TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 PRICE $3.00 VOL. 29, NO. 58 2023 spending is up to McConnell By Brett Samuels • Former President Trump is facing sharp criticism from Republicans, including some who served in his administration, over his dinner with a prominent white nationalist. The incident underscores the types of headaches some in the GOP are hoping to avoid as they push to move on from Trump in the 2024 presidential race, even as they worry he could win a Republican primary. “President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize,” former Vice President Mike Pence told NewsNation in an interview, while insisting that Trump himself is not antisemitic or racist. Pence was the most notable GOP official to weigh in on Trump’s dinner late last week with the rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, and prominent white nationalist Nick Fuentes. But a number of other GOP senators also criticized the president over the remarks as they were peppered with questions by reporters upon returning to the Capitol. → SEE TRUMP PAGE 14 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated before the election he wanted to pass a sweeping spending bill by the end of the year, but his plans may have changed after the GOP’s disappointing election results By Alexander Bolton • Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is calculating whether he wants to strike a deal with Democrats on a year-end spending package before Republicans take control of the House in January. The stakes are high for McConnell, who faces regular attacks from former President Trump and earlier this month survived the toughest challenge to his leadership of the Senate GOP after a bruising battle with National → SEE MCCONNELL PAGE 16 FULL CONTENTS, P.3 WWW.THEHILL.COM GOP rips Trump over meal with Fuentes THEHILL.COM: President Biden calls on Congress to avert rail shutdown NEWS, P. 10: Seven incoming lawmakers to watch in the new Congress GREG NASH Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled to colleagues before the election that he favored passing an omnibus spending package before the end of the year. OPINION Feehery: Here is some advice for House GOP majority next year P. 23 BUSINESS Protests in China over COVID-19 policies rattle markets P. 17 SENATE THE MEMO Fauci is leaving government, but Republicans are not done with him P. 8

MAIN NUMBER: 202-628-8500 GENERAL MANAGER: Jason Jedlinski EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Bob Cusack [email protected], 202-628-8350 SVP, AUDIENCE: Josh Awtry MANAGING EDITOR: Ian Swanson [email protected], 202-628-8509 SENIOR EDITORS: Jesse Byrnes, [email protected] Tristan Lejeune, [email protected] DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT: Mike Demarest CAMPAIGN EDITOR: Brandon Conradis, [email protected] DEPUTY CAMPAIGN EDITOR: Regina Zilbermints WHITE HOUSE EDITOR: Rema Rahman ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Brian Howard, Theresa Maher, Colin Meyn, Annika Neklason, Geoff Rowland, Madeleine Simon SENIOR WEB EDITOR: Kyle Balluck ASSISTANT NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Emily Martin SENIOR STAFF WRITERS: Alexander Bolton, Mike Lillis, Amie Parnes, Alexis Simendinger, Niall Stanage STAFF WRITERS: Adam Barnes, Rebecca Beitsch, Rafael Bernal, Maureen Breslin, Emily Brooks, Zack Budryk, Tobias Burns, Joseph Choi, Elizabeth Crisp, Cheyanne Daniels, Daniel de Visé, Brad Dress, Saul Elbein, Karl Evers-Hillstrom, Aris Folley, Rachel Frazin, Alex Gangitano, Jared Gans, Max Greenwood, Chia-Yi Hou, Ines Kagubare, Kristina Karisch, Laura Kelly, Rebecca Klar, John Kruzel, Judy Kurtz, Sylvan Lane, Amee LaTour, Lexi Lonas, Julia Manchester, Cate Martel, Dominick Mastrangelo, Gianna Melilo, Brooke Migdon, Ellen Mitchell, Julia Mueller, Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, Olafimihan Oshin, Sarah Polus, Sarakshi Rai, Natalie Prieb, Brett Samuels, Mychael Schnell, Zach Schonfeld, Rachel Scully, Julia Shapero, Hanna Trudo, Sharon Udasin, Caroline Vakil, Al Weaver, Nathaniel Weixel OPINION EDITORS: Daniel Allott, Christine Ayala, Frank Craig, Donald Gilliland, Cathryn Kulat, Deborah Todd, Sandy Tolliver CONGRESS BLOG EDITOR: Chuck Jordan, [email protected] CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Brent Budowsky, Lanny Davis, John Feehery, Judd Gregg, Mark Mellman, Katie Pavlich, Bill Press, David Webb, Juan Williams SENIOR EDITORIAL DESIGNER: Valerie Morris EDITORIAL DESIGNER: Madeline Monroe COPY EDITORS: Hannah Alberstadt, John Davis, Emily DeMarco, Syd Kuntz, Candice Tarver PHOTO EDITOR: Greg Nash EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, NEWS VIDEO: Lisa Ruhl SR. 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Publication office: The Hill, 1625 K St. NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20006. Tel: (202) 628-8500; fax: (202) 628-8503; https://www.thehill.com. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Copyright 1998 - 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. The Hill is distributed to qualified requesters and paid subscribers of the publication. Reproduction of this publication in whole or part is prohibited except with the written permission of the publisher. The Hill is non-ideological and nonpartisan. Subscriptions are $225 a year for domestic subscribers, $415 for two years; $730 overseas. The Hill is printed on recycled paper. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Hill, P.O. Box 242, Congers, NY 10920-0242. THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 3 CONTENTS NEWS Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) calculates whether to strike a deal with Democrats on a year-end spending package before Republicans take control of the House. P. 1 Former President Trump faces sharp criticism from Republicans over his dinner with a prominent white nationalist. P. 1 House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) quest for the Speakership amid opposition from a handful of hard-line rightwing members casts a shadow over House Republicans. P. 4 The Senate’s Respect for Marriage Act has progressives arguing that efforts to safeguard same-sex unions remain unfinished after concessions were made to Republican demands. P. 6 Livestock farmers push for the Senate to deliver a long-awaited immigration bill over the lameduck session to modernize the agricultural visa system. P. 7 THE MEMO: Anthony Fauci is set to retire from public service, but Republicans have no intention of letting him leave the spotlight. P. 8 More than 70 incoming lawmakers will be sworn into the House this January; inside, seven incoming lawmakers to watch. P. 10 What to watch for as early voting in Georgia’s Senate runoff election gets underway. P. 12 BUSINESS Protests in multiple cities in China over the country’s socalled zero-COVID policy rattle world markets. P. 17 Growth in home prices slows fastest in cities to which remote workers fled for lower costs of living during the coronavirus pandemic. P. 17 POLICY: Cryptocurrency firm BlockFi files for bankruptcy, just weeks after the high-profile collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. P. 18 CAMPAIGN Five things to know about the GOP’s battle with Arizona’s Maricopa County over its handling of the midterm elections. P. 20 OPINION OP-ED: For defense leaders both in government and out, it’s a time of reckoning, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) observes. P. 21 OP-ED: Other prominent Republicans simply can’t conjure up fake realities the way former President Trump can, as evidenced by the flop of Kari Lake in Arizona, writes Gregory J. Wallance. P. 22 Bill Press wonders why anyone should be surprised that former President Trump hosted Nick Feuntes and Kanye West, both known for antisemitic remarks, for dinner. P. 23 John Feehery offers six tips for the GOP as it retakes the House majority. P. 23 Sounds of the season The President’s Own Marine Band plays music during a press preview of the holiday decorations at the White House on Monday. GREG NASH

4 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL NEWS McCarthy fight for Speakership looms over lame-duck December By Emily Brooks • For House Republicans, much of the next five weeks will be overshadowed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) quest for the Speakership amid opposition from a handful of hard-line right-wing members that threatens to sink his bid. McCarthy has made moves to boost his conservative credentials in recent weeks as a minority criticizes his leadership. Internal House Republican Conference debates over rules and McCarthy’s management of lame-duck legislative issues could also sway his position with those skeptical of his leadership. The GOP leader won his party’s nomination for Speaker earlier this month against a long-shot challenge from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a former chair of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, in a 188 to 31 vote, with five others voting for neither of the two. But that is just the first step in McCarthy’s quest, and he needs to win majority support on the House floor on Jan. 3 to secure the Speakership. At least five House GOP members — Reps. Bob Good (Va.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Biggs — explicitly say or strongly indicate they will not vote for McCarthy on the floor. And with Republicans winning a slimmer-than-expected majority of around 222 seats to around 213 Democrats, that puts McCarthy’s Speakership in the danger zone. McCarthy needs 218 votes on the floor, assuming every House member casts a ballot for a Speaker candidate and there are no absences or “present” votes, though it is possible for a Speaker to be elected with fewer than 218 votes. If no one wins a majority, the vote will go to another ballot, a scenario that last happened a century ago. The longest Speakership election in history occurred in the 1850s and took 133 ballots over two months. Allies of the GOP leader maintain optimism that he will secure the Speakership. “I’m of the opinion that on Jan. 3 we’ll come together as a conference and elect Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker of the House,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is likely to chair the House Oversight and Reform Committee next year, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There are certainly five to eight members that have said they’re leaning towards voting no against