to a broken immigration system to the emergence of artificial intelligence—that require the attention of focused lawmakers.

If elected, the top two House Republicans will hail from Louisiana. House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE, who just two weeks ago was nominated to be the next speaker before withdrawing his bid, had some warm words for his fellow Louisianan in a lengthy endorsement issued just before midnight.

Even if the House was open, addressing these priorities would be a heavy lift. With the House Republican majority focused on settling personal scores instead of governing on behalf of their constituents, progress has been stalled when a sense of urgency is required.

House Democrats, for their part, remain in wait-and-see mode, curious if their Republican counterparts can elect a speaker with GOP votes alone. If now, Democratic leaders say they’re ready and willing to embrace a bipartisan path forward so members can get back to work.

“We’re gonna stick together and make it clear that House Republicans need to reopen the House, end the chaos, end the dysfunction and extremism now so we can go about the business of the American people,” Jeffries told me after a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday morning.

Johnson, who did not vote to certify the 2020 presidential election in 2021 or to avoid a government shutdown last month, was actually the second GOP candidate nominated to be speaker on Tuesday.

Four hours after surviving a five-round secret-ballot election Tuesday morning to become the Republican nominee for speaker, House Majority Whip TOM EMMER (R-Minn.), the man responsible for counting GOP votes for his party’s agenda, dropped his candidacy for the top gavel.

Emmer was the latest member of House Republican leadership to watch his nomination go up in flames. As I mentioned, Scalise was thought to be the immediate successor to Rep. KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.), who was ousted by a group of eight House conservatives led by Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) on Oct. 10 ten months after McCarthy changed the House rules to allow a single rank-and-file to remove the speaker.

House Judiciary Committee Chair JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) was up next. But he ended his candidacy last week after he failed to cobble together the Republican votes against fierce Democratic opposition.

“There are reasonable folks who are thoughtful legislators on the other side of the aisle—there really are. Jim Jordan is not one of them,” House Democratic Caucus Chair PETE AGUILAR (D-Calif.) told reporters on Tuesday morning. “And we viewed him as a threat to the Speaker's chair. And that's why it was our top priority to make sure he did not sit in the Speaker's chair.”

Aguilar added that despite their opposition to Jordan and unwillingness to save McCarthy from his own members, Democrats are still serious about making the House work.

“We are serious about funding [the] government. We are serious about making sure that we look out for our allies in Israel and Ukraine,” he said. “Those are things that we all want to get accomplished.”

Phillips rankles Dems ahead of presidential challenge

When it still looked like Tom Emmer had a chance to become speaker, Rep. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-Minn.) said he would be willing to vote present on the floor to lower the threshold Emmer would need to win the election in exchange for a series of policy concessions.

Phillips was responding to reporting from Punchbowl News that House Democratic Leadership expressed private openness to helping Emmer win the speakership since Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election.

I asked Hakeem Jeffries about Phillips’ freelancing and he told me he hadn’t seen the post and appeared unconcerned that it would inspire other members to follow in Phillips’ footsteps.

(Although it’s moot now since Emmer is out, Leader Jeffries disputed Punchbowl’s reporting: “Zero discussion,” he said to me when I asked him if leadership spoke about helping Emmer on the floor if he couldn’t win with Republican votes.)

But the move frustrated House Democrats who have prided themselves on speaking in one voice during the House Republicans’ speaker drama and not negotiating in public.

“He really needs to just realize that we have a Democratic Caucus here. He has to decide if he's going to be part of that Democratic Caucus or if he’s just going to be for Dean Phillips,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) told me. “It’s really not helpful. I mean, the reality is, all of us are accountable for what happens here. And we need to make sure that Republicans sort this out on their own.”

Rep. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-Texas), who served with Phillips on the House Democrats’ policy and messaging committee before he stepped down in early October, was much more diplomatic in her critique.

“Dean is a good friend and I adore him as a person,” she said. “I do not agree with his strategy and I think it undermines our leader.”

Phillips’ post comes days before he is rumored to launch an ill-fated primary challenge against President JOE BIDEN. Phillips’ campaign bus was spotted on the road, the clearest indication that the two-term congressman will jump into the race.

Pete Aguilar told reporters that Phillips’ post doesn’t speak for the House Democratic Caucus and reaffirmed their support for reelecting President Biden and Vice President KAMALA HARRIS.

He also took the presidential campaign rumors in stride as well.

“One of the great things about serving in this institution is we see colleagues who run for other things,” he said. “People having ambitions and running for other things in this place is just kind of par for the course.”

Dem leaders stick beside Jackson Lee following audio leak

Rep. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-Texas) is weathering a nationwide storm after an audio recording of the longtime Houston lawmaker allegedly berating a staff member leaked last weekend.

Jeffries told me that he hadn’t had a chance to process the news because of an intense travel schedule and said he had only been informally briefed on the matter.

He added that he had not talked to Jackson Lee about the audio where a woman calls a staffer and their colleague “fucking assholes,” “two goddamn big-ass children,” and “fucking idiots” who “serve no goddamn purpose.” The woman also made reference to the person’s weight. Jackson Lee’s campaign said it was unable to verify whether the voice on the recording is her.

“I talk to members of the House each and every week,” Jeffries said. “We’ll see if we cross paths this week.”

Jackson Lee issued a statement expressing regret while accusing Republicans of exploiting the audio to damage her campaign for Houston mayor. (The polls opened on Monday for early voting.)

She also pointed to the opportunities former staff have gained from working for her.

“I expect excellence at all times and I know that it is because of their commitment that I am able to fulfill my duties as an elected official,” Jackson Lee said. “I will never forget the debt of gratitude I and so many others owe them.”

Aguilar told me he did listen to the audio but hasn’t spoken with Jackson Lee.

“Every member has an obligation to treat staff respectfully and to treat each other with dignity and respect,” Aguilar said. “And when people fall short, they should say they fell short. I’ll let her speak for herself on what’s next.”

Jackson Lee has earned a reputation as a tough boss. Her staff has historically experienced high turnover among Texas House members and the entire Congress. Jackson Lee’s turnover rate was in the top five of all House members in 2021 and 2022, according to Legistorm, a resource that tracks congressional staff.

Senate minibus finally back on track

With the Nov. 17 deadline to keep the government open fast approaching, the likelihood of Congress being forced to pass another temporary funding bill increases with each passing day.

But that hasn’t stopped the House and Senate from attempting to pass versions of their own full-year funding bills to create leverage if both sides find themselves at the negotiating table with the White House in the months ahead.

The House has passed four of the dozen appropriations bills that fund the government along party lines. But they include several anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-DEI provisions that stand no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law by President Biden.

The Senate spent weeks attempting to set up votes for a three-bill package of funding bills—known throughout the hill as a “minibus”—that advanced out of the Appropriations Committee with unanimous approval. But the process has been stalled as leaders worked to clear objections from Republican senators.

Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine), the top Republican on the committee, told me last week that the Senate was very close to breaking the logjam. And her counterpart, Sen. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.), who leads the committee, announced on Tuesday afternoon a bipartisan agreement to move forward with amendment votes and final passage of the minibus.

The agreement includes 40 amendments on the funding bills for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Agriculture Department and the FDA, and the transportation and housing agencies. 16 of the amendments will be standalone votes. The other 24 will be voted on at the same time.

“We should pass this bill, show we can still focus on solutions, find common ground, and help people like we were all sent here to do,” Murray said in a floor speech. “If we don’t get this passed, we are giving up a crucial opportunity to make sure that the Senate has its voice heard on our nation’s spending priorities, and to make sure we don’t find ourselves at the end of the year once again staring down another [comprehensive funding bill].” 

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Georgia Democrats slam state Supreme Court abortion decision

The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the state’s six-week abortion ban while a legal challenge against it returns to the trial court.

Members from Georgia’s Democratic congressional delegation immediately attacked the decision as a violation of Georgians’ rights to privacy and equal protection under the state constitution.

“There’s really no words. We have a right to choose what’s best for our bodies. I’ve always stood by that,” Rep. LUCY McBATH told me. “I don’t think any legislators, anyone else other than a woman and her medical professional should be making determinations as to what women can do with their bodies. Men have various health care needs, and I don't think we should be intervening in those decisions.”

Sen. JON OSSOFF called on the state’s legislature and Republican Gov. BRIAN KEMP to repeal the abortion ban, an exercise in wishful thinking of course.

“More than half of Georgia counties have no OB/GYN, and we have one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country,” Ossoff added. 

“Georgia’s extreme abortion ban risks worsening our state’s women’s health crisis.”

RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia’s other US senator, pointed out that the maternal mortality crisis is especially severe in the state’s rural areas.

“Women will die because of this Georgia law,” Warnock said. “Congress can’t wait to protect reproductive health care. We need to act.”

As a coalition of physicians, reproductive health centers, and reproductive justice advocates prepares to resume their challenge to the ban, the White House says the anti-abortion movement won’t stop at the state level.

“Republican elected officials are doubling down and calling for a national abortion ban that would criminalize reproductive health care in every state,” Press Secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE said in a statement. “President Biden and Vice President Harris won’t stop fighting until the protections of Roe v. Wade are restored in federal law.”

House Republicans will decamp the Longworth building of the US Capitol on Monday night to restart the process of choosing a speaker in hopes the third time will be the charm.

Nine GOP members formally declared their candidacy by the Sunday afternoon deadline. They will make their case at a candidate forum, although many have been working the phones to consolidate support from their finicky colleagues throughout the weekend.

It’s unlikely you’ve heard of any of them, but here they are anyway:

1. House Majority Whip TOM EMMER (Minn.)

2. House Republican Vice Chair MIKE JOHNSON (Okla.)

3. Republican Study Committee Chair KEVIN HERN (Okla.)

4. Rep. BYRON DONALDS (Fla.)

5. Rep. AUSTIN SCOTT (Ga.)

6. Rep. JACK BERGMAN (Mich.)

7. Rep. PETE SESSIONS (Texas)

8. Rep. GARY PALMER (Ala.)

9. Rep. DAN MEUSER (Pa.)

A few notes:

• Two candidates—Emmer and Scott—voted to certify the 2020 presidential election. Meuser voted to certify the Arizona results but not Pennsylvania’s. None voted to impeach former President DONALD TRUMP for his role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, or to establish the committee to investigate the insurrection.

• Donalds, Hern, Palmer, and Sessions voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act—the law that resulted from the agreement between former Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.) and President JOE BIDEN to avoid a first-ever default on US debt. The agreement also set funding levels for the upcoming fiscal year to prevent a government shutdown, but McCarthy reneged on the deal less than two weeks after he signed it.

• Hern, Johnson, and Palmer voted against the continuing resolution Congress passed in September to keep the government open. Donalds did not vote.

• Seven candidates have been in Congress for less than 10 years. Scott has represented his deep-red Georgia district since 2011. Sessions served 13 terms in the House before Rep. COLIN ALLRED (D-Texas) defeated him in 2018. Sessions was elected to represent a different district in 2020. (Allred is now running to unseat Sen. TED CRUZ in 2024.)

• All candidates are members of the conservative Republican Study Committee, the largest ideological caucus in Congress of either party.

• If Donalds were to win the nomination and ultimately be elected, he would be the first Black House speaker in US history, a distinction many Washington insiders expect to befall House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) if Democrats win back the chamber next year. Donalds, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, was nominated in January during the first speaker’s race as an alternative to McCarthy, whom he initially opposed.

• No women declared their candidacy for the job—perhaps a sign that they all know better.

The candidate forum will be followed by an internal conference election on Tuesday by secret ballot. What happens next will depend on who wins and how close he is to the 217-vote threshold required to secure the gavel. None of the candidates have the votes locked down. If they did, there wouldn’t be so many candidates running.

