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The stimulus' strangest Senate bedfellows? Maybe Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley.

Driving the news: The push for cash payments as part of more COVID-19 relief has forged an unlikely alliance between the Vermont liberal, 79, and Missouri conservative, 40.

Some of President Trump's advisers are trying to convince him that if he vetoes a defense reauthorization bill that could pass Friday, his fellow Republicans won't sustain it and he'll risk losing credibility with the troops, sources with direct knowledge of the conversations tell Axios.

Behind the scenes: In private conversations, Trump seems to believe Republicans would ultimately bend to his will and support a veto. He argues the bill needs a provision repealing protections for social media companies, but several confidants have tried to persuade him his fellow Republicans don't agree.

Lloyd Austin will begin courtesy calls with Congress next week, but his nomination to be Defense secretary may not even make it out of committee unless Republicans help grant the waiver he needs to hold the job, people familiar with the matter say.

The big picture: While civil rights groups are hailing Austin’s nomination to be the first Black Defense secretary, some Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee have already said they oppose the waiver, leaving it up to Republicans to rescue him — and some predict the vote will fail in committee.

President-elect Joe Biden is daring Senate Republicans with Cabinet picks and nominees who have grated on the party but also have flaws that could now give the GOP an easy out for rejecting them.

Why it matters: Familiar faces like Denis McDonough, Tom Vilsack and Neera Tanden may be comfort food for the president-elect’s soul, but they're flashbacks to an era wherein Republicans sought to obstruct Democratic people and policies.

President Trump announced a deal with Morocco on Thursday that included two major provisions: Morocco will establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and the U.S. will recognize Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Why it matters: The U.S. is now the only Western country to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, reversing decades of U.S. policy. With six weeks left in his term, Trump provided Morocco a diplomatic breakthrough for which it has lobbied for decades.

1. Vaccine: FDA advisory panel endorses Pfizer vaccine for emergency use.
2. Politics: Dem-led committee investigating pandemic accuses CDC of deleting evidence — Trump's departing pandemic failure — Bipartisan lawmakers unveil $908B coronavirus relief plan.
3. Health: Wealthy and connected get antibody COVID treatments unavailable to most Americans — Middle America still racking up a ton of new cases — Health disparities are worse in the U.S. than in any other wealthy country.
4. World: Israel's vaccination campaign to begin Dec. 27 — UAE says Chinese vaccine is 86% effective after trial — Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine data hacked from European Medicines Agency breach.
5. Sports: Most expensive stadium ever built could finish NFL season without hosting a fan — The benefits of athletes as "vaccine-influencers."
6. Axios-Ipsos poll: Americans' coronavirus fears are stronger than they've been in months.

106 House Republicans on Thursday signed a court filing in support of the Texas lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the millions of votes in four battleground states that President-elect Joe Biden won.

Why it matters: By signing the amicus brief, the GOP members are encouraging the Supreme Court to hear arguments in the case, even though all 50 states have certified their election results and no evidence of widespread fraud exists.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended the approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use on Thursday in a 17-4 vote that included one abstention.

Why it matters: The FDA is expected to make a final decision on the vaccine within days. If the emergency use authorization is approved, millions of doses will be shipped to vaccinate health care workers and nursing home residents, though the general public is not expected to have access to the vaccine until spring, according to AP.

Airbnb began trading Thursday on the Nasdaq at a valuation north of $100 billion, which is more than Marriott, Hilton and Expedia combined.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the year's largest IPO, and how Airbnb has navigated a perilous year for travel and hospitality, with company co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky.

Once 75%–80% of people get vaccinated against the coronavirus, there should be strong enough herd immunity that we can return to normal activities, NIAID director Anthony Fauci tells Axios.

Driving the news: The FDA is meeting with outside experts today as the agency considers granting an emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech for their COVID-19 vaccine. A similar meeting is slated for next week to discuss a vaccine developed by Moderna.

All lives are equally valuable. That's the strong consensus emerging from the many different countries and organizations that have struggled with the question of who should get first access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Why it matters: The current scarcity of the vaccine looks like an economics problem — too much demand, and not enough supply. But no one is seriously proposing a market-based solution, where the vaccine goes first to those willing and able to pay to jump to the front of the line.

While Airbnb is surging on the stock market, its fundamental business might not be quite as healthy as I thought back in September, when an Edison Trends report showed consumers spending 86% more money with the company than they did during the same week of 2019.

Why it matters: Edison Trends strips out any transactions over a certain amount — in this case, $30,000. There are still outliers near that amount, however, — very expensive rentals for multiple months, perhaps — that can skew the aggregates. When the company went back to re-run its data with a different cohort of users, the difference between 2019 and 2020 largely disappeared.

