- Manchin on his veto power over Biden agenda: ‘It’s not a good place to be’ (CNN) – Manchin argues that he’s simply trying to ensure the two parties work together in a highly polarized political environment. His Democratic critics say he’s giving far too much deference to an opposition party eager to thwart the President’s agenda.
- House passes landmark $1.9T COVID bill, delivers Biden first legislative win (Fox News) – Republicans firmly rejected the legislation as too big.
- Congress Just Passed Another Round Of COVID Checks And Unemployment Aid (BuzzFeed News) – Checks of $1,400, unemployment benefits, and hundreds of billions of dollars in aid are coming soon. President Joe Biden will sign the bill Friday.
- Wall Street Journal: Trump pressured Georgia investigator to find ‘the right answer’ in baseless fraud push (CNN) – “When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,” Trump tells Frances Watson, the chief investigator at the Georgia secretary of state’s office, in a six-minute conversation on December 23, according to the Journal. “I won everything but Georgia. And I won Georgia, I know that. By a lot. And the people know it.
- Merrick Garland Is Confirmed as Attorney General (New York Times) – The federal judge will take over a Justice Department battered during the Trump administration and confronting the threat from domestic extremism.
- Can Gov. Cuomo survive his double crisis? (The Hill) – Calls for his resignation are flooding in from members of his own party, and the cries of outrage grow louder every day.
- Schumer says working with Susan Collins under Obama was ‘mistake’ by Dems, White House chief of staff Ron Klain retweets (Fox News) – Schumer’s statement — and the fact it was retweeted by Klain, who holds the most critical staff position in the White House — raises questions about the sincerity of the pleas for unity from Biden and the desire of the administration to work with Republican members of Congress.
- Texas AG threatens to sue city of Austin for defying governor on mask mandate (NBC News) – So much for local control. “City/county leaders must not be thinking clearly,” Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted. “Maybe it’s oxygen deprivation from quintuple-masking.”
- Biden wants to sell the stimulus. The White House is still figuring out how. (Washington Post) – There is currently no major advertising campaign focused on the proposal.
- Biden to offer hopes for a return to normalcy in first prime-time speech (Washington Post) – It’s a speech about where we’ve been, where we are and where we can be,” said Anita Dunn, a senior White House adviser. “And I think it will speak to the shared experience of this country over the last year.”
- At border, record number of migrant youths wait in adult detention cells for longer than legally allowed (Washington Post) – The Border Patrol continues “to struggle with the number of individuals in our custody, especially given the pandemic.”
- Cuomo aide says governor groped her (Politico) – Four women who have worked for Cuomo have accused him of harassment or inappropriate comments and behavior in the past few weeks. Two other women who did not work for him have also made allegations.
