| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | PARDON ME — PEACH and BLOSSOM, a pair of turkeys from Minnesota, were the lucky recipients of President JOE BIDEN’s ceremonial Thanksgiving pardon this morning. Noting that it was “my last time to speak here as your president during this season,” Biden said, “it’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful.” More from ABC THE ANOINTMENT — President-elect DONALD TRUMP gave his preemptive endorsement to JIMMY PATRONIS if the Florida CFO jumps into the special election for former Rep. MATT GAETZ’s seat. HEADING FOR THE EXITS — U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York DAMIAN WILLIAMS said today that he’ll resign in December. More from the N.Y. Daily News
|  President-elect Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to go big, early, on drilling and natural gas exports. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images | DRILL, BABY, DRILL — Trump is planning a suite of actions to give fossil fuels a big boost right from the jump when he takes office, Reuters’ Jarrett Renshaw scooped. The package coming as soon as Day One would include the green light for new and pending liquefied natural gas export permits, and for new and pending drilling plans offshore and on federal lands. The symbolic approval of the Keystone Pipeline is expected. Trump will also seek to roll back tax credits for electric vehicles and clean power plant standards, and get funding to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, though many of those plans will take time and/or require Congress. Withholding funds from the International Energy Agency unless it becomes more pro-oil is also a possibility. Trump and the Hill GOP have a lot of power to go after EVs, NYT’s Lawrence Ulrich reports. If Republicans repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s crucial $7,500 federal tax credit for buying electric, recent estimates forecast a 27 percent plunge in sales, as has happened in other countries. Without Congress, Trump could still limit the tax credit. And even Tesla’s ELON MUSK supports the unwinding. Taken together, Trump’s actions will amount to a major win for the oil and gas industry, which Republicans hope will lower energy costs and boost the U.S. economy. But environmentalists are alarmed at the prospect of unleashing more emissions and hamstringing the global effort to fight climate change. California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM is trying to step into the breach: He said today that he’ll propose rebates for Californians to buy EVs if Washington eliminates the tax credit, NYT’s Lisa Friedman, Soumya Karlamangla and Shawn Hubler report.
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Learn more. | | | But with Republicans’ margins so tight in Congress, even taking aim at EVs could be a tall order, WSJ’s Richard Rubin reports in a broader look at plans for the big tax bill. Rep. DARIN LaHOOD (R-Ill.), for one, suggests a gradual “ramp down” and says “I don’t think you can just boldly cut it off.” Clean-energy incentives will be just one of many legislative fights for Republicans, as the tax bill presents a big test of how many of their priorities they can squeeze in amid strict reconciliation rules and deficit concerns. But House Budget Chair JODEY ARRINGTON (R-Texas) tells Rubin he wants to move fast, with “a budget that sets fiscal parameters for the bill” coming in the first handful of days after the new session begins. Medicaid and food stamps may be on the chopping block for cuts. And there could be fights over the state and local tax deduction, too. On the flip side: The White House today is touting a major milestone, having invested $1 trillion into private-sector manufacturing and technology, from clean energy to semiconductor chips, Axios’ Courtenay Brown reports. Related read: “The US is on the cusp of a nuclear renaissance. One problem: Americans are terrified of the waste,” by CNN’s Ella Nilsen and Bill Weir in Buchanan, New York: “[T]he perception of danger is a hurdle quickly becoming one of the country’s biggest obstacles to uploading a glut of climate-friendly energy onto the grid. … [F]ederal officials are pleading with communities to say yes to storing spent fuel. No state has yet raised its hand to store the country’s nuclear energy waste, despite the lucrative deals it could foment.” Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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Scott Bessent says his top focus would be tax cuts as Treasury secretary. | Matt Kelley/AP Photo | 1. FINANCIAL PLANNING: Treasury secretary pick SCOTT BESSENT tells WSJ’s Peter Rudegeair and Gregory Zuckerman that tax cuts would be his No. 1 priority, along with imposing tariffs, slashing federal spending and protecting the dollar as a reserve currency. It’s part of his broader vision for a “grand global economic reordering” that is on the way. But Bessent’s relative moderation on tariffs could be a reprieve for China, Bloomberg writes. And Wall Street is overall relieved that Bessent was chosen, viewing him as a reasonable realist, Sam Sutton reports. Related reads: Rep. FRENCH HILL (R-Ark.) may not win his bid to be House Financial Services chair, but the banker is set to get significant pro-cryptocurrency legislation passed, WSJ’s Corrie Driebusch reports. … Stock markets surging in the wake of optimism around Trump’s election could paradoxically push the Fed’s inflation gauge higher, Bloomberg’s Augusta Saraiva notes. 2. REMOVING THE GUARDRAILS: “Fears are growing that Trump could push out dozens of government watchdogs,” by Josh Gerstein and Nahal Toosi: “A wave of departures by inspectors general would give President-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to nominate or appoint people of his choice to the watchdog posts — leaving dozens of federal departments, agencies and offices subject to oversight by people who would owe their positions to Trump. … Trump allies have urged the president-elect to clean house … ‘Everyone is just a nervous wreck,’ said a staffer in one IG office.” Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa), a longtime supporter of IGs, tells our colleagues that he’ll continue defending them and that Trump should not remove them en masse. 3. ON THE WORLD STAGE: As Israel and Lebanon get close to a cease-fire in the Hezbollah conflict, Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU has signed off on the deal “in principle,” CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reports. One senior U.S. official tells Axios’ Barak Ravid that they believe the deal has been reached, with Israeli cabinet signoff coming tomorrow. Israeli Ambassador MICHAEL HERZOG said today that it could happen within days, per Bloomberg. But some final details of the U.S.-backed proposal are still being ironed out. Trying to end the wars between Israel/Hamas and Israel/Hezbollah is a top priority for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting today in Italy, AP’s Nicole Winfield reports from Fiuggi. Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and other allies are trying to nail down a “day after” plan for Gaza once that war finally ends. In the West Bank, meanwhile, Palestinians are worried that forcible evictions by Israel will ramp up under new U.S. ambassador MIKE HUCKABEE, CNN’s Nic Robertson reports. Ukraine is also top of mind at the G7 confab. And on the ground in the Kursk region of Russia, Ukrainian forces are desperately trying to hold onto the territory they’ve seized, as they expect Trump to push both sides toward a negotiated settlement, WSJ’s Ian Lovett and Nikita Nikolaienko report from Sumy, Ukraine.
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | 4. ANNALS OF INFLUENCE: “‘The epicenter of Trumplandia,’” by Dave Levinthal in Business Insider: “A dozen leading lobbyists … say that having a significant presence in Florida is now an essential part of doing business in Washington. First and foremost, that means hiring lobbyists in the state to work the hallways and links at Mar-a-Lago … Never before, lobbyists say, has the geographic center of power shifted so dramatically with the arrival of a new administration. In many respects, they say, Palm Beach is going to be the new K Street … For Washington lobbyists, that means changing the way they talk about the world to appeal to the hardcore MAGA loyalists.” 5. ALSO HEADING TO MAR-A-LAGO: Conservative activist/filmmaker/writer CHRISTOPHER RUFO is planning to pitch Trump’s team in December on pausing federal funds to universities unless they ax diversity measures, WSJ’s Douglas Belkin reports. The outspoken opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts wants to stamp out affirmative action from anyplace that works with the federal government. And he supports undoing the LYNDON B. JOHNSON executive order creating affirmative action in the government itself. Noteworthy line: “Ultimately, Rufo would like to see the number of Americans who enroll in four-year colleges slashed by more than half.” 6. THE LOYALISTS: “Freedom Caucus Looks to Chart a New, Even Trumpier Path,” by NOTUS’ Riley Rogerson: “Where the Freedom Caucus of the past might have looked at a Trump presidency as an opportunity to enact policies the conservative group wants, the Freedom Caucus now seems to look at its conservative group as a vehicle to bolster the Trump presidency.” 7. THE ABORTION LANDSCAPE: New reporting from ProPublica’s Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana reveals a third Texas woman who suffered a preventable death due to miscarriage complications because doctors didn’t perform a dilation and curettage under the state’s abortion ban. PORSHA NGUMEZI’s death “raises serious questions about how abortion bans are pressuring doctors to diverge from the standard of care.” And from the Rio Grande Valley, The New Yorker’s Stephania Taladrid reports that more and more ob-gyns are leaving the state or retiring early, creating a vacuum of care.
| | | | Don't just read headlines—guide your organization's next move. POLITICO Pro's comprehensive Data Analysis tracks power shifts in Congress, ballot measures, and committee turnovers, giving you the deep context behind every policy decision. Learn more about what POLITICO Pro can do for you. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Angie Craig is the latest challenger for House Agriculture ranking member. Lauren Boebert is on Cameo now. Antonin Scalia wouldn’t love Donald Trump’s recess appointments idea. IN MEMORIAM — “M. Jodi Rell, governor who healed Connecticut after scandals, dies at 78,” by the Hartford Courant’s Christopher Keating: “A highly popular governor with high poll ratings who was known for civility and bipartisanship, Rell won the 2006 governor’s race by a wide margin … [S]he was a compassionate, serious, and tough-minded governor who strove to make improvements in state government that included public financing of political campaigns.” TRANSITIONS — Right Turn Strategies is adding Amy Kremer as VP, Kevin Jenkins, Rob Smith and Kylie Jane Kremer as of counsel, Peter Murray as government affairs specialist and Shawn Gardner as director of marketing and client development. Amy Kremer is the founder of Tea Party Patriots and Women for Trump. … Jackson Long is now a legislative assistant for Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.). He previously was a legislative assistant for Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.). … Avoq is adding Steve Aaron as a partner as it acquires his SRA Communications. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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