The European Commission published a series of contingency measures on Thursday to ensure that basic air and road connectivity are maintained in the increasingly likely event that a free trade agreement is not reached with the U.K. by the end of the Brexit transition period.

Why it matters: It's the surest sign yet that the U.K. is headed for a cliff-edge Brexit on Dec. 31, coming one day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels and failed to make progress on major sticking points.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday she doesn't have "any concern" about Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), after an Axios investigation revealed the congressman was targeted by a suspected Chinese spy seeking to gain access to U.S. political circles up until 2015.

Driving the news: Pelosi called for closer examination of Chinese activities "in terms of their undue influence at universities in our country and the overtures they've tried to make to members of Congress," but stopped short of saying that lawmakers should run background checks on everyone they work with.

President-elect Biden will name former National Security Adviser Susan Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council, the Biden transition team confirmed Thursday — a significant change from her previous roles that would put her in charge of major portions of his “Build Back Better” plan.

Between the lines: Rice was previously considered for Cabinet positions including Secretary of State, but she would have faced steep confirmation odds given her history of clashes with some GOP senators and as a flashpoint over Benghazi. The DPC role does not require Senate confirmation.

Morocco has agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, President Trump announced on Thursday. The Moroccan decision comes as part of a deal that includes U.S. recognition of the disputed territory of Western Sahara as part of Morocco.

Why it matters: Morocco is the fourth Arab country to move toward normalization with Israel in the last four months as part of the Trump administration's "Abraham Accords" initiative. But the deal also involves a change in long-standing U.S. policy with just six weeks left in Trump's term.

President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday announced he will nominate Denis McDonough — who served as chief of staff for former President Barack Obama — to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs.

The big picture: McDonough is the latest former Obama team member Biden has picked for his cabinet and follows his selection of Susan Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council. She previously served as national security adviser and UN ambassador during Obama's presidency.

About 853,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment insurance‌ last‌ week, up from 716,000 the week before and 123,000 more than economists had projected.

Why it matters: It's the highest number of new jobless claims since Sept. 19, per AP, and an indicator that labor market is heading in the wrong direction.

Pornhub tightened its rules around violent and underage content this week. Those changes are a good start, experts say, but they won't be sufficient to combat a growing problem of non-consensual videos.

Why it matters: The New York Times story, by Nick Kristof, reported that Pornhub's vast user-generated content library contains plenty of revenge porn and videos with underage participants. It also details the harm that being on Pornhub can cause for people whose videos were posted without their consent.

The Midwest and Great Plains regions, parts of which have already struggled with overwhelmed hospitals, continue to lead the U.S. with the densest concentration of coronavirus cases.

The big picture: With winter approaching — and widespread vaccination still several months away — the virus is spreading with dangerous ease.

Middle-income housing across America — particularly in big coastal cities — is growing scarcer than ever, as the wealthy bid up properties that might once have been considered "affordable."

Why it matters: The pandemic's effects on the housing market may turn out to be permanent — and could widen the gap between rich and poor. Renters and buyers alike face rising prices that outstrip income growth and favor people with cash savings.

Yesterday's landmark lawsuits against Facebook cap four years in which tech companies' national standing has turned upside-down even as their fortunes have boomed.

When Vice President Joe Biden left office in Jan. 2017, Facebook, Google and other tech giants had the proud luster of American success stories. When President Biden takes office next month, his government will be charging Facebook and Google both as harmful monopolists — and pushing to break Facebook up.

Socioeconomic disparities in health care are significantly worse in the U.S. than in other wealthy countries, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, published in Health Affairs.

Why it matters: Wealthy Americans have long had better access to care — and therefore better outcomes — than poor Americans. And the coronavirus' disproportionate impact on low-income Americans and people of color has made those disparities glaringly obvious.

Newsmax is working to pull ahead of conservative rival Fox News, trying to lure away its vital booking agents with promises of higher salaries, two people who have been contacted by Newsmax tell me.

Why it matters: The battle to serve as the venue of choice for conservative viewers has intensified as President Trump has chastised Fox for declaring Joe Biden the election winner and Newsmax has pandered to his believers.

Progressives like Bernie Sanders say they "have not" seen Joe Biden respect their election-winning power so far and deserve more Cabinet and top-level picks in his burgeoning administration.

Why it matters: Many from the Democratic left actively campaigned for — or bit their tongues — while Biden worked to finish off Donald Trump in the general election. Now, they expect their payoff but have been confused and disappointed so far.

Some Senate Republicans are refusing to commit to confirmation hearings or votes for Joe Biden's Cabinet picks while election challenges from President Trump and others continue to play out.

Why it matters: The foot-dragging could prevent the president-elect from having key team members in place on Day One — just six weeks from today.