| | | | | |  | | By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun | Presented by |  | | | AND WE'RE HERE … FRIDAY. ONE WEEK before the government funding deadline. The end of the congressional session is around the corner. SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI joined in Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL'S optimism this morning when she said that "there is momentum" for a coronavirus relief bill, and that it would ride alongside a government funding bill that comes due next week. THERE ARE MANY BALLS IN THE AIR RIGHT NOW, so stick with us here for a moment. -- GOVERNMENT FUNDING: There is essentially a binary choice here: a stopgap, short-term funding bill, or a long-term, full government omnibus. All sides prefer an omnibus. PELOSI was optimistic about it this morning, but the negotiators tell us they believe there is somewhere around a 30% chance of getting an omnibus done. We'll see who is right. WITHOUT AN OMNIBUS, there are two options: a long stopgap, or a short stopgap. A long one would bring you to March, which is actually the smarter play here because then it would force another deadline for Covid relief talks. A short one would be a few weeks, in order to get the omnibus locked up. That would be a fine outcome, but would leave no deadline by which to do another round of Covid relief. Not deadly, but not ideal. -- ONTO COVID RELIEF: This is where it gets a bit more complicated. All sides want a Covid relief deal, and want it to ride along government funding. This deal won't be big -- no way -- but there's a pathway to a modest deal. WHAT MAY IT LOOK LIKE? Items from the bipartisan proposal: Paycheck Protection Program (something like $200 billion in new money, plus $130 billion in the repurposed cash) … enhanced unemployment insurance … restaurant relief … direct payments (maybe, we will see if President DONALD TRUMP pushes Senate Rs in this direction, and whether anyone cares!) … vaccine money … school money (this is tougher). NOW FOR THE TOUGH STUFF: Is there a trade of liability protections for state and local money in the $100 billion to $200 billion neighborhood? That's the big question here. The entire deal could hinge on this. PELOSI emphasized that any Covid deal passed in a lame duck is just the start of the relief process. STATE AND LOCAL READING … "In Blue States and Red, Pandemic Upends Public Services and Jobs," by NYT's Patricia Cohen: "The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted an economic battering on state and local governments, shrinking tax receipts by hundreds of billions of dollars. Now devastating budget cuts loom, threatening to cripple public services and pare work forces far beyond the 1.3 million jobs lost in eight months. … Six of the seven states that are expected to suffer the biggest revenue declines over the next two years are red … "[T]he steep falloff in sales and income taxes — which on average account for roughly two-thirds of a state's revenue, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts — is forcing Republican and Democratic officials to consider laying off police officers, reducing childhood vaccinations and closing libraries, parks and drug treatment centers." NYT | | | | A message from PhRMA: Today, there are several promising vaccine candidates in stage three clinical trials. These trials have tens of thousands of participants, from every walk of life. From development to robust clinical trials, and throughout manufacturing, these vaccine candidates follow the same rigorous process of other vaccines that have saved millions of lives. More. | | | YIKES -- THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE: "U.S. hiring slows sharply to 245,000 jobs as virus intensifies," by AP's Christopher Rugaber: "America's employers sharply scaled back their hiring last month as the viral pandemic accelerated across the country, adding 245,000 jobs, the fewest since April and the fifth straight monthly slowdown. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to a still-high 6.7%, from 6.9% in October as many people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed … "Friday's report of another hiring slowdown provided the latest evidence that the job market and the economy are faltering in the face of a virus that has been shattering daily records for confirmed infections. … People who have been out of work for six months or more — one definition of long-term unemployment — now make up nearly 40% of the jobless, the highest such proportion in nearly seven years." ZACHARY WARMBRODT: "Bailouts for big firms fuel push for more small business relief": "The Trump administration's latest revelation that large companies obtained billions of dollars in emergency loans intended for small businesses is spurring lawmakers to tighten up a key payroll support program in the next round of economic relief." POLITICO WSJ: "U.S. Infections, Deaths, Hospitalizations