“The White House is strongly considering nominating Sarah Bloom Raskin to become the Fed’s top banking regulator, and Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson as Fed governors,” the Washington Post reports.
“The nominees would complete President Biden’s roster to the Fed’s seven-seat board, while appealing to Democrats who have pushed for stronger Wall Street oversight and those who have pressed for more diversity within the Fed’s top ranks.”
“Mitch McConnell is signaling he’s open to reforming the Electoral Count Act, one year after Senate and House Republicans objected to certification of President Joe Biden’s win ahead of an attempted insurrection,” Politico reports.
“Democrats are pursuing more sweeping election reforms and federalization of elections, but some lawmakers in both parties are also suggesting there may be more modest reforms that could pass on a bipartisan basis. The GOP leader said in a brief interview that he would be open to entertaining changes to the 1887 law, which allows members of Congress to dispute election results.”
Said McConnell: “It obviously has some flaws. And it is worth, I think, discussing.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Fox News that Democrats were using the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to gain more power.
Said Hawley: “The politics of fear that the Democratic Party has been pushing on this country for a whole year, it’s the only thing they have to offer the country. And what they’re trying to do with it is consolidate their power.”
The founder of a Utah technology firm resigned his position after sending an email to a number of tech CEOs and Utah business and political leaders, claiming the Covid-19 vaccine is part of a plot by “the Jews” to exterminate people, KUPX reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to “piss off” the unvaccinated by depriving them of restaurants, cinemas and social activities to pressure them to get protected against Covid-19, the Financial Times reports.
Said Macron: “There is a tiny minority of people who are resistant. We can reduce that, I’m sorry to say, by pissing them off even more.”
He added: “I am not here to piss off the French, I complain all day long about the administration when it bugs them. But the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. So that’s what we will keep doing, all the way to the end. That is the strategy. I am not going to send them to prison, I am not going to vaccinate them by force.”
“Democratic and Republican lawmakers have held early discussions about another round of coronavirus stimulus spending as they seek to blunt the fast-spreading omicron variant and its urgent threats to public health and economic recovery,” the Washington Post reports.
“The early efforts have focused primarily on authorizing billions of dollars to help an array of businesses — including restaurants, performance venues, gyms and even minor league sports teams — that face another potential blow to their already-battered balance sheets as a result of the evolving pandemic.”
“The Biden plan starts with fixing Trump’s testing fiasco. He’d make sure that all Americans have access to regular, reliable, and free testing.”
— White House chief of staff Ron Klain, in a 2020 campaign video.
“Deputy District Attorney and GOP activist Kelly Ernby wasn’t vaccinated when she died early this week after contracting COVID-19,” the Orange County Register reports.
“Despite the news, Republicans leaders who counted 46-year-old Ernby as a friend and who agreed with her opposition of vaccine mandates said Tuesday that their positions haven’t changed.”
“The director of a South Dakota agency has resigned amid scrutiny over Gov. Kristi Noem’s hands-on role in the agency prior to his arrival and as it was evaluating her daughter’s real estate appraiser license in 2020,” the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.
New York Times: “The government estimates that as many as 2,500 people who took part in the events of Jan. 6 could be charged with federal crimes. That includes more than 1,000 incidents that prosecutors believe could be assaults.”
“As of this week, more than 225 people have been accused of attacking or interfering with the police that day. About 275 have been charged with what the government describes as the chief political crime on Jan. 6: obstructing Congress’s duty to certify the 2020 presidential vote count. A little over 300 people have been charged with petty crimes alone, mostly trespassing and disorderly conduct.”
“But a big question hangs over the prosecutions: Will the Justice Department move beyond charging the rioters themselves?”
A Trump confidant told Playbook that a small group of his close allies confronted the former president and got him to change his mind. They made the case that the news conference would “be playing into the media’s hands.”
New York Times: “Among other things, several advisors – formal and informal – told him the press conference was a mistake and it was becoming clear he wasn’t likely to get the live TV coverage he was hoping for.”
“The House’s January 6th Committee is considering rare prime-time hearings to help build a maximum audience for testimony about what happened during the Capitol riot, one year ago tomorrow,” Axios reports.
Playbook: “Republicans don’t want to talk about Jan. 6. Period. End of story.”
“On a private call Tuesday, House GOP leaders encouraged their members to stick to attacking President Joe Biden — or, at most, talk about ongoing security concerns at the Capitol.”
Cook Political Report: “The surprising good news for Democrats: on the current trajectory, there will be a few more Biden-won districts after redistricting than there are now — producing a congressional map slightly less biased in the GOP’s favor than the last decade’s. The bad news for Democrats: if President Biden’s approval ratings are still mired in the low-to-mid 40s in November, that won’t be enough to save their razor-thin House majority (currently 221 to 212 seats).”
Key takeaway: “Because Democrats currently possess the lion’s share of marginal seats, estimating the practical effect of new lines in 2022 still points towards a wash or a slight GOP gain.”
Punchbowl News: “This week – the first week of 2022 – has turned into a dud for Senate Democrats. Snow kept the Senate out Monday and Tuesday. A bunch of Senate Republicans are going to Atlanta Thursday for the late GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (Ga.) funeral. Thursday also happens to be the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. So that leaves just today for the Senate to be in session at full throttle.”
“The question now for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is whether Democrats can salvage the month of January? Where’s a possible win on the horizon for the Democratic majority?”
Axios: Omicron, snowstorm thwart Schumer’s midterm year quick start.
Twitter pounced on Vice President Kamala Harris after she tweeted about the U.S. “moving again” as hundreds of people were stranded on Interstate 95 in Virginia, the New York Post reports.
“As the new year opens, President Biden faces an increasingly narrow path to fulfill his ambitious goal of slashing the greenhouse gases generated by the United States that are helping to warm the planet to dangerous levels,” the New York Times reports.
“His Build Back Better Act, which contains $555 billion in proposed climate action, is in limbo on Capitol Hill. The Supreme Court is set to hear a pivotal case in February that could significantly restrict his authority to regulate the carbon dioxide that spews from power plants and is driving climate change. And the midterm elections loom in November, threatening his party’s control of Congress. Since Republicans have shown little appetite for climate action, a Republican takeover of one or both chambers could freeze movement for years.”
“The mounting challenges make the next few months critical to secure the safety of the planet as well as Mr. Biden’s climate legacy.”
Chicago Teachers Union members are refusing to work in person, Crain’s Chicago Business reports.
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.