| | | | | |  | | By Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer | Presented by |  | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | SO, THIS WEEK is going to be crazy. Really crazy. The kind of crazy that only a December in Washington brings. LET'S START WITH TODAY: The ELECTORAL COLLEGE'S ELECTORS vote today in the states. Here's how the CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE describes it: "Electoral college delegations meet separately in their respective states and the District of Columbia at places designated by their state legislature.The electors vote by paper ballot, casting one ballot for president and one for vice president. The electors count the results and then sign six certificates, each of which contains two lists, one of which includes the electoral votes for the President, the other, electoral votes for the vice president, each of which includes the names of persons receiving votes and the number of votes cast for them. "These are known as Certificates of the Vote, which the electors are required to sign. They then pair the six Certificates of Ascertainment provided by the state governors with the Certificates of the Vote, and sign, seal, and certify them. … The six certificates are then distributed by registered mail as follows: (1) one certificate to the president of the U.S. Senate (the Vice President); (2) two certificates to the secretary of state (or equivalent officer) of the state in which the electors met; (3) two certificates to the Archivist; and (4) one certificate to the judge of the U.S. district court of the district in which the electors met." More from Kyle Cheney and Zach Montellaro -- WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD HAS HAD ENOUGH: "Trump's Challenge Is Over": "The Electoral College meets Monday to cast its votes for President, officially marking Joe Biden as the election winner. President Trump's legal challenges have run their course, and he and the rest of the Republican Party can help the country and themselves by acknowledging the result and moving on." AND WE'RE ALSO IN THE FINAL WEEK -- maybe -- of the legislative session. GOVERNMENT FUNDING runs dry Friday. So appropriators and leadership are going to spend the week working toward a deal to fund the government either for the rest of the fiscal year -- an omnibus -- or until sometime in the first quarter of next year. BUT THEY'RE ALSO trying to line up a Covid relief bill to ride alongside funding. Late last week, the leadership and committees started to put together "non-controversial" parts of what that bill may look like. But we're going to need to see some NANCY PELOSI-MITCH MCCONNELL talks before we believe anything is real. Speaker PELOSI and Treasury Secretary STEVEN MNUCHIN spoke Sunday night for 30 minutes -- MNUCHIN hasn't really been relevant to these talks since before the election. They will speak again today. ON A PARALLEL TRACK: The bipartisan "908" group -- the name lines up with the bill's price tag -- is going to unveil its bill at 4 p.m. As NOLAN MCCASKILL and BURGESS EVERETT reported Sunday , the group is splitting its bill in half: "One would be a $748 billion piece of coronavirus relief with less controversial items like schools and health care; the other would marry $160 billion in money for local governments with a temporary liability shield." NEW: Sen. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) will join the group today as they unveil the bill. Also in the group: Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.), SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine), MARK WARNER (D-Va.), BILL CASSIDY (R-La.), JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.), LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska), ANGUS KING (I-Maine), MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah), MAGGIE HASSAN (D-N.H.) and ROB PORTMAN (R-Ohio). WHY THIS STRUCTURE WON'T WORK FOR SOME: This is basically akin to Senate Majority Leader MCCONNELL'S plan to push state and local aid and liability to next year, which was panned by Democrats. Theoretically, if this two-track program made it to the floor (it won't), the "less controversial" piece could pass, while the more controversial piece with state and local and liability would fail. The whole game with big-ticket legislating is you put the controversial with the non-controversial so you ensure they both get across the finish line. THERE'S ALSO THIS HITCH: Sens. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) and JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.) are still pushing for direct payments this week. WE VIEW THESE BILLS as a menu for MCCONNELL and PELOSI, should they decide to cut a deal. Tick tock … tick tock. Good Monday morning. NEW: OLIVIA BEAVERS is taking the helm of the POLITICO Huddle newsletter. Beavers joins us from The Hill. Her first edition will be Jan. 4. MELANIE ZANONA, who has ably captained the Hill-focused newsletter, will focus on covering the House full time in the new year. Full memo from Carrie Budoff Brown and Blake Hounshell | | A message from UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group is committed to leading in the development of a next-generation health system in a socially conscious way. | | | PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP tweeted at 10:31 p.m. that he did not want White House aides to get the vaccine early, as the NYT'S ANNIE KARNI and MAGGIE HABERMAN scooped during the day. TRUMP: "People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!" -- ONE CAPITOL OFFICIAL said they don't know how many doses they will receive for congressional officials. -- WAPO: "D.C. firefighters will get coronavirus vaccine in