| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman | Presented by |  | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BIG BOOK NEWS … WAPO'S PHIL RUCKER and CAROL LEONNIG will follow up their No. 1 NYT bestseller "A Very Stable Genius" with a book about President DONALD TRUMP'S final year in office. Penguin is the publisher. -- PENGUIN'S DESCRIPTION: "The authors will take readers behind the scenes of the 45th president's impeachment on charges of abuse of power; his failure to take seriously and contain the COVID-19 virus, even as it ravaged the American people and economy; his deployment of federal officers to shut down the Black Lives Matter protests and to campaign for re-election as the law-and-order president; and Trump's attempts to discredit not only the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden's victory, but our democracy itself." THIS IS A REALLY, REALLY BIG WEEK. Government funding expires Friday, and Congress is still trying to figure out its plan on Covid relief. Read BURGESS EVERETT on the politics of this week. -- WE HEAR that Congress is likely to pass a one-week stopgap spending bill to buy another seven days for talks on government funding -- that would make the shutdown deadline Dec. 18. Whether Congress eventually settles on a 12-bill omnibus or a three-month stopgap is still not clear. At this point, it seems like a three-month CR or something of that nature is becoming more likely. This would create a natural deadline in March for funding/another Covid relief bill. There seems to be a lot of disagreement about an omni at this point -- but no one is ruling anything out. -- COVID RELIEF: The bipartisan group is still talking. They are hung up on liability overhaul -- a sticky part of any Covid relief deal. They do appear to have figured out the state and local piece -- they will tie it to population, based on revenue loss and expenditures with a cap. Their total is $160 billion, which includes tribes. BUT WILL IT MATTER? Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL and Speaker NANCY PELOSI will be the final decision makers. The bipartisan group may just be developing options that the leaders might use, or ignore all together. THERE'S A NEW URGENCY to include direct payments -- those checks to individuals that went out earlier this year. We mentioned this last week, but heard more about it Sunday night from people involved in the talks. And yes, Republicans are chatting this up too -- it seems like TRUMP would be supportive. But, again, all eyes on MCCONNELL. WaPo's Tony Romm on how unemployment, sick leave and housing aid are set to expire in weeks Good Monday morning. NYT SCOOP … SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MIKE SHEAR: "Biden Picks Xavier Becerra to Lead Health and Human Services": "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has selected Xavier Becerra, the Democratic attorney general of California, as his nominee for secretary of health and human services, tapping a former congressman who would be the first Latino to run the department as it battles the surging coronavirus pandemic. "Mr. Becerra became Mr. Biden's clear choice only over the past few days, according to people familiar with the transition's deliberations, and was a surprise. Mr. Becerra has carved out a profile on the issues of criminal justice and immigration, and he was long thought to be a candidate for attorney general. "But as attorney general in California, he has been at the forefront of legal efforts on health care, leading 20 states and the District of Columbia in a campaign to protect the Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by his Republican counterparts. He has also been vocal in the Democratic Party about fighting for women's health." L.A. TIMES' NOAM LEVEY and SARAH WIRE: "Becerra, a rising star in California politics, has become one of the most important defenders of the Affordable Care Act, leading the fight to preserve the landmark law against efforts by the Trump administration and conservative states to convince federal courts to repeal it. Becerra also has carved out an increasingly important role confronting healthcare costs, using his position to challenge pricing practices of Sutter Health, one of California's most powerful medical systems." -- DRAG OUT the supercommittee files! BECERRA was quite firmly against cuts. … BECERRA'S WIFE is a physician. Carolina Reyes -- a graduate of Harvard Medical School -- is on the board of the California Health Care Foundation. FLASHBACK … JON ALLEN on Nov. 17, 2009: "California Democrat Xavier Becerra has learned a lesson about calling out Nancy Pelosi. Don't. In the run-up to this month's House vote on health care reform, Becerra suggested to the Congressional Progressive Caucus that party leaders gave up too easily on the favored 'robust' public option. "That didn't sit well with the speaker, and witnesses said she made her displeasure known to Becerra and other top Democrats at a subsequent leadership meeting. 