Morning Report — Democrats open to Speaker’s funding fallback  

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 11/14/23 6:30 AM ET

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

Whew. A consensus goal on Capitol Hill to avert a lapse in federal funding this week appears increasingly possible.

Clues on Monday suggested members in both parties and in both chambers are getting behind a temporary solution proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) before a deadline Friday at midnight. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Democrats might support the Speaker’s two-bill plan to fund the government in tranches that would expire early next year. There would be no deep spending cuts or ideological riders sought by conservatives. With Democratic votes, Johnson could afford to let some of his GOP hardline colleagues vote “no” and still keep the government operating, likely without the dramatic mutiny that cost former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) the gavel just weeks ago.

▪ Reuters: House Speaker’s plan to avoid shutdown gains some Democratic support.

▪ The Washington Post: Johnson is moving past hard-right concerns after negotiations in an effort to avoid a government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday also signaled openness to the Johnson plan after a lukewarm reception from some senators and the White House on Sunday. He called it “far from perfect” but said the proposal could work (The Hill).

Under the two-track temporary compromise, the House would extend funding for military construction, veterans’ benefits, transportation, housing, urban development, agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and energy and water programs through Jan. 19. Funding for all other federal operations, including defense, would expire on Feb. 2.

UNRESOLVED are elements of President Biden’s request to Congress for a total of $105 billion in supplemental funding to assist Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and U.S. border security. The president asked for $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion in help for Israel (including $9.15 billion in humanitarian aid), $7.4 billion in funding for Taiwan and the region and $13.6 billion to bolster the U.S. border with Mexico. Lawmakers suggest the aid debate may extend beyond November. 

The Hill: A Senate panel today will move a resolution to try to break the monthslong hold of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) over the administration’s military nominations.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ Planet: The National Climate Assessment, a massive periodic government study released today, shows impacts of a changing climate are “already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States.” Biden will talk about it today at the White House.

▪ The poor: Millions of low-income people, including children, are losing Medicaid coverage in states that rely on error-prone programs to revise their rolls of qualified beneficiaries. Critics say the Biden administration is slow to act.

▪ Productivity: China struggles with a property slump and local government debts. In contrast, U.S. growth is humming.

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press / Rebecca Blackwell | Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Nov. 8 Republican presidential debate.

POLITICS

Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, sensing an opening to run ahead of rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will spend $10 million on campaign ads across Iowa and New Hampshire beginning in the first week of December. 

Haley’s move comes as she fights to emerge as the clear alternative to former President Trump to represent the GOP against Biden next fall. DeSantis stands as Haley’s strongest competition for her party’s second-place slot, although the Florida governor’s campaign has shown signs of financial strain following a tumultuous summer (The Associated Press). 

As the number of 2024 GOP primary candidates dwindles, fresh questions are emerging about the race in the leadup to the Iowa caucuses. The Hill’s Caroline Vakil asks five key questions about the winnowing GOP field, including whether Haley can overtake DeSantis, and whether former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will stay in the race after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced Sunday that he was suspending his campaign.

ALL-IN ON IOWA: DeSantis’s campaign is moving three of its top officials to Iowa this week, a move that comes as the governor is increasingly staking his hopes on a strong performance in the GOP’s first nominating contest. His allied super PAC, Never Back Down, has invested substantial resources in the state, hoping that a strong performance there will catapult him into contention. The candidate himself has devoted a major amount of his time to Iowa too; his campaign said DeSantis has visited 92 of the state’s 99 counties. He also recently won the endorsement of Gov. Kim Reynolds (R).

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Haley and DeSantis try to capitalize on Scott’s exit.

▪ The Hill: Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and others will take part in a December Iowa GOP candidate forum.

▪ The Des Moines Register: In Iowa, DeSantis criticizes poll results showing him in a distant second.

In The Memo, The Hill’s Niall Stanage looks at four possible alternative presidential candidates — from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent, to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who recently announced he will not seek another Senate term — and how they might impact the 2024 race. 

TRUMP IS USING INCREASINGLY INCENDIARY LANGUAGE to target his political opponents, raising alarms about what a potential second term might hold. The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports that in a Veterans Day speech, Trump pledged to “root out… the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” 

Those remarks came just days after he suggested he should be allowed to investigate his political opponents if he retakes the White House. The former president’s escalating rhetoric has drawn comparisons from critics to dictators from decades ago and put Republican leaders on the spot as Trump remains on track to be the party’s nominee in 2024.

2024 ROUNDUP:

▪ Prominent Michigan Democratic candidates, representing a key swing state, are split over Israel’s war with Hamas. Arab and Jewish American voters in the state could impact election results in 2024.