I’m told House Democrats—who have unanimously nominated Jeffries for speaker on the previous 18 ballots—have a separate dinner scheduled that was planned prior to the announcement of the candidate forum.

The House has been without a speaker for almost three weeks after Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) and seven other House conservatives voted to remove McCarthy from the role for all sorts of reasons. House Democrats voted with the Gaetz 8 to oust McCarthy partly for his failure to honor the debt-limit agreement that deepened an existing trust deficit.

What’s ensued since has been nothing short of a mess for House Republicans that has left one-half of the body whose job it is to debate and pass laws unable to do so.

Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee co-leading the impeachment inquiry into President Biden and co-founded the Freedom Caucus in 2015, lost three floor votes last week in his bid for the speakership. His support was weaker than the floor votes indicated: In a secret ballot following the third on Friday afternoon, almost five times as many Republicans called on Jordan to drop his candidacy than those who publicly opposed him.

Jordan originally came in second place as the GOP’s pick to succeed McCarthy to House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE. But Scalise withdrew before his candidacy received a floor vote once he realized the knives from McCarthy and Jordan’s camps were too sharp for him to make it out alive.

The paralysis comes at a cost. The government runs out of funding in 25 days. And as you’ll read in the rest of this post, major decisions on how much—if any—funding will go to our allies in Europe and the Middle East and be invested into critical domestic programs are pending a functioning House. But if the past few weeks are any indication, that’s of little concern to House Republicans focused more on settling petty scores with their colleagues.

When members of Congress returned to Washington on Monday, House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) outlined two objectives for his caucus.

The first order of business: Prevent JIM JORDAN—the House Judiciary Chairman whom Jeffries described as the “poster child for MAGA extremism”—from becoming speaker. Second on the agenda? Reopen a chamber in paralysis for more than two weeks after Rep. KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.) was ousted from the speakership by eight House conservatives led by Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.).

The House is still closed for business, but Jeffries can take solace in the fact that Jordan, the Ohio Republican who founded the far-right House Freedom Caucus, fell short in his pursuit of the speaker’s gavel.

Following a third failed floor vote on Friday morning that saw Jordan lose more support than the previous two votes despite needing to meet a lower threshold due to absent members, 112 House Republicans voted in a secret ballot during a closed-door conference meeting for Jordan to drop a candidacy that never had a realistic path to victory. (86 Republicans voted for Jordan to remain the conference’s speaker-designate; five GOP members voted present.)

“Unfortunately, Jim is no longer going to be the nominee and we’ll have to go back to the drawing board,” McCarthy, who gave the nominating speech for Jordan ahead of the third vote, said after the meeting. “I’m concerned about where we go from here.”

Where the House will immediately go is home for the weekend—a much-needed escape from the Washington pressure cooker that the US Capitol has turned into in the wake of six straight weeks of session that includes a canceled recess.

House Republicans will return Monday evening to begin the process of choosing a new nominee to be the speaker.  I’ll preview the schedule and the ever-growing field of declared candidates in the newsletter on Monday morning.

On the other side of the aisle, House Democrats have presented themselves as partners willing to help Republicans move beyond their internal strife if the GOP put forward a consensus candidate who will govern from the middle, instead of the far-right margins House conservatives mandated McCarthy lead from before ultimately removing him anyway.

“House Democrats continue to make clear that we are willing to find a bipartisan path forward so we can reopen the House and solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers,” Jeffries told reporters this afternoon. “It’s time for traditional Republicans to get off the sidelines, get in the arena, and realize that the chaos, dysfunction, and extremism has to end.”

The top House Democrat added that the caucus has had member-level discussions with Republicans since last weekend on the broad contours of an agreement to reopen the House in case the GOP is unable to do so on their own.

“My Republican colleagues understand that they have to find a way to end the GOP chaos, end the GOP dysfunction, end the GOP extremism, and end the House Republican civil war,” he said. “It’s bad for the House Republican Conference. But more importantly, it's bad for the Congress. It's bad for the country. It's bad for the communities that all of us took an oath to fiercely represent.”

For what it’s worth, these conversations haven’t included Jeffries himself: “A leader to talk to is going to have to emerge in order for that to occur,” he added.

None of that may actually matter, though. Because under this House Republican majority, bipartisanship is a dirty word and an agreement to be avoided even if the cost is a stalled institution at a time when the world is in peril, and the country feels bitterly divided.

The White House reprised its favorite character as the Adults in the Room in this drama, pointing to President JOE BIDEN as a leader on the domestic and international stage who is managing cascading crises with no help from the other team.

“While Joe Biden fights to advance bipartisan legislation that will protect our national security interests, House Republicans are somehow still fighting with each other,” White House spokesperson ANDREW BATES said in a statement following the third failed Jordan vote. “House Republicans need to end their chaotic infighting and instead join President Biden in working on urgent priorities for American families shared by both parties in Congress.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—the political arm charged with helping House Democrats win back the majority in 2024—struck a similar tone: “The American public wants responsible leaders focused on governing, growing our economy, and strengthening our national security,” DCCC spokesperson VIET SHELTON said in a statement. “Instead, House Republicans are giving them chaos, dysfunction, and the MAGA Hunger Games of 2023.”

AMMAR MOUSSA of the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign argued that the contrast between the House GOP and President Biden is especially stark at a time when two allies are at war, another American journalist was detained by Russia this week, and American hostages are being held by the terrorist group Hamas.

“Voters will remember how when world events called for American leadership, President Biden stepped up and MAGA House Republicans humiliated themselves and failed the American people.”

Meanwhile, SARAFINA CHITIKA, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement that every Republican must answer for their party’s inability to govern after failing to elect a speaker for the 17th day in a row.

“With a shutdown looming and crisis abroad, how long do House Republicans plan to waste the American people’s time before coming to the adults table and working with Democrats, who stand ready to take action?” Chitika added. “The stakes are too high for the GOP to continue on with its clown show.”

Partisan spin aside, it’s true that Congress has less than a month to approve another short-term funding bill to keep the government open until it passes legislation to fully fund the government. There are also several other must-pass bills that have either already expired or will by the end of the year. And on Friday, the White House released the details of a $106 billion supplemental request to provide funding to Ukraine, Israel, and US allies in the Indo-Pacific region, plus billions of dollars to stop the flow of fentanyl at the southern border. (The administration is also expected to submit a separate request to Congress for billions more to fund several domestic priorities.)

Tackling this legislative agenda would be a heavy lift with a functional Congress. Throw in a speaker-less House? It amounts to a gargantuan feat.

But Jeffries expressed optimism that bipartisan support exists in the House to pass a national security package once the House reopens while conceding the Senate would likely act first.

“But if the House is not reopened, then it will start unnecessarily, and lives will be jeopardized,” Jeffries said. “This is a serious situation, which is why the chaos and the dysfunction has to come to an end.”

President JOE BIDEN will travel to Israel on Wednesday in a dramatic demonstration of solidarity with the US’s closest ally in the Middle East. The visit comes just weeks after the Jewish state suffered a surprise attack at the hands of the terrorist group Hamas that killed more than 1,300 people and led to another 150 people being held hostage. It also will occur ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive that pro-Palestinian advocates believe will result in numerous civilian casualties.

Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN said in a speech in Tel Aviv announcing the trip on Tuesday morning local time that it represents an inflection point for Israel, the region, and the world before outlining a five-part agenda for the president:

1. Biden will reaffirm the US’s solidarity with Israel and America’s deep commitment to its security. “The President will hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs.”

2. The president will reiterate the US’s message against any organization or nation attempting to exploit the crisis to attack Israel. Biden has deployed two aircraft carrier groups and other military assets to the region as deterrents.

3. Biden will work with Israeli partners to get hostages taken by Hamas released. The hostages include men, women, kids, Holocaust survivors, and American citizens.

4. The president will be briefed on Israel’s war plan. Experts say the endgame is unclear and there isn’t consensus on how Israel’s military will disentangle itself from Gaza once it believes it has achieved its goals.

5. Biden will hear from Israel on how it will wage war in a way that minimizes civilian casualties. Some humanitarian groups and the United Nations argue this is virtually impossible because Hamas militants blend in with civilians in the urban terrain that will likely become the battlefield.

“It will be a quick trip over the course of a single day,” White House National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY said. “But it comes at a very critical time and there is an awful lot on the agenda—again, reiterating that Israel has the right to defend itself and to go after these Hamas terrorists and that the United States will continue to support them.”

Prior to the official announcement, Blinken spent hours negotiating a plan with Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU of Israel to enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and other organizations to reach civilians in Gaza.

The White House’s Kirby disputed public reporting that the Blinken-Netanyahu agreement was a precondition to the visit. Nonetheless, the politics of Biden’s trip would have been more treacherous without it. Still, there’s little reason to assume Hamas won’t seek to disrupt the flow of aid though.

“If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it and we will work to prevent it from happening again,” Blinken said in what sounds like tough talk that will be hard to enforce without the US taking a more active role in the conflict.

After the Israel stop, President Biden will travel to Amman, the capital city of Jordan to meet with King ABDULLAH II BIN AL-HUSSEIN, President ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI of Egypt, and President MAHMOUD ABBAS of Palestine National Authority to express that Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people’s interests and to discuss the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza.

In the US, while House Republicans hold another floor vote to elect a speaker, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in US history, is laying the groundwork to shepherd a massive aid package informed by a request the White House is expected to send Congress as early as the end of the week.

“This package must move quickly, a package of military aid, the necessities that Israel needs,” Schumer said in his first floor speech following his weekend visit to Israel. “Intelligence aid to make sure we share intelligence in the best way possible. Diplomatic aid to make sure that the nations of the world stand with Israel. And humanitarian aid to make sure that civilians are given the help that they need.”

And since the House is unable to move legislation, Schumer said his chamber will move first: “If we pass a strong package with strong bipartisan support, it will importune the House, somehow or other, to act, despite the morass they are in.“

Schumer also reaffirmed his sense of urgency to confirm JACK LEW as US ambassador to Israel ASAP. Lew was spotted at the Capitol meeting with senators on Monday ahead of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. (Also on Wednesday: The Senate will receive an all-senators classified briefing on the situation in Israel this Wednesday from senior Biden administration officials, including Secretary Blinken and Secretary of Defense LLOYD AUSTIN.)

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And while Schumer claimed Israel has an obligation to end the threat from Hamas, a group of House progressives introduced a resolution on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.

“It is incredible to watch my colleagues forget literally every lesson from [the Iraq war] and rush to get us involved in yet another Forever War,” Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, said during a press call with reporters on Monday. “Our government must stop the escalation of death and destruction.”

Rep. CORI BUSH (D-Mo.), the resolution’s lead sponsor, said the US government has a responsibility to use every diplomatic tool to demand and mediate de-escalation, the safe return of hostages, and accountability for all perpetrators who dare violate international human rights law.

Bush argued that a ceasefire is not an extraordinary or unprecedented request and pointed to the 2021 letter hundreds of House Democrats signed urging President Biden to facilitate a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza.

“The US government wields enormous power to facilitate an end to hostilities and it must demonstrate global leadership by acting now,” she said. “Are you for war or against war? Are you for saving lives or get saving lives? The time to decide is now.”

AYANNA PRESSLEY, a Massachusetts congresswoman and another resolution cosponsor, said the international community is in a dark moment when the world’s shared humanity is in the line.

“Let me make it plain: The murder of innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas is horrific and unacceptable. And the murder of innocent Palestinian civilians is a horrific and unacceptable response from Israel,” Pressley added. “If we affirm that all lives have dignity and value, as people of faith, we cannot stand by while civilians are indiscriminately murdered.”