'I understand I have tire tracks on my back because Xavier threw me under the bus,' witnesses quoted Pelosi as saying. The speaker went on to accuse Becerra of trying to improve his 'street cred' with progressives by undercutting her." GET THIS: Now California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM will have at least two appointments: VP-elect KAMALA HARRIS' Senate seat, and attorney general. If Newsom picks California Secretary of State ALEX PADILLA for the Harris seat, that would mean he would have the chance to pick three high-profile slots. Just remember, to all those appoint-KATIE-PORTER-to-everything people: Her seat is an R+3, and Republicans could easily win it back in a special election. And, with PELOSI boasting a really tight majority, that's a suboptimal outcome for Democrats. Jeremy White and Carla Marinucci with the full picture … The health team announcement from the transition | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies have committed more than $5.5 billion to help the nation address the COVID-19 outbreak, by providing premium relief, eliminating patient treatment costs, and enhancing access to telehealth. Learn more. | | | TYLER PAGER SCOOP: "To rebuild CDC, Biden picks Rochelle Walensky": "President-elect Joe Biden has selected Rochelle Walensky, the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. "Walensky, who is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert on AIDS and HIV, will be tasked with rebuilding a critical health agency that has been sidelined by the Trump administration amid a pandemic. "Walensky will replace Robert Redfield, who assumed the role of director in March 2018, and take a top role in helping the Biden administration curtail the coronavirus pandemic. Biden is planning to announce Walensky along with a slate of top health officials this week, including Xavier Becerra as secretary of Health and Human Services, Jeff Zients as the Covid-19 coordinator and Vivek Murthy as surgeon general. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor at Yale who is an expert on health care inequality, will have a senior role focused on health disparities." -- "'It's an unusual setup': Kerry's climate job scrambles Biden's org chart," by Natasha Bertrand and Nahal Toosi BIG GEORGIA DEBATE LAST NIGHT … ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: "Loeffler, Warnock face off in heated debate," by Patricia Murphy: "U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and the Rev. Raphael Warnock faced off in their first, and possibly only, one-on-one debate Sunday night at the Atlanta Press Club, trading barbed attacks in their fight for the right to represent Georgia in the Senate for the next two years. "Over the course of the hourlong debate, Loeffler referred more than a dozen times to the pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church as 'radical, liberal Raphael Warnock,' and she warned that U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Washington Democrats want to use the Georgia Senate seat to ram liberal policies through Congress. 'The Democrats want to fundamentally change America,' the Republican said. 'And the agent of change is my opponent, radical liberal Raphael Warnock.'" -- "Loeffler doesn't acknowledge Trump's defeat in only Georgia runoff debate," by James Arkin -- NYT'S ASTEAD HERNDON in Decatur, Ga., on A1: "The Suburbs Helped Elect Biden. Can They Give Democrats the Senate, Too?": "President Trump bet his re-election on a very specific vision of the American suburb: a 2020 edition of Mayfield from 'Leave It to Beaver' in which residents are white, resent minorities, and prioritize their economic well-being over all other concerns. "The bet fell far short. Mr. Trump lost ground with suburban voters across the country. And particularly in Georgia, where rapidly changing demographics have made it the most racially diverse political battleground in the country, his pitch has been at odds with reality. … "The result is a swing state where the 'typical' suburban voter can take many forms. There's Kim Hall, a 56-year-old woman who moved to suburban Cobb County eight years ago from Texas and attended a rally for Mr. Ossoff in Kennesaw. And Ali Hossain, a 63-year-old doctor who brags about his kids and cares about