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Cracks are showing in Republican Party loyalties in Congress and across the electorate. | Alex Kent for POLITICO | BAD MOON RISING: Ahead of President Donald Trump’s address to the nation at 9 p.m., cracks are showing in Republican Party loyalties in Congress and across the electorate. Four votes down: After their own attempts to extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies failed, four moderate House GOP lawmakers defied Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican leaders by signing on to a Democratic-led discharge petition to force a vote on the issue. The rebel alliance: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) and Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) joined House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ discharge push for a three-year extension of the subsidies that millions of Americans rely on. The bipartisan team-up is the latest example of how the monthslong subsidies fight has amplified frustrations among the GOP rank-and-file — many of whom fear the partisan infighting will harm their chances in the midterms. What they’re saying: Fitzpatrick told reporters today his decision to sign the measure came down to what was best for his district: “We report to our constituents. We do not answer to any person or any party in this town.” He added that the issue is “very, very time sensitive and very existential for people that we care about.” Lawler put it more plainly in comments to CNN, deploying what seems to be his go-to messaging on the issue: “I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute bullshit.” But but but: Forcing a vote in the House is more of a messaging vehicle in the immediate term. The discharge petition process has a seven-day buffer before a bill can be brought to the floor. The House is set to leave at the end of this week and won't return until after the ACA subsidies expire on Dec. 31. In the Senate: The three-year extension is almost certain to face rejection when it reaches the chamber. Senate Majority Leader John Thune signaled to reporters that it wasn’t going to make it through, noting that it’s “very partisan,” unlike the bipartisan Epstein discharge petition. “We’ll see what happens with that,” Thune said. Still, House passage “could build pressure on Thune and Johnson to take action on some sort of extension when lawmakers return to Washington next month,” POLITICO’s Meridith Lee Hill reports. The abortion issue: As odds for a deal on the subsidies appear slim, “an unresolved fight over abortion could lower them to zero,” POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein and Robert King report. “Ahead of the expected standoff, abortion-rights and anti-abortion groups are barnstorming Capitol Hill, warning members that there will be political consequences for them in next year’s midterm elections if they cave.” Despite the intraparty fractures, Johnson maintained to reporters he has “not lost control” of the House. But as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer put it to reporters today, the joint effort on the discharge petition shows public demand is “undeniable” for an ACA extension. “The damage is done no matter what happens,” he said. THE MOOD MUSIC: With Trump expected to talk about the economy in his address tonight, new polling is repeating an increasingly familiar pattern: the president’s approval is dipping alongside his handling of the economy. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found just 36 percent of Americans feel that Trump is doing a good job as president — the lowest reported by the survey across both terms. And perhaps even more concerning for the White House: 57 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy, while 45 percent say high prices are their largest economic concern. EXIT STAGE RIGHT: Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) — one of the last remaining Republican members who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 — announced he’ll retire after the end of his term. In a post on X, Newhouse wrote that his decision “comes with no reservations or remorse, only gratitude for the tremendous opportunity to have represented my home state in Congress.” Newhouse's announcement comes as morale among lawmakers has dipped in the second Trump administration as retirements pile up. Newhouse aside, Ballotpedia has recorded a total of 42 House members who won’t run for reelection — including 23 Republicans and 19 Democrats. More from POLITICO’s Andrew Howard Good Wednesday afternoon and thanks for reading my final edition of Playbook PM. It’s been a privilege to help shepherd Playbook’s morning and afternoon editions into your inboxes for the last three-and-a-half years. I’m forever grateful for your readership. Get in touch.
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FCC Chair Brendan Carr appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee today. | John McDonnell/Getty Images | 1. SPEECH AND DEBATE: FCC Chair Brendan Carr appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee for his first congressional testimony since his controversial comments threatening broadcasters for airing Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show earlier this year. The most eye-popping moment came from Carr when he said that the FCC “is not an independent agency formally speaking.” Axios’ Sara Fischer notes that shortly after Carr’s comment, the FCC website was updated to remove a description of it as an “independent” government agency. And as expected, the hourslong hearing erupted into a fiery discussion over government censorship, with Carr feeling the heat from both sides of the aisle. What they said: Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pushed back on Carr’s curtailment of Kimmel, stating that while the comedian is “angry, overtly partisan, and profoundly unfunny … what the government cannot do is force private entities to take actions that the government cannot take directly. Democrat or Republican, we cannot have the government arbitrating truth or opinion.” Cruz also asked if Carr believed that the FCC’s public interest standard was “understood to encompass robust First Amendment protections.” Carr agreed, though he continued by pointing to Democrats’ “weaponization” of pressure on Fox News during the Biden era. 2. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON: Former special counsel Jack Smith staunchly defended his investigations of both Trump’s handling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 election during his hourslong private testimony before the House Judiciary Committee today. Smith stated in his opening remarks before the panel that “the decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports. Call log: Smith also defended his decision to secretly obtain phone records of at least eight Republican senators in his election interference probe, for which Smith’s team did not receive the content of the calls. “Exploiting that violence, President Trump and his associates tried to call Members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election,” Smith said. “I didn’t choose those Members; President Trump did.” 3. ROCKIN’ THE BOAT: Trump’s executive authority took another blow from Congress today after the Senate passed a measure as a part of their annual defense policy bill requiring the Pentagon to release the footage of the U.S-led strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats near Latin America, POLITICO’s Connor O'Brien reports: “The 77-20 vote saw substantial support from Democrats and Republicans to push through the $901 billion National Defense Authorization Act … The bill restricts a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until Congress receives the footage.” 4. RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again thrown cold water on recent reports of “progress” touted by U.S. and Ukrainian leaders toward a peace deal, rattling the saber and warning that Russia will expand its presence in the region if the West rejects its demands, per the AP. In an address to military officers, the Russian leader said he’d prefer to resolve the conflict diplomatically, but “if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means.”