Schumer said he would seek unanimous consent to pass a resolution introduced by Sens. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.) and JIM RISCH (R-Idaho)—the top leaders on the Foreign Relations Committee condemning Hamas and affirming that the US stands with Israel and their right to defend themselves. The House is expected to take up a similar resolution as its first order of business once it elects a speaker.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the ceasefire resolution.

THE MAIN EVENT

The House is expected to vote on Tuesday to elect a new speaker exactly two weeks after eight Republicans joined all Democrats in a move triggered by conservative Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) to remove Rep. KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.) from the position.

Since McCarthy’s ouster, the House has been paralyzed and unable to pass legislation to fund the government beyond next month, reauthorize the farm bill, provide additional aid to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion, and assist Israel in its response to a terrorist attack from Hamas last week.

Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, won the nomination for speaker last Friday in a secret ballot election. But 81 of his colleagues voted for Rep. AUSTIN SCOTT (R-Ga.), who entered the race hours before the vote and did not campaign for the position.

Even worse for Jordan: 55 House Republicans said they wouldn’t support Jordan on the floor in a separate vote on Friday leaving him far short of the 217 votes required to claim the speaker’s gavel. (He can only lose four votes on the floor with full attendance.)

Jordan wasn’t the conference’s first choice though. House Republicans nominated Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) to succeed McCarthy last Wednesday. But the number-two House Republican withdrew his nomination after it became clear he didn’t have the votes to win the speakership. Scalise, who is receiving treatment for blood cancer, said he will stay on as majority leader.

For their part, House Democrats have fashioned themselves as the adults in the room focused on collaboration, not chaos.

House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) told NBC News’s KRISTEN WELKER that informal conversations about entering a governing coalition with House Republicans to produce Democratic votes for a GOP speaker in exchange for reforms to marginalize the handful of conservatives who currently run the House are underway behind the scenes. But my reporting says we’re still a long way away from this being a serious consideration.

“Our Republican colleagues have a simple choice,” Jeffries said. “They can either double or triple down on the chaos, dysfunction, and extremism, or let’s have a real conversation about changing the rules of the House so it can work in the best interests of the American people.”

In public, Jeffries and his top deputies have characterized Jordan as an insurrectionist with out-of-step policy positions who’s unfit to lead the House.

House Minority Whip KATHERINE CLARK (D-Mass.) said on Friday that by choosing Jordan, House Republicans are ultimately choosing to appease former President DONALD TRUMP, who endorsed Jordan the week before.

“Pause and think about who they are rallying around: Jim Jordan’s own colleagues have called him a ‘legislative terrorist,’” Clark said while pointing to votes for anti-abortion policies and against funding the government, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and certifying the 2020 presidential election. “He has used his committee gavel to advance right-wing conspiracies while undermining the very institution that he serves. And he will inflict even more harm if he is allowed to have the speaker’s gavel.”

Jordan and his allies spent the weekend attempting to shore up support ahead of Tuesday’s vote. But even if he’s made any progress between then and now, he’s still expected to face double-digit defections on the floor. The thinking among Team Jordan is that the pressure of a public vote will be enough to flip some naysayers and suss out who to target for concessions in exchange for their vote.

SENATE

The Senate returns with Israel top of mind

On the other side of the Capitol, senators will return after a recess to begin formalizing the congressional response to the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

The Senate will receive an all-senators classified briefing on the situation in Israel this Wednesday from senior Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and Secretary of Defense LLOYD AUSTIN.

Sens. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.) and JIM RISCH (R-Idaho)—the top leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—announced they would offer a resolution expressing support for Israel this week as well. It’s unclear when the measure will receive floor consideration. Spokespeople for Cardin did not respond to a request for comment.

The Committee will also hold a confirmation hearing for JACK LEW, former Treasury Secretary and White House Chief of Staff and President JOE BIDEN’s nominee to be US ambassador to Israel.

Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) told NBC’s Welker that he would be leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel and Saudi Arabia in the coming days.

“The drive to peace and normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel continues,” Graham said. “If Hamas is destroyed, Israel is safer and the pathway to peace between the Palestinians in the world gets wider.”

Graham also expressed cautious optimism that “Iran’s goal to destroy the peace process between Israel and Saudi Arabia will fail.”

Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) cut a CODEL to China short to return to the US to meet with Jewish New Yorkers and sit for Shabbat dinner with his family before leading a separate CODEL to Israel. Schumer was joined by Sens. MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah), BILL CASSIDY (R-La.), JACKY ROSEN (D-Nev.), and MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.).

The senators met with families of the victims of the attack and with Israeli leaders to learn about what the country needs to defend itself from Hamas. And while in Tel Aviv, the delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas.

President Biden appointed former Ambassador DAVID SATTERFIELD to lead the diplomatic response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including facilitating the provision of life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people and promoting the safety of civilians, in coordination with the United Nations and US partners.

The State Department announced on Sunday that 30 Americans have been killed in the Hamas attacks and that 13 Americans remain unaccounted for, two fewer than previously disclosed by the administration.

BIDENOMICS

Biden to visit Boebert country

EDITOR’S NOTE: The White House announced this trip was postponed as this newsletter was headed to press. “The president will remain at the White House to participate in national security meetings,” a White House official said.

President Biden will travel to Colorado this afternoon to visit the largest wind tower manufacturer in the world as part of the latest leg of his Investing in America tour promoting Bidenomics.

The manufacturer—CS Wind—is located in Pueblo, a city at the base of the Rocky Mountains and inside the congressional district of Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT, one of the president’s most unrelenting critics.

CS Wind recently announced an operations expansion that would create 850 new jobs as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, a law Boebert voted against, has called a “massive failure,” “dangerous for America,” and pushed to be repealed.

“President Biden made a commitment that he would be president for all Americans, regardless of political party, and he’s kept that promise,” a White House official said in an email. “The Biden-Harris administration will continue to deliver for workers and families in Colorado’s Third District and across the country—even if extreme MAGA congressional Republicans put politics ahead of jobs and opportunities created by Bidenomics.

A spokesperson for Boebert did not respond to a request for comment.

Boebert was elected to Congress in 2020 and quickly brandished a reputation as a far-right firebrand in the vein of former President DONALD TRUMP. She barely won reelection in 2022, defeating businessman and moderate Democrat ADAM FRISCH by 546 votes out of 327,000 in the closest race of the midterm cycle.

Frisch, who supports abortion rights and clean energy policies along with oil and gas drilling but opposed Biden’s student debt relief plan, is challenging Boebert for the same seat in 2024. The former Aspen city councilman raised almost $3.4 million in the most recent filing quarter to Boebert’s $808,000.

Last month, Boebert ignited controversy when she and a male companion were removed by security from a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in a Denver theater after she caused a disturbance by vaping, singing, and recording the performance. The congresswoman initially denied that she was a disruption but later apologized following the release of surveillance video footage which showed Boebert’s companion, whom she says she stopped seeing after learning he was a Democrat, fondling her breasts and Boebert grabbing his genitalia while they were in their seats.

Related: “Boebert spent campaign cash at Beetlejuice boyfriend’s bar” (Jessica Piper and Sam Stein / Politico)

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HEALTH CARE

Top Senate panel to probe Medicare Advantage

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing this Wednesday on cracking down on deceptive practices and improving senior experiences in annual enrollment for Medicare Advantage, which provides coverage through private health insurance companies approved to participate in the Medicare program.

The hearing will come days after the start of the annual enrollment period, which began on Sunday.

Medicare, along with Social Security, is expected to be a hot-button issue on the campaign trail as Democrats promote new and expanded benefits to the program under the Inflation Reduction Act and accuse Republicans of proposing harmful cuts through the program while pushing for deeper tax cuts for wealthy individuals and rich corporations.

Beginning next year, seniors and Part D enrollees will have their out-of-pocket drug costs capped at about $3,500. (Part D is Medicare’s prescription drug benefit). Low-income seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in the Low-Income Subsidy program will receive no deductible, no premium, and fixed lower copayments for certain medications. The IRA has already capped the price of insulin at $35 per month and made recommended vaccines free for enrollees.

“I’m proud that congressional Democrats and I were able to deliver these cost savings for millions of seniors and families, while every single Republican in Congress voted to keep health care costs high, even for their constituents,” President Biden said in a statement on Sunday. “Medicare is a lifeline for millions of seniors, and I will continue to fight to lower health care costs and protect Medicare for generations to come.”

Open enrollment for Medicare ends on December 7.

WORKER EMPOWERMENT

Senate to examine college sports and NIL

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday to look into the future of college sports within the context of name, image, and likeness.

NIL is the term used by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to refer to the identifiable qualities that make a student-athlete unique.

Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-Ala.) introduced a bill in July that would establish a NIL national standard. The legislation would prohibit NIL agreements that involve alcohol, drugs, or conflict with existing school and conference licenses and require students to ask permission to use existing intellectual property.

NIL contracts would have to follow a uniform standard and be disclosed within 30 days and agents would have to register with a regulating body. The bill would also guarantee health insurance for sports-related injuries for uninsured student-athletes for eight years at four-year institutions.

Additionally, the Manchin-Tuberville bill reforms the NCAA transfer portal, a 2018 tool that allows student-athletes to enter their name in an online database to declare their desire to transfer to another school. Some big-name coaches including Alabama’s NICK SABAN feel like the portal makes it hard for college programs to manage their rosters. The legislation would require student-athletes to complete their first three years of academic eligibility before allowing them to transfer without penalty. This provision would suck for student-athletes.

Manchin is a former college football player and Tuberville coached college football before his election to the Senate.

Football accounts for more than 40 percent of all NIL activities, according to Student-Athlete Insights. And women’s basketball is the fastest-growing sport in NIL right now with deals up 171 percent since 2022. Men’s basketball is second hottest up 61 percent in the same time span. Softball and baseball players get the most NIL deals after football and men’s and women’s basketball.

The top three categories in 2023 are apparel/footwear, tech, and quick-serve restaurants. Health care is also trending up but there were relatively few deals in this sector in 2022.

Social media was almost 80 percent percent of NIL activity in 2022. IG was the number-one platform on which student-athletes promoted brands followed by TikTok. X, formerly known as Twitter, is somewhat of a graveyard when it comes to today’s college students though.

RACE

WH to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

The White House will host a reception in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on Wednesday.

“Latino history is American history,” President Biden said in a presidential proclamation last month to kick off the annual recognition of the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the US. “It is a story of hard work, family, faith, pride, and possibility, and it is proof that there is nothing we cannot do when we do it together.”

The Biden administration has an extensive record of expanding economic opportunity for Latinos.

2.5 million Latinos are enrolled in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act—an increase of more than 50 percent since 2020. The expanded Child Tax Credit child poverty by over 40 percent among Latinos to the lowest rate on record. And investments in community colleges, Pell Grants, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions have helped more Latinos access higher education. (Vice President KAMALA HARRIS will travel to Northern Arizona University—an HSI in Flagstaff—on Tuesday for the ninth stop of her nationwide college tour.)

The administration has also provided funding for new infrastructure and clean energy projects and upgrading their transportation in Puerto Rico to support the island’s economic recovery and development. On his first day in office, President Biden proposed a comprehensive immigration plan to secure the southern border while building a fair, orderly, and humane process for migration that keeps families together and protects workers from exploitation. The plan also includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, temporary status holders, and farm workers.

The president also has four Latino cabinet members: Health and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA, Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA, Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, and Small Business Administration Administrator ISABELLA GUZMAN.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman PETE AGUILAR, the highest-ranking Latino in Congress, penned an op-ed in Univision with Senate Majority Leader Schumer last week on the party’s commitment to uplifting the Latino community beyond Hispanic Heritage Month.