the economy; he attended an event for Mr. Ossoff in Decatur. He's also an immigrant from Bangladesh who has begun organizing for state and national candidates." HAS BILL BARR HAD ENOUGH? … NYT'S KATIE BENNER, MIKE SCHMIDT and PETER BAKER: "Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump's Term Ends": "Attorney General William P. Barr is considering stepping down before President Trump's term ends next month, according to three people familiar with this thinking. One said Mr. Barr could announce his departure before the end of the year. "It was not clear whether the attorney general's deliberations were influenced by Mr. Trump's refusal to concede his election loss or his fury over Mr. Barr's acknowledgment last week that the Justice Department uncovered no widespread voting fraud. In the ensuing days, the president refused to say whether he still had confidence in his attorney general. "One of the people insisted that Mr. Barr had been weighing his departure since before last week and that Mr. Trump had not affected the attorney general's thinking. Another said Mr. Barr had concluded that he had completed the work that he set out to accomplish at the Justice Department." WSJ ON POMPEO'S FUTURE … "Pompeo to Head Home to Kansas With Plenty of Alternatives," by William Mauldin, Lindsay Wise and Courtney McBride: "In an interview at his State Department office, Mr. Pompeo said he and his wife, Susan, aim to return at some point to Kansas to be with friends, family and their church community. As a congressman, he represented the state's Fourth District for six years. … [L]ongtime supporters see Mr. Pompeo leveraging his national and international stature for a future run for governor, U.S. senator or, one day, president or vice president. … "Kansas Republican National Committeeman Mark Kahrs sees Mr. Pompeo as a possible challenger to Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in two years. While Mr. Kahrs said he still hopes President Trump will serve a second consecutive term, he believes Mr. Pompeo has a strong claim as Mr. Trump's successor someday. "Mr. Pompeo dismisses all the talk of the political future. 'I haven't even given what happens on January 21 enough thought to comment,' Mr. Pompeo said, referring to the day after the inauguration. 'I haven't given half a second's thought to the political races in the state of Kansas.' … "Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) praised Mr. Pompeo in an interview for 'cutting against the grain' at the State Department. Another former Republican House speaker, John Boehner of Ohio, who tapped Mr. Pompeo to serve on the House Intelligence Committee when he was a congressman, said: 'Whatever he'd do, I'd be supportive.'" -- YES, the RYAN and BOEHNER quotes caught our attention too. | | | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association:   Taking action to fight the pandemic. See how we're meeting the challenge. | | | TRUMP'S LEGACY -- "As Trump rants over election, his administration accelerates push to lock in policy and staffing gains," by WaPo's David Nakamura, Juliet Eilperin and Lisa Rein: "President Trump last week recorded a 46-minute video rant regurgitating a litany of baseless accusations of election fraud. He awarded former college football coach Lou Holtz, a close political ally, the Medal of Freedom in an Oval Office ceremony. He threatened to veto a defense budget bill if it fails to include measures to punish social media companies that have flagged his falsehood-laden posts. "Yet even as Trump has been consumed with his waning political fortunes in a desperate attempt to retain power, his administration has accelerated efforts to lock in last-minute policy gains and staffing assignments that it hopes will help cement the president's legacy and live on past Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. "Last week, for example, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adopted a longer and more difficult citizenship test that critics said could further curb legal immigration. The Pentagon named 11 new members, including a pair of prominent former Trump campaign aides, to a Defense Department business advisory board. And the president signed an executive order drafted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy aimed at protecting civil liberties in the use of artificial intelligence by the federal government." WaPo THE PRESIDENT'S WEEK AHEAD (usually comes in Sunday morning's Playbook, but alas): MONDAY: TRUMP will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dan Gable and will have lunch with VP MIKE PENCE. TUESDAY: TRUMP will speak at an Operation