public as part of trust-building campaign," by Lola Fadulu: "Five first responders — the acting D.C. fire chief, the department's medical director and three firefighters — will be among the first people in the District to get the coronavirus vaccine, as part of a targeted campaign to build confidence in the process, city officials announced Sunday. "But while city officials expect the first shipments of the vaccine to arrive in the District on Monday, the fire department personnel will not get their shots until later in the week. Kaiser Permanente, which will administer the doses, expects to receive its initial shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday and must finish training its staff on how to handle the vaccine and give the shots, said LaToya Foster, a spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D)." THANKS PUTIN! … NYT'S DAVID SANGER: "Russian Hackers Broke Into Federal Agencies, U.S. Officials Suspect": "The Trump administration acknowledged on Sunday that hackers acting on behalf of a foreign government — almost certainly a Russian intelligence agency, according to federal and private experts — broke into a range of key government networks, including in the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and had free access to their email systems. "Officials said a hunt was on to determine if other parts of the government had been affected by what looked to be one of the most sophisticated, and perhaps among the largest, attacks on federal systems in the past five years. Several said national security-related agencies were also targeted, though it was not clear whether the systems contained highly classified material. "The Trump administration said little in public about the hack, which suggested that while the government was worried about Russian intervention in the 2020 election, key agencies working for the administration -- and unrelated to the election -- were actually the subject of a sophisticated attack that they were unaware of until recent weeks." THE CORONAVIRUS CONTINUES TO RAGE … 16.2 MILLION Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus. … 299,177 Americans have died. -- HAPPENING TODAY: "COVID-19 vaccine shipments begin in historic U.S. effort," by AP's Martha Irvine and Morry Gash with a Portage, Mich., dateline: "The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the United States on Sunday, as the nation's pandemic deaths approached the horrifying new milestone of 300,000. "The rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ushers in the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history — one that health officials hope the American public will embrace, even as some have voiced initial skepticism or worry. Shots are expected to be given to health care workers and nursing home residents beginning Monday." -- "Trump Administration Plans a Rushed Effort to Encourage Americans to Be Vaccinated," by NYT's Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Michael Shear: "The Trump administration, scrambling to make up for lost time after a halting start, is rushing to roll out a $250 million public education campaign to encourage Americans to take the coronavirus vaccine, which will reach the first patients in the United States this week. "Federal officials acknowledge the effort will be a complicated one. It must compete with public doubt and mistrust of government programs amid deep political divisions created in part by a president who has spent much of the year belittling government scientists, promoting ineffective treatments and dismissing the seriousness of the pandemic — and is now rushing to claim credit for a vaccine that he has made a priority." NYT WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES … "Biden Cabinet rollouts hit bumps in the road," by Natasha Korecki and Megan Cassella: "President-elect Joe Biden's decision to nominate a recently retired military general as Defense secretary blindsided the lawmakers who will have to pass a waiver to allow for his confirmation. His choice of a former White House chief of staff as secretary of Veterans Affairs rankled war veterans who expected one of their own to lead the agency. Neera Tanden, Biden's pick for OMB director, hacked off allies of Bernie Sanders. "And the news that Biden would not be selecting the Latina governor of New Mexico to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — a step that came after she fell out of favor with the transition team for rejecting another position — prompted backlash from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which criticized Biden's allies for leaking the details. The bumpiness of some of the rollouts of Biden's Cabinet picks is a new phenomenon for a presidential campaign defined by its lack of leaks and drama." -- "Biden's Obama-era Cabinet picks frustrate liberals, civil rights leaders," by WaPo's Seung Min Kim and Annie Linskey in WIlmington, Del. | | | | A message from UnitedHealth Group:   UnitedHealth Group is committed to a future where every person has access to high-quality, affordable health care. | | | TRUMP'S MONDAY -- The president will have lunch with VP MIKE PENCE at 12:30 p.m. in the private dining room. He will sign an executive order on increasing economic and geographic mobility at 2:30 p.m. in the Oval Office. PENCE will also lead a governors' video teleconference on the Covid-19 response and recovery at 4 p.m. in the White House Situation Room. BIDEN will receive the President's Daily Brief. He will meet with transition advisers. In the evening, Biden will deliver remarks on the Electoral College and "the strength and resilience of our democracy" in Wilmington, Del. | | | | BIG SCOOPS IN TRANSITION PLAYBOOK: In the runup to Inauguration Day, president-elect Joe Biden's staffing decisions are sending clear-cut signals about his priorities. What do these signals foretell? Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, this scoop-filled newsletter is breaking big news and analyzing the appointments, people and emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming administration. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO DU JOUR: The first shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are unloaded and scanned at UPS Worldport in Louisville, Ky., on Sunday. | Michael Clevenger - Pool/Getty Images | ELENA SCHNEIDER: "Georgia runoffs become high-stakes GOP fundraising experiment": "Top Republicans are using the expensive Georgia Senate runoffs to sell their party on a deeper investment in digital fundraising, pointing to the surge in donations for next month's races in Georgia as an example of what GOP candidates could reap in 2022 and beyond — if they put the right infrastructure in place early. "National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Kevin McLaughlin urged Republican senators at their Nov. 10 weekly lunch to capitalize on the 'manna from heaven' opportunity in Georgia, where intense interest in the runoffs means senators can grow their own online fundraising programs by making appeals to donors to help Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, according to Republicans with direct knowledge of the meeting. "The effort is introducing some senators to online fundraising tactics that have been popular among Democrats for years but are not nearly as prevalent among Republicans. Thirty-one Republicans senators, including 17 who are up for reelection in 2022, are tapping into their donor lists in 'tandem' email efforts benefiting themselves and the Georgia candidates, raising nearly $10 million online, according to Republicans briefed on the program. "The NRSC is encouraging candidates to send asks for money up to three times a week, according to one Republican consultant — a familiar rate on high-metabolism Democratic email lists but one that is less widely used on the GOP side, which has been much slower to adapt to online fundraising." MORE FALLOUT FROM WEEKEND PROTESTS -- "Pro-Trump rally descends into chaos as Proud Boys roam D.C. looking to fight," by WaPo's Peter Hermann, Marissa Lang and Clarence Williams: "Nearly three dozen people were arrested during a night of unrest in downtown Washington that began Saturday with rallies supporting President Trump and descended into chaos and violence as a group with ties to white nationalism roamed the streets looking to fight. "One of those arrested was 29-year-old Phillip Johnson of the District, who was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with at least one of four stabbings that occurred. For most of the day, police largely kept opposing factions separated, at times frustrating the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist organization that supports Trump's attempts to reverse an election he lost. "Confrontations broke out after dark, when Proud Boys and their supporters ventured near Black Lives Matter Plaza and were prevented access by police, many using bicycles as mobile barricades." | | | | A message from UnitedHealth Group:   Learn about UnitedHealth Group's ideas to lower out-of-pocket health care costs for consumers. | | | HMM -- "In final years at Liberty, Falwell spent millions on pro-Trump causes," by Maggie Severns: "After shocking many in the evangelical movement by endorsing Donald Trump over other Republicans for the 2016 presidential nomination, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. pumped millions of the nonprofit religious institution's funds into Republican causes and efforts to promote the Trump administration, blurring the lines between education and politics. "The culmination of his efforts was the creation of a university-funded campus 'think tank' — which has produced no peer-reviewed academic work and bears little relation to study centers at other universities — that ran pro-Trump ads, hired Trump allies including former adviser Sebastian Gorka and current Trump attorney Jenna Ellis to serve as fellows and, in recent weeks, has aggressively promoted Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. "The think tank — called the Falkirk Center, a portmanteau of Falwell's name and that of GOP activist Charlie Kirk, who co-founded it — purchased campaign-season ads on Facebook, at least $50,000's worth of which were designated by the network as political ads, that promoted Trump and other Republican candidates by name." POLITICO THE FUTURE OF WORKING … NYT'S DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI in Oakland, Calif.: "Google Delays Return to Office and Eyes 'Flexible Work Week'": "With the pandemic still in full swing and the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine just starting to ship in the United States, Google has pushed back the planned return to the office by a few months, to September 2021. "But even as it extends the remote work period for most of its staff, Google is laying out a series of proposed changes that may substantially alter how its employees and people at other technology companies will work. In an email to the staff on Sunday night, Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google's parent company, Alphabet, said the company was testing the idea of a 'flexible workweek' once it is safe to return to the office. Under the pilot plan, employees would be expected to work at least three days a week in the office for 'collaboration days' while working from home the other days." MEDIAWATCH -- WAPO'S MICHAEL SCHERER and JOSH DAWSEY: "Trump expands his cable diet to Newsmax and OAN. They benefit, and so does he." -- NYT'S BEN SMITH media column: "Apple TV Was Making a Show About Gawker. Then Tim Cook Found Out." -- WSJ: "CNN Ratings Surge as Network Boss's Fate Is Uncertain," by Ben Mullin: "CNN averaged more total-day viewers than Fox News since Election Day through Dec. 8, a 35 day span, the first time it has won such a long stretch in that category in 19 years. CNN also bested the competition over that period among viewers ages 25 to 54, a demographic advertisers target on news channels. Fox News has retained the No. 1 spot in total prime-time ratings. "As CNN tries to maintain momentum, network parent WarnerMedia, a unit of AT&T Inc. is in talks with CNN President Jeff Zucker on whether to renew his contract, with those discussions expected to heat up in coming weeks, people close to the situation say. Mr. Zucker had signaled to associates internally that he wasn't sure whether he wanted to stay on, and would weigh his options after the election. "The contract negotiations are happening at the same time that CNN has become a target of takeover interest in the private-equity world. Recently, Mr. Zucker was made aware of investor interest in taking the network private, according to people familiar with the matter. One scenario floated was a management buyout that would see Mr. Zucker lead the network under new ownership, some of the people said. Mr. Zucker has indicated that would-be suitors should contact AT&T." -- Ashley Semler is now a producer in CNN's D.C. bureau. She previously was a senior producer for BBC in New York. | | | | NOT TRAVELING? NO PROBLEM KEEP UP WITH THE WORLD FROM HOME: Our Global Translations newsletter, presented by Bank of America, layers international news, trends and decisions with contextual analysis from the world's sharpest minds. When traveling is a challenge, we can bring information from around the world to you. For news, insight and a unique perspective that you cannot find anywhere else, SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com. TRANSITIONS -- Lane Lofton will be COS to Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.). He previously was COS to Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.). … Maia Hunt Estes is joining Invariant. She previously was COS to Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.). WEEKEND WEDDING -- Charlie Patterson, SVP at Squared Communications, and Emmy Masur, currently in her third year of residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, got married Saturday in their home in Nashville, Tenn. Their parents joined via Zoom, and three couples witnessed the ceremony in their backyard. WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Tiffany Waddell, senior adviser and director of federal relations for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and Alex Waddell welcomed Grant Patrick Waddell on Sunday morning. He came in at 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20.75 inches and joins big siblings Savannah Joy and Brady Alexander. Pic BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). What he's been reading: "'M Train,' Patti Smith's second memoir. Beautifully rendered portraits of times, places and people. Reading and rereading it has been a good reminder that even in this deeply weird and often painful time of separation there are moments of transcendence that we must not miss. 'Nothing can be truly replicated. Not a love, not a jewel, not a single line.'" Playbook Q&A BIRTHDAYS: James Comey is 6-0 … John Ullyot, deputy assistant to the president and senior director for strategic comms at the NSC … Rob Placek, a VP advance staffer (h/t Darron Moffatt) … Chuck Rocha … Raffi Williams, press secretary and senior comms adviser at the Federal Housing Finance Agency … Julia Griswold … CNN's Abigail Crutchfield … Ryan Boles … Business Insider's Zach Tracer … Aubrey Quinn … DoD's Sloane Speakman … Schuyler Ebersol … Elizabeth Wenk, a principal at Burness … Lindy Li … Cindy Chetti, SVP of government affairs at the National Multifamily Housing Council … Suzanne Wrasse … Mark Kornblau, EVP of comms at NBCU News Group … NBWA's Allison Schneider … Katie Johnson, director of advance and speechwriter at OPM, is 29 (h/t Anthony O'Boyle) … Morning Consult's Ellisa Brown (h/t Olivia Petersen) … Promontory's Elizabeth Vale and Stephanie Allen … Pierce Wiegard, counsel for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) (h/t wife Ariel) … … Kirsten Powers, CNN senior political analyst and USA Today columnist … Ted Frank is 52 … Kyra Jennings … Barry Karas is 75 (h/t Sam Tubman) … Joan Mower … Priorities USA alum Tom Egan is 3-0 (h/t Daniel van Hoogstraten) … Sylvester Giustino is 42 … R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. is 77 … Jose Castaneda, policy comms spokesperson at Google … David Vennett … Matt Beynon, senior comms strategist at BrabenderCox … Jude Barry of Catapult Strategies (h/t Jon Haber) … Kristin King, COS at the George W. Bush Institute … POLITICO's Jenna Ross and Hunter Strodel … Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is 83 … Ryan Hagen … John Paulson is 65 … Trey Ditto, CEO of Ditto PR … Christopher Marcisz … Emmanuel Chan … Arthur Browne … Jason Weingartner … Grace McKellip … Howard Welinsky is 71 … Norbert Funke … Seth Siegel is 67 … Robin Schatz … Kathryn Prael Dunkelman … Erin Daly Wilson … Karen Maginnis … Lynne White … Derrick Max is 54 … Quincy Hicks Crawford … Nicholas Patterson | | A message from UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group supports actionable, impactful policy solutions to make health care more affordable.
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