“Now more than ever, Democrats in Congress recognize that the future of America depends on the success of Latino communities across the country. If the United States is to truly be a beacon of hope, everyone in this country must be given the opportunity to achieve their version of the American Dream.,” Aguilar and Schumer wrote. “That’s why Democrats will keep working to grow our economy, pass real immigration reform, build safer communities, and uphold a woman’s fundamental right to choose. That’s what Latino families care about and what we’re fighting for.”

The House heads into its second straight weekend without a speaker as Republicans cycled through a series of closed-door meetings and public intraparty conflicts this week in search of a successor to the ousted KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.).

The current frontrunner for the top spot is Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio), the hot-headed chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a far-right ideologue who has yet to serve in elected House leadership—and someone who showed little interest in doing so until McCarthy was booted.

House Democrats took to the East Front steps of the US Capitol Friday evening to sound the alarm against Jordan after the first nominee Republicans designated for the speakership—House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE (R-La.)—withdrew his candidacy on Thursday night soon after he realized he had no path to victory.

“House Republicans have selected as their nominee to be the speaker of the People’s House the chairman of the Chaos Caucus, a defender in a dangerous way of dysfunction, and extremist extraordinaire,” House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) said of the 59-year-old Jordan.

Jeffries added that Jordan has passed zero bills in the House in 16 years in Congress, an example of the Ohio lawmakers’ misplaced priorities.

“His focus has not been on the American people,” Jeffries said. “His focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories and driving amongst the American people.”

House Minority Whip KATHERINE CLARK (D-Mass.) added that by choosing Jordan, House Republicans are ultimately choosing to appease former President DONALD TRUMP, who endorsed Jordan last week.

“Pause and think about who they are rallying around: Jim Jordan’s own colleagues have called him a ‘legislative terrorist,’” Clark said while pointing to votes for anti-abortion policies and against funding the government, protecting Social Security and Medicare,

and certifying the 2020 presidential election. “He has used his committee gavel to advance right-wing conspiracies while undermining the very institution that he serves. And he will inflict even more harm if he is allowed to have the speaker’s gavel.”

PETE AGUILAR, the House Democratic Caucus chair and a former committee member to investigate the Jan. 6th Capitol attack, said Jordan’s rhetoric and partisanship fomented the insurrection. (Jordan ignored a lawful subpoena from the committee last May because he said it was unconstitutional. In her perch on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, he has called out the Biden administration for doing the same.)

“He has one objective: Hurt President Biden politically and help elect Donald Trump—no matter the cost to our country, no matter the cost to our democratic norms,” Aguilar added. “Jim Jordan is a Donald Trump-endorsed MAGA darling.”

A frozen House comes at a cost.

The temporary government funding patch expires in a month setting the country on a course towards another shutdown crisis.

The Biden administration claimed on Friday morning that North Korea has provided Russia with more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions that the White House believes Russia will use to attack Ukrainian cities, kill Ukrainian civilians, and further their unlawful war. (In exchange, the administration says North Korea is seeking fighter aircraft surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment or other materials, and other advanced technologies.)

In related news, the White House said it appears Russia has launched a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY said the US is confident in Ukraine’s ability to beat back Russian forces and to defend itself but that the offensive is a reminder that Russia is not ready to give up on President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s fight.

“That’s why it's critical that Congress keeps its commitment to the Ukrainian people and takes action to sustain our support. The world is watching and of course we must stand with Ukraine and with the global community because in these days in the 21st century, we can’t just afford to turn a blind eye to war crimes and atrocities and allow a dictator to conquer or carve up a neighbor’s territory.”

And, of course, Israel is now mired in a war against the terrorist group Hamas that will require US support to ensure the US’s closest ally in the Middle East can defend itself.

None of these issues can be addressed through legislation until the House has a speaker. 

House Democrats aren’t the only ones—despite endorsements from many high-profile Republicans, including Trump and McCarthy—who feel Jordan is unfit for the job though.

In a secret ballot this afternoon 81 House Republicans voted against Jordan and in favor of Rep. AUSTIN SCOTT, a GOP congressman from Georgia who entered the race hours before the vote and did not campaign for the position. (124 House Republicans voted for Jordan to be their nominee for speaker.)

And moments later in a separate vote, 55 of Jordan’s colleagues said they wouldn’t vote for Jordan on the floor—far short of the 217-vote threshold he must meet to win a floor vote. FYI: With full attendance, Jordan can lose just four votes. House Republicans adjourned for the weekend this evening to allow Jordan to sway his skeptics. But it’s unlikely he’ll be able to flip them all by an expected floor vote early next week.

House Democrats feel this will be time wasted anyway. 

Since McCarthy was ousted last week, Jeffries and company have been consistent: No House Republican will earn the 217 votes required to win the speaker’s gavel without Democratic support. 

Their solution? The two parties should enter into a bipartisan governing coalition that allows the House to reopen and marginalizes the handful of conservative rebels that have constantly ground the chamber to a halt. 

“There are only two paths forward. On the one hand, House Republicans can continue to triple down on the chaos, the dysfunction, and the extremism that has been visited upon the American people as a result of the House Republicans’ civil war,” Jeffries said. On the other hand, traditional Republicans can break away from the extreme, partner with Democrats on an enlightened bipartisan path forward so we can end the recklessness and get back to doing the business of the American people.”

Clark added that the unity among House Democrats is what Americans are seeking as an antidote to the chaos.

“We stand for the values of American people. And we work every day to make those ideals of liberty and equality and justice for all a reality,” Clark said. “We believe in the reasons that we were sent here. We believe in raising the voices who don’t often have them in the halls of power here in Congress.”

Aguilar said that despite the Republican disharmony, House Democrats’ hands are extended in bipartisanship.

“Let’s pass bills that improve the lives of everyday Americans,” he said. “No default, no shutdown, and no more chaos.”

House Democrats met in the US Capitol this evening to renominate HAKEEM JEFFRIES for speaker. And although the New York Democrat won’t be elected to the top post under the GOP-controlled chamber, the nomination represented a prosaic formality at a time when chaos reigns among House Republicans and on the world stage.

Former Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.) last week was booted from his position by eight House conservatives and the body has been paralyzed since. House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) will seek their conference’s nomination for the speaker’s gavel on Wednesday with both being nowhere close to the requisite 217 votes to be elected to the position.

In other words: We could see a sequel unfold over the next few days of the January debacle when McCarthy endured 15 ballots and cut the very deals that ultimately led to his demise.

There’s never really an ideal time for this sort of disorder in Congress. But it’s especially inopportune in the aftermath of the unprecedented invasion last weekend of Hamas terrorists across Israel that killed hundreds of Israelis at a local music festival and in a communal settlement in the southern region of the country. The death toll also includes women and children who were raped and then killed. At least two members of Congress—Sen. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) and Rep. DAN GOLDMAN (D-N.Y.)—were in the country at the time of Hamas’s incursion. Embattled Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU of Israel declared his nation at war after the surprise attack.

While House Republicans try to figure their shit out and the Senate is in recess until next week, the White House has worked overtime to demonstrate both in word and deed US solidarity with Israel—America’s closest ally in the Middle East.

President JOE BIDEN on Tuesday delivered his second speech on the war in three days and expressed visible outrage at what he described as an “act of sheer evil” by Hamas that has left at least 14 Americans among the casualties. (Biden confirmed Americans are among the hostages being held by the terrorist organization whom he compared to ISIS, the Islamic fundamentalist group that gained prominence in 2014.)

The president acknowledged that the terrorism that the Jewish people have endured isn’t new and said the Department of Homeland Security and FBI are working together to protect Jewish communities stateside.

Prior to the speech, Biden had his third call with Netanyahu since the weekend and told the leader that if the US experienced what Israel is experiencing, the American response would be “swift, decisive, and overwhelming.”

But while Biden reiterated his belief that Israel had a right to defend itself, it has a democratic responsibility to do so according to the rule of law—including not purposefully targeting civilians.

“Let there be no doubt: The United States has Israel’s back,” Biden said during his speech. “We will make sure the Jewish and democratic State of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have. It’s as simple as that.”

The US has surged additional military systems, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome, the Israeli air defense system. And the US has enhanced its military force posture in the region to strengthen deterrence from bad actors.

“Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation,” Biden said. I have one word: Don’t. Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear.”

Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN will travel to Israel and Jordan on Wednesday through Friday to meet with senior officials about the situation on the ground and reiterate his condolences for the victims of the attacks, which he will condemn in the strongest terms. Blinken is also expected to discuss how the US can support Israel in the fight against the attacks. 

When the House elects its next speaker, one of the body’s first orders of legislative business will be to pass a resolution standing with Israel against the war launched by Hamas.

“Israel is responding to the Hamas terror organization’s unprecedented attack,” Rep. GREGORY MEEKS (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement. “The bipartisan resolution will demonstrate this is one issue in which the US House of Representatives is united, and I expect it to pass the House with broad bipartisan support.” (House progressives, including Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American member of Congress, usually vote against these pro-Israeli measures.)

The House will receive a classified member briefing on Israel Wednesday morning by three senior officials from the Departments of State and Defense and the Office of National Intelligence.

When the Senate clocks back in next week, Republicans are expected to claim the president enabled the attack after the administration brokered a deal with Iran to swap five wrongfully detained Americans for $6 billion in Iranian funds that had been frozen in South Korea.

Although Iran backs Hamas, US officials say there is no evidence that Iran directed or was behind the weekend attack. Not to mention, the funds weren’t dispersed to Iran and every penny is being overseen by Qatar’s central bank. And the money can only be used for humanitarian aid under the terms of the deal.

Nonetheless, Sen. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.), the presidential candidate and top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has called for an investigation of the $6 billion released to Iranian intermediaries and a hearing with Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN.

Sens. JON TESTER (D-Mont.) and JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.)—two Democrats up for re-election in 2024—have called on the administration to freeze the $6 billion while the US probes how Hamas was able to pull off the surprise attack.

“As American intelligence officials continue to investigate the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas, we should review our options to hold Iran accountable for any support they may have provided,” Tester said in a statement. “Moving forward, we need to ensure our ally Israel can defend itself from these ongoing deadly attacks against its civilians.”

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The US currently is without an ambassador to Israel. President Biden nominated former Treasury Secretary and White House Chief of Staff JACK LEW to the position last month. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to take up the nomination and advance it to a full floor vote in the coming weeks.

Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) was in the middle of a previously scheduled bipartisan congressional delegation to China but cut the trip short in light of the tragic events unfolding in Israel.

While in Asia, Schumer met with President XI JINPING of China and raised the crisis in Israel with the authoritarian leader after the Chinese government released a tepid statement against the Hamas attacks. Xi and his foreign minister issued a stronger revision.

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in American history, also spoke by phone with President ISAAC HERZOG of Israel from the US Embassy in China to reaffirm that the US stands ready to do whatever it takes to ensure Israel has the resources it needs.

Just under 12 hours after news broke that Democratic Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM of California selected LAPHONZA BUTLER to complete the term of the late Sen. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, the EMILY’s List president took to X, the social app formerly known as Twitter, to accept the appointment.

“I’m honored to accept Gov. [Newsom]’s nomination to be a US senator for a state I have made my home and honored by his trust in me to serve the people of California,” she said.

Butler will be the first openly LGBTQ person to represent California in the Senate and just the third Black woman to serve in the Senate and the first since KAMALA HARRIS left the Senate to become President JOE BIDEN’s vice president. She will also be the third openly LGBTQ person to serve in the body, joining Sens. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-Ariz.).

Butler is currently living in Maryland near EMILY’s List’s Washington headquarters and registered to vote in the state. But in response to questions about her residency, Newsom’s office said Butler is a longtime California resident and homeowner and she will re-register in California before being sworn in by Vice President Harris on Tuesday.

Chris Cadelago at Politico was the first to report the news of the appointment.