Kevin McCarthy … but I’m hopeful at the end of the day that we will come together as a conference and elect Kevin.” R e p. B r i a n F i t z p a t r i c k (R-Pa.) on “Fox News Sunday” pointed out a key dynamic in McCarthy’s favor: There is no viable Republican alternative to McCarthy. “He’s worked hard. He’s accomplished the goal, albeit a slim one, of winning back the House majority, and he deserves it. And I don’t believe there’s anyone else in our conference who could get to 218,” Fitzpatrick said. B u t B i g g s s a i d o n t h e “ C o n s e r v a t i v e R e v i e w ” podcast that he thinks the number of “hard noes” on McCarthy could be around 20 GOP members, which would sink his bid. Biggs has also predicted that an alternative consensus candidate will emerge before Jan. 3. C o n s e r v a t i v e f i r e b r a n d Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Ga.) has broken with her Freedom Caucus colleagues to become one of McCarthy’s most vocal supporters, w a r n i n g t h a t m o d e r a t e Republicans could join Democrats and elect a compromise moderate Speaker. McCarthy skeptics have dismissed that prospect as a red herring. T h i s w e e k , t h e H o u s e Republican Conference will consider another batch of rules change proposals that includes some requests from the Freedom Caucus. Those include a measure to ban earmarks, which were brought back in this Congress as “community project funding” after a decadelong ban. Republicans will also elect new regional representatives this week under an expanded structure that gives more power to rank-and-file members. Those members will be part of the House Republican Steering Committee, the body of a few dozen members that controls committee and chairmanship assignments for the party. McCarthy said earlier this month that the new map that increases the number of representatives from 13 to 19 pushes “power further down to more regions, more to the conference itself ” and “dilutes the power greater to the members” — addressing a request from conservatives. In another apparent gesture to critics, McCarthy during a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border before Thanksgiving called for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign or potentially face impeachment. “Let’s not be ambiguous. Mayorkas needs [to be] impeached. Period. No hesitation,” Biggs responded in a tweet. McCarthy also recently reiterated a promise to remove three Democrats from committee assignments: Reps. Adam Schiff (D -Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D -Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee over Schiff ’s handling of investigations of former President Trump’s ties with Russia and Swalwell’s relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D -Minn.) f r o m t h e Ho u s e Fo r e i g n Affairs Committee over what he says are past antisemitic comments. Schiff hit back at McCarthy’s promise on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “McCarthy’s problem is not with what I have said about Russia. McCarthy’s problem is he can’t get to 218 without Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz, and so he will do whatever they ask,” Schiff said. McCarthy also said in a Facebook post last week that the House will start every day with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance with “no exceptions,” a custom that has been happening daily on the House floor for decades, as outlined by the House rules. He also said that the text of the Constitution will be read aloud on the House floor on the first day of the new congressional session, which McCarthy tweeted “hasn’t been done in years.” A n o t h e r i m m e d i a t e test of McCarthy will be h i s m a n a g e m e n t o f h i s conference during the lameduck legislative session. Congress’s to-do list before the end of the year includes the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a Dec. 16 government funding deadline and a White House request for an additional $37.7 billion in Ukraine assistance. U k r a i n e f u n d i n g i s a likely flashpoint for House Republicans, with many conservative members opposed to any new funding and others who say there should be funding for military support but are skeptical of economic and humanitarian aid. And Biggs suggested on “Conservative Review” that Republicans should hold up the NDAA over provisions he described as “woke crap” and to push the military to reinstate service members who were discharged due to refusal to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates. “Let’s hold the bill hostage. Let’s leverage what we have,” Biggs said. “Leverage only happens once in a while when you’re in the minority.” McCarthy said after House GOP leadership elections this month that he thinks final passage of the NDAA should be delayed until after Republicans take control of the House. The House passed a version of the NDAA earlier this year, which McCarthy supported and the Freedom Caucus opposed, and the Senate is considering its version of the bill during the lame-duck session. “I’ve watched what the Democrats have done in many of these, especially in the NDAA and the wokeism that they want to bring in there,” McCarthy said. “I actually believe the NDAA should hold up until the first of the year, and let’s get it right.” GREG NASH House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has made moves to boost his conservative credentials in recent weeks as a minority criticizes his leadership. The GOP leader won his party’s nomination for Speaker earlier this month.

THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 5

6 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022- THE HILL NEWS By Brooke Migdon and Al Weaver • The Senate’s Respect for Marriage Act has progressives arguing that efforts to safeguard same-sex unions remain unfinished after concessions were made to Republican demands for bolstered religious liberty protections. The bill as it currently stands would officially repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and require state recognition of legal same-sex and interracial marriages but would not codify the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex unions nationwide or prevent the high court from eventually overturning the landmark decision. “It would be great if the bill went further, but we don’t have the votes for the bill to go further,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D -Hawaii) told Changing America. “I think this is an enormously important first step and I don’t think there are any guarantees that the Supreme Court will not overturn the precedent they set recently with Obergefell, so this is important to protect the rights of same-sex couples across the country.” T h e O b e r g e f e l l r u l i n g b a r r e d states from enforcing statutes or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages. Should the Supreme Court overturn the ruling, as it did with Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion, the issue of same-sex marriages would be returned to the states. The Respect for Marriag e A ct requires that states recognize samesex marriages, but does not go as far as Obergefell in requiring that states perform those marriages. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D -Mass.), a leading progressive, called the legislation a positive “first step,” but said “we’ve got more work to do” when it comes to preserving equal marriage rights. However, the possibility of going further in the immediate future is remote given that House Republicans are set to retake the chamber in January. “I want to see the day when we have 100 votes in favor of no discrimination, not just for who we love, but also in any activity,” Warren said. Naomi Goldberg, deputy director of the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks state and federal legislation affecting the nation’s LGBTQ community, told Changing America that the legislation was also constrained by the Constitution. The bill “does not require that every state allow same-sex couples to marry – the federal government can’t do that constitutionally,” she said. “What the Respect for Marriage Act would say is that you must recognize valid marriages regardless of sexual orientation, national origin and race.” “What’s important,” Goldberg added, “is that it doesn’t touch the current statutory or constitutional patterns that exist in the majority of states. Those are still on the books.” Efforts to repeal state-level bans have been met with resistance from conservative legislators despite record-high support for marriage equality among American adults. In the Senate, Republicans were concerned that religious liberty protections may be eroded by federal legislation protecting marriage equality. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) forced the upper chamber to delay a procedural vote on the bill this month until 10 p.m. after he was unable to win the necessary support for his amendment to further strengthen the religious liberty provisions. “They shouldn’t be able to punish religious belief,” Lee said on the Senate floor before the Nov. 16 vote. “That’s all I want. A protection saying the federal government may not punish any individual or entity based on a religious or moral conviction-based belief about marriage. That is not too much to ask.” A bipartisan amendment introduced by senators this month seeks to address some of those concerns by reaffirming religious liberty and conscience protections guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and existing federal law and clarifying that the Respect for Marriage Act will not authorize the recognition of polygamous marriages. Senators including Tammy Baldwin (D -Wis.) and Rob Portman (R- Ohio) are hoping the added religious protections will win over Republicans still on the fence when the measure is brought up for a final vote this week, though progressive leaders and advocates argue the amendment dehumanizes same-sex couples and reduces their unions to “second class” marriages. “We’re settling for crumbs,” Alejandra Caraballo, a prominent LGBTQ activist and instructor at Harvard Law’s cyberlaw clinic, tweeted after the amended bill was released. Still, senators have argued that they did the best they could given their narrow majority in the Senate. “This bill maximizes the protections we were able to get with the votes we have,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Changing America. “We