▪ Jacob Chansley, who served about 27 months of a 41-month prison sentence after being found guilty of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, dressed in horns and face paint, filed paperwork to run for Congress as a Libertarian candidate in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

▪ Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) will face a 2024 primary challenge from Don Samuels, the prominent Minneapolis Democrat she narrowly defeated last year.

▪ Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) is quitting Congress and running for his old seat in the Texas Senate. Fallon held the state Senate seat for two years and called those “the best two years I ever spent” in politics.

▪ Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), 72, a doctor elected to Congress in 2002, announced he will not seek reelection. 

WHERE AND WHEN:

The House meets at 9 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and two other labor leaders will testify today before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The president will convene a White House event at 10 a.m. focused on an updated assessment of climate change and announce more than $6 billion in federal investments in communities to strengthen resilience to climate-related impacts. Biden an hour later will depart the White House for San Francisco, where he will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum among 21 member countries. He will headline a campaign reception in San Francisco at 6:45 p.m. PT and remain overnight.

Vice President Harris also will travel to San Francisco to attend APEC. She will join Biden at a campaign event in the Golden City at 6:45 p.m. PT. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in San Francisco where he meets this morning with Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Gonzalez-Olaechea, then Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, followed by Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko and Foreign Minister Park Jin of Korea. Blinken at 1 p.m. PT will co-host the APEC Ministerial opening plenary session with Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative. APEC’s first ministerial session follows at 1:30 p.m., and the secretary will participate. In the evening, Blinken and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will participate in a ministerial meeting of the U.S.-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee, along with Yoko and Nishimura Yasutoshi, Japan’s economic and trade minister. Blinken and Tai will co-host a ministerial APEC dinner meeting at 7:30 p.m. in San Francisco.

The Treasury secretary is in San Francisco through Friday for APEC and has no public events today.

Economic indicators: The government at 8:30 a.m. will report the consumer price index and real earnings, both in October.

ZOOM IN

© The Associated Press / Patrick Semansky | The Supreme Court one year ago.

COURTS

Responding to public pressure and congressional calls for tougher rules and transparency, the Supreme Court Monday adopted a code of conduct for justices after news media investigations detailed loans, gifts and business alliances between some justices and individuals with interests in the court. The 15-page voluntary code is HERE. There is no means of enforcement. 

In their announcement, justices said the court’s overall rules and principles are “not new.” The Hill’s Ella Lee reports that Monday’s “codification” is intended to quiet criticism and head off Senate interest in stepping in if the Supreme Court would not. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the high court’s effort was a step in the right direction but “falls short.”

“I’m still reviewing the court’s new code of conduct. For now, I will note that the court’s adoption of this code marks a step in the right direction,” he said. “It may fall short of the ethical standards which other federal judges are held to, and that’s unacceptable, and if it falls short the American people will ultimately have the last word and the integrity of the court is at issue.”

Meanwhile in New York City Monday, a lawyer for Trump in his civil fraud trial said the former president will “very soon” file for a mistrial based, she hinted, based on assertions that the judge and a court clerk are biased against her client. Trump’s team on Monday began to present a defense in a $250 million lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) alleging a decade of fraud by Trump and the Trump Organization in valuations of real estate and other holdings (The Hill).

Trump’s defense team began presenting its case Monday, with co-defendant Donald Trump Jr. testifying in glowing terms about the company’s properties. Trump Jr. testified two weeks ago as James’s lawyers presented their case, distancing himself from the organization’s financial statements. On Monday, he was not asked about the financial statements and instead focused on touting various Trump locales. The remarks appeared aimed at bolstering the defense’s argument that the asset valuations on financial statements were not false but, instead, reflected the properties’ real values (The Washington Post).

Trump’s legal team asked a federal judge to televise his election obstruction trial, echoing media outlets that argue the American public should be able to watch the case in real time. Typically, trials in federal court are not televised and Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith objected Monday to Trump’s eagerness for cameras, arguing in a filing that Trump’s legal team failed to cite “a single rule or case in support of his position, because there are none” (The Hill). 

The Washington Post: Ex-Trump allies detail efforts to overturn election in Georgia plea videos.

Passages: Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a former federal judge until 2019, died at age 86 at her Manhattan apartment, where she was found Monday (The New York Times). The former president and his sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau, 81, are now the last of five Trump siblings.

ELSEWHERE

MIDDLE EAST 

Nothing about the plight of Palestinian civilians and children in Gaza appears to have improved as of Tuesday as Israeli forces bombard southern Gaza 

Israel on Monday was no closer to the victory over Hamas that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Sunday during U.S. television interviews. 

Hostages remain under Hamas control, but Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote that a deal is close between Israel and the militant group to release “most” of Israeli women and children held captive since Oct. 7. Hamas has indicated it is ready to release 70 Israeli women and children, according to a statement by one of its officials on the group’s Telegram channel, which was cited by Reuters Monday. The number of Palestinian women and young people who might be released from prisons in Israel is unclear, Ignatius wrote.