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| | | | 5. GONE-GINO: “FBI’s No. 2 quietly tells colleagues he’s moving on,” by MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian: FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino “has quietly told confidants he plans to formally leave his job early in the new year and will not be returning to headquarters to work this month, according to eight people briefed on his account. Bongino told his team and some senior FBI officials that he tentatively planned to announce his departure on Dec. 19, according to four people. Several people said some of Bongino’s personal effects have been cleared out of his office as of last week.” 6. THE D.C. TAKEOVER: A federal appeals court ruled that Trump can keep National Guard troops on the streets of D.C. for now, though the three judges also “raised serious doubts about the lawfulness of deployments in other cities,” POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. Though the panel ruled that Washington’s federal makeup gives Trump unique control to deploy troops in the city, “the judges said it would be ‘constitutionally troubling’ for the president to borrow National Guard troops from one state to conduct law enforcement missions in another ‘non-consenting’ state.” The win in D.C. is further dampened by a similar order issued by an appeals court yesterday essentially ending Trump’s authority over the deployment of the National Guard in California. It also marks another bad signal for the White House as they await the Supreme Court decision about Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. 7. FOR YOUR RADAR: “What Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer told friends after the attack,” by WaPo’s Samuel Oakford and colleagues: “Fifty-five minutes before he allegedly shot and killed right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson was bragging about his success playing the online puzzle game Wordle … The quotidian exchange … was a striking example of the compartmentalization the 22-year-old exhibited in his interactions with friends in the days before the shooting, a Washington Post examination found. … This examination draws on interviews with 21 people who knew Robinson, as well as hundreds of messages he exchanged online over the past five years.” 8. FOLLOW THE MONEY: “DHS fast-tracked $1 billion contract to pro-Trump donor’s company,” by WaPo’s Isaac Arnsdorf: The donor, “William Walters, leads another company that received a separate $140 million contract from DHS to purchase six Boeing 737 planes to use for deportations, The Post reported last week. The larger contract involves a DHS program called Project Homecoming that offers cash bonuses, free flights and a ‘concierge service’ at airports for departing migrants.” DHS in a statement to WaPo said contracts “are subject to applicable federal procurement laws and oversight, which ensure transparency, competition, and the prudent use of taxpayer funds.”
| | TALK OF THE TOWN | | OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Congressional Recommerce Caucus’ first annual Ugly Sweater Reception last night in Rayburn: Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Casey Fitzpatrick, Jake Colvin, Brad Wood, Joe Locher, Ashley Shillingsburg, Dan Martini, Joe Zanoni, Jeffrey Zubricki, Josh Korn, Tim Carey, Chris Lamond, Gabrielle Howard, Elizabeth Chabot, James Capetanakis and Jason Rosenstock. — SPOTTED at Fathom Fest last night, hosted by Shana Mansbach and Jamie Van Leeuwen to celebrate the organization's work on AI governance: Steven Bondy, Dean Ball, Josh Levine, Zach Graves, Greg Allen, Rick Rossow, Paul Scharre, Jon Bateman, Austin Carson, Hamza Chaudhry, Alan Davidson, Billy Easley, Timothy Fist, Cameron Glass, Michael Sinacore, Sharita Gruberg, Kelsey Henquinet, Max Hernandez-Zapata, Riki Parikh, Levi Patterson, Brendan Steinhauser, Christopher Devine, Henry Connelly, Miriam Vogel and Eli Lehrer. TRANSITIONS — David Fish is now a partner at Skadden. He previously worked for Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. … Tommy Garcia is now a comms director for Janet Mills’ senate campaign. He previously worked at the Maine Democratic Party. BONUS BIRTHDAY — George Pulizzi of Marathon Petroleum Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Garrett Ross.
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