Butler’s appointment comes two days after Sen. Feinstein’s death and fulfills a promise Newsom made to tap a Black woman to assume the role. 

“Laphonza has spent her entire career fighting for women and girls and has been a fierce advocate for working people,” Newsom said in a statement. “I have no doubt she will carry the baton left by Senator Feinstein, continue to break glass ceilings, and fight for all Californians in Washington.” (FWIW, Butler is also Newsom’s fourth high-profile appointment: Sen. ALEX PADILLA, California Attorney General ROB BONTA, and Secretary of State SHIRLEY WEBER.)

The urgency of the appointment is also notable due to the Senate’s narrow partisan split: Senate Democrats will hold a slim 50-49 majority until Butler is sworn in. Every vote for the rest of the year will count as Congress looks to fund the government for the upcoming year, provide additional aid to Ukraine, pass the farm bill, and extend authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“Governor Newsom’s swift action ensures that Californians maintain full representation in the Senate as we navigate a narrow Democratic majority,” Padilla said in a statement. “I look forward to working together to deliver for the people of California.”

Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) added that Senate Democrats look forward to welcoming Butler to the body at a key time in the nation’s history.

“I’m confident that her breadth of work, acumen, and public service will meet this moment and be a great help to Senate Democrats as we continue to deliver for the American people,” Schumer added. “I look forward to senator-designate Butler’s swearing-in this week.”

The appointment also comes months before a primary election to elect the nominee who will most likely succeed Feinstein for a full six-year Senate term. Three House Democrats—Reps. ADAM SCHIFF, KATIE PORTER, and BARBARA LEE—are months deep into a hyper-competitive primary campaign.

Newsom made the appointment without limitations or preconditions on Butler for the seat in 2024. Butler could decide to join the fray, which would be an uphill climb for someone used to helping candidates win, not being one herself. But if she were to run and win, she would join TINA SMITH (D-Minn.), BRIAN SCHATZ (D-Hawaii), and TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) as current senators who were appointed then later elected to their seats.

“I am thrilled that Newsom chose to respect the electoral process,” KAT CALVIN, a Los Angeles-based author of American Identity in Crisis and the CEO of Project ID Action Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing photo ID policy at every level. “I hope this year gives Laphonza a unique opportunity to contribute to the progress of California and the nation.”

In a statement to Supercreator News, Porter said Butler’s lesbian identity matters as LGBTQ+ Americans are increasingly under attack.

“As a labor leader, Laphonza Butler has spent her career standing up for women and working families,” Porter added. “I look forward to fighting for California with her.”

Lee, who publicly lobbied for the appointment with the aggressive backing of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus, wished Butler well on X and said she looked forward to working with her.

“I am singularly focused on winning my campaign for Senate,” Lee said. “California deserves an experienced Senator who will deliver on progressive priorities. That’s exactly what I’m running to do.”

The CBC issued a statement in support of Butler’s appointment on Monday afternoon that read in part: “We look forward to welcoming Laphonza as the 59th member of the CBC and to continuing our work on behalf of the American people.”

And since dollar signs sometimes speak louder than words, Schiff’s campaign entered the chat by announcing the congressman raised $6.4 million for the campaign in the third quarter from more than 102,000 unique donors and has an impressive $32 million cash on hand.

“We continue to gain momentum as we approach the primary election,” Schiff campaign manager BRAD ELKINS said in a statement on the announcement first reported by Sahil Kapur at NBC News. “Thanks to Adam’s record of results, it’s clear Californians trust Adam to do whatever it takes in the US Senate to get things done for the people of California.”

Spokespeople for Lee and Schiff did not respond to a request for additional comment.

Butler was born in Mississippi and attended Jackson State University, a historically Black college that former NFL superstar and current Colorado Buffaloes coach DEION SANDERS put on the national stage in recent years. Before joining EMILY’s list as president in 2021, she was a partner at a San Francisco-based consulting firm and senior strategist on Harris’s unsuccessful presidential campaign. She also worked a stint as director of public policy and campaigns at Airbnb and advised Uber as the gig companies sought to prevent workers from being classified as employees instead of independent contractors.

Following almost two decades at the Service Employees International Union, where as president of the California division she worked to increase the minimum wage to $15 and raise taxes on the wealthy, she served on the University of California Board of Regents from 2018 to 2021.

“We are enormously proud of this historic pick and know that she will be a champion for working people in California and across the country,” EMILY’s List said in a post on X.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON called Butler a trailblazer whose career has been dedicated to advancing justice, equity, and progress.

“We’ve traveled across the country together to ensure our leaders protect access to abortion and our reproductive rights, McGill Johnson added. “The Senate just gained another reproductive health champion.”

MINI TIMMARAJU, president of Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), agreed: “As the first woman of color to lead [EMILY’s List], she is committed to working tirelessly for reproductive freedom [and] our communities, she said. “[Butler] is a champion who will fight alongside us every step of the way in the US Senate.”

Ahead of Sen. Feinstein’s funeral this week, supporters, constituents, and loved ones will celebrate her life fighting for reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence, Newsom expressed optimism that Butler would continue advancing progress in the struggle.

“Laphonza has spent her entire career fighting for women and girls and has been a fierce advocate for working people,” he said. “From her time as President of EMILY's List to leading the state's largest labor union, she has always stood up for what is right and has led with her heart and her values.”

McGill Johnson pointed to Butler’s historic appointment as an appropriate way to honor the legacy of Feinstein,  who was the first woman to represent California in the Senate

“This is history and a reminder to Black girls and women everywhere: We deserve to be in all the rooms where decisions are made,” McGill Johnson said.

Butler herself acknowledged with humility the massive shoes she’s stepping into as well.

“No one will ever measure up to the legacy of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but so will do my best to honor her legacy and leadership by committing to work for women and girls, workers and unions, struggling parents, and all of California,” she said. “I am ready to serve.”

👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome to This Week in Politics, an exclusive weekly preview of the stories I’ll be tracking on Capitol Hill and beyond for paid subscribers—so you can focus on your creative projects instead.

Here’s what I’m watching this week:

• Laphonza Butler’s historic appointment as DiFi’s immediate successor

• Matt Gaetz vs. Kevin McCarthy—and which side House Democrats fall on

• The Senate’s pursuit of additional Ukraine aid

• Floor action on the House GOP’s next two full-year approps bills

But first a few quick notes:

BIDEN PREACHES URGENCY • President JOE BIDEN signed the short-term funding bill Congress passed on Saturday 45 minutes before the government was set to shut down. 

In a speech on Sunday, an exasperated Biden called on lawmakers to fully fund the government before the Nov. 17 deadline: “Enough is enough is enough. This is not that complicated. The brinksmanship has to end,” he said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. “I strongly urge my Republican friends in Congress not to wait. Don’t waste time as you did all summer. Pass a yearlong budget agreement. Honor the deal we made a few months ago.” 

Reality check: The former president served in the Senate for 36 years so he knows he shouldn’t hold his breath—these funding fights always go down to the wire, especially in a divided government. In other words? Stay tuned for some unnecessary pre-Thanksgiving drama.

CROCKETT ON HER VIRAL MOMENT • By accounts from within their own party, House Republicans missed the mark in the first hearing connected to the impeachment inquiry into unfounded allegations of wrongdoing by President Biden in connection with his son HUNTER’s business dealings. 

The hearing backfired in large part on the performance of several Democrats on the Oversight Committee, including Rep. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-Texas), who methodically poked holes in the case in viral moment after viral moment. 

Crockett arguably had the moment as she accused House GOP members of ignoring former President DONALD TRUMP’s indictments while pushing for an impeachment against Biden.

I caught up with Crockett on Friday outside the House floor to get her reaction to the overwhelming response. 

“I started getting a lot of Facebook notifications from the MAGA folks so I knew I did something right,” she told me. But Crockett didn’t have a full grasp of the clip’s reach until hours later since she had to attend an evening campaign reception followed by a long late-night voting series.

She added that she thinks it was the emotion she expressed that resonated with people while adding that while she may be new to the national stage, she’s always demonstrated the same level of passion dating back to her days in the Texas State House.

“People in my district are going to go hungry. A lot of them are living paycheck to paycheck,” Crockett said of her mindset. “I had been sitting there for hours as our government nears a shutdown and was tired of it.”

ED DEPT ISSUES STUDENT DEBT PAPER • Student loan payments are back and the Education Department on Friday updated reporters on the status of the negotiated rulemaking process the Biden administration is undergoing to provide borrowers with the targeted relief the Supreme Court denied this summer under President Biden’s previous plan.

The Department issued a paper that lays out its initial policy considerations, including questions about borrowers whose balances are greater than what they originally borrowed, whose loans first entered repayment decades ago, who attended programs that did not provide sufficient value, who are eligible for relief under programs like income-driven repayment but have not applied, and borrowers who have experienced financial hardship and need support, but for whom the current student loan system does not adequately address.

The paper will be discussed at the first meeting of the Student Loan Relief Committee, which is scheduled to take place on October 10 and 11.

Now onto what I’ll be tracking on Capitol Hill and beyond this week:

LAPHONZA BUTLER’S ARRIVAL TO THE SENATE • In a somewhat surprising decision, Democratic Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM appointed LaPhonza Butler to fill the California Senate seat vacated by the death of the state’s senior senator, DIANNE FEINSTEIN on Friday.

Read more

Good news: The government will remain open—for at least six more weeks.

Congress approved a short-term measure that will maintain the current funding levels, pay our troops, and ensure women and families receive the nutrition assistance and housing assistance they need to make ends meet. The legislation also includes $16 billion to replenish FEMA’s disaster relief fund and extends authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, which was set to expire at midnight along with government funding.

The bill cleared the House by a vote of 335-91, with 126 Republicans joining 209 Democrats to pass it. The Senate approved the legislation in an overwhelming 88-9 vote. The bill will now head to President JOE BIDEN’s desk to be signed into law.

Its passage represents a major setback for House conservatives who demanded deep funding cuts, anti-immigration policies, and culture-war provisions in exchange for them performing their basic constitutional duty to keep the lights on.

It’s also the second instance in less than four months that House Democrats have outvoted the Republican majority on must-pass legislation following a June vote to avoid a default on the nation’s debt.

And the outcome imperils House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.), who after months of pressure from the right flank of his conference did what he promised for weeks he wouldn’t: Bring a continuing resolution deprived of any significant Republican priorities on the House floor.

“Today wasn’t a choice we wanted to have. We tried to pass the most conservative stopgap possible,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote. “We didn’t have 218 Republicans that would vote for it to help us secure the border.”

House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) demonstrated a triumphant tone in the victory lap he took during a post-vote press conference. 

“The American people have won. The extreme MAGA Republicans have lost,” he said. “It was a victory for the American people and a complete and total surrender by right-wing extremists who throughout the year have tried to hijack the Congress.”

Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) joined his fellow Brooklynite in celebrating the passage of the bridge legislation.

“It’s been a day of twists and turns but the American people can breathe a sigh of relief,” he said. “Today, MAGA extremists have failed. Bipartisanship has prevailed. And both parties have come together to avert a shutdown.”

As Schumer mentioned, the day had more than its fair share of drama.

It started with an early-morning House Republican conference meeting where GOP leadership admitted that no short-term bill McCarthy put forward to keep the government open would pass with just Republican votes. 

A shutdown seemed inevitable as House Republicans teed up votes on standalone messaging bills to pay our troops and border patrol during the funding lapse, refill the National Flood Insurance Program, and extend the FAA.

But moments later, a new plan emerged: House Republicans would offer a 45-day stop-gap measure with billions in disaster aid the White House requested and the FAA extension minus Ukraine aid, a top priority for the Biden administration and the majority of the Congress.

