The first 10 days of 2024 have pulled back the curtain on the core incentive animating the House GOP's election-year agenda:

• Don't do anything that could potentially rescue President Biden's dreadful approval rating.

Why it matters: Every opposition party strives to be a thorn in the side of the administration in power. But Trump-allied Republicans in Congress appear to be taking their role a step further, stifling any hint of bipartisan compromise while actively pushing to impeach Biden and his top officials.

Driving the news: One of Biden's top vulnerabilities is the migrant crisis, an issue that has overwhelmed cities across the country and spurred substantive bipartisan negotiations in the Senate.

• But while Senate Republicans appear to be working in good faith on a deal to impose new border restrictions, House Republicans are signaling they have no intention of bailing Biden out on his biggest liability.
• "I will not help the Democrats try to improve this man's dismal approval ratings. I'm not going to do it. Why would I?" Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told CNN last week.

Zoom in: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has vowed not to support any border compromise that doesn't contain the GOP's hardline H.R. 2 bill, which would codify some of former President Trump's strictest border policies.

• Johnson told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday that Republicans would "die on that hill" — despite being well aware the legislation could never pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

In the meantime, House Republicans are plowing ahead on their efforts to impeach both Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

• House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) suggested this week that Attorney General Merrick Garland also could be targeted with impeachment if Hunter Biden isn't arrested on contempt charges.

Between the lines: Comments Trump made this week crystalize the extremes to which some Republicans appear willing to go to damage Biden ahead of the election.

• The GOP front-runner predicted in an interview Monday that the economy will crash — and said he hopes it happens on Biden's watch.
• "When there's a crash, I hope it's going to be during this next 12 months because I don't want to be Herbert Hoover," Trump said, referring to the president who oversaw the onset of the Great Depression.

What to watch: Negotiations over the child tax credit (CTC) will be a key litmus test for whether House Republicans are willing to grant Biden any semblance of a legislative victory this year.

• House and Senate negotiators are inching closer to a deal to resurrect the CTC in exchange for restoring popular business tax benefits, but GOP leadership's lack of involvement in the talks could present a huge obstacle.
• "I haven't even had a chance to look at it yet," Johnson told CNBC when asked about the potential deal today.

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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suspended his presidential campaign tonight, bringing an abrupt end to the GOP's only explicitly anti-Trump candidacy just five days before the Iowa caucuses.

Driving the news: Christie used his drop-out speech to excoriate — by name — Republicans who he said entered politics "for the right reasons" but have gone on to bend the knee to Trump out of cowardice.

• That includes Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) — two Trump skeptics and members of congressional GOP leadership who have endorsed the former president in recent days.
• "There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain," Christie warned in his blistering speech.

Why it matters: Christie had no path to the nomination and is reviled by the GOP base, but his steady bloc of support in New Hampshire was viewed as an impediment to Haley's chances of defeating Trump there on Jan. 23.

• Christie — who did not endorse anyone in his drop-out speech — has defended Haley at times, but he's also criticized her for "enabling" Trump by downplaying his lack of fitness for office.
• And on a hot mic prior to walking out on stage, Christie was caught remarking that Haley is going to get "smoked" by Trump and that she's "not up for this."

The bottom line: "Anybody unwilling to say Trump is unfit to be president is unfit themselves to be president," Christie said.

A group of right-wing House Republicans sabotaged their own party's bills today in protest of a spending deal between Speaker Johnson and Senate Democrats, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

Why it matters: The shock move marks a return to the hardball tactics hardliners employed under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to retaliate against bipartisan deals before they ultimately removed him.

What they're saying: The vote — which tanked procedural motion to advance a package of GOP measures unrelated to the spending deal — left establishment Republicans and Johnson allies stunned

• "No words. ... I have no ability to come up with the words to describe where we are," said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.).
• Another House Republican, asked for their thoughts, told Axios: "I'm out of thoughts."

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Biden was advised last year by the White House Counsel's office that giving big-dollar donors tours of the Oval Office might raise legal issues, Axios' Alex Thompson and Hans Nichols report.

Why it matters: Biden has since stopped the practice, but he has recently hosted donors inside the residence for private meals and briefings to help energize them and show he has a plan to beat Trump.

• The donor outreach has caused some concern in the White House Counsel's office, which has allowed the lunches and dinners to proceed with clear restrictions — including on where the meals can take place and who can attend.
• In order to comply with ethics laws, the donors are not directly solicited for donations and events are required to take place in either the White House map room, the old family dining room or the tennis pavilion on the ground's south lawn.

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