| | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | IS AN APOLOGY ENOUGH? — The drama surrounding Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT's (R-Colo.) Islamophobic comments about Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.) is about to heat up as lawmakers return from Thanksgiving recess this week. Sources tell us a faction of Democrats is expected to push leadership to strip Boebert of her committee assignments or censure her after she joked about Omar, who is Muslim, being safe to ride with in an elevator because she wasn't wearing a backpack. This is a messier situation for Democrats than their previous moves to punish Reps. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) in similar fashion. Unlike those two, Boebert issued a public apology and reached out to Omar's office to try to speak with her. House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY even tried to play peacemaker, calling House Majority Leader STENY HOYER personally this weekend and asking him to help facilitate a meeting between the two women. Some Democrats — particularly allies of Omar — don't see Boebert's apology as authentic. Omar's office would not say whether she will take Boebert up on her offer to meet. But other Democrats privately worry that if they punish a lawmaker who admits a mistake and tries to make amends, they'll be setting themselves up for similar treatment — or worse — under a future GOP majority. The situation highlights the slippery slope Democrats created when they removed MTG from her committees over comments she made before entering Congress. Where do Democrats draw the line? If Democrats don't lower the boom on Boebert, what message would it send to the Muslim community? But if they do, what message does that send to those who apologize for saying something wrong? Republicans have their own divide to navigate. Greene took to Twitter to tweak Boebert over her apology, writing that "the Jihad squad are undeserving" of one. The apparent split — the two were thought to be friendly before this — could complicate McCarthy's effort to calm the waters. Watch Boebert's rhetoric this week, too. We'll soon find out how sincere her apology was, particularly if she maintains her current posture amid Greene's criticism. Welcome back, Congress. Thanks for reading Playbook, where we're rested and ready for the chaotic December that awaits (more on this in a second …). Drop us a line if you have some juicy Hill gossip or scoopy news: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. | | A message from Wells Fargo: Small businesses make neighborhoods thrive. Wells Fargo's Open for Business Fund is providing nonprofits with roughly $420 million to support small businesses, and champion these mainstays of the community. In cities across America, we're helping businesses invest in resources and build equity, to propel them to a brighter and more secure future. Learn more at wellsfargo.com/impact. | | | THE DECEMBER PILEUP — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER hopes to pass the Build Back Better (BBB) out of the Senate by Christmas Day. But it's not going to be easy: With only two weeks left before the scheduled holiday recess, the Senate calendar is going to be a cluster, as senators juggle must-pass legislation with putting the finishing touches on BBB. Here's a look at the to-do list: 1) NDAA: Typically the National Defense Authorization Act can take a couple of weeks to clear the upper chamber. But Schumer is betting he can jam it through as soon as the middle of this week, according to his office. Republicans could try to delay that timeline by demanding votes on dozens of amendments: Just before the Thanksgiving break, a bipartisan agreement to limit amendments and save time fell through. 2) Government funding: Funding runs dry Friday, though no one expects a shutdown. With a new bipartisan appropriations agreement still a ways off, lawmakers will need to pass a stopgap. We're told Senate Democratic leaders are coalescing around a proposal to extend funding into late January or February, though some of their House counterparts were pushing for a shorter time frame. Republicans, meanwhile, had been eyeing March, so there are still negotiations to do here. 3) The debt ceiling: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN says the government must raise the debt ceiling by Dec. 15 to avoid a default. But Schumer and Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL remain at odds over how to do it. The pair met before Thanksgiving and seemed to strike an optimistic tone about reaching an accord. But the two still disagree over using reconciliation: McConnell insists Democrats should use the majority-vote tool, Schumer thinks Republicans need to provide votes. 4) BBB: Last but not least, Schumer still needs to work out a final BBB deal with Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.). Even after an agreement is struck, Republicans can try to drag out passage by forcing a dayslong vote-a-rama to amend the bill. Schumer is confident he can pull all of this off by Dec. 25, per his office. No matter what, the Senate can expect late nights, lots of weekend work and possibly canceled holiday plans. Read WaPo's Tony Romm's curtain raiser for more | | | |   | | | PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S MONDAY: — 10 a.m.: The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 10:45 a.m.: Biden and Harris will receive a briefing on the Omicron coronavirus variant. — 11:45 a.