“Large companies are running into a problem as they try to claim some of the tax cuts that the Republican Congress passed this summer: They can’t escape the corporate tax increase that Democrats passed three years ago,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Basically, President Trump giveth, but former President Joe Biden taketh part of it away.”
“Senate Republicans and Democrats are drifting further from a deal to reopen the federal government after President Donald Trump came out against any renewal of the Obamacare premium tax credits,” Punchbowl News reports.
Olivia Rodrigo criticized the Trump administration after one of her songs was featured in a government video promoting deportation efforts, The Guardian reports.
“New York Gov. Kathy Hochul spent the week celebrating Zohran Mamdani’s historic mayoral victory. Then, on Saturday, she made clear how far she’s willing to go with his progressive agenda,” Politico reports.
“The governor praised the democratic socialist ‘who’s lighting politics on fire’ — but that didn’t stop her from opposing his plan to make New York City buses free, questioning how he plans to fund universal child care and saying she’ll keep an eye on how Mamdani leads New York’s Jewish community.”
Just in time for the holidays, the Blue Wave T-Shirt is back.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he plans to keep the Senate in session until both parties find a way to reopen the government, Punchbowl News reports.
During a rare Saturday Senate session, Thune took an increasingly hard line on the Obamacare premium tax credits, saying they were “Biden bonuses.”
President Trump proposed a compromise on health insurance payments, calling on Republicans to send federal payments that would go to insurers under the Affordable Care Act directly to Americans to bring an end to the government shutdown, CNBC reports.
A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds found that President Trump spent nearly 20 minutes apparently battling to keep his eyes open at a Thursday event in the Oval Office.
“It was a seemingly stark illustration of the strain of the presidency on a 79-year-old who typically keeps a vigorous travel schedule that even his aides say they struggle to keep up with — and who has reveled in calling his predecessor ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden.”
The Wall Street Journal looks at how Sen. Jon Ossoff — the only Democratic senator up for reelection next year in a state Trump won in 2024 — has become a symbol of the shutdown stalemate.
“He sharply criticizes Trump, saying the president needs to step in and make a deal. And he sticks tightly to that script, giving virtually the same answers every day no matter what the shutdown-related questions might be.”
Playbook: “When President Donald Trump inevitably flicks on the television at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, Rep. Wesley Hunt is hoping the president catches a nearly 60-second message his campaign spent just $2,500 on, buying up every remaining spot of airtime on Fox News cable…”
“Hunt’s gambit — aimed at ingratiating himself with Trump by finding common cause with the president’s repeated calls in recent days for nuking the filibuster — is a sign of what has become the latest MAGA litmus test in contested GOP Senate primaries around the map.”
IRS Direct File, the electronic system for filing tax returns for free, will not be offered next year, the AP reports.
“President Donald Trump wants the Washington Commanders to name their planned $3.7 billion stadium after him,” ESPN reports.
“A senior White House source said there have been back-channel communications with a member of the Commanders’ ownership group, led by Josh Harris, to express Trump’s desire to have the domed stadium in the nation’s capital bear his name. The new stadium is being built on the old RFK Stadium site that served as the team’s home from 1961 to 1996.”
President Donald Trump careened into the weekend with no sign of abandoning his futile “kill the filibuster” strategy to end the shutdown, despite a stinging week of political rebukes, Politico reports.
Coming next year: Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service by Josh Shapiro.
“Reflecting on what he’s learned by knocking on doors, serving his community, and tackling the tough problems that no one wanted to touch in new and different ways, Shapiro reminds us that government can be a force for good, that conventional wisdom is rarely wise, and there’s more that unites Americans than divides us.”
“I watched that election, which I was not much involved in. I didn’t support Virginia, the candidate. I didn’t do a lot of support for the other candidate. They asked me about Cuomo, and I said, well, it’s a question – do you want a thug or do you want a communist? So I wasn’t involved in that stuff too much.”
— President Trump, quoted by CNN.
The Blaze claims a suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters on January 6 is likely a former Capitol police officer who now works for the CIA.
The person’s home “appeared to be under the watch of law enforcement officers” on Friday night.
“Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) aims to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in next year’s elections — and survive a tough midterm environment — by targeting New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as much as her actual opponents,” Axios reports.
“Stefanik’s gambit pulls back the curtain on a big part of Republicans’ emerging 2026 strategy — weather President Trump’s growing unpopularity by casting Democrats as socialists in Mamdani’s mold.”
NY1: GOP leaders quickly coalesce around Stefanik in campaign for New York governor.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.