| | | | | |  | | By Renuka Rayasam | Presented by |  | | SCOTUS EXES TEXAS — The Supreme Court summarily refused the case Texas filed Monday against four swing states whose voters favored Biden, dashing President Donald Trump's last-ditch hope that the justices effectively hand him a second term. PRESSURE TREATMENT — Trump called the FDA a "big, old, slow turtle" today and said it should "Stop playing games." His chief of staff Mark Meadows threatened to fire FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn if the agency doesn't greenlight the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine today. This political pressure is playing into the hands of vaccine skeptics, who argue that the process has been rushed. Never mind that the agency — and drugmakers — have been doing their due diligence and that Pfizer's vaccine wouldn't have made it this far without the appropriate safety data. "There is a feeling that the process has been politicized," said Rupali Limaye, a vaccine expert at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "People might feel like it might be rushed through." Politics has backfired on good science before. In 2007, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry passed an executive order to mandate a newly approved HPV vaccine for all adolescent girls. But Perry's coziness with pharmaceutical lobbyists aided the cause of vaccine opponents and created a powerful anti-vaccine movement in the state. Texas state lawmakers eventually overturned Perry's HPV mandate and have been reluctant to tighten vaccine requirements ever since. And now Texas has the among the highest rates of cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV, in the country. Vaccine skeptics have been gearing up to oppose Covid vaccine mandates, a movement that will complicate efforts to get to the vaccine rates needed to achieve herd immunity, about 70 percent to 85 percent of the population. Even before the pandemic, groups like Texans for Vaccine Choice sowed mistrust about safe, longstanding vaccines. The World Health Organization said measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 due to successful vaccine efforts. But last year the country recorded more than 1,200 measles cases, the most since 1992, according to the CDC. Right now nearly 60 percent of Americans say they would get the shot, according to a November Gallup poll. The rushed timeline was the main reason that people didn't want to get the vaccine. Only 48 percent of nonwhite adults said they would be vaccinated. That means doctors and state health workers will eventually need to sway millions of skeptical Americans about the benefits of Covid vaccinations. "There's a lot of disinformation and anxiety and distress. You don't want to show up with a vaccine and an education campaign at the same time. That's too late," California state Sen. Richard Pan said. There's one big difference between Covid and illnesses like polio and measles, Limaye said. Because Covid has been so widespread in the country, everyone knows someone who has gotten the virus or even died from it. The threat feels more real than a disease that has been mostly eradicated. "That sort of shifts the risk perception," she said. Mackenzie Mays contributed to this report. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Happy birthday to my lovely mama and Taylor Swift, who share a birthday this Sunday and a free spirit. Reach out at rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @renurayasam.
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Medical staff members dance to a Christmas song at a nursing station in the Covid-19 ICU at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston. | Getty Images | | | | 'WE'RE ALREADY TOO LATE' — U.S. lawmakers are struggling to hammer out another economic relief package before Congress adjourns next week. But for millions of Americans, the deadline may have already passed, Rebecca Rainey and Eleanor Mueller report. Even if Congress reaches a deal, some 12 million unemployed people could see their benefits lapse after Christmas. Worker advocates say it could take weeks for the jobless aid programs to get back on line as lags in programming for outdated state systems cause delays in relief checks. "We're already too late," said Michele Evermore, an unemployment insurance expert at the National Employment Law Project. From the time Congress passes an extension of unemployment aid, she said, many states wouldn't be up and running for "three weeks or four weeks" at the earliest. That would not only fuel the desperation of unemployed households, but could also cut into consumer spending, jeopardizing the economic recovery just as the Biden administration gets underway.
| | | | LISTEN TO THE NEW SEASON OF GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS PODCAST: Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded over the past year amid a global pandemic. This podcast helps to identify and understand the impediments to smart policymaking. Subscribe for Season Two, available now. | | | | | | | | BUYING IN BULK — The U.S. will buy 100 million additional shots of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine — doubling its initial order of the vaccine, which the FDA is expected to authorize later this month, health care reporter Sarah Owermohle writes. The expanded order would ensure continuous vaccine delivery through the end of June 2021, at a total cost of $3.2 billion, the Trump administration said. Moderna's vaccine, which is based on messenger RNA technology and about 95 percent effective in trials, will be discussed by an expert FDA panel on Thursday. Emergency authorization could come within days, potentially making the shot the second vaccine cleared for use in the U.S. The FDA is expected to authorize the first, from Pfizer, as early as this evening. Operation Warp Speed, the government initiative to accelerate coronavirus vaccine development and delivery, has already said that between the two options there will be 20 million doses available in December. The government's original $1.5 billion purchasing agreement with Moderna secured 100 million shots, with the option to buy 400 million more. While the Trump administration isn't ordering the maximum amount, the expanded agreement brings U.S. funding for Moderna up to about $4.1 billion, a figure that includes some money for development of the shot.
| | | SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN — The Senate cleared a one-week government funding bill today by voice vote, forestalling the threat of a government shutdown at midnight and capping off hours of drama after several senators threatened to hold up the resolution. The last-minute agreement to fast-track the short-term funding fix came after a handful of senators dropped efforts to tack on other provisions. The measure, which passed the House on Wednesday, was signed by Trump tonight. It buys congressional negotiators a little more time to finish up talks on a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package that would boost federal agency budgets for the rest of the fiscal year, in addition to billions of dollars in pandemic aid that millions of Americans will lose over the holidays. Earlier today, Sen. Rand Paul dropped his opposition to the stopgap spending bill and annual defense policy legislation. The Kentucky Republican threatened Thursday to oppose passage of the defense bill over a provision that would hamstring Trump's ability to reduce American troop levels in Afghanistan. "I think it's a pretty important principle to discuss," Paul said of the defense policy package. "So we did hold things up for a day on that but we're not going to on the [stopgap spending bill]." Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and James Lankford of Oklahoma, who were among a group of conservatives pushing for votes on anti-shutdown legislation, also signaled earlier today that they wouldn't hold up the one-week continuing resolution over the issue. "It doesn't make sense to shut down the government" over legislation aimed at preventing government shutdowns, Johnson said.
| | | |   | | | | | | OUTKAST — Georgia's Carolyn Bourdeaux was the only Democrat to flip an existing House seat this year, in a rapidly growing suburb northeast of Atlanta. The state's 7th district, which will be represented by a Democrat for the first time in a quarter of a century, helped lift Joe Biden to victory in the state on Nov. 3. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock will also need to carry it, if they hope to win Georgia's Senate runoffs on Jan. 5. There's little public polling in the Georgia Senate races because runoff turnout is notoriously unpredictable — the shortage of predictions might also spare pollsters the embarrassment of getting things wrong for the second time in two months. Bourdeaux, who had directed the state Senate Budget and Evaluation Office and is a public policy professor at Georgia State, relied on a formula that has worked for Southern Democrats in areas like the suburbs of Houston and Dallas: a moderate message and an appeal to the district's newcomers. About a fifth of the district's potential voters are immigrants, according to APM Research Lab, a nonpartisan research group connected to American Public Media. Renu reached out to Bourdeaux to talk about whether there are lessons for Ossoff and Warnock in her win. This conversation has been edited. What was your strategy to winning this district? When I ran in 2018, it was a sleeper race. The incumbent had never gotten below 60 percent of the vote, and I came within 433 votes of flipping the seat. We were knocking doors of people who never had their doors knocked before. I went to the Hindu temple in Lilburn. I went to mosques. I went to churches from very different backgrounds: Black churches, Korean churches, Vietnamese churches, Hispanic churches. My messaging was I am someone who is a problem solver. I helped the state balance the budget during the Great Recession and brought both parties together to do that. You have said that the Democratic Party needs to engage the Trump voter. Do you think Ossoff and Warnock need to do that to win the runoff? It's a different electorate. You will not have the same level of turnout in a runoff that you have in a general election. And so it is about turning out your supporters in these races. What we really want to do is go back to our supporters and reach out to them again and turn them out again. So it's not necessarily about winning over a new voter. It's about getting them back out to vote. You tout working with Republicans, but in Congress you will face pressure from progressives in the Democratic Party who maybe have different tactics in mind. How will you deal with that? I'm gonna join the New Democrats caucus. I am interested in the Problem Solvers caucus and other groups that are committed to bipartisan problem solving. I worked in Washington back in the '90s, and every single piece of legislation that I worked on had a Republican cosponsor. We are now in new member orientation. We're there together, Republicans and Democrats, and there are some people who are maybe not interested in coming to the middle. But the vast majority of people sitting there are absolutely there because they want to solve problems for their community. There is a lot of interest in that on both sides.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Welcome to Bidenology, Nightly's look at the president-elect and what to expect in his administration. Tonight, Sabrina Rodriguez looks at Biden's relationship with Latinos: Biden won the majority of Latino voters in last month's election. But Trump's inroads with Latinos nationwide (not just Cuban Americans in Miami) are a reminder that Democrats are going to have to up their game if they want to keep winning a majority of the Latino electorate. The good news for Biden: He's entering office with a lot of optimism and good will from Latino lawmakers and Latino advocacy groups, like UnidosUS. That's partly because of the obvious: He's not Trump. "I am optimistic and of course very, very pleased the Trump reign is ending. Now, having said that, the Biden-Harris administration will have to undo a lot of the lasting damage caused by Trump's immigration policies," said Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), a progressive Democrat who endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was extremely popular with Latino voters, in the primaries. Like Garcia, a number of Congressional Hispanic Caucus members, Latino Hill staffers and advocacy groups are holding out hope for a Biden presidency that is good for Latinos — on everything from health care to immigration to education. They've already seen some promising news with Biden naming Latinos like Alejandro Mayorkas to lead DHS and Xavier Becerra to lead HHS. But they're also clear that the good will will be short-lived if Biden doesn't prove quickly he's going to follow through on promises, namely on immigration. Immigrant advocacy groups have already said they expect the president-elect to not only undo Trump's immigration policies, but also to make up for former President Barack Obama's failures on the issue. The Obama administration expanded detention of immigrant families and failed to convince Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. In some circles, Obama is still regarded as the "deporter in chief" — a title that Biden allies hope won't be transferred over to him. And be sure to catch Sabrina and her Cuban family — abuela Diana, aunt Gloria and mom Martha — talk about their 2020 votes, and how Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade County helped Trump defeat Biden in Florida, in the latest Nerdcast.
