•President Biden attends a private funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., today, for his longtime Senate colleague, Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas.
•WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears bound for extradition to the U.S. after the High Court of London overturned a lower court ruling that his mental health was too fragile for the criminal justice system (AP). The U.S. extradition request has been sent to Britain’s interior minister for review.
No Build Back Better This Year – The Consumer Price Index rose 0.8% in November, for an annual rate of 6.8%, a number that ought to put the kabosh on the Senate moving forward the White House’s $1.75-trillion Build Back Better social infrastructure program at least for the remainder of the year. As in October, when the CPI rose 0.9%, for a 6.2% annual rate, gasoline, shelter, food and used cars and trucks led the high inflation rate, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its monthly report. Energy was up 3.5%, the gas index was up 6.1%, food was up 0.7% and food at home was up 0.8%.
Note: The White House may take just a bit of comfort with the fact that the November CPI “was the fastest pace since 1982,” according to The Wall Street Journal … President Ronald Reagan’s second full year in office.
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Or, Does it Still Have a Chance? – Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) still hopes to get a vote on BBB before the Senate flies out of town for the holiday recess. Punchbowl News Friday outlines the Will it? Won’t it? arguments, and it’s worth a read, but the top reason for why it won’t get a vote is Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV), and if that’s not convincing enough, the website notes Senate Democrats haven’t written the bill, yet.
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Beat the Devil – New York State Attorney General Letitia James has suspended her campaign for governor and instead will run for re-election next November, meanwhile concentrating on pushing to depose ex-President Trump in January for the civil fraud investigation of the Trump Organization. This scoopage comes courtesy The Washington Post.
The investigation is looking into whether the Trump Organization valued property it has held at low rates for tax purposes and at much-higher rates for banking and investment purposes.
Note to Senate Democrats: This is what it takes to get business done by January – spend less time worrying about upcoming elections.
Note to Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon: Politico portrays the New York AG’s priorities as part of Trump’s bad day Thursday. A federal court of appeals rejected the ex-president’s claims of executive privilege to block the National Archives from turning over documents from his White House to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Trump could still appeal to the Supreme Court for an emergency ruling.
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Schiff to House Republicans: Stop Fearing The Donald – The House Thursday passed along party lines Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) Protect Our Democracy Act to place new limits on executive branch power and subject presidential candidates to more disclosure (looking at you, Trump tax returns). Just one Republican joined all Democrats in its passage, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois (yes, he’s retiring next year).
The bill is why it’s time for Democrats to “abandon their obsession with Donald Trump,” Rep. James R. Comer (R-KY), retorted in opposing the legislation, according to Roll Call’s report. Comer called it “bad policy that diminishes the power of the executive branch.”
Schiff said Republicans should support the bill, but they “live in utter fear” of ex-President Trump.
Comer also warned of GOP retaliation after re-taking the House in next year’s mid-terms.
“I think that’s fair game. And I can promise the American people that very soon there will be this type of oversight for the Biden administration and the president’s son, Hunter,” he said.
Note: The Protect Our Democracy Act has no chance against a Republican filibuster in the Senate.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Charles Dervarics