It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy.

[link removed]
[link removed]
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.

A STORMY DAY ON THE HILL
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews ([link removed])
Correspondent

Two years ago, I pinned a tweet — now called “X posts” — to the top of my account.

It reads: “For those not picking up on it: today is an extra weird day on Capitol Hill. ([link removed]) ”

As we head into what may be brutal end-of-year wrestling matches on the Hill, what’s old is new again. We just had another particularly weird day. Substantive and weird.

Ukraine

We expected the precarious state of U.S. funding for Ukraine to dominate the day, with talks over the aid to move toward a “do-or-die” state.

And indeed, the stormy weather around the issue has become stormier.

This week, the Biden administration wrote to leaders in Congress ([link removed]) , warning that it would run out of money to send weapons and other assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year.

Members have debated the president’s request for billions more in aid ([link removed]) for weeks.

Per Republicans in the room, House Speaker Mike Johnson told his House colleagues this morning that he is laying down the gauntlet and will reject any Ukrainian aid deal that does not include the conservative border security bill known as H.R. 2.

For Democratic senators, that is a non-starter.

“They are not talking about changes in asylum policy,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy., told the PBS NewsHour. “They are demanding changes that shut down the border.”

Meanwhile, Republican military hawks are leaning into border demands, pointing to what they see as a national security crisis ([link removed]) .

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who supports Ukraine aid, told us, “If there are not serious reforms at the border to secure the border, we’re not going vote for it.” He started to walk away and added, “We’re not bluffing.”

Then, the dramatic turns kept coming.

President Volodymyr Zelensky unexpectedly canceled on senators who were expecting to see him Tuesday, via Zoom, at a classified briefing.

A Ukrainian official told our Nick Schifrin that the cancellation was “due to a difficult situation on the frontline”.

Where we are: The Ukrainian president is trying to survive a conventional war ([link removed]) on his territory and a political one in the United States. Currently, there is not a clear path forward for any deal to give Ukraine additional funding.

Military officers

There were more surprises today.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., announced he is ending his monthslong block ([link removed]) on the usual path for military promotions.

Since February, ([link removed]) Tuberville has blocked the Senate from passing military promotions in groups, something Senate leaders see as a necessary process for the hundreds of nominees involved. This was a result of Tuberville’s objection to the Pentagon’s policy of paying for travel for service members who, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, have to go out of state for abortion services.

Where we are: After nine months with hundreds of military personnel and families waiting, the Senate is now moving nominations of top military brass forward. Senators hope to get most — if not all — of the list approved by Christmas.

This was a win for the Pentagon and Senate Democrats who waited out Tuberville.

In the end, he backed down with no change in Pentagon policy ([link removed]) . Though, it is not entirely a loss for him. Anti-abortion groups now see him as an ally willing to block some of the highest priority nominations for their cause.
More on politics from our coverage:
* Watch: How Republican hopefuls are campaigning in Iowa ([link removed]) with six weeks until caucuses.
* One Big Question: What to expect from the fourth GOP debate? NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter discuss ([link removed]) .
* A Closer Look: The Supreme Court heard arguments in one of the most important corporate bankruptcy cases ([link removed]) in decades, involving the players at the center of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.
* Perspectives: Thai workers held hostage by Hamas describe the kidnappings ([link removed]) and their recovery after the release.

How has PBS NewsHour coverage has been useful in your life or work?
Please tell us your stories here. ([link removed])

[link removed]
VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS MAKES HISTORY AGAIN

[link removed]

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews ([link removed])
Correspondent

Kyle Midura, @KyleMidura ([link removed])
Politics Producer

With her 32nd tie-breaking vote ([link removed]) Tuesday, Kamala Harris clinched the record for most tie-breaking votes cast by any vice president in Senate history. She surpassed John C. Calhoun, who previously set the record with 31 tie-breaking votes.

It’s unlikely Calhoun, a white supremacist who argued slavery was good for Black people, ever imagined someone like Harris in the Senate, much less casting its deciding vote.

