This live blog is now closed. For more on the US defense spending bill, you can read the full report here:
The US Senate has voted 85-14 to pass the $895bn National Defense Authorization Act, legislation which ignited a debate about providing gender-affirming care to transgender children of military service members.
The bill which passed in the House last week 281-140 included a provision added by the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, which prevents the use of Tricare, the military’s healthcare plan for service members, from covering “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for minors.
Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a Democrat who vehemently opposed the provision, said: “Let’s be clear: we’re talking about parents who are in uniform serving our country who have earned the right to make the best decisions for their families. I trust our service members and their doctors to make the best healthcare decisions for their kids, not politicians.”
In a reversal, the GOP-led House ethics committee reportedly voted to release its report into Matt Gaetz, the Republican former congressman whom Donald Trump briefly nominated to lead the justice department. Gaetz’s candidacy for the job tanked amid allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, and in a post on X the former congressman acknowledged that he “partied, womanized, drank and smoked” in the past, but said he was a changed man. The report is expected to be released after Friday. Meanwhile, Trump said that Liz Cheney, an avowed foe of his and a former Republican congresswoman, “could be in a lot of trouble”, after House Republicans released a report accusing her of witness tampering, and calling for the FBI to investigate her.
Here’s what happened today:
The Senate armed services committee will on 14 January vote on whether to advance Pete Hegseth’s controversial nomination to lead the Pentagon, Reuters reports.
Republican senators have been meeting with Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI. Despite his calls to downsize the bureau and use it to investigate Trump’s enemies, several senators’ reviews of Patel have been positive.
The supreme court agreed to hear arguments over a law that could lead to TikTok being banned in the United States, and a separate case concerning state funding for Planned Parenthood.
Trump’s attorneys are again trying to get his convictions on felony business fraud charges tossed out.
Congress is mulling a bill to fund the government for another three months and prevent a shutdown that would otherwise begin Friday, but Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy do not like it.
The Senate armed services committee will hold a hearing on Pete Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon on 14 January, Reuters reports, citing a source familiar with the plan.
Lawmakers on the panel, which will be controlled by the GOP beginning in the new year, plan to vote on advancing Hegseth’s nomination to the full Senate after the hearing. He will need the support of 51 senators in the chamber to be confirmed as defense secretary.
Donald Trump nominated Hegseth, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who most recently was employed as a host by Fox News, for the job shortly after winning the presidential election. Since then, reports emerged that he was accused of sexual assault, and reached a settlement agreement with his accuser, though police filed no charges and Hegseth denies any wrongdoing. He also has been reported to have drunk to excess, made offensive statements in public, engaged in infidelity repeatedly and mismanaged the finances of two charities he was involved in.
Nonetheless, no Republican senators have yet declared they will not vote for him, and Trump has said he stands by Hegseth. Here’s more on his record:
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has spoken by phone with Donald Trump, Downing Street announced.
“The prime minister began by congratulating president-elect Trump on his recent team appointments and president-elect Trump warmly recounted his meeting with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in Paris earlier this month,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“Both agreed on their joint ambition to strengthen the close and historic relationship between the UK and the US. They looked forward to working together on shared priorities, including international security and delivering economic growth and prosperity.”
The spokesperson added that Starmer “reiterated the need for allies to stand together with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and to ensure Ukraine is in the strongest possible position” and “underscored the need to work together to ensure peace and security in the” Middle East.
Trump has not yet commented on the call.
Donald Trump has vowed that as soon as he is inaugurated, he will pardon people convicted of crimes or facing charges over the January 6 insurrection.
Today, Politico reports that a federal judge said the prospect of Trump doing that for Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers militia group who is serving an 18-year sentence in connection with January 6, is “frightening”.
Here’s more, from Politico:
The federal judge who oversaw the trial and sentencing of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for orchestrating a plan to violently stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidency, said Wednesday that the prospect Donald Trump might pardon him is ‘frightening.’
‘The notion that Stewart Rhodes could be absolved is frightening and ought to be frightening to anyone who cares about democracy in this country,’ said US District Judge Amit Mehta during the sentencing of one of Rhodes’ former Oath Keeper allies.
Mehta sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison last year, calling him “an ongoing threat and a peril to this country, to the republic and to the very fabric of our democracy.” The Obama-appointed judge emphasized Wednesday that his view of Rhodes has not changed, saying Rhodes still presents a threat.
