| | | | |  | | By Hailey Fuchs | | Presented by |  | | | With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team
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Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), previously a huge critic of Meta, indicated he’s turned over a new leaf with the company. | Win McNamee/Getty Images | JUST IN: President-elect Donald Trump is in the building and about to meet with Senate Republicans on reconciliation. Read our Inside Congress blog for updates. META FRIENDS THE GOP Big Tech is working overtime to mend its relationship with Republicans as the party takes full control of Washington. It looks like it’s paying off. In a brief interview, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), previously a huge critic of Meta, indicated he’s turned over a new leaf with the company. Meta announced Tuesday it would end its third-party fact-checking, among other changes that would move the company in line with Elon Musk’s X. Joel Kaplan, a Bush administration alumnus who just recently started leading the company’s global affairs operation, announced the moves on Fox & Friends. He personally gave Jordan a heads-up the day before, during what the Ohio Republican called a “great call.” Jordan said he hopes his onetime adversary, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, will be an ally in the free speech fight, and he plans to meet with him during Zuckerberg’s visit to Washington in the coming weeks. And he indicated he’s shifting his considerable investigative powers over First Amendment issues elsewhere, specifically pointing to fears around freedom of speech in Europe, a recent topic of concern for his committee. “Remember that a few years ago, [the social media platforms] all kicked President Trump off the platform. Now, they’re all going to Mar-a-Lago to visit with him because they know like this Trump administration is pro-First Amendment, and pro-free speech, and so it’s a dramatic change,” Jordan said. “We’re really appreciative of what Meta decided to do.” Contrast that attitude with the last few years. Meta has been a potent target for House Republicans looking to tie bad-acting corporate behemoths to their chief adversary, President Joe Biden. Jordan has personally leveraged his gavel to attack Meta for allegations of suppression of conservative speech, accusing Zuckerberg’s company of conspiring with the Biden administration to silence dissent. In the last Congress, Jordan went so far as to threaten to hold Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with his committee. Of course, Jordan can tout the recent changes as proof that his pressure on Meta paid off. Don’t expect every Republican to be quite so forgiving — the company will inevitably have to continue to defend itself against other legislative targets beyond Jordan’s investigations. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), an author of the Kids Online Safety Act that would put additional burdens on social media companies to protect children online, called the announcement a “ploy to avoid being regulated.” Meta’s side: The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, is hopeful that the recent moves will get the GOP off its back — one Meta lobbyist noted that the reaction from Republicans to the policy changes has generally been positive. The lobbyist, granted anonymity to speak frankly, said that while the campaign to counter misinformation was a good faith effort, it was a double-edged sword politically. It never seemed to be enough for the Left, and caused significant anger on the Right, the person said. And the Judiciary Committee's investigation into Meta certainly put it in an unflattering light, the person added. "Would all this be happening if Trump didn’t get elected? Nobody knows," the lobbyist said. "That’s not the world that we live in." A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment. — Hailey Fuchs
| | | | A message from Delta: SALUTING A LIFE OF SERVICE. On behalf of the entire Delta family, we celebrate the life of former President Jimmy Carter. Personifying philanthropy, he dedicated his life to helping those in need and showed us all how to properly treat our fellow humans – even shaking hands with every customer every time he flew Delta. Rest in peace, President Carter. Your legacy lives on. We’ll all be better off following the example you leave behind. | | | GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Jan. 8, where mourners will continue to pay their respects to former President Jimmy Carter overnight. COULD BIDEN HAVE WON? DEMS WON’T SAY Outgoing President Joe Biden said in a USA TODAY interview he could’ve beaten Donald Trump. Asked the same question Wednesday, congressional Democrats clearly didn’t want to talk about it. “We’re looking forward, not backward,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “He shares that view, but I don’t know,” said Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), with a shrug. “I'm not going to engage in that type of speculation,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). Sitting House Democratic lawmakers had been among the most vocal in calling for Biden to step off the presidential ticket over the summer after his disastrous debate against Trump. They’d been particularly concerned about electoral catastrophe if Biden had stayed on the ticket and dragged down-ballot candidates with him. Of course, Vice President Kamala Harris suffered a decisive loss to Donald Trump, and House Democrats narrowly gained seats. Another Democrat mused about what could’ve been. “He beat him before, and when you beat him the first time you always have a good shot of beating him the second time,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.). “But who knows?” — Nicholas Wu
| | | | A message from Delta:   | | | PROXY VOTING PUSH FOR NEW PARENTS A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is continuing to push to allow proxy voting for lawmakers who have become new parents, introducing a measure tomorrow despite Speaker Mike Johnson panning the idea late last year. Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) are sponsoring a resolution that would allow lawmakers who are new parents to proxy vote for up to 12 weeks. It would also allow mothers and fathers to vote by proxy if there’s a pregnancy-related condition that prevents travel. If that’s the case, it would count against the 12-week limit for parental leave, per the resolution. It is not privileged, meaning the lawmakers are not trying to force a vote on the measure over leadership’s wishes. Each lawmaker involved in the resolution has a personal stake in the issue, according to a person familiar with the matter. Pettersen is about to have her second child and become only the 14th member of Congress to give birth while serving, the person said. Luna gave birth last year. “Our government works best when the life experiences of the American people are represented,” Pettersen said in a statement. “Enabling new parents to vote by proxy while they spend time recovering and taking care of their newborn baby is an important step in modernizing Congress and addressing one of the significant barriers young parents face to serving.” Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he’d put it on the floor for a vote. Luna had pushed to include proxy voting for new parents in the GOP’s rules package, and said in November he had declined to do so. — Daniella Diaz MCCONNELL MAPS OUT POST-LEADERSHIP STAFF With Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) exit from leadership, his staffing orbit is making moves. Here’s the latest on his senior staffing moves, according to a release on Wednesday:
- Tiffany Ge will be the majority staff director for the Senate Rules Committee, which McConnell now chairs.
