Axios

The House voted 335-78 on Tuesday to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes a must-pass $740 million budget for defense spending.

Why it matters: The bill passed with a veto-proof majority. But it remains unclear whether the same number of Republicans would vote to override a presidential veto.

House lawmakers are calling for $1,000 checks to all Americans so they can cope with the economic fallout of the coronavirus, as Democratic progressives use a rare moment of unity to expand their support from moderates.

Driving the news: Amid signs Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans could agree to an end-of-year COVID-19 aid bill with some level of cash stimulus, Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) have filed bipartisan legislation that additional members from both parties would join.

President-elect Biden's COVID checklist includes getting Americans to wear masks as a patriotic duty, vaccinating 50 million people and reopening the majority of schools by the end of April.

Why it matters: The remote learning adopted by many of America's biggest school districts has been a disaster for students and parents alike.

President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as his Agriculture secretary and Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his Housing and Urban Development secretary, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Why it matters: The selection of Vilsack is another example of Biden turning to a trusted friend to serve in a key role.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up Republicans' attempt to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Pennsylvania.

Why it matters: The GOP request was the first petition to delay or overturn election results on behalf of the Trump campaign to reach the high court.

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would nominate retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as his defense secretary.

Why it matters: This will be the second consecutive administration to go against the tradition of civilian control at the Department of Defense. Austin, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, would also be the first Black secretary of defense in American history.

The U.S. Army fired or suspended more than a dozen officials after an investigation into climate and culture at Fort Hood found "multiple failures" in how the Army handles soldier disappearances, deaths and sexual harassment complaints, Army secretary Ryan McCarthy said Tuesday.

Driving the news: The independent review was launched after the murder of 20-year-old Spc. Vanessa Guillén, who told family and friends she had been sexually harassed before she disappeared from Fort Hood in April. Her remains were found in June.

President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said on the WABC radio show Tuesday that he is "doing fine" after being admitted to the hospital following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis on Sunday, noting he has a small cough but no fever.

Why it matters: Giuliani had been traveling the country and meeting with lawmakers, as part of the Trump legal team's push to overturn the results of the election. He has often been seen not wearing a mask at these events.

District Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed the case against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn on Tuesday, declaring it moot after President Trump's pardon last week.

Why it matters: The move by Sullivan, who has been targeted by Trump allies for his refusal to immediately dismiss the case after the Justice Department requested that he do so, brings an end to a three-year prosecution in which Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts.

Republicans on the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies voted against a resolution that would have affirmed the committee was preparing for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: By voting against the resolution, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy effectively blocked the committee from publicly recognizing Biden as president-elect.

President Trump's lawyer Jenna Ellis has informed associates she tested positive for the coronavirus, multiple sources tell Axios, stirring West Wing fears after she attended a senior staff Christmas party on Friday.

Driving the news: There are concerns about the potential for another White House superspreader event, though it was unclear whether Ellis posed a risk when she attended. Ellis declined to confirm the diagnosis to Axios.

Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Trump campaign lawyer Joe diGenova, the Trump campaign, and Newsmax Media for defamation, emotional distress and conspiracy.

Driving the news: DiGenova said in an interview aired on Newsmax on Nov. 30 that Krebs "should be drawn and quartered" and "taken out at dawn and shot," after Krebs went on "60 Minutes" to dispute President Trump's baseless claims that the election was rigged.

Private equity firm Pine Island Capital Partners just hit the revolving door lottery, for better or for worse.

Driving the news: President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary, less than five months after he joined Pine Island as a partner. It also comes after fellow Pine Island partner became Biden's secretary of state pick.

Joe Biden's team had previously announced that John Kerry will be on the National Security Council as its first dedicated climate official, but hadn't disclosed much about the logistics of the position. We now know a little more about how John Kerry's role as Joe Biden's special climate envoy will work — and the advice is pouring in.

How it works: Kerry's work will be under the purview of the State Department, Biden's transition team confirmed and a Politico piece reported yesterday.

Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and current Pfizer board member, confirmed on Tuesday that the Trump administration turned down Pfizer's offer for an additional 100 million coronavirus vaccine doses last summer, as the New York Times first reported.

Why it matters: With Pfizer and Moderna the only two manufacturers that have applied for emergency approval from the FDA thus far, vaccine supplies in the U.S. are expected to be too scarce to rapidly inoculate the entire population.

Renewing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is one of the few things Democrats and Republicans agree on and is on the short list of must-have programs for any coronavirus relief package passed by Congress before year-end. The only problem: PPP has been a major disappointment for small businesses.

What happened: While 5.2 million businesses received funding through the program, it left out many smaller mom and pop shops — disproportionately women-, minority- and immigrant-led firms. Millions ended up closing their doors.

A suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a U.S. congressman, in what U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015, Axios found in a yearlong investigation.

Why it matters: The alleged operation offers a rare window into how Beijing has tried to gain access to and influence U.S. political circles.

Christopher Krebs, the nation's former top election security official, tells "Axios on HBO" that President Trump is spreading disinformation, which he described as a form of domestic "threat" that he swore an oath to defend against in his job.

• "The caller was inside the house," Krebs told me. "The president is a big part of the disinformation that's coming out there about the rigged election, but there are absolutely others."

How did a Chinese student active in San Francisco Bay Area politics from 2011 to 2015 become the target of a U.S. counterintelligence investigation? And why did her efforts to connect with local politicians who would later play a role on the national stage raise investigators' alarms?

In this clip from "Axios on HBO," Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute explain.

The dwindling number of remaining Cabinet seats has led the Congressional Black Caucus to shift from targeting secretarial slots to instead placing qualified Black candidates in chief of staff and top communications roles.

Why it matters: As with progressives shifting from people to policy, the recalibration for Black leaders is a grudging nod to transition math, as well as proof of their determination to expand opportunity for their community.

Allies of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) think Joe Biden is unlikely to pick her for Agriculture secretary, risking a strain with the Congressional Black Caucus as it seeks to turn the agency from farmer-focused to consumer-focused.

The big picture: Backed by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the CBC signaled that nominating Fudge — who sits on the Agriculture Committee — was a key priority for its members. A report that Tom Vilsack, a white man who already was Agriculture secretary for eight years, is the top choice for the job only highlights the disagreement.

Joe Biden’s plan to nominate retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as Defense secretary will set off an explosive fight in the Democratic Party about civilian control of the military.

Why it matters: Many Democrats have been horrified by what they saw as politicization and the erosion of civilian control of the military under President Trump, and they put the Biden team on notice that Austin wouldn't be guaranteed the congressional waiver he needs to serve.

President Trump isn't just accepting pardon requests but blindly discussing them "like Christmas gifts" to people who haven't even asked, sources with direct knowledge of the conversations told Axios.

Behind the scenes: Trump recently told one adviser he was going to pardon "every person who ever talked to me," suggesting an even larger pardon blitz to come. As with most Trump conversations, the adviser wasn't sure how seriously to take the president — although Trump gave no indication he was joking.

The Trump administration is hosting a "vaccine summit" on Tuesday that will include President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, pharmacies and logistics companies, but not any vaccine manufacturer representatives.

The big picture: Moderna and Pfizer declined the White House’s invitation, Stat News first reported. But a senior administration official said Monday that the administration ultimately deemed the vaccine manufacturers presence “not appropriate” due to their pending EUA applications.