His comments came as he sentenced former North Carolina Oath Keeper William Todd Wilson to a year of home detention and three years of supervised release. Though Wilson pleaded guilty to joining Rhodes’ seditious conspiracy, he cooperated with the government and provided information about Rhodes’ alleged efforts to contact the Trump White House on the evening of Jan 6, 2021.
Mehta is preparing to hand down a series of sentences to Rhodes’ convicted co-conspirators over the next few days, including several who later cooperated with the government. Rhodes’ 18-year sentence is among the five steepest stemming from the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol. Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio received the lengthiest, a 22-year sentence, last year.
Congress is once again scrambling to stop a government shutdown by enacting legislation that will authorize Washington DC to keep spending money for the next three months.
Such a scenario has happened often in recent years, but this latest standoff has a twist: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaire entrepreneurs whose political influence has grown since Donald Trump won re-election, are telling lawmakers to reject a legislative compromise released by the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, yesterday. If members of Congress heed their words, it will greatly increase the likelihood of the federal government shutting down at midnight on Friday, and spark a political crisis right as the Capitol is emptying out for the holidays.
Trump has named Musk and Ramaswamy as co-chairs of the “Department of Government Efficiency”, a quasi-governmental organ that is expected to recommend ways to downsize the federal government. Writing on X, Ramaswamy criticized the funding bill as excessive:
I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here’s my view: it’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO.
Keeping the government open until March 14 will cost ~$380BN by itself, but the true cost of this omnibus CR is far greater due to new spending. Renewing the Farm Bill for an extra year: ~$130BN. Disaster relief: $100BN. Stimulus for farmers: $10BN. The Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement: $8BN. The proposal adds at least 65 cents of new spending for every dollar of continued discretionary spending.
The legislation will end up hurting many of the people it purports to help. Debt-fueled spending sprees may “feel good” today, but it’s like showering cocaine on an addict: it’s not compassion, it’s cruelty.
Musk was more succinct:
This bill should not pass
We shall see if anyone in power listens to them.
The Federal Reserve just announced another interest rate cut, but released projections that indicate the central bankers believe there is more work to be done to beat inflation for good.
The quarter-of-a-percentage-point cut – the last of Joe Biden’s presidency or the first before Donald Trump takes office, however you want to look at things – brings the Fed’s benchmark federal funds rate to between 4.25% and 4.5%, giving mortgage borrowers and people carrying credit card debt some relief.
The decision was widely anticipated, but what’s more interesting, particularly for Trump’s plans to kick his presidency off with a bang, is the projections the central bank released about where it expects inflation and interest rates to be in the months to come. Here’s more on that, from the Guardian’s Callum Jones:
The US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates on Wednesday amid questions over its fight to bring down inflation across the world’s largest economy.
Policymakers at the central bank lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of between 4.25% and 4.5% in its last rate decision before Donald Trump assumes the presidency in January.
The central bank also suggested that it would make fewer rate cuts than expected in 2025.
While inflation has fallen dramatically since peaking at its highest rate in a generation two summers ago, it remains higher than the Fed would like – and has increased in recent months.
The wider US economy remains robust, with employers adding an estimated 227,000 jobs in November. But the stickiness of price growth has raised concern over the progress of efforts to bring it down to normal, pre-pandemic levels.
Nevertheless, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, is optimistic that things are ticking along nicely. “I feel very good about where the economy is and where monetary policy is,” he said earlier this month.
Americans’ frustration over a surge in prices in recent years has been cited as a key factor behind the election victory of Donald Trump, who repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail to bring them down.
But even the president-elect has since conceded that this pledge – which drew skepticism from many economists – will be no mean feat.
Asked by Time magazine if his presidency would be a failure if prices do not fall, Trump replied: “I don’t think so. Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will.”
Trump’s return to the White House puts the Fed on a potentially rocky path. He has repeatedly criticized decisions by the central bank, and his allies have even raised the prospect of curtailing its independence.
Powell, who has endured a strained relationship with the president-elect after his appointment during his first administration, stated last month that he would not resign if asked by Trump to leave the role.
Progressive lawmakers were not a fan of the Pentagon spending bill that the Senate just passed.
Last week, Congressional Progressive caucus chair Pramila Jayapal outlined a list of grievances after her caucus voted to formally oppose the measure:
It should alarm every American taxpayer that we are nearing a trillion-dollar annual budget for an agency rampant with waste, fraud, and abuse. The Pentagon failed its seventh consecutive audit this year and is the only major federal agency to never have passed one – yet it continues to receive huge boosts to funding every year. Our constituents deserve better.