- Robert Story Karem will be the majority clerk of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, which McConnell also chairs.
- Melissa Bennett will serve as archivist and director of operations.
- David Popp will be a senior adviser to McConnell, focused on communications.
- David Vorbach will also be a senior adviser to McConnell, focused on defense and foreign policy.
The release adds: “Senior leadership of McConnell’s personal office will remain: Chief of Staff Terry Carmack, Communications Director Robert Steurer, Press Secretary Stephanie Penn, Speechwriter Sophia Slacik, and Legislative Assistants Andrew Fisher, Dominic Travis, Richard St. Onge, and Will Clark.” — Ursula Perano
| | | | A message from Delta: SALUTING A LIFE OF SERVICE. On behalf of the entire Delta family, we celebrate the life of former President Jimmy Carter. He was a great friend, loving family man and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who reached the highest levels of public service as Georgia governor and then as U.S. president. His commitment to organizations such as The Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity International proves volunteerism knows no borders. Personifying philanthropy, he dedicated his life to helping those in need and showed us all how to properly treat our fellow humans – even shaking hands with every customer every time he flew Delta. Rest in peace, President Carter. Your legacy lives on. We’ll all be better off following the example you leave behind. | | | | | Congress (and the POLITICO Congress team) runs on Cups! Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) DOGE-cloud floor poster seems to have featured the Washington of the late 1990s, where the Capitol’s East front was a parking lot and the World War II memorial hadn’t been built (and Joe Biden was in the Senate). QUICK LINKS Canada: Big get for Democrats from Jonathan Lai Freedom Caucus holds its fire on Johnson’s strategy for passing Trump agenda, from Mychael Schnell at The Hill Heinrich accuses Lee of breaking protocol over Burgum hearing, from Andres Picon, Garrett Downs and Manuel Quiñones TRANSITIONS Kara Verma will be Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s (D-Mich.) legislative director. Verma was previously Rep. Josh Harder’s (D-Calif.) senior legislative assistant. Kevin Winslow will be communications director for Harder. Thomas Becker will be digital director and press secretary. Jen Fox will be associate director for federal media advocacy at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. She was previously communications director and senior adviser for Harder. Sahil Mehrotra will be communications director for Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.). Mehrotra was most recently deputy communications director. Marisa Nahem will be Hassan’s press secretary and was most recently the New Hampshire communications director for Kamala Harris’ campaign. Phoebe Ferraiolo will be communications director for Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the Senate Appropriations Committee majority. Ferraiolo was previously deputy communications director for the Senate Appropriations Committee. Phil Wich will be deputy press secretary for Collins. Wich was previously press assistant. TOMORROW IN CONGRESS The House and Senate are in session. THURSDAY AROUND THE HILL 9 a.m. Jimmy Carter’s casket will be transferred from the Capitol Rotunda to the National Cathedral.
| | TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Rep. Annie Kuster correctly answered that Reps. Annie Kuster and John Curtis were the past two co-chairs of the Congressional Ski and Snowboard Caucus. TODAY’S QUESTION, from Kuster: Which president is the namesake of the highest mountain in the “First in the Nation” presidential primary state of New Hampshire? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com. GET INSIDE CONGRESS emailed to your phone each evening. | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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