DISASTER AID STATE OF PLAY House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Tuesday that negotiators are now “closing the gaps” in disaster aid negotiations. On the other side of the Capitol, incoming Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday night that dealmakers are “at the point where we're in serious negotiations and trading,” after having “worked all weekend” toward a deal. “Nothing is final yet.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he “remains hopeful and determined” that a deal can be reached on disaster aid “with a serious show of bipartisan cooperation.” Topline lost in the fog: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whose state was devastated by Hurricane Helene, is estimating the disaster bill will total “somewhere south” of the nearly $100 billion the White House outlined last month. “But not too far south,” Tillis added. — Katherine Tully-McManus and Jennifer Scholtes WEAPONIZATION TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan told Inside Congress on Tuesday that the “weaponization” select subcommittee will close up shop at the end of the year and get folded into Judiciary Committee work more broadly next Congress. “I think we’re planning on keeping some focus of that, but within the Judiciary, not as a separate select,” Jordan (R-Ohio) said, adding that the full panel would “continue our work” on areas, including censorship. It’s a shift from earlier this fall, when Jordan was actively pitching the subcommittee to remain active for the 119th Congress. But the subcommittee has also garnered plenty of criticism from Democrats — and some Republicans — who believe it was an attention-grabbing idea that hasn’t amounted to much. The subcommittee, which is also headed by Jordan, was the home for investigating the GOP’s claims of conservative bias within the federal government, including holding hearings on surveillance, Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Trump and “lawfare.” But its future has been the subject of speculation for months. Asked if it should continue, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), one of the loudest proponents for creating the select subcommittee, told us in a recent interview that the subcommittee “has only touched the surface of the things that need to be discovered about the abuse of the rights and privileges of the American people,” but that he thought the next chapter would shift to the Trump administration. “I’m going to look to those tools for the next chapter,” he said, adding that he didn’t expect the subcommittee’s approach was going to make “rapid enough progress.” — Jordain Carney
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