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the Omicron variant. — 2 p.m.: Biden will meet with CEOs of companies in a variety of sectors to discuss the holiday shopping season and the supply chain. — 3:45 p.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the supply chain. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 1 p.m. THE SENATE will meet at 3 p.m. to take up the National Defense Authorization Act, with potential cloture votes at 5:30 p.m. THE HOUSE is out. BIDEN'S WEEK AHEAD: — Tuesday: The president will deliver remarks and sign bills into law. Biden will also travel to Rosemount, Minn., to visit the Dakota County Technical College and deliver remarks. — Wednesday: Biden will deliver remarks for World AIDS Day, launch the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and kick off the Global Fund Replenishment process with HHS Secretary XAVIER BECERRA. Later, Biden will be joined by first lady JILL BIDEN, Harris and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF for a Hanukkah menorah lighting at the White House. — Thursday: Biden will visit the NIH and deliver remarks on the pandemic. Later, the first family and second family will attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting at the Ellipse. — Friday: Biden will deliver remarks on the November jobs report. | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we've got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don't miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Ducks float in the Reflecting Pool in the shadow of the Washington Monument at sunset Sunday. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images | THE WHITE HOUSE BIDEN HIS TIME — Some Democrats (including some inside the White House) want Biden to step up more forceful political attacks on Republicans for opposing his agenda, particularly now that the bipartisan infrastructure bill has been signed into law and the midterms loom. But "Biden observers and confidants aren't sure that the attack dog role suits him, or that he will commit to it," report Laura Barrón-López, Christopher Cadelago and Jonathan Lemire . Going negative doesn't come naturally to a man who ran on a platform of uniting the country — even though he privately considers the GOP "a threat to the nation's democracy itself." ALL POLITICS FAILURE TO LAUNCH — MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY officially declined to enter the Texas gubernatorial race Sunday in a video posted to his Twitter account. "As a simple kid born in the humble town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me I could one day be considered for political leadership. It's a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path I'm choosing not to take at this moment." The video CONGRESS PLAYING WITH FIRE — Schumer's China-targeted $250 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is set to move through the House soon after it was already passed by the Senate in June. "But Beijing isn't taking this lying down," Phelim Kine and Gavin Bade report . "Its officials have warned that reprisals are coming, should the bill become law, and experts caution that the effect could be severe on key U.S. economic sectors." RENEWING ELISE — Rep. ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.) reassured ultraconservatives by vowing to serve only one term as the House GOP's No. 3 when she booted Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) from the role — the idea being that she wanted to chair the Education and Labor Committee next. But current ranking member VIRGINIA FOXX (R-N.C.) is pushing for a term-limit waiver to keep her top spot on the panel, raising the prospect that Stefanik might remain in leadership, Olivia Beavers reports. Still, Foxx isn't guaranteed success in her effort. THE PANDEMIC OMICRON LATEST — Potentially good news , via Bloomberg: "The World Health Organization is urging caution after two South African health experts, including the doctor who first sounded the alarm about the omicron variant, indicated that symptoms linked to the coronavirus strain have been mild so far. The initial reported infections were among university students, WHO said, adding that younger patients tend to have milder symptoms. "'Understanding the level of severity of the omicron variant will take days to several weeks,' WHO said in a statement Sunday, adding that 'there is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with omicron are different from those from other variants.'" — Canada joined the list of countries with confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant, as health officials found two cases in Ottawa with both individuals having recently traveled from Nigeria, CNN's Martin Goillandeau and Ivana Kottasová report. "Apart from South Africa, the variant has been found in Botswana, Belgium, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong." — NYT's Apoorva Mandavilli examines the question on everyone's mind right now: Will the vaccines protect against the new variant? "The early findings are a mixed picture. The variant may be more transmissible and better able to evade the body's immune responses, both to vaccination and to natural infection, than prior versions of the virus, experts said in interviews. The vaccines may well continue to ward off severe illness and death, although booster doses may be needed to protect most people." | | | |   | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD BIDEN'S CHINA APPROACH — Biden is trying to jump-start a new stage in the U.S.' relationship with China. "For the first time, the United States is trying to nudge China's leadership into a conversation about its nuclear