can certainly build on that to try to fully codify the constitutional law, but this was an important and necessary step.” “We wouldn’t have gotten 62 votes with another proposal at this time,” he said. While at least 12 Senate Republicans and 47 House Republicans are likely to put the bill over the top, it is notable that more than 75 percent of GOP lawmakers did not vote for the proposal overall, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The Senate will finalize its work on the Respect for Marriage Act this week with a pair of votes before the House is expected to OK it shortly after. President Biden has pledged to “promptly” sign the measure into law once it reaches his desk. GREG NASH Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a prominent progressive, called the Respect for Marriage Act a positive “first step” in protecting the rights of same-sex married couples. Democrats succumb to political reality on same-sex marriage bill The possibility of going further in the immediate future is remote given that House Republicans are set to retake the chamber in January.

THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 7 NEWS Livestock farmers push for immigration bill By Rafael Bernal • L i v e st o c k f a r m e r s a r e pushing for the Senate to deliver a long-awaited immigration bill over the lameduck session to modernize the agricultural visa system. The Senate is poised to consider at least one immigration-related bill between Thanksgiving and Christm a s, a n d t h e r e a r e t w o H o u s e - p a s s e d b i l l s t h a t could get a vote. Democratic leaders have put their weight behind a bill to protect “Dreamers” — undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors — while a broad swath of the agricultural industry is pushing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA). The livestock farmers and their supporters argue that the existing system simply doesn’t address their needs. Livestock businesses require year-round workers who have experience with animals — all current agricultural visas are exclusively seasonal. “ I h o n e st l y d o n ’t k n ow exactly how we ended up being overlooked. I think largely at the time the industry looked very different than it looks today. And it was predominantly a family workforce. And so there w a s n ’ t t h e f o r e i g n - b o r n workforce in dairy that you had in seasonal agriculture when the pieces were originally written,” said Rick Naerebout, the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association. Rebecca Eifert Joniskan, president of the Indiana State Poultry Association, said poultry farmers will make do with or without reform as they have in the past, but the visa impasse just adds to a series of chall e n g e s f a c e d b y p o u l t r y farmers. Joniskan said poultry is facing challenges finding qualified, willing and legally available labor at a time when the industry also faces high fuel and feed prices. On top of that, a wave of avian influenza is affecting 46 states, forcing some farmers to euthanize entire flocks. The ebb and flow of some of these issues is baked into the cake for the industry, but farmers are losing patience with the added pressure of preventable labor shortages. “This conversation is starting to get to a more apolitical situation. Industry needs this,” Joniskan said. The FWMA has already passed the House, and Sens. Michael Bennet (D -Colo.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) are leading the effort to pass a Senate version. In essence, the FWMA provides a path to citizenship f o r f a r mw o r k e r s w h o ’v e been in the country for more than a decade, but employers would face more stringent hiring protections to prevent more unauthorized foreign workers from joining the workforce. W h i l e t h e i m m i g r a t i o n side of the deal is generally agreed to, the FWMA also includes a proposed expansion of labor protections under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). Those labor provisions are causing friction between the American Farm Bureau Federation and the state chapters of the Farm Bureau. The American Business I m m i g r a t i o n C o a l i t i o n (ABIC), a bipartisan pro-imm i g r a t i o n r e f o r m g r o u p, released a study in August saying only 0.006 percent of farmers subject to the MSPA have faced lawsuits on the matter over the past 2 1/2 years. Still, the viability of the FWMA, whether it’s presented as standalone legislation or within a mustpass bill, could come down to basic political math: Will 10 Republicans join Senate Democrats to pass an immigration bill in the lame-duck session? T h e b i l l ’s p r o p o n e n t s believe the FWMA’s economic benefits could put it over the top. “The Senate needs to pass their version of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA) immediately. Majority of agriculture supports it. It caps expenses for the farmers, lowers food prices hammering American consumers and makes sure that we have a legal and reliable workforce for the agriculture industry,” ABIC Executive Director Rebecca Shi said. Livestock businesses require yearround workers who have experience with animals — all current agricultural visas are exclusively seasonal.