The United Nations projected it would run out of fuel Tuesday in Gaza, meaning it cannot deliver humanitarian aid. 

Israel Defense Forces encircled Gaza’s largest hospital on Monday, where conditions for medical personnel, patients and their families were described in apocalyptic terms without fuel, water, sanitation, food and medical supplies. The Al Shifa hospital was encircled by tanks as Israeli forces maintain that  the facility serves as a shield for Hamas underground tunnels and serves as a headquarters for fighters. Hamas denies it. The Gaza Health Ministry says 32 patients died in the hospital this week without fuel and supplies, including three newborns that succumbed without electricity for incubators. Israel says it is trying to rectify the incubator situation. 

The World Health Organization warned of a humanitarian and public health crisis and said Al Shifa Hospital was “not functioning.” 

Gaza’s hospitals “must be protected,” Biden responded Monday. Indonesian President Joko Widodo turned to the president in front of reporters during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office on Monday with a request. “I appeal to the U.S. to do more to stop the atrocities in Gaza and have a cease-fire, for the sake of humanity,” he said.

The United States and Israel continue to oppose a cease-fire. 

Meanwhile, U.S. forces are embroiled in a simmering military conflict with Iran’s proxies in Iraq and Syria who target U.S. troops and draw the Pentagon into counterattacks. No U.S. soldiers have been killed but 46 have been injured, U.S. officials said. 

“These attacks must stop, and if they don’t stop, then we won’t hesitate to do what’s necessary, again, to protect the troops,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters during a Monday news conference in Seoul.

CBS News: At least eight pro-Iranian fighters were killed in recent U.S. airstrikes in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor. 

© The Associated Press / Dr. F. Gilbert, CDC via AP | Crescent-shaped red blood cells from a sickle cell disease patient seen under a microscope in 1972.

HEALTH & WELLBEING 

🧬 A breakthrough treatment for sickle cell patients could soon become the first gene-editing treatment to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects roughly 100,000 Americans, most of whom are Black. The disease causes red blood cells to become sickle or c-shaped, clumping together and clogging blood vessels, causing pain and other complications. There is only one approved treatment that can cure sickle cell disease: a bone marrow transplant, for which finding a compatible donor can be difficult. 

The new treatment, known as exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel), takes a patient’s own stem cells and edits them to produce more fetal hemoglobin, an abundance of which has been observed to cause red blood cells to not “sickle” (NBC News).

▪ The New York Times: A new gene editing treatment cuts dangerous cholesterol, according to a small study. The trial involved only 10 patients, but it suggests cholesterol can be permanently reduced with a single treatment for patients at risk of heart disease.

▪ The Washington Post: A decades-old federal program that offers doctors incentives to practice in disadvantaged communities has had little effect on physician density or patient mortality, a recent analysis concludes.

OPINION

■ Trump wants to turn the government into a weapon for personal revenge, by James D. Zirin, opinion contributor, The Hill. 

■ The Supreme Court’s new ethics code, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press / The Quad City Times, Kevin E. Schmidt, Pool | Xi Jinping, then China’s vice president, in 2012 visited Iowa farm country, where he met with old friend Sarah Lande and was given the key to Muscatine, Iowa, by then-Gov. Terry Branstad (who later served as U.S. ambassador to China), and Republican Kim Reynolds, then the lieutenant governor and now Iowa’s governor. 

And finally … 🇨🇳 Flashback: Chinese President Xi Jinping, 70, this week makes his 10th trip to the United States and his fifth as China’s top leader. As a 31-year-old, little-known party boss from Henan province in 1985, Xi led a five-member agricultural delegation to Iowa to learn about crop and livestock practices during what is thought to be his first journey to America. He visited farms, picnicked on a cruise on the Mississippi River and stayed with an American family. He stopped in San Francisco, where he will return this week, and had his picture taken in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

He struck up a friendship with Iowa hosts, including Muscatine resident Sarah Lande, who helped coordinate the 1985 trip and saw Xi again in 2012, when he returned as China’s leader and was welcomed by Iowa’s then-governor, who was later tapped to be U.S. ambassador to China, and Kim Reynolds, now Iowa’s Republican governor. 

A group of Xi’s Iowa connections from 38 years ago have been invited this week to a reunion dinner in San Francisco. Lande, now 85, told Bloomberg News, “This has been a heck of a journey — we can’t figure it out. We don’t even know why he likes us!” 

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger (asimendinger@digital-stage.thehill.com) and Kristina Karisch (kkarisch@digital-stage.thehill.com). Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter: (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!