| | | | Nightly asked you: Of all the people who died in 2020, who will you miss the most and how will you remember them? Below are some of your lightly edited responses. "John Lewis, because he was such an important and meaningful voice for civic unity. Yes, it seems odd to think of him as a voice for unity, with his much-missed exhortations to 'make good trouble,' but that seems, to me at least, the only way we have ever achieved needed social change in this country — not with violence, but without. I will remember him by making 'good trouble' as best I can." — Joe Henderson, retired, Wichita, Kan. "Singer/songwriter/storyteller John Prine. I remember him daily by listening to his 50 years of recorded output. As someone once said of John: He writes the saddest funny songs, and the funniest sad songs." — Karl Schmidtmann, writer, Mazatlán, Mexico "I lost my dad and dearest of friends, Sonny Knight. Like most who have lost a parent, the ways in which I remember my dad are countless. Memories honoring him with their presence each day and dreams assuring me of his well-being at night. How will I remember my dad? In each and every way that I can, for as long as I am able to do so." — Laurie Knight, government affairs, Washington "We have lost so many beloved friends and family this year it is surreal. But the person that we will most miss is Alex Trebek. He is our go-to every evening together to relax and at the same time challenge our minds and memories. We shed tears for his loss, pancreatic cancer families and his zillions of followers." — Rosalee Rockafellow, retired, Sunset Beach, N.C. "I lost my grandmother in October to Covid. She wasn't a notable community leader or famous person. Her quiet legacy is simply love for others. She was patient and kind. She felt like comfort and warmth. And I will miss her endlessly. But now every time I get sad over losing her, I hear her voice in my head singing the same song she sang to me when I would be upset as a little girl. It reminds me to focus on the kind of legacy I want to leave one day. That we all should hope to leave." — Lauren Simpson, city councilwoman, Arvada, Colo. "Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her absence has changed the future of our country, especially for women. I'll remember her wearing her dissent collar, and doing her planks with her personal trainer, Bryant Johnson. So will my two daughters and my son." — Christine Langhoff, retired, Boston "The health care workers. As a pharmacy student, I am heartbroken that the frontline heroes during this pandemic have been treated so poorly by the government and are still working in unsafe conditions without proper PPE and enough resources. They are heroes who deserve better from us." — Nicholas Cotoia, student, Portland, Me.
| | | | | 130 The number of years since the last federal execution during a presidential lame-duck period before Thursday, when the Trump administration carried out its ninth of the year , putting to death a Texas street-gang member for his role in the slayings of a religious couple from Iowa more than two decades ago. Four more federal executions, including one today, are planned in the weeks before Biden's inauguration. | | | | | A FEW LAUGHS, A FEW GROANS — A masked-up and begoggled Matt Wuerker is back with the Punchlines Weekend Wrap covering the latest in political cartoons and satire, including continued challenges to the presidential election, Covid's ongoing surge and another callout for his Uncle Sam makeover project.
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| | | | SPOTTED — A snow leopard at a Kentucky zoo is the first in the U.S. to test positive for the coronavirus, federal officials announced today. Two other snow leopards at the Louisville Zoo are undergoing testing to confirm the virus, the Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratories said in a statement. Officials took samples from the three large cats after they showed signs of respiratory illness, the statement said. All three showed mild symptoms and are being monitored closely, but are expected to make full recoveries, the Louisville Zoo said in a statement. No other animals were showing symptoms, the zoo said. The cats were likely infected by an asymptomatic staff member, despite precautions that included caretakers wearing personal protective equipment, officials said. The zoo said the risk of infected animals spreading the virus to humans is considered to be low and the zoo remains open, though the snow leopard exhibit is closed while the cats recover.
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