12:30 Report

The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Elon suspends Twitter jet tracker

by Cate Martel - 12/15/22 12:30 PM ET

AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition on March 9, 2020, in Washington.

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.*

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.

TALK OF THE MORNING

Don’t upset the boss:

Twitter suspended an account that has been tracking Elon Musk’s private jet movements after the Twitter chief vowed last month not to ban the account.

Specifically: “Jack Sweeney, who ran the jet tracker, used publicly available flight data to automate the account, but the new policy bans location information even if it exists in the public domain.”

Why this is getting a lot of attention: When Musk took over Twitter, he vowed to enforce “free speech” on the platform, criticizing the social media company’s previous content moderation policies.

Plus: Musk is threatening legal action against the individual behind the Twitter account.

The full story

DON’T FORGET:

Musk has long disliked this account — and even offered the account’s owner $5,000 last year to shut it down. The full backstory, via CNN Business’s Donie O’Sullivan

BTW, IT WASN’T JUST THAT ONE ACCOUNT THAT WAS SUSPENDED:

Twitter suspended 24 other accounts that track high-profile people and agencies. More from The New York Times’s Ryan Mac

It’s Thursday. I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Hill’s Mychael Schnell will be writing tomorrow’s 12:30 Report. We’re then going on hiatus until the new year! Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and eat some festive treats for me! 🎅🎄🕎🍾

In Congress

So how ‘bout that government funding?:

The House voted to keep the government funding for another week while lawmakers finalize an omnibus to fund the government for fiscal 2023.

The vote: 224-201

What happens now?: It heads to the Senate.

Meanwhile: Lawmakers continue to negotiate the details of an omnibus spending package.

NINE HOUSE REPUBLICANS BROKE WITH THEIR PARTY — AND VOTED TO AVERT A SHUTDOWN:

Here’s the list of Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass a one-week extension to buy more time for a full government funding package.

KEVIN MCCARTHY AND MITCH MCCONNELL ARE NOT AT ALL ON THE SAME PAGE:

“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is taking public shots at Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) plan to pass an omnibus spending package before Christmas, fueling tensions between Senate and House GOP leaders.”

We’ve been discussing scenarios for McCarthy’s Speaker vote, but what are the ~most likely~ scenarios?:

The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mike Lillis explain seven scenarios for January’s vote, where House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has had a difficult time rallying 218 votes to be elected as speaker of the House.

Their back and forth, via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton

How this could play out, starting with the most likely scenarios and ending with the least likely:

“McCarthy wins an outright majority of votes.”
“McCarthy elected Speaker because of Democratic absences.”
“House agrees to make McCarthy Speaker with a plurality of votes.”
“McCarthy drops out of Speakership race to make way for consensus pick.”
“A moderate Republican wins with backing of some Republicans and Democrats.”
“House elects a Speaker who is not a member of Congress.”
“A Democrat squeaks in.”

Brief explainers for each scenario

🦠 The latest with COVID-19

COVID tests! Free COVID tests! Step right up and get your free COVID tests!:

The White House is restarting the program to send at-home COVID-19 testing kits to Americans at no cost.

How many tests?: Four tests per U.S. household

How to request free tests: Fill out the USPS form at COVIDTests.gov.

When will they ship?: The week of Dec. 19

Details and questions you may have

‘LAGGING BOOSTER RATES RAISE FEARS OVER DEADLY WINTER IN NURSING HOMES’:

“Less than half of all nursing home residents and less than a quarter of staff have received a bivalent booster shot, according to federal data. As the coldest months approach, the low vaccination rates portend a difficult and potentially deadly winter.” The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel explains the threat

TODAY’S COVID-19 NUMBERS:

Cases to date: 99.2 million

Death toll: 1,080,472

Current hospitalizations: 31,538

Shots administered: 657 million

Fully vaccinated: 68.9 percent of Americans

CDC data here.

📊 The economy

This interest rate hike was smaller:

“The Federal Reserve on Wednesday issued its smallest interest rate hike since June as the central bank attempts to curb high inflation without derailing a surprisingly resilient economy.”

What happened yesterday: “The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for monetary policy, bumped up the bank’s baseline interest range by 0.5 percentage points Wednesday to a span of 4.25 to 4.5 percent. All 12 voting members of the FOMC approved the hike.”

Compare that to 2022’s other interest rate increases: “After issuing four straight rate hikes of 0.75 percentage points earlier in the year, the Fed’s less aggressive Wednesday increase marks a turning point in its battle with high inflation.”

More on what this means for the economy, via The Hill’s Sylvan Lane

‘DEMOCRATS DARE TO SOUND BULLISH ON THE ECONOMY’:

From The Hill’s Tobias Burns

🐥Notable tweets

Love the festive garland:

HuffPost’s Igor Bobic tweeted, “Burr farewell speech & the World Cup: folks, the Senate Press Gallery truly covers it all.” Photo

Drumroll please!:

NPR’s Deirdre Walsh tweeted video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) unveiling her own portrait in the U.S. Capitol. Watch

Photo of Pelosi and her husband Paul

TIDBIT FROM JOHN BOEHNER:

Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) got emotional while delivering remarks at Pelosi’s portrait unveiling.

Boehner said, while choking up: “You’ve been unfailingly gracious to me, to my family and, frankly, my team here in Washington. And Madam Speaker, I have to say, my girls told me, ‘tell the Speaker how much we admire her.’” Watch the clip

⏱On tap

The House and Senate are in. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C.

9 a.m.: Biden received his daily briefing.
9:45 a.m.: First House votes of the day. Today’s House agenda
10:15 a.m.: First lady Jill Biden hosted a lunch for spouses of African leaders at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff attended.
11:15 a.m.: Bide participated in the U.S.-Africa Summit Leaders Session on partnering on the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
12:30 p.m.: Last House votes of the day.
3:40 p.m.: Biden participates in a family photo with U.S.-Africa Summit leaders.
8 p.m.: Biden leaves for Delaware.

All times Eastern.

📺What to watch

This morning: School shooting survivors testified on Capitol Hill. Watch
2 p.m.: Harris participates in a working lunch for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Livestream
2 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha hold a press briefing. Livestream
4 p.m.: Biden participates in the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Closing Session on Promoting Food Security and Food Systems Resilience. Livestream