House barrels toward vote to remove Santos |
The House is poised for at least one more vote on whether to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from the chamber on Thursday. If expelled, Santos would be the sixth-ever House member so removed. (More about the five expelled members here)
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.) and Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (N.Y.) each brought separate expulsion resolutions to the floor as privileged measures Tuesday, forcing action on them by Thursday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) seems intent on letting the effort run its course, saying his team isn’t whipping the vote. Johnson says he has “real reservations” about expelling Santos but that the leadership team is “gonna allow people to vote their conscience.” Santos’s membership has survived two expulsion attempts: one in May after his initial indictment, when members chose to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee, and another earlier this month after a superseding indictment, when some members voted not to expel while waiting on the Ethics findings. As The Hill’s Mychael Schnell noted, “the current push to oust [Santos] poses the greatest threat to his congressional tenure after a handful of lawmakers who protected him in the past now say they will vote to boot him after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report on the New York Republican.”
Santos pleaded not guilty to all charges and has fiercely criticized the Ethics Committee report as well as efforts to expel him. |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s national political director is joining former President Trump’s team.
House Democrats elected Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. She succeeds Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who is running for president.
David Whelan says his brother Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia since 2018, was attacked by another inmate at a prison labor camp and suffered minor injuries.
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© Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images |
Life expectancy up after two years of declines
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Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show life expectancy increased in 2022, standing at 77.5 years after dropping to a recent low of 76.4 years in 2021. In 2019, life expectancy was 78.8 years. The CDC attributed the decline between 2019 and 2021 to COVID-19.
The CDC defines life expectancy at birth as “the average number of years a group of infants would live if they were to experience throughout life the age-specific death rates prevailing during a period.” |
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A MORE THAN YEARLONG FEUD between California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will reach a new level Thursday when the pair participate in a highly anticipated debate moderated by Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“This is maybe the most unique political debate since Ronald Reagan and Robert F. Kennedy squared off in 1967, as it also features two political figures with presidential ambitions who, for similar reasons to Kennedy and Reagan in 1967, face unlikely paths to achieving their ambitions this election cycle,” John Koch, senior lecturer and director of debate at Vanderbilt University, told The Hill’s Evening Report.
Patrick Stewart, political science professor at the University of Arkansas and author of “The Audience Decides: Applause-Cheering, Laughter, and Booing during Debates in the Trump Era,” told us: “If anything, with the focus on only the three participants [Newsom, DeSantis and Hannity], and this being an unfriendly territory (FOX News), Newsom has the most to gain, and DeSantis the most to lose.” Newsom, who may run for president in the future, and DeSantis, who already is running for president, are expected to spar over myriad policy issues. We asked Koch and Stewart to weigh in on what strategies they think each governor should employ at the debate: |
? KOCH: “[Newsom] needs to take a broad debate strategy that not only highlights his own record, but also promotes the achievements of President Biden and the Democratic Party. His strategy then should be to contrast the achievements of the Democratic Party writ large against those of the Republican Party … [DeSantis] wants to avoid being a proxy and instead promote his own candidacy and vision for the Republican Party. … [H]is strategy should be to show that he can perform on the national stage by promoting his own record and attacking that of the Democratic Party.”
? STEWART: “If Newsom can respond to questions with good humor, smiling naturally, even laughing off attacks, he can build a reputation as a ‘happy warrior’ – much in the same manner Ronald Reagan was able to do even early in his career when he was seen as an outsider and extremist for the Republican Party. DeSantis for his part has to be careful not to ‘pile on’ with attacks that build off of questions by Hannity. This will make him seem weak by giving the impression that he (DeSantis) is following Hannity’s lead[.]”
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McCarthy shares thoughts on Trump campaign
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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was among the speakers at The New York Times’s DealBook Summit on Wednesday, where he discussed what he described as his “interesting relationship” with former President Trump and his thoughts on Trump’s presidential bid. - McCarthy told New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, “I didn’t say he would be a great president . … I said he’d be a better president than what we’re having.”
- McCarthy said Trump should pick fellow primary candidate Nikki Haley as his running mate, adding, “But this is a bigger question for Trump: If his campaign is about renew, rebuild and restore, he’ll win. If it’s about revenge, he’ll lose.”
The Summit’s lineup also included Vice President Harris, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and X chair Elon Musk. |
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Republicans’ souring attitude toward Ukraine funding
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In the first of a three-part series exploring “public sentiment around the Israel-Hamas war and simmering tensions with China,” The Hill’s Brad Dress delves into Republicans’ souring attitudes on providing support to Ukraine. |
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Abortion policy cases before the Supreme Court |
The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld previews abortion policy cases the Supreme Court is soon deciding whether to take up, included the dispute over the availability of abortion pill mifepristone. |
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7 days until the fourth GOP presidential primary debate.
47 days until the first GOP presidential nominating contest in Iowa
55 days until the New Hampshire presidential primary (Democrats’ first nominating contest) |
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An audio broadcast of cable news outlet NewsNation‘s “The Hill” will begin airing on satellite radio provider SiriusXM‘s P.O.T.U.S. channel starting Dec. 4. Both NewsNation and The Hill are owned by Nexstar Media Group. |
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