8 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL NEWS Republicans’ fervor to go after Fauci could backfire • Anthony Fauci is set to retire from public service, but Republicans have no intention of letting him leave the spotlight. GOP lawmakers plan to seek testimony from the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases once they take control of the House in January. Fauci, for his part, says he has no problem going back to Capitol Hill. Asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday whether he would appear after stepping down next month, Fauci replied, “Oh, of course. I mean, I’m very much in favor of legitimate oversight. I’ve testified before Congress … literally hundreds of times, in many oversight hearings.” But even if both sides are agreeable to further congressional probes, the political ramifications of such a showdown are unpredictable. Many Republicans believe public health experts such as Fauci, as well as Democratic politicians, advocated for excessive lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic. If they are right in thinking that the public is still resentful of those moves — with school closures, in particular, remaining controversial — there could be a political benefit in grilling Fauci, especially for those on the right. But if, on the other hand, the public is eager to simply put the pandemic in the rearview mirror — which it increasingly appears to be — the political utility of high-profile testimony from Fauci is much more questionable. That is particularly the case given that voters face significant problems in the here, now and near future, such as high inflation and the possibility of recession. It’s plausible that aggressive questioning of Fauci — who is no shrinking violet when it comes to defending himself — could backfire if it comes to be seen as raw partisan theater. Even some Republicans confess to nervousness. “I think it is appropriate to bring Fauci for a couple of Oversight hearings to ask about the handling of COVID — in order to make recommendations, find out how decisions were made and create better practices,” said one Republican strategist. “However, it would be unproductive to keep him attending hearings time after time in order to score political points.” In a sign of the continued sensitivity around the issue, however, the strategist requested anonymity to offer an opinion. The recent midterm elections were striking for how little salience COVID-19 had, given that political debates around the issue were white-hot not so long ago. In one of the two major surveys of actual voters, conducted by NORC for The Associated Press and Fox, only 2 percent of voters judged the pandemic to be the biggest issue facing the country, amounting to a tie for last place among the nine issues tested. In the other major exit poll, COVID-19 was not even included in the options for the most important issue. The question was instead dominated by inflation, abortion, crime, gun policy and immigration. But the GOP isn’t letting its COVID-19 critiques — or Fauci — go. A Republican National Committee spokesman emailed reporters Monday assailing President Biden for allegedly being too soft on China regarding COVID -19, and hitting Fauci for an “openness to more American lockdowns” — though the Fauci remark cited was actually in reference to RSV, not COVID-19. Last week, as Fauci prepared to give his final White House briefing, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted that the scientist “thinks resigning will prevent him from being held accountable. He’s wrong. We’ll be bringing him in ASAP.” Beyond any specifics, Fauci has become a rhetorical punching bag for some leading figures on the populist right of the GOP, who can seem to be trying to outdo one another in the fervor of their attacks. However it plays with the general public, the Republican base is sure to greet with relish any rough handling of Fauci. When he announced his imminent retirement in August, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded: “Never in our nation’s history has one arrogant bureaucrat destroyed more people’s lives.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told a rally around the same time, “Someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac.” Larry Gostin, a Georgetown Law professor who specializes in public health — and a longtime friend of Fauci’s — told this column that he believed Republicans bringing the infectious diseases expert to face their wrath on Capitol Hill would be “politically, a very unwise move.” Gostin argued that even many Republican voters are getting exasperated with “the politicization of COVID … and want to go back to a semblance of normalcy without the yelling and screaming.” He also argued that attempts to besmirch Fauci run the risk of feeding stereotypes of the GOP as being “anti-science and anti-medicine.” In addition, Gostin asserted, “knowing Tony as well as I do, he is rather likely to give the Republicans a bloody nose in any hearings, as he has done many times.” To be sure, Fauci’s previous Capitol Hill exchanges with trenchant critics including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) have produced some fire — and viral moments. On one occasion in January, Fauci was picked up on a hot mic seemingly calling Marshall “a moron.” There could be more such exchanges coming soon. But the GOP will need to play the politics carefully. The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage. MEMO BY NIALL STANAGE THE GREG NASH Anthony Fauci, the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is unafraid to hit back at his critics in Congress, even during oversight hearings. Beyond any specifics, Anthony Fauci has become a rhetorical punching bag for some leading figures on the populist right of the GOP, who can seem to be trying to outdo one another in the fervor of their attacks.