McCarthy and his lieutenants wanted to move quickly before an afternoon vote across the Capitol to advance a Senate bipartisan continuing resolution took place, which would have further isolated House Republicans and made it clear they bore the brunt of the blame for the looming shutdown.

House Democrats balked at the idea of voting on a bill that they didn’t have time to read or discuss if they would support it.

So Rep. KATHERINE CLARK (D-Mass.), the number-two House Democrat, moved to temporarily adjourn to buy staffers some time to scrub the bill after House Republicans denied her request for a 90-minute pause prior to the vote.

This was especially frustrating to Democrats. The expedited timeline violated the policy the new House Republican majority established in January that members would get at least 72 hours to read a bill before casting a vote on the legislation.

“For the Democratic Caucus—and this isn't the same for the Republican Conference—the details matter,” House Democratic Caucus Chair PETE AGUILAR (D-Calif.) told reporters. “Helping people is why we come here. We want to make a difference in our communities. We want to help our communities. And in order to do that, we wanted to make sure that we got it right.”

Another shrewd delay tactic: Jeffries took to the House floor to avail himself of the “magic minute,” a custom that allows party leaders to speak as long as they wish—free from the strict time limits rank-and-file members must adhere to.

“All we’re doing is making sure that we can assess the four corners of the legislation that is before us, avoid a catastrophic government shutdown, put people over politics, and make sure that we can continue the great American dream,” he said to a standing ovation from his members.

As Jeffries spoke, House Democrats pushed back against the absence of legislative language that would have enabled House Republicans to approve a cost-of-living adjustment, effectively giving members of Congress a raise when the GOP claims it wants to slash federal spending. House Democrats were also annoyed that the CR prevented the Pentagon from transferring existing resources and funding to Ukraine. Republicans addressed the first concern while ignoring the second.

Meanwhile, all eyes in the Senate were on the developments in the lower chamber. Schumer held off the procedural vote to advance the Senate stop-gap. After meeting with his conference, Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL announced his members wouldn’t vote to move forward with the Senate compromise bill anyway.

Jeffries was effusive in his praise for Schumer whom he credited for promoting the bipartisan approach that ultimately won the day.

“And as a result of that, you had House Democrats in alignment with Senate Democrats. Both of us were in alignment with Senate Republicans. All of us were in alignment with President Biden on behalf of the American people,” Jeffries said. “You had the extreme MAGA Republicans on an island all by themselves, and as recently as yesterday, put forth a draconian bill that would have slashed and burned the ability of the federal government to meet the health and safety and economic needs of the American people.”

Just after 2:25 p.m., the vote to avert a government shutdown was opened. Clark, whose job is to count votes and maintain party discipline, told her members to wait for the Republicans to cast their ballots to remind McCarthy he couldn’t pass the bill without their help. It wasn’t until then that Democrats provided the votes necessary to push it across the finish line.

And as if the day didn’t need any more weirdness, Rep. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-N.Y.) allegedly pulled a fire alarm in a Capitol office building forcing an evacuation into the event.

“Congressman Bowman did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote,” his spokesperson EMMA SIMON said in a statement. “The congressman regrets any confusion.”

Bowman would later reject the notion that he pulled the fire alarm to the delay the vote before Democrats had a chance to read the bill as “complete BS.”

McCarthy compared Bowman’s actions to those of the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Two House Republicans plan to introduce separate resolutions to expel and censure Bowman. 

JOE MORELLE, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said the allegations are a serious matter. “It appears from the footage to be him, but I haven’t talked to him,” he said before adding that he wanted to hear Bowman’s explanation.

Jeffries told reporters he hadn’t seen the video and declined to comment until he did so.

Coming out of an afternoon caucus meeting, Senate Democrats were optimistic leadership would reach a time agreement to quickly pass the House CR. But all it takes is one senator to stop the show. And today that senator was MICHAEL BENNET, a Democrat from Colorado, who was upset about the removal of Ukraine aid from the legislation and wanted reassurance that the Senate would consider future aid ASAP. (The hold rankled senators who hoped to escape Washington before the last flights departed but Schumer and McConnell released a joint statement that satisfied Bennet’s demand.)

MIKE QUIGLEY, the only House Democrat who voted no on the bill did so in protest of the lack of Ukraine funding as well.

“If we’re willing to cave that quickly, what makes them think we won’t cave in 45 days?” he said after the vote. “I at least had to voice opposition and express that concern.”

Members in both chambers shared Bennet and Quigley’s concerns. But many felt it wasn’t worth shutting down the government over $6 billion in Ukraine aid when the White House is expected to request enough aid for an entire year by the time the short-term measure expires. Then they’ll mount a vigorous defense of additional funding for the war-torn country. But in the meantime, Senate Democrats say they’ll start moving a supplemental bill for Ukraine as early as next week, a move House Democrats seemed to rally around. 

“It's important for democracy. It's important the principle of freedom. It's important for truth. It's important for NATO,” Jeffries said. “And extreme MAGA Republicans will have an opportunity over the next few days to put the American people and our national security interests first and the extreme MAGA Republican pro-Putin caucus last.”

The White House expressed support for the bill and confidence that Congress would ultimately approve additional Ukraine aid.

“This keeps government open at higher funding levels than the Senate bill, because it includes disaster relief and FAA authorization. It doesn’t have deep cuts House Republicans were pushing yesterday,” an administration official said. “We fully expect Speaker McCarthy—who has stated his support for funding to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s illegal and unjustified war of aggression—will bring a separate bill to the floor shortly.”

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Now that the immediate crisis is averted, House Republicans have canceled a previously scheduled two-week recess to process the remaining eight full-year funding bills ahead of a fierce negation with the Senate and White House. (To be clear, even if the GOP bills pass the House, which isn’t a given, they won’t be signed into law as written. But the passage, in House Republican leadership’s eyes, demonstrates party unity, an essential ingredient to winning any legislative debate.)

House Democrats see today’s result as a template for the upcoming talks.

“Moving forward, we will continue to work in a bipartisan way to discuss a year-end spending agreement consistent with our values: Meeting the needs of the American people, solving problems on their behalf, and putting people over politics,” Jeffries said. “That is what the spending agreement that passed the House floor today has accomplished and moving forward that will be our guiding principle in getting things done for the American people.”

The House is currently completing a marathon series of votes on amendments to two of four funding bills it will consider for final passage late tonight. Even if the quartet clears the chamber, the bills are dead on arrival in the Senate and at the White House. And most importantly, they will do nothing to keep the government open beyond this weekend.

The women and families who rely on federal agencies to provide nutrition assistance, maternal care, public education services, and more will feel the brunt of a government shutdown. And of course, it’s Black and brown women and families who will suffer the economic violence wrought by House Republicans’ proposed deep cuts and inability to perform one of the primary responsibilities of a governing majority.

“You go through the list and when you are cutting programs that are meant to provide opportunities to those who are socioeconomically not wealthy, we know who we’re talking about—and those are our communities, Rep. TERESA LEGER FERNÁNDEZ (D-N.M.), vice chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said to Supercreator News on Thursday afternoon. “They do not care what happens in our communities.”

Leger Fernández added that the broader purpose of the GOP cuts and shutdown demands is to eliminate diversity as an American priority.

“Anything that is meant to address and to increase diversity, both in terms of minority populations and in terms of women, they are cutting,” she said. “We’re in their crosshairs and they are trying to cut us out of the budget.”

JOCELYN FRYE, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, told reporters that the government shutdown crisis demonstrates how low supporting the economic security and health of these communities rank on House Republican leadership’s list of priorities.

In addition to cuts to the Women, Infant, and Children nutrition program and Title I, which provides financial assistance to local schools to educate low-income families, a shutdown would also eliminate the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau and cut enforcement at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by $35 million in the Wage and Hour Division. Initiatives that fund maternal and women’s health would be slashed by $800 million too.

“These [cuts] are unreasonable and they are dangerous and they will harm families,” Frye said. “These are cuts we should fight. They are non-negotiable, and they’re non-starters.”

Read more

The government runs out of federal funding in four days and the Senate returned to Washington after a long weekend to advance legislation to prevent a shutdown before the looming deadline.

The first procedural vote on a 45-day short-term funding patch known as a continuing resolution passed by a 77-19 margin. If it reaches final approval, the legislation will keep the government open while Congress debates and votes on several full-year appropriations bills.

The 79-page measure also includes $6 billion in Ukraine aid, another almost $6 billion for disaster aid, and extends the Federal Aviation Administration funding and authorities through the end of the year. (The current FAA bill will expire this weekend, wreaking havoc on the travel experience for consumers.)

The top two Senate leaders expressed support for the CR in separate floor speeches. 

“This bipartisan CR is a temporary solution, a bridge towards cooperation and away from extremism,” Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) said. “And it will allow us to keep working to fully fund the federal government and spare American families the pain of a shutdown.”

Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL (R-Ky.) said a government shutdown would be an unnecessary disruption of the Senate’s agenda while calling on his colleagues to work this week to avoid one.

“Delaying action on short-term government funding doesn’t advance the ball on any meaningful policy priorities,” he added. “Shutting the government down over a domestic budget dispute doesn’t strengthen anyone’s political position. It just puts important progress on ice. And it leaves millions of Americans on edge.”

The demonstration of solidarity puts the upper chamber in lockstep with the White House and further marginalizes KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.), the House Speaker attempting to corral a chaotic House Republican conference hellbent on demanding policy concessions they don’t have the votes to secure.

McCarthy declined to commit to taking up a Senate-passed CR and indicated he would bring his own version of the stopgap funding bill with so-called border security provisions to the House floor this weekend for consideration.

But first, House Republicans hope to scrounge up enough votes to clear a package of individual appropriations bills to satisfy members opposed to continuing resolutions and in favor of massive cuts to the federal budget.

Regardless of what happens in the Senate, the unpredictability of Republican rank-and-file members leaves the entire situation in flux.

To be clear, It’s a shame we’re in these circumstances. 

Read more

○●●●●●

Congress stumbles towards a government shutdown

The government runs out of money on Sunday at midnight unless lawmakers pass legislation to keep it open beyond the end of the month. 

The House and Senate return to Washington after a long weekend to figure out how to avoid a shutdown, which would (1) close national parks and institutions and government agencies due to a federal worker shortage, (2) result in lost revenue from furloughed employees not working and the loss of fees that would have been paid during the shutdown, and (3) reduce economic growth depending on the length of the shutdown. (The 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019 during the DONALD TRUMP administration, the longest in US history, cost the American economy at least $11 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.)

View from the House: After Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY lost two procedural votes last week that prevented House Republicans from opening debate on a bill to fund the Pentagon, GOP leadership returned to the drawing board to find a workable path ahead. Now it will attempt this week to pass a package of four bills to fund the Homeland Security, State, and Agriculture Departments among others as opening bids in negotiations with the Senate and the White House for the final versions of the bills.

Members are scheduled to vote to begin consideration of these bills on Wednesday but it’s unclear if leadership has the votes to do so.

McCarthy held a conference call on Saturday with House Republicans to make the case for a short-term bill known as a continuing resolution to keep the government open through mid-November while they pass the remaining appropriations bills to fund the key federal agencies through next fiscal year. 

But some members of McCarthy’s conference oppose a stopgap measure or will require funding cuts and anti-immigration provisions in exchange for their support. House Democrats have a simple demand: A continuing resolution that funds the government at the current levels with funding for Ukraine, disaster relief, and border security. The speaker will have to decide whether he’ll compromise with Democrats or triple-down on his conference’s unworkable plan.