Warp Speed vaccine summit. THURSDAY: The president will eat lunch with states' attorneys general and will attend the Congressional Ball. THE JUICE … NATE HODSON -- a longtime aide to Rep. CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS (R-Wash.) -- will be the GOP staff director on Energy and Commerce. CMR is the new ranking member. BIDEN and HARRIS will receive the presidential daily briefing. They will also meet with transition advisers. | | | | TRACK THE TRANSITION & NEW ADMINISTRATION HEADING INTO 2021: President-elect Biden is pushing full steam ahead on putting together his Cabinet and White House staff. These appointments and staffing decisions send clear-cut signals about Biden's 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, 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO DU JOUR: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday, Dec. 6. | John Raoux/AP Photo | IN MEMORIAM -- WAPO: "Paul Sarbanes, senator from Maryland who led overhaul of corporate accounting rules, dies at 87," by Bart Barnes: "Paul S. Sarbanes, who as a young Maryland congressman drafted and introduced the first article of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon and as a five-term U.S. senator tightened the regulation of corporate accounting practices after corruption scandals at Enron and other businesses, died Dec. 6 in Baltimore. … "Unlike many of his contemporary officeholders, Mr. Sarbanes was uncomfortable with the backslapping, glad-handing and grandstanding that often go with public office. … Sometimes described as a 'phantom senator,' he often shunned even perfunctory self-promotion tactics such as issuing news releases and holding news conferences. He was widely recognized for a superb intellect and a quick and nimble mind … What he lacked in charisma, however, he made up for in tenacity." KNOWING CHRIS COONS -- "Biden's ambassador to the GOP," by Burgess Everett: "Chris Coons was in the final two when it came to Joe Biden's search for a secretary of State. But the president-elect had a simple message when he broke the news that the job would instead go to Tony Blinken. "'I need you in the Senate,' Biden told his Delaware ally during a long conversation on Nov. 16. The next president is telling that to lots of Democrats these days as he tries to staff his Cabinet. But in the Biden era, Coons may actually be the most critical individual Democrat on Capitol Hill — Biden truly needs his help to have any chance at accomplishment in a narrowly divided Congress. … "Despite Biden's love for the Senate and for cutting deals, the reality is that more than half the Republicans he last served with are gone — and their replacements often are not exactly looking for compromise. It hasn't always been straightforward for Coons to maintain GOP relationships during the Trump era either. Coons' wife, Annie, often has this reaction when he recounts a recent discussion with, say, Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): 'Oh, my God.' "'She says, "How can you possibly? After this, after that, after this?" And I say, "Honey, it's my job, it's my job." And she said: "You seem to actually like them,"' Coons said in a nearly hourlong interview. He refers to his Senate colleagues as 'my family.'" | | | |   | | | ON TECH -- "How Joe Biden's Digital Team Tamed the MAGA Internet," by NYT's Kevin Roose BUSINESS BURST -- "Airbnb Boosts IPO Price Range to Between $56 and $60 a Share," by WSJ's Maureen Farrell: "Airbnb Inc. plans to boost the proposed price range of its initial public offering, the latest sign that the red-hot IPO market is ending the year on a high note. Airbnb is boosting the range to between $56 and $60 a share, from $44 to $50, people familiar with the matter said. The new range would give the home-rental company a valuation of as much as $42 billion on a fully diluted basis and including proceeds from the offering. "DoorDash Inc., the food-delivery company that is expected to debut Wednesday, the day before Airbnb, plans to price its shares at the high end of or above its range of $90 to $95 a share—already raised from between $75 and $85, people familiar with the offering said. That would give the San Francisco company, the largest among its peers, a valuation of as much as $36 billion or more, on a fully diluted basis and including proceeds from the offering." | | | | THIS WEEK - DON'T MISS #MIHealthSummit: POLITICO will feature a special edition Future Pulse newsletter at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit this week. Go inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators determined to confront and conquer the most transformative health challenges. The pandemic exposed weaknesses across our health systems, particularly in treating our most vulnerable communities. This year's conference focuses on the converging crises of public health, economic insecurity, and social justice. Sign up today for exclusive coverage from December 7–9. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com. SPOTTED: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) at Levain in Georgetown on Sunday. SPOTTED at JDRF's virtual 20th anniversary Hope Gala on Saturday, celebrating 50 years since JDRF's founding: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Sarah Bloom Raskin, Emily Spitzer, Peter Scher and Kim Tilley, Mimi Schwartz, Patrick Steel and Lee Satterfield, Liz Legg, Caroline Springer, Eric and Cheryl Einhorn, Jonathan Spalter and Carrie Goux, Michelle Whitaker, Leon Harris, David Bartlett, Susan Traver, Patrick Halley, Larry Soler and Doug Lowenstein. TRANSITIONS -- Joe Picozzi is starting as chief of staff at the Manhattan Institute. He previously was confidential assistant to the chief counsel at the RNC. … Sean O'Brien will be executive director of the Congressional Western Caucus. He most recently has been deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.). ENGAGED -- Ben Voelkel, comms director for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), proposed to Erin Collins, comms director for Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), on Saturday in Lincoln Park. They celebrated with friends at a small soiree complete with their dog, Bodie. The couple met at brunch with friends. Pic -- Campbell Matthews, head of public affairs, East for DoorDash, and Drew Millum, lead for Lyft's Operations Center, got engaged Saturday. He proposed while they were visiting the house they're moving into in January. They met a few years ago while working together at Lyft. Pic WEDDING -- Abbey Brandon Richards, manager of applications and analytics at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Alec Richards, asset manager at TruAmerica, got married in Las Vegas on Nov. 20. They met as Craigslist roommates while living in a Glover Park rowhouse in 2015. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Brett Layson, director of government affairs at the Home Depot, and Jordan Layson, director of government affairs at Amgen, welcomed Palmer Layson on Wednesday. BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Priya Dayananda, managing director of federal government affairs at KPMG. How she's celebrating: "I will be eating Indian fried fish and dal while celebrating my 50th birthday in State College, Pa., at the house I grew up in with my mom, whose birthday is Dec. 1, and my sister, whose birthday is Dec. 5, and my nieces, spouse and our 5-year-old. Ever since I lost my dad, I try to go back home to stay close to where I feel his energy and be around all his books -- he was a professor of English literature." Playbook Q&A BIRTHDAYS: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is 68 … Mike Roman … Bonnie Glick, senior adviser at CSIS … Suhail Khan … Roma Daravi, special assistant to the president and deputy director of strategic comms … Ben Fallon … Kate Tummarello, policy director at Engine … Jeannie Lough … Bennett Roth of Bloomberg Government … Kenny Fried … Molly Block, deputy associate EPA administrator … CNN's Sarah Mucha and Ashley Killough … Doug Henwood … Dafna Tapiero … Anne MacMillan … Sam Runyon … Noam Chomsky is 92 … Tyler Prell … Kathryn McQuade … International Trade Administration's Sam Schofield … Ericka Reyes … … Kyle Noyes … NYT's Dean Chang … Mary Heitman … Sarah O'Brien, VP of executive comms at Facebook (h/t Kevin Lewis) … Christina Freundlich … POLITICO's Sam Sutton and Devika Modak … Ruthanne Buck … Sachin Chheda … Antha Williams … Jeff Blum (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Carole Simpson is 79 … Larisa Alexandrovna Horton … Michael Punke … Adam Culbertson … Cristina Beato … Patrick Lee Plaisance … Emily Hamilton O'Brien … Allie Ciaramella … Sarindee Wickramasuriya … Illinois state Sen. Dan McConchie … Maria Fuentes … Jenny Kordick … Raj Peter Bhakta … Tim Andrews … Karla Gonzalez … Mike Meece … Alice Parker … Kim Bradford | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: 90% of Americans have coverage through their jobs, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. See how we can build on what we have to cover everyone and lower costs. | | | | | | | 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 political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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