capability," NYT's David Sanger and William Broad report. "In Washington, the issue has taken on more urgency than officials are acknowledging publicly, according to officials who are involved. Mr. Biden's aides are driven by concern that a new arms race is heating up over hypersonic weapons, space arms and cyberweapons, all of which could unleash a costly and destabilizing spiral of move and countermove." FOR YOUR RADAR — "As negotiators gather in Vienna for talks aimed at reviving an international nuclear agreement with Iran, one big question looms: Has Tehran advanced its nuclear work so much in the past two years that the 2015 deal can no longer be rescued?" WSJ's Laurence Norman writes . "Restoring the pact, which placed limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, is a top foreign-policy goal of the Biden administration. Iran's new president, however, has delayed restarting talks while pressing ahead with nuclear work." JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH WHAT BANNON IS UP TO — The Department of Justice accused STEVE BANNON on Sunday night of "lodging 'frivolous' legal complaints in order to cause a public dust-up with prosecutors as he battles criminal charges for attempting to thwart the House's Jan. 6 select committee," Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. "Prosecutors pointed to Bannon's combative statements as evidence that he intends to create a public spectacle around his trial rather than defend himself on the merits." TRUMP CARDS 2024 WATCH — DONALD TRUMP world is already dreaming about whom he might pick as a running mate in the next presidential election — and "the former president doesn't feel bound by geographic or ideological considerations — or any standard political rules at all," reports Marc Caputo . The main criteria instead will be undying loyalty and a commitment to his grand lie about the 2020 election. Among the names mentioned in the very early veepstakes: Sens. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) and MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-Tenn.), Florida Lt. Gov. JEANETTE NUÑEZ, Iowa Gov. KIM REYNOLDS, MARK MEADOWS, RIC GRENELL and MIKE POMPEO. BOOK CLUB — Former Defense Secretary MARK ESPER is "accusing officials at the Pentagon of improperly blocking significant portions of an upcoming memoir" regarding his time in the Trump administration, NYT's Maggie Haberman reports . "The allegations by Mr. Esper, whom Mr. Trump fired shortly after losing his re-election bid last November, are laid out in a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. 'Significant text is being improperly withheld from publication in Secretary Esper's manuscript under the guise of classification,' the suit said." | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | As the first Jewish spouse of a president or VP, Doug Emhoff lit the first candle of the National Menorah on Sunday night. Jill Biden turned down a shot at a bar in Nantucket. IN MEMORIAM — Former Rep. Carrie Meek, "the first Black person to represent Florida in Congress since the post-Civil War Reconstruction and who advocated fiercely for South Florida's Black communities, Haitian immigrants and the working poor, died Sunday at her home in Miami after a long illness, the family said. She was 95," Miami Herald's Bianca Padró Ocasio writes. "The granddaughter of slaves, Meek served as Florida state representative, state senator and later became a congresswoman in 1992 at the age of 66. … She never lost a reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives before she retired in 2002." TRUMP ALUMNI — William Lane is now senior counsel at Article III Project. He was counsel to the assistant A.G. of the civil division in the Justice Department in the Trump administration, and is an attorney in D.C. practicing appellate and general commercial litigation. ENGAGED — Sam Parkinson, Western regional director at the Association of State Democratic Committees, and Tessa Dee, comms manager at the Democracy Alliance, got engaged Saturday in the Black Hills of their home state of South Dakota. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Sierra Robinson, director of federal government affairs at Citigroup, and Matt Robinson, a trial attorney at the Justice Department, welcomed Virginia Robinson on Nov. 12. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Emily Lenzner … U.S. Ambassador to Japan nominee Rahm Emanuel … L.A. Times' Mark Barabak … Ann Fishman … Erika Bartlett … Margaret Carlson … Hayley Dierker of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee … Maggie Delahoyde … Matt Hall … Tom Doheny … CNN's Pamela Brown … Ceara Flake … U.S. Global Leadership Coalition's Liz Schrayer … Janet Napolitano … Madeline Ryan of Goldman Sachs … Chris Frates of Storyline and SiriusXM … Liza Acevedo of DHS … Juri Jacoby … Sarah Venuto … Public Citizen's Robert Weissman … Graves Spindler of Bully Pulpit Interactive … Ryan Leavitt … Alexandra Ulmer … Cornerstone's Stacy Rich … Joe Sternlieb … Jessica Reed … Christina Lee … former Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) (7-0) … Bob Cardillo … Atlantic Council's Shalom Lipner … Sydelle Moore … Gregory Ferenstein … Trent Spiner Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross. | | A message from Wells Fargo: Small businesses are the heartbeat of every community; they make our neighborhoods vibrant places to live, work, and raise families – which is why Wells Fargo is working together with more than 3 million small businesses to help them thrive again.
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