1. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Hoosier hoopla: Fair Maps Indiana, a project of Defending America’s Comeback Inc., is launching a 501c4 nonprofit organization to back mid-cycle redistricting in the Hoosier State, Playbook’s Adam Wren reports. The effort comes ahead of next week’s special session called today by Gov. Mike Braun and is led by a number of Trump campaign alums, including top advisers and strategists Chris LaCivita, Chip Englander and John Brabender.
“States such as Illinois and California have gerrymandered their Congressional maps for decades,” said Marty Obst, who will serve as chair of Fair Maps Indiana. “The Indiana General Assembly has an opportunity to redraw the lines and play a meaningful role in maintaining our majorities in Congress. Our goal is to strongly support efforts to do so.” The latest redistricting salvo: New York is joining in the redistricting arms race, as a new lawsuit filed by Elias Law Group today alleges that Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ (R-N.Y.) district was unfairly drawn to disenfranchise voters of color, NYT’s Grace Ashford and Nick Corasaniti report. “Democrats may face an uphill battle convincing a judge that the current lines are unacceptable: It was just last year that they drew and approved the map, which Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, himself blessed as a modest but meaningful improvement over the previous lines.” 2. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: It’s day 27 of the shutdown, with paychecks missing and air travel delayed across the country. The pain has reached an inflection point for many federal workers: their largest union this morning called for an end to the shutdown and for Democrats to join Republicans to pass the “clean” stopgap funding bill, NBC’s Monica Alba scoops. “Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” the American Federation of Government Employee statement reads. Republicans are running out of patience as Democrats jam the Senate — once again confronting the thorny issue of the filibuster and whether to get rid of it, WSJ’s Lindsay Wise writes. But Democrats are working in lockstep, and they’re prepared to stick together on their strategy in the near future, CNN’s Sarah Ferris and Ellis Kim report. This week: Talks abound about how to pay federal workers and air traffic controllers, with potential votes this week on those smaller bills, per Punchbowl. But these talks are still very much a work-in-progress, per Semafor’s Burgess Everett. 3. FED UP: The Federal Reserve’s next meeting kicks off tomorrow, where the central bank is widely expected to once again slash interest rates amid growing concerns on the slowing labor market. We could see a reduction of rates by a quarter of a percentage point come Wednesday, when Chair Jerome Powell makes his announcement, especially as the most recent inflation numbers proved cooler than expected, Reuters’ Ann Saphir reports. Driving the decision: The Fed meeting comes not only as Trump is in Asia finalizing trade agreements, but also as the government shutdown prolongs the release of key government data that usually helps drive the Fed’s policy changes. The September jobs report wasn’t released and October data hasn’t been collected, the USDA’s export sales report hasn’t come out, key demographic data has been delayed. The short list: Bessent confirmed the five finalists today being considered to succeed Powell and said Trump will make his final decision by the end of the year, Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove reports. In the running: current Fed board members Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and BlackRock exec Rick Rieder. Bessent is doing another round of interviews and will give Trump a “good slate” after Thanksgiving. 4. WHERE’S THE BEEF?: Trump’s frustration with spiking beef prices and his vow to bring prices down have led the White House to lean on beef from Argentina, which “has spurred intense backlash from farm-state Republicans and agriculture industry groups who have felt burned by several Trump administration policies in recent months,” POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Grace Yarrow report. “Ten months in, Trump and his top aides are scrambling to keep the campaign pledge, calculating that in the short-term it’s worth antagonizing ranchers, a loyal GOP constituency that benefits from elevated beef prices, if they can bring down costs for consumers.” 5. WAR AND PEACE: Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said he will meet with Trump in an effort to blunt the effect that U.S. sanctions on Russian oil will have on Hungary, which relies on Moscow for oil and gas imports, Bloomberg’s Zoltan Simon and Marton Kasnyik report. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui to strengthen the countries’ military ties, Bloomberg's Greg Sullivan reports. Big read: “Is the U.S. Losing in Vietnam? Russia, North Korea and China Are Gaining,” by NYT’s Damien Cave: “U.S. allies worry that American volatility and Russian outreach and arms sales, in particular, are driving Vietnam into a new phase.” 6. YOU DON’T KNOW JACK: “How Jack Smith’s strongest case against Donald Trump collapsed,” by Aaron Davis and Carol Leonnig for WaPo, adapted from the pair’s forthcoming book, “Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department” ($29.76): “This behind-the-scenes account reveals new details about the inner workings of [Jack] Smith’s highly secretive team as he pushed it to complete a historic investigation in record time … it recounts for the first time Smith’s effort to remove [Judge Aileen Cannon] from the case, an idea that a top Justice Department official rejected and that Smith never presented to Attorney General Merrick Garland.” 7. SECURITY DETAILS: “Hundreds of People With ‘Top Secret’ Clearance Exposed by House Democrats’ Website,” by Wired’s Lily Newman and Matt Burgess: “The people’s details were included in a database of more than 7,000 individuals who have applied for jobs over the last two years with Democrats in the [House]. … The researcher found data including applicants’ short written biographies and fields indicating military service, security clearances, and languages spoken, along with details like names, phone numbers, and email addresses. … The data also included information about people’s political affiliations.”
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