View from the Senate: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) hoped the House would pass a CR that the Senate would then strip of far-right policies before returning it to the House for final passage. But Schumer told CNN that he is now working with Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNEELL (R-Ky.) on a deal on a Senate-initiated CR that could pass by the end of the week with cooperation from all senators. This comes as the Senate failed to pass a three-bill package of funding bills of its own due to opposition from conservative senators. 

View from the WH: The White House has zeroed in on the fact that we’re in this mess in large part because Speaker McCarthy reneged on the deal he made with President JOE BIDEN to set funding levels for the upcoming fiscal year. The Senate marked up their bills at those agreed-upon levels but the House wrote their bills $100 billion below the deal—and have proposed even deeper cuts since.

“Now a small group of extreme Republicans don’t want to live up to the deal so now everyone in America could be forced to pay the price,” Biden said at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards dinner on Saturday night. “Funding the government is one of the most basic responsibilities of Congress. It’s time for Republicans to start doing the job America elected them to do. Let’s get this done.”

●○●●●●

A word about this newsletter 

You may notice a different format for this edition. Allow me to explain: The newsletter is switching from daily to weekly through the end of the year.

From now on, you’ll get a free early Monday morning preview of the storylines I’ll be tracking and you should be watching to make sense of what’s happening in Congress and national politics—and how it impacts your health, wealth, and well-being.

This decision has been months and the making and feels like the right move for me and the business. If you and I like the switch, I’ll stick with it in 2024. If not, I’ll bring back the weekday cadence.

I’m so excited to invest more time into reporting fresh angles on the big stories of the moment and bring you exclusives on the issues that matter to the creative community. There are so many interesting opportunities to extend the breadth of my reporting beyond the constraints of a newsletter that I’ve declined due to daily deadlines. I’m thrice to pursue and share some of them with you now that my schedule will allow room for them.

But even though the newsletter will be published once a week, I still plan to post several times a week, including scoops on the politicians, power brokers, and policies shaping the American creator experience. I’ll also file in-depth explainers to untangle the complexities of the legislative process. I’m also looking forward to writing up more analysis on the headlines of the day and interviews with newsmakers to separate the signal from the noise. And my notebook is bursting with coverage from this past week’s CBC conference, so expect plenty of good stuff on that front in the days ahead. 

You’ll quickly see it’s not a reduction in work, but a redistribution of my time that I think will serve us all well.

If you want full access to my reporting beyond the weekly newsletter emailed straight to your inbox when it’s published, upgrade to a paid subscription. I know personal and work budgets are tight and I’m biased as a professional newsman. But there are few things worthy of sustained investment as our democracy teeters on the brink than high-quality independent journalism.

As a thank you for rocking with me thus far, save 30 percent off an annual subscription through Saturday, Sept. 30. Now back to the news!

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Menendez indictment aftermath gives Senate Dems heartburn

Sen. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.) was indicted last Friday on federal corruption charges that he aided and provided sensitive information to the government of Egypt. 

Menendez, who denied any wrongdoing, stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but refused to resign from the Senate despite calls from the majority of the New Jersey congressional delegation and fellow Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.). CORY BOOKER, New Jersey’s other senator, has not publicly commented on the matter. (Menendez’s son, a freshman member of Congress, expressed full support for his dad in a statement last Friday.)

Andy Kim, a three-term congressman representing southern and central New Jersey, announced a surprise primary challenge to Menendez after the senator rejected calls for his resignation.

“Not something I expected to do, but [New Jersey] deserves better,” Kim said in an announcement posted to X, the social app formerly known as Twitter. “We cannot jeopardize the Senate or compromise our integrity.”

Menendez will hold a press conference this morning where he is expected to deny the bribery allegations against him and continue his re-election campaign. He planned to hold the event at an elementary school in Union City, where he served as mayor, but the New Jersey Globe reports the school denied the request to avoid the unwanted attention. A new location remains unclear.

Menendez was previously indicted in 2015 on federal corruption charges but the charges were dropped ahead of his 2018 reelection after a jury was unable to reach a verdict. The Senate Ethics Committee admonished Menendez for accepting and failing to disclose gifts from a donor and using his position to advance the donor’s interests. The Ethics Committee declined to comment on the most recent indictment and reaffirmed its policy to hold off on probing active and ongoing criminal investigations.

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●●●○●●

Biden to join UAW picket line

We’re entering the second full week of the United Auto Workers strike against three major automakers and the union will receive a historic show of solidarity on Tuesday: President Biden will join the picket line at the invitation of UAW President SHAWN FAIN. The pro-union display is being touted as one of the most significant by a sitting president during an active contract dispute.

“It’s time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs,” Biden wrote in an X post on Friday.

Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the decision reinforces Biden’s status as “the most unapologetically pro-worker, pro-union president we’ve ever had.”

The visit comes as UAW has widened its strike against General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis, two of the three companies along with Ford, it is negotiating with for higher wages, more robust retirement benefits, and more.

UAW has yet to endorse Biden’s re-election.

Biden’s week ahead:

• Monday: President Biden will host Pacific Islands Forum leaders at the White House for the US-PIF Forum Summit before hosting a meeting with his board of advisors on HBCUs with Vice President KAMALA HARRIS.

• Tuesday: After the president joins the UAW picket line, he will travel to San Francisco to speak at a campaign fundraiser.

• Wednesday: President Biden will meet with his council of advisors on science and technology and then speak at two campaign fundraisers before traveling to Phoenix.

• Thursday: President Biden will give a major speech on democracy in honor of the legacy of the late Sen. JOHN McCAIN (R-Ariz.). He’ll also speak at a campaign fundraiser before returning to the White House.

• Friday: The president will attend a farewell tribute for General MARK MILLEY, the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a welcome ceremony for the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs CHARLES BROWN, JR. Vice President Harris will attend.

Harris’s week ahead:

• Tuesday: The vice president will travel to Morehouse College in Atlanta for a moderated conversation as part of the “Fight for Our Freedoms” college tour.

• Thursday: Harris will travel to Florida International University in Miami for a moderated conversation as part of the college tour before speaking at a campaign fundraiser.

First Lady Dr. JILL BIDEN will host a welcome reception for and speak at the White House Historical Association 2023 Presidential Sites Summit.

Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF this afternoon will speak at a fireside chat to mark Yom Kippur and the conclusion of the High Holidays.

●●●●○●

GOP presidential hopefuls to face off in second debate

The second Republican primary debate is this Wednesday in Simi Valley, California at the RONALD REAGAN Presidential Library. The event will be hosted by Fox Business, video platform Rumble, and Univision. STUART VARNEY, DANA PERINO, and ILIA CALDERÓN will moderate the debate.

Seven candidates for the Republican presidential nomination—including former President Trump, the current frontrunner who’s expected to be a no-show—have qualified for the debate: (1) entrepreneur and conspiracy theorist VIVEK RAMASWAMY, (2) Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS, (3) former Vice President MIKE PENCE, (4) former Ambassador to the United Nations NIKKI HALEY, (5) former New Jersey Gov. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (6) Sen. TIM SCOTT of South Carolina, (8) North Dakota Gov. DOUG BURGUM

During the first debate last month, the candidates faced off against each other on issues including the economy, abortion, Ukraine funding, climate change, and education.

ICYMI: “5 takeaways from the spicy first GOP primary debate” 

The third debate will be held in Miami on November 8, 2023.

●●●●●○

Writers and Hollywood studios reach a tentative deal to end strike

The Writers Guild of America and the representatives of the major TV and film production companies reached a tentative three-year agreement to end a strike that brought Hollywood to a halt for 146 days.

“We can say, with great pride, that the deal is exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA wrote its members Sunday evening.

The agreement is subject to drafting the final contract language. Details of the agreement will be withheld until then. A vote to send the contract for ratification by the union’s 11,000 members is expected on Tuesday. Then production will restart for TV and films after a five-month pause.

“As you have been patient with us before, we ask you to be patient again—one last time,” the message to members said.

SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing approximately 160,000 professional actors and media professionals, has been on strike since July 14.

THAT’S ALL UNTIL NEXT MONDAY! I hope this week is everything for you. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up for free.

Joy is a major ingredient of meaningful creative work, but it can seem hard to come by of late. 

There’s so much dysfunction in one of the country’s two major political parties that the federal government is on the verge of a shutdown. There’s also institutionalized poverty that disproportionately harms Black, brown, rural, and inner-city communities. The affordable housing crisis boxes creators out of building lives and businesses where their imaginations take them if where they currently are leaves too much to be desired.

The student debt crisis is acute for the millions of millennials who were told an education was the golden ticket to generational wealth, plus active threats to democracy and the intensifying attacks on the right to exist as who you are and your bodily autonomy can feel as overwhelming as they are infuriating.

But for Rep. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-Calif.), these are reasons for the creative community to show up and stand tall—not to shrink and play small.

“The people who have saved us all have been artists, artists they’ve been the creatives. And so my role is make sure that that path is always available for them to guide us,” Kamlager-Dove told me this week following remarks at a panel on the art of storytelling at the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference. “Artists heal, they educate, they translate, they empower, and they remind us of our own power.”

Artists and creators are also human. And the heaviness of the current moment can lead to deep frustration with the political process.

“I think artists are always going to be frustrated with the political process. It’s disjointed. It sometimes feels really inauthentic and it can be high manufactured,” Kamlager-Dove said. “And creatives, I think, are about exploring what’s beyond the boundaries.”

But should creators allow this frustration to lead to disenchantment?

“Absolutely not,” Kamlager-Dove said. “You shold look at how muddy the waters are and see it as an opportunity to stake a claim and help offer clarity, help offer a new experience.”

Kamlager-Dove is part of a class of freshman House progressives who bring creative experience and an appreciation of arts, entertainment, and digital media to the halls of Congress.

In July, Rep. MAXWELL FROST (D-Fla.), the first Gen-Z member elected to Congress and a musician in his own right, said entering Congress in the minority party has tested his creativity to advance his values without the power that comes with being in charge.

And this summer, Rep. ROBERT GARCIA (D-Calif.) launched the Popular Arts Caucus to bring attention to an untapped space in Congress and focus on arts that are usually left out of the conversation. 

Kamlager-Dove cut her teeth in creative environments prior to entering public service.

She worked in the entertainment industry and nonprofit sector where she learned the power of narratives in driving social change. Her first internship was the historic Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research library of the New York Public Library dedicated to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. 

“I know where I come from,” she said to attendees of the panel with the confidence that all pioneering creators possess and can appreciate seeing from another.

Kamlager-Dove’s advocacy—accentuated in her remarks at the CBC conference and in conversations we’ve had on Capitol Hill—is for creators, artists, and activists to fully claim space in culture, society, and government without apology. 

“Oftentimes, we are asked to make our experience more palatable, less fearful. I don’t subscribe to that. Sometimes it’s okay to be uncomfortable—especially if you’re walking in and sharing truth,” she said. “And how do we get to a space where we help people understand that it’s not our role to make someone feel less than comfortable, but it is certainly our role to be present in all of the spaces sharing our history.”

Supercreator x VidCon Baltimore 2023

Exciting news to share: I’ll be moderating a panel next Friday at VidCon Baltimore 2023 on policy and regulation in the creator economy. 

The conversation will feature a group of the sharpest minds in the space:

• LARTEASE TIFFITH, Executive Vice President of Public Policy at the Interactive Advertising Bureau

• AJ BROWN, Chief Operating Officer at the Brand Safety Institute

• MERLYNEE JEAN-LOUIS, business and entertainment lawyer at Jean-Louis Law

• MICHAEL OSTHHEIMER, attorney at the Federal Trade Commission

We’re hoping to help creators answer a few questions:

• How can you navigate a complex and ever-changing policy landscape?

• How can you stay informed in an evolving environment that’s attracted enormous attention from regulators, lawmakers, and enforcement agencies?

• How can you help shape the policies that affect your creative work?