“Occupying those spaces as a Black woman or woman of color, I think [the history-making moment] is unprecedented,” Kellie Carter Jackson, a historian and professor at Wellesley College told the NewsHour. “But I also think that what is interesting is that when you compare her leadership alongside someone like John C. Calhoun, the two couldn't be further apart.”

To mark the milestone, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York presented Harris with a tiny golden gavel ([link removed]) after Tuesday’s vote to end debate over a new federal judge in Washington, D.C.

Later in the day, Harris further cemented her record, casting her 33rd tie-breaking vote ([link removed]) to finally confirm the same nominee.

THE SHRINKING GOP FIELD
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage ([link removed])
Senior Editor, Digital

Six major Republican presidential candidates remain heading into the fourth GOP debate on Wednesday ([link removed]) .

We’re now a little more than a month away from the Iowa caucuses ([link removed]) .

The GOP primary field, which at one point had more than 12 candidates, shrank even further when North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suspended his 2024 campaign ([link removed]) on Monday. Upon his exit, he criticized the Republican National Committee’s “clubhouse debate requirements,” saying they are “nationalizing the primary process.”
[link removed]
Image by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour
Burgum, who failed to qualify for the third debate, was not on track to meet the criteria for Wednesday’s debate. Burgum’s exit follows the abrupt end ([link removed]) to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s 2024 bid in November. Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the race ([link removed]) weeks earlier.

Who’s on the debate stage? Four Republican candidates qualified for Wednesday’s debate. That would be: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Govs. Nikki Haley and Chris Christie, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Criteria included whether candidates had reached at least 6 percent in two national polls or 6 percent in one national and two early-state polls. If you’re still with me, that would be Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Who’s missing from the debate stage? Most notably, Donald Trump. The former president has decided to not participate in any of the primary debates. And yet, despite that absence — or perhaps because of it — Trump has dominated the GOP primary, in funding ([link removed]) and polls. And then there’s Asa Hutchinson, who failed to meet criteria for debates since he participated in the first one.

The pressure to find a Trump alternative is mounting. As we have covered before ([link removed]) , 2024 is shaping up to be a dead heat between Trump and President Joe Biden. And Trump’s rivals are running out of time to present themselves as a Republican alternative. While DeSantis’ campaign has struggled, especially in recent weeks ([link removed]) , Haley, also a former U.N. ambassador, has enjoyed a boost in attention, including through a ringing endorsement.

Americans for Prosperity, a powerful political arm backed by Charles Koch, formally endorsed Haley last week ([link removed]) , promising to support her campaign with its vast network of resources. The group, which had strong ties to DeSantis, said the Florida governor has been a “good ally and a champion of many policy positions of AFP,” an unnamed source told NBC News. “But Nikki Haley also was an early ally, going back to the Tea Party movement when she ran for governor of South Carolina, and is also aligned on the issues.”

What was a loss to DeSantis, is a boon to Haley.

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage ([link removed])
Senior Editor, Digital

On this date, George Washington was unanimously reelected, receiving 132 electoral votes in 1792, the second presidential election. John Adams was also reelected vice president.

But another anniversary caught our eyes, involving a U.S. president who hasn’t appeared as much in the annals of HTD trivia.

Our question: This president triggered the Gold Rush of ‘49 when he confirmed that gold had been found in the California territory. Who was it?

Send your answers to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.

Last week, we asked: Which U.S. president is believed to have first used the word “unprecedented”?

The answer: Andrew Jackson ([link removed]) . According to available documents from The American Presidency Project ([link removed]) , Jackson was the first president to set the precedent for presidents using the word “unprecedented” in major speeches and addresses.

Congratulations to our winners: Beverley Chang and Bill James!

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.
[link removed]
Want more news and analysis in your inbox?
Explore all of the PBS NewsHour's newsletters ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
[link removed]

============================================================
Copyright © 2023 WETA, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
3620 South 27th Street
Arlington, VA 22206

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])