By cutting the Pentagon budget, we could reinvest in critical human needs – from health care to housing to childcare – without sacrificing our national security or service member wages. It’s past time we stop padding the pockets of price-gouging military contractors who benefit from corporate consolidation and reallocate that money to domestic needs.
Astronomical funding levels are not the only problem with this legislation. This year’s NDAA would prohibit medical treatment for military dependents under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with ‘gender dysphoria.’ If adopted, this anti-trans language banning gender-affirming care to minors would be the first federal statute targeting LGBTQ people since the 1990s when Congress adopted ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the Defense of Marriage Act. This dangerous bigotry cannot be tolerated, let alone codified into federal law.
Reacting to the news of the bill’s passing, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, said:
Today, for the 64th consecutive year, the Senate passes a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to protect the American people and strengthen our security. The NDAA is not perfect, but it still makes several important advances Democrats fought for to secure America’s national defense and take a strong stand against the Chinese Communist party.
The US Senate has voted 85-14 to pass the $895bn National Defense Authorization Act, legislation which ignited a debate about providing gender-affirming care to transgender children of military service members.
The bill which passed in the House last week 281-140 included a provision added by the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, which prevents the use of Tricare, the military’s healthcare plan for service members, from covering “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for minors.
Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a Democrat who vehemently opposed the provision, said: “Let’s be clear: we’re talking about parents who are in uniform serving our country who have earned the right to make the best decisions for their families. I trust our service members and their doctors to make the best healthcare decisions for their kids, not politicians.”
In a reversal, the GOP-led House ethics committee has reportedly voted to release its report into Matt Gaetz, the Republican former congressman whom Donald Trump briefly nominated to lead the justice department. Gaetz’s candidacy for the job tanked amid allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, and in a post on X, the former congressman acknowledged that he “partied, womanized, drank and smoked” in the past, but said he was a changed man. The report is expected to be released after Friday. Meanwhile, Trump said that Liz Cheney, an avowed foe of his and a former Republican congresswoman, “could be in a lot of trouble”, after House Republicans released a report accusing her of witness tampering, and calling for the FBI to investigate her.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Republican senators have been meeting with Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI. Despite his calls to downsize the bureau and use it to investigate Trump’s enemies, some senators’ reviews of Patel have been positive.
The supreme court agreed to hear arguments over a law that could lead to TikTok being banned in the United States, and a separate case concerning state funding for Planned Parenthood.
Trump’s attorneys are again trying to get his conviction on business fraud felonies tossed out.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, has met with Republican senators in recent days to discuss his qualifications for the job.
Despite Patel’s proposals to radically downsize the agency and use it to go after Trump’s enemies, many senators have signaled they are comfortable confirming him for the job.
Here’s what Missouri’s Eric Schmitt, who met with Patel today, had to say:
Kash will enact deep reforms to the FBI and restore credibility to the agency, which is desperately needed.
And Tim Scott of South Carolina, who said:
I enjoyed meeting Kash Patel and learning more about his vision to lead the FBI into a new era and rebuild broad public trust …
We share the belief that the FBI needs a leadership shakeup that will once again empower agents to enforce the law and focus on protecting the American people from enemies foreign and domestic.
And finally, Dan Sullivan of Alaska:
[Pate] understands the importance of restoring public trust at the FBI. After our conversation today, it’s clear to me that his experience at the NSC, the DNI, and the Pentagon, and as a public defender and DOJ prosecutor make him more than qualified to lead this critically important law enforcement agency. I look forward to working with Kash and the rest of the Trump administration to ensure we rein in violent crime, including in Alaska where the drug cartel presence, fentanyl, and domestic violence remain serious issues.
Attorneys for the president-elect are making yet another effort to have his felony business fraud convictions overturned. Here’s more on that, from the Guardian’s Anna Betts:
Donald Trump’s lawyers are claiming that there was “grave juror misconduct” during his New York criminal hush-money trial earlier this year and that his conviction should be thrown out.
In a letter addressed to Manhattan judge Juan M Merchan, dated 3 December but made public this week, Trump’s attorneys claimed they had evidence of “grave juror misconduct” that occurred during the trial, which they said “illustrates the manifest unfairness of these proceedings” and serves as a “reason that the verdicts in this case cannot and should not stand”.
“The extensive and pervasive misconduct at issue violated President Trump’s rights under the federal Constitution and New York law,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote. “The jury in this case was not anywhere near fair and impartial.”