All Hit Record Highs," by Adam Martin … AP: "Data shows Americans couldn't resist Thanksgiving travel," by Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, S.D. Good Friday afternoon. JEFF ZIENTS OWNS CALL YOUR MOTHER? … WASHINGTONIAN'S JESSICA SIDMAN: "Call Your Mother Co-Owner Is Biden's New Covid Czar" ONLY THE BEST PEOPLE -- "Trump Pentagon nominee spreads debunked conspiracies and tweets suggesting Trump declare martial law," by CNN's Nathan McDermott, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck: "Scott O'Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump won the election in 'landslide fashion' and that millions of votes were stolen from the President. … O'Grady shared other debunked election conspiracies and … also degraded top military and intelligence officials. "In a radio interview, he called former President Barack Obama and military generals 'sworn socialists,' and advocated that the military justice system should bring back treason charges. He retweeted a tweet that called former Defense Secretary James Mattis a 'traitor.' … O'Grady was nominated by the White House to become an assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs at the Pentagon, a key position within the Department of Defense's policy shop." | | | | TRACK THE TRANSITION: President-elect Biden has started to form a Cabinet and announce his senior White House staff. The appointments and staffing decisions made in the coming days send clear-cut signals about Biden's priorities. Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, it tracks the appointments, people, and the emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today. | | | | | THE VACCINE PUZZLE -- "After first round of vaccine distributions, bulk of planning remains unfinished," by NBC's Heidi Przybyla: "The significant checklist of unmet federal responsibilities underscores the challenges ahead for President-elect Joe Biden, who inherits most of the burden for executing a successful nationwide campaign to vaccinate all Americans, potentially without the billions of dollars in additional funding that will be needed. … "[T]he federal government is still trying to fine-tune a system to track critical medical supplies, like syringes, and to facilitate regular communication between administrators and providers. And it is falling to cash-strapped states to establish thousands of mass vaccination clinics, procure staffing and lead major public relations campaigns to inform Americans where to get the vaccine and why they need it and to make sure they get second doses despite potential side effects." NBC -- NYT: "Could a Blood Test Show if a Covid-19 Vaccine Works?" by Carl Zimmer: "A new study in monkeys suggests that a blood test could predict the effectiveness of a Covid-19 vaccine — and perhaps speed up the clinical trials needed to get a working vaccine to billions of people around the world. The study, published on Friday in Nature, reveals telltale blood markers that predict whether a monkey's immune system is prepared to wipe out incoming coronaviruses. "The finding raises hope that researchers will be able to look for the same markers in people who get vaccines in clinical trials. If the markers are strong enough, they could reveal if the vaccines protect against Covid-19. And researchers would no longer have to wait for some trial volunteers to get the disease, as they do now." NYT … The study ON THE SAME PAGE -- "'It's a good idea': Fauci praises Biden's 100-day mask plan," by Quint Forgey: "Asked on Friday whether the president-elect's proposal would impose an 'artificial time limit' on mask-wearing, Fauci dismissed those concerns, telling NBC's 'Today' show in an interview that 'I spoke to him about that' and that Biden 'didn't mean it that way.'" POLITICO GEORGIA ON MY MIND -- "David Perdue will raise big Senate campaign money with lobbyists representing companies whose stock he's recently bought or sold," by Business Insider's Dave Levinthal HUAWEI OR THE HIGHWAY -- "U.S. in Talks With Huawei Finance Chief Meng Wanzhou About Resolving Criminal Charges," by WSJ's Jacquie McNish, Aruna Viswanatha, Jonathan Cheng and Dan Strumpf: "The U.S. Justice Department is discussing a deal with Huawei Technologies Co. finance chief Meng Wanzhou that would allow her to return home to China from Canada, in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in a criminal case that has strained Beijing's relations with the U.S. and Canada, people familiar with the matter said. "Lawyers for Ms. Meng, who faces wire and bank fraud charges related to alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran on Huawei's behalf, have spoken to Justice Department officials in recent weeks about the possibility of reaching a 'deferred prosecution agreement,' the people said. Under such an agreement … Ms. Meng would be required to admit to some of the allegations against her but prosecutors would agree to potentially defer and later drop the charges if she cooperated, the people said. Ms. Meng has so far resisted the proposed deal, believing she did nothing wrong." WSJ ICYMI -- DNI JOHN RATCLIFFE in the WSJ: "China Is National Security Threat No. 1": "If I could communicate one thing to the American people from this unique vantage point, it is that the People's Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II." WSJ | | | | NEXT WEEK - DON'T MISS THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT 2020: POLITICO will feature a special edition Future Pulse newsletter at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators determined to confront and conquer the most significant health challenges. Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses across our health systems, particularly in the treatment of our most vulnerable communities, driving the focus of the 2020 conference on the converging crises of public health, economic insecurity, and social justice. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage from December 7–9. | | | | | THE TASKS AHEAD FOR BIDEN -- "Step one in repairing U.S.-EU relations: a data privacy deal," by Steven Overly and Mark Scott: "U.S. and European officials are eager to start repairing transatlantic relations after four years of Trump-fueled tension. And according to digital trade experts, there's one logical place to begin: digital privacy. Specifically, the two sides need to revamp a now-defunct data protection agreement that's critical to how global companies from Google to General Electric operate. "The previous pact, the so-called U.S.-EU Privacy Shield, was struck down by Europe's highest court in July, which ruled that American privacy standards do not adequately protect EU data … That has created legal and regulatory headaches for firms that collectively conduct billions of dollars of transatlantic commerce. … But the two sides have been locked in negotiations over the past six months, and no deal is expected until late [spring], at the earliest." POLITICO HEADS UP -- "2 Hurricanes Devastated Central America. Will the Ruin Spur a Migration Wave?" by NYT's Natalie Kitroeff in Quejá, Guatemala: "The magnitude of the ruin is only beginning to be understood, but its repercussions are likely to spread far beyond the region for years to come. The hurricanes affected more than five million people — at least 1.5 million of them children — creating a new class of refugees with more reason than ever to migrate. … "If the devastation does set off a new wave of immigration, it would test an incoming Biden administration that has promised to be more open to asylum seekers, but may find it politically difficult to welcome a surge of claimants at the border. In Guatemala and Honduras, the authorities readily admit they cannot begin to address the misery wrought by the storms." STOCKING STUFFERS -- "The RNC Shelled Out $300k for Don Jr.'s New Book," by The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay: "[T]he RNC's payment to Trump Jr.'s company in October was the largest single payment—out of more than 700—that the committee has ever reported for donor 'mementos' or 'gifts,' according to Federal Election Commission filings." Daily Beast MEGATREND -- "Even beloved public schools may lose students for ever," by CNN's Bianna Golodryga and Meridith Edwards: "[N]o one is quite sure how many are going to private school and how many may be getting no education. … The largest decreases are in the early grades. And while kindergarten is not mandatory in all states, it is an important steppingstone to academic achievement. … Fewer children enrolled will mean less funding … The loss of funding could lead to larger class sizes and other changes." CNN MEDIAWATCH -- "Hannity's Crony Has Taken Over Fox News Digital -- and It's a Disaster, Staffers Say," by The Daily Beast's Lachlan Cartwright, Maxwell Tani, Diana Falzone, Justin Baragona and Lloyd Grove: "Sean Hannity is already one of Fox News' loudest voices, and has put his Trumpist stamp on the network's broadcasts. Now, his influence has spread to the once-independent digital news operation, staffers say, and it's largely thanks to a little-known former Hannity producer named Porter Berry. … "According to multiple staffers, Berry's editorial vision and management style has resulted in the departure of key digital news employees like Jason Ehrich, the former executive vice president of audience development and strategic partnerships, and Greg Wilson, the former managing editor of the Fox News website, among others. Berry has also been the subject of a number of HR complaints from staffers." Daily Beast | | | | A message from PhRMA:   America's biopharmaceutical companies are working day and night until they defeat COVID-19. Because science is how we get back to normal. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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