The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that the confirmation hearing for William Barr, President Trump's nominee for attorney general, will be held on Jan. 15 and 16.
The big picture: If confirmed by the committee, Barr will be take over for acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. Barr is a controversial AG pick who has previously called special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into question.
After meeting with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday, congressional leaders said they failed to find a solution that would end the government shutdown and plan to meet again on Friday.
The state of play: House Democrats plan to pass a short-term spending bill Thursday that does not include funding for Trump's border wall. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate won’t take up the House bill if President Trump won’t sign it, and suggested that it could take "weeks" to reach an agreement.
Former presidential candidate and Sen.-elect Mitt Romney told CNN's Jake Tapper Wednesday that it was too early for him to endorse President Trump for 2020, saying, "I want to see what the alternatives are."
Why it matters: Romney's comments come just a day after he harshly criticized Trump in a Washington Post op-ed. The piece received backlash from some conservatives and the president, who tweeted, "I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN."
Top Democrats unveiled a series of proposed changes to House rules Tuesday night, including the creation of a select committee on climate change and an exemption to a ban on hats that would allow members to wear religious headwear on the floor of the House.
The big picture: The rules overhaul is already being opposed by progressive Democrats Ro Khanna and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have said they will vote against the package because of the "pay as you go" (PAYGO) rule — which requires any increase in entitlement spending be offset by paring back other entitlement programs. If more than 16 Democrats defectand no Republicans vote for the package, the Democratic majority won’t be able to pass the package as is.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Wednesday that she is “getting close to a decision” on whether to run for president in 2020, the Star Tribune reports.
Why it matters: Several Democrats are expected to announce their 2020 candidacies in the next several weeks. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro have each formed presidential exploratory committees in recent weeks.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called President Trump "amoral" and "the worst president we've ever had" in a profile by Mark Leibovich for The New York Times Magazine.
The big picture: The 79-year-old Nevada Democrat was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and "does not have long to live," according to Leibovich. Reid also defended his consequential 2013 decision to remove the legislative filibuster for judicial appointees, which has allowed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to push through dozens of Trump nominees, saying, "We had over 100 judges that we couldn’t get approved, so I had no choice. Either Obama’s presidency would be a joke or Obama’s presidency would be one of fruition."
President Trump responded to Sen.-elect Mitt Romney's harsh criticisms of his presidency Wednesday, and asked for the Utah Republican's focus to be on border security and to "be a TEAM player."
Background: On Tuesday, Romney criticized Trump in an op-ed for the Washington Post. "[H]is conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office."
On Day 12 of the shutdown, President Trump plans to hold today's meeting with congressional leaders in the Situation Room as a way of dramatizing security concerns at the border, according to Hill sources in both parties.
The big picture: Top House and Senate leaders from both parties RSVP'd "yes" to yesterday's invitation and will attend, I'm told. Talks were on ice over the holidays, lending drama to face-to-face negotiations despite widespread skepticism about a breakthrough.
After two months of behind-the-scenes jockeying since the midterms, the Democrats' race for president is about to burst into the open with a series of candidacy announcements and staff hires, 2020 operatives tell me.
What's happening: "This has been a slow dance," one top strategist said. "No one was in a rush — people said they would make a decision over the holidays. Now, the pace is about to change fast."
With their very first vote when the new Congress opens tomorrow, House Democrats plan to pounce on one of Republicans' biggest political vulnerabilities, the lawsuit to wipe out the Affordable Care Act.
The state of play: A congressional source tells me that a key provision tucked in House Dems' 14-page opening-day rules package, "Restoring Congress for the People," focuses on the federal judge in Texas who struck down the ACA (which remains in effect during appeals).
Two days before he'll be sworn in as the newest senator from Utah, Mitt Romney criticized President Trump as having "not risen to the mantle of the office” in an op-ed for the Washington Post.
The big picture: After excoriating Trump in a scripted appearance during the 2016 campaign, Romney has largely held his tongue in the first two years of the Trump presidency and stayed under the radar as he made — and won — his bid for the Senate.