Want to join me? If you’re in the area and interested in attending the panel in person, you’re in luck: I have two free tickets up for grabs:

(1) Industry track attendee ticket ($849 value!): This badge type provides access to all public-facing content and networking areas for all four days of VidCon (9/28–10/1) where you’ll learn best practices and a wealth of insight on where we are and where we’re going from the very best in the business.

(2) Community Track ticket ($139 value!): This badge type provides access to the panels, Q&As, performances, meet & greets, Expo Hall fun, and so much more with fellow fans and Featured Creators, including Kalen Allen, Basement Gang, Rich Black Guy, and Tee Noir.

Reply to this newsletter or email me at michael@supercreator.news with a one-sentence on what you would hope to gain from attending the conference. Priority will be given to paid Supercreator News subscribers but anyone is welcome to participate. I hope to see you in Baltimore next week!

The Week That Was

House GOP leadership gets screwed by conservatives again  

For the second time this week, House Republicans on Thursday failed to pass a procedural vote to open debate on bills to fund the Pentagon for the upcoming fiscal year and prevent a government shutdown.

It was the latest stinging rebuke of Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY from a small faction of his conference that colleagues and I watched unfold in real-time outside the TV studio where we were waiting for House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) to start his weekly media availability.

House Republican leaders sent members home until next Tuesday while the Rules committee preps four bills to fund various agencies, including the Homeland Security and Agriculture Departments.

This is much ado about nothing though: In order to secure the votes needed for passage from conservative holdouts, McCarthy must move the bills further to the right when the path out of this mess resides closer to the middle.

This means House Democrats will continue to unanimously oppose the bills leaving McCarthy with just a razor-thin margin of error.

Meanwhile, the Senate is a mess too—but less so than the House. Senate conservatives scuttled a bipartisan effort to consider a “minibus” package of three funding bills that unanimously passed out of committee. So Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) switched gears and made preparations for the Senate to pass a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open.

The government runs out of funding in eight days.

Zelenskyy visits a Congress divided on UKR aid

President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY stopped by Capitol Hill on Thursday as the future of US aid to his war-torn country hangs in the balance.

The White House has requested $24 billion in additional assistance to support Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia, who invaded the Zelenskyy’s country under orders from President VLADIMIR PUTIN more than a year and a half ago.

But a growing number of congressional Republicans oppose the request because they claim the cost is too high. (The US invests a small percentage of its economy on Ukraine aid compared to other European nations.)

Supporters of ongoing support from both parties claim that a weakened Ukraine leads to an emboldened Putin, which will lead to an emboldened XI JINPING, the Chinese president with his sights set on Taiwan, a key US partner in the Indo-Pacific region. If Ukraine fails due in part to the US withdrawing its support, President Xi may assume the same would apply to Taiwan.

Senate leaders are still expected to attach funding for Ukraine, along with disaster relief, border security, and addressing the fentanyl crisis. Congressional Democrats overwhelmingly support the supplemental funding so only a handful of Republicans would have to join them to push it through. McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Friday that he would give Ukraine funding its own vote in the House instead of including it in a stopgap measure.

Zelenskyy did not respond to shouted questions from reporters on whether he got any commitments from Speaker McCarthy to fund the war or what his message is for congressional Republicans who want to end aid to Ukraine.

WH extends TPS status to Venezuelan immigrants

The White House this week announced it would redesignate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status. The move will allow more than half of the newly arrived asylum-seekers in New York to receive expedited work authorization in the US without having to wait six months. It’s also expected to reduce the burden on the city’s shelter.

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Read All About It

“Parental-rights extremism is on the march” by Sarah Jones • “A brief history of politicians shooting, flamethrowing, and generally using deadly weapons in campaign” by Jacob Rosenberg • “The shadow race to succeed Mitch McConnell” by Grace Segars • “Journalism and democracy are on the cliff’s edge” by Brian Hiatt • “There’s a simple answer to questions about Biden’s age. Why won’t Democrats answer say it?” by Perry Bacon Jr. • “3 lessons from the first history of Biden’s presidency” by Eric Levitz • “Are these $2,000 water bills racist” by Henry Carnell • “FEMA aims to help underserved communities prep for climate havoc” by Jack Bittle • “‘We keep people alive’: As summers get deadlines, a tiny church is fighting back” by Audrey Gray •  “F-35 fighters are supposed to disappear—just not like this” by Jeff Wise • “Child protective service workers share their ‘secret truths that haunt’” by Kristin Jones • “New Jersey provides a road map for fighting racially biased traffic stops” by Aliza Hochman Bloom • “How the anti-trafficking movement gave order cover to opportunistic men” by Melissa Gira Grant • “The mass disappointment of a decade of mass protest” by Osita Nwanevu • “Airlines are just banks now” by Ganesh Sitaraman • “Can private equity be … nice?” by Megan Greenwell • “I asked 65 teens how they feel about being online” by Anya Kamenetz • “How to find a job long-distance” by Alison Green • “Instacart is a $14 billion capitulation” by Kevin T. Dugan • “Hasan Minhaj meant something to brown Americans. Was it all an act?” by Nitish Pahwa • “I’m the person responsible for those ridiculous nail polish color names” by Heather Schwedel • “Take the vistor’s approach to exploring your own city” by Allie Volpe • “Millennials have lost their grip on fashion” by Amanda Mull • “Why upgrading to the iPhone 15 is like buying a new car” by John Herman

Planned Parenthood Votes, the national political action committee associated with the reproductive health care organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America, launched a seven-figure ad campaign against CAROLYN CARLUCCIO, the anti-abortion Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The campaign marks PPV’s largest investment in a state Supreme Court race and comes after the group ran digital ads against Carluccio in September. The substantial campaign also reflects a broader strategy in the abortion rights movement to localize the issue as a divided Congress promises virtually no meaningful action on the issue and President JOE BIDEN has exhausted much of his executive authority to advance meaningful progress.

“Our hope for this Supreme Court race this year is that we’re able to show how much local elections matter and how decision-makers can really impact folks’ ability to access abortion care or not,” BREANA ROSS, Planned Parenthood Votes campaign director, said to Supercreator News in an interview.

The campaign also demonstrates how essential abortion rights groups believe it to talk to voters not just during national election cycles but in off years too.

Carluccio is currently a judge on the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania, a position she has held since 2010. The former assistant US Attorney and Montgomery County’s Chief Public Defender advanced to the general election this November from the Republican primary in May. She’ll face off against DANIEL McCAFFERY, an army veteran and former Philadelphia assistant district attorney who was elected to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2019.

Earlier this year, Carluccio removed a résumé from her campaign website that described herself as a defender of “all life under the law.” In February, Carluccio submitted a questionnaire to a state pro-business organization that detailed endorsements she received from a statewide group that opposes abortion from the moment of conception and would grant legal protections to fetuses.

The campaign’s first TV ad is titled “Erased” targets voters in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and their surrounding counties and makes the case that Carluccio can’t be trusted to protect Pennsylvanians’ right to abortion care.

The ad will also run across streaming and digital channels.

“The future of abortion could be determined with this case,” Ross said. “[Carluccio] is just truly not in line with what Pennsylvanians want or need. And she’s not the leader we should have moving forward.”

Ross added the campaign is a response to the energy voters continue to express in support of abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Pennsylvania is one of several states impacted post-Roe with health care providers experiencing an increase in out-of-state patients due to abortion bans or restrictions in neighboring states. (Medication and in-clinic abortion are available through the 23rd week of pregnancy and, after that time, in certain cases when the health of the pregnant person is in danger. A majority of Pennsylvanians support abortion rights and oppose a state constitutional amendment banning access to abortion care.)

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The state also elected two high-profile abortion rights champions in Democratic Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO and Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN who are vocal about advancing an agenda that expands and protects access to reproductive health care. Case in point: Shapiro zeroed out funding for anti-abortion counseling centers last month. And Fetterman introduced legislation in July that would allow people with private insurance plans to receive a full year’s worth of birth control at one time rather than be limited to a month-by-month supply.

“Our focus has really been supporter education around the importance of the court and letting them know that the courts specifically can be used as a weapon to take away our rights to control our bodies, our lives, and our futures,! and that the folks that are disproportionately impacted are Black and brown folks, are LGBTQ folks, they are folks that are immigrants and have low income,” she said. “I think the biggest thing that we've been focusing on with the ad is making sure that people see themselves and the fight and that they're aware that abortion access is at stake in Pennsylvania and is on the ballot this election cycle.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled Breana Ross’s name. Supercreator News apologizes for the error.

It’s fitting the Congressional Black Caucus currently boasts its largest membership in the organization’s history because the 58 elected officials who comprise the group are at the forefront of some of the most daunting issues that ail the nation.

The seeds of the solutions to many of these challenges—from voter suppression to gun violence to the racial and gender wealth gap to bias in artificial intelligence and more—will be planted over the next four days at the CBC Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, DC.

“Previous presidential elections have shown us how precious the democratic process is in America,” Del. STACEY PLASKETT DV.I.), one of the conference’s honorary co-chairs, said at a kickoff event on Wednesday. “This year’s ALC will give us an opportunity to explore transformative dialogue and actionable solutions that can shape and brighten our nation’s future.”

Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK DGa.), the other honorary co-chair, described the moment as one with high stakes for the country.

“This conference encourages all of us to do the work that’s necessary to secure the freedoms we have pursued for generations—and ensure that they remain in place for generations to come,” Warnock said. “When the history of our country is reviewed decades from now, it will be clear that at every nexus of change over the last 50 years and going forward, the Congressional Black Caucus has been the tip of the spear of good and meaningful change in the United States of America.”

The theme of this year’s conference is “Securing Our Democracy. Protecting Our Freedoms. Uplifting Our Culture.” and will serve as a backdrop for more than 100 issue forums, policy conversations, and panel discussions for the more than 2,500 people expected to populate the event through the weekend.

But executing on this theme will require all the innovation, collaboration, and determination the eventgoers can muster.

The federal government is divided and mired in an awful era of partisan gridlock. Savage state legislatures are unapologetic in their aggressive efforts to marginalize already overlooked and underserved communities. And well-funded advocacy groups are pressing these politicians and power brokers to be unrelenting in their extremism despite how unpopular it may be.

From the folks I spoke to as I made my way from the conference exhibit hall to the press room, they seem up to the task though.

Aside from the substantive legislative agenda, there are several events that should bring some levity and community-building to the mix.

CBC spouses and CBCF staff on Thursday will serve breakfast at Franklin Park in downtown DC while community health care partners provide screenings for local unhoused and low-income residents.

There’s also a highly anticipated Gospel Extravaganza featuring performers, speakers, and choirs from across the country. If you’re looking for me tomorrow evening, that’s where you’ll find me.

Saturday will feature a Day of Healing that will unite faith leaders and folks of all backgrounds in a commitment toward positive change.

The conference will culminate with the swanky Phoenix Awards, a recognition of people who have made significant contributions to society. President JOE BIDEN and Vice President KAMALA HARRIS are expected to give keynote speeches.

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The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy and educational institution with a mission to advance the global Black community.

Rep. STEVEN HORSFORD DNev.), the current CBC chair, described the Foundation as a powerful force that provides thought leadership and on-the-ground activations for members to better serve their 82 million constituents that represent more than one-quarter of the US population.

In her remarks before members cut the ribbon to officially kick off the conference, CBCF President NICOLE AUSTIN-HILLARY charged attendees with galvanizing around the CBC and CBCF’s shared vision of making the world a more just and equitable place for Black people.

“We each have a job to do and I don’t care what your name [is], what your title is,” Austin-Hillary said. “We each have an opportunity to be changemakers and let us use these days together to equip ourselves so that we are ready to change the world and make it better.