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10 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL NEWS By Mychael Schnell • More than 70 incoming lawmakers will be sworn into the House this January after winning their races earlier this month. Republicans are poised to control the House next year, with 220 seats having been called in their favor compared to Democrats’ 213. Two races remain uncalled. Next year’s crop of first-term lawmakers in the House includes 37 Republicans and 35 Democrats who hail from 32 states across the country. Here are seven to watch. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) Frost is set to become the first Gen Z member of Congress. The 25-year-old community organizer will represent Florida’s 10th Congressional District after beating his Republican opponent by roughly 20 percentage points. He is poised to become a leading progressive voice in the next Congress, advocating for liberal policies and serving as a representative for the youngest generation of voters, which broke decisively for Democrats this cycle. In an interview with PBS, Frost said “the economy is top of mind” and zeroed in on affordable housing and increasing wages as key issues. Frost characterized his victory as part of the “bigger puzzle” of getting more young people involved in government. “I think it’s important that we have young people at the table. Look, I’m not one of these people that say we need to take out all the old folks and just have young people. It needs to be diverse, right, in age, in race, in gender, in economic status and experience,” he said. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) Hageman is sure to be the center of attention when she is sworn in as Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) replacement. Hageman, a Trump-endorsed attorney, overwhelmingly beat Cheney, one of former President Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics, in a primary this summer, all but assuring her the general election victory. The constitutional and natural resource attorney will join the ranks of Trump defenders on Capitol Hill as the former president makes another run for the White House. She previously said the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” against Trump. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) Goldman won’t be a new face on Capitol Hill — or to many Americans — when he gets sworn in next year. The former federal prosecutor served as the lead counsel for House Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment investigation and hearings in 2019 and 2020. Goldman, who was assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York for 10 years, has been a fixture on cable news since then, offering legal analysis on the myriad investigations involving Trump. In Congress, the New Yorker vowed to be a “bulwark” against the former president. Aside from Trump, the congressman-elect said he plans to focus on housing, mental health treatment, substance abuse, homelessness and crime. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) Van Orden will be closely watched in Congress next year, after the retired Navy SEAL attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., and walked to the Capitol afterward. He beat Democratic state Sen. Brad Pfaff to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District in the House, flipping the seat red. He will replace retiring centrist Rep. Ron Kind (D), who has held the seat since 1997. Van Orden has struck a distinctly more bipartisan tone since his election, telling PBS Wisconsin, “I fully understand that 48 percent of the voters in this district did not support me and I plan on representing them as equally as the 52 percent that did.” Van Orden contends he never entered Capitol on Jan. 6 and left the premises after “it became clear that a protest had become a mob.” “When it became clear that a protest had become a mob, I left the area as to remain there could be construed as tacitly approving this unlawful conduct. At no time did I enter the grounds, let alone the building,” he wrote in an op-ed published by the La Crosse Tribune days after the Capitol attack. But in June 2021, The Daily Beast published a photo of Van Orden before the Olmstead Lantern which, according to the Architect of the Capitol, is on Capitol grounds. According to The Washington Post, Van Orden has not called the authenticity of the photo into question. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) Luna is poised to become an outspoken member of the House Freedom Caucus, telling The Washington Post she plans to join the conservative group after its political action committee endorsed her and funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into her campaign. The Air Force veteran also secured endorsements from Trump and Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). She has said Trump won the 2020 presidential election and that voter fraud occurred. Luna made history on Election Day, becoming the first Mexican American woman to be elected to Congress from Florida. Her victory over former Obama aide Eric Lynn flipped the Sunshine State’s 13th Congressional District red. She will replace former Rep. Charlie Crist (D), who left the seat to run for governor. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) Mills, who has already aligned himself with a contingent of Republicans opposed to allocating more funding for Ukraine in its battle against Russia, will be a lawmaker to watch in Congress as it weighs whether to do just that. Mills worked as a Department of Defense adviser during the Trump administration and appeared at a press conference with GOP House members last week where Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) unveiled a privileged resolution to audit the funds allocated to Kyiv by Congress. The congressman-elect lent support to the measure. “Americans deserve transparency of where their money goes. That is our job as elected officials,” he said at the press conference. Separately, the incoming lawmaker told Florida’s Voice, “I personally would not vote for any continuance of funding.” Mills, a U.S. Army combat special operations veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and received a Bronze Star in 2006, beat Democrat Karen Green to represent Florida’s 7th Congressional District. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) Lee made history earlier this month when she became the first Black woman to be elected to Congress from Pennsylvania. She beat Republican Mike Doyle to replace the 12th Congressional District’s retiring Democratic lawmaker, who is also named Mike Doyle. The two-term state House member, lawyer and former labor organizer is expected to be a prominent figure in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The congresswoman-elect is also rumored to be joining the “squad,” a group made up of progressive lawmakers of color in the House, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). 7 new House members to watch next Congress GREG NASH/ASSOCIATED PRESS-AMANDA ANDRADE-RHOADES Incoming Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) are some of next year’s crop of first-term lawmakers to watch.

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12 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL NEWS By Cheyanne M. Daniels • Early voting in Georgia’s runoff election between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and GOP hopeful Herschel Walker kicked off over the weekend, marking the final stretch in a race that will determine whether Democrats expand their majority in the upper chamber or Republicans maintain a 50-50 split.  The runoff, which started bitter and has grown only more contentious, has the two candidates within a close margin. Warnock led Walker by only 37,000 votes on election night.  Now, as all eyes once again turn to Georgia, both candidates have ramped up advertisements and their fundraising ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff.  Here are five things to watch as early voting kicks off in the Peach State. Turnout After a Georgia Supreme Court ruling allowed early voting to begin on Saturday, turnout is already soaring.  As of Monday morning, data from the Georgia secretary of state’s website showed more than 181,000 Georgians had already cast their ballots — and a majority of those voters were Black, a key Democratic voting bloc.  On Sunday, Warnock’s campaign director Quentin Fulks said Georgians had voted more than on any Sunday in the 2022 general election, the 2021 runoff — where Warnock first won — and both the 2020 and 2018 general elections. The record turnout follows a midterm pattern, where Georgia saw more than 230,000 votes cast on the first day of early voting for the general election. Warnock has encouraged his supporters to hit the polls early, tweeting on Sunday to “show up on or before Dec. 6th.” His team also set out Sunday for a “Souls to the Polls” event to mobilize Black and brown voters.  Donald Trump Former President Trump threw his support behind Walker back in September and again in October after several controversies around the former football player came to light. In Trump’s speech announcing his 2024 presidential run, he called Walker “a fabulous human being who loves our country.” “He was an incredible athlete. He’ll be an even better senator,” Trump said. “Get out and vote for Herschel Walker.”  But Trump has also proven to be a hindrance to the GOP in the Peach State. He has been outspoken against early voting since his initial run in 2016 and has falsely conflated early voting with fraudulent voting — a factor that Republicans pointed to when both GOP candidates lost in the state’s 2021 Senate special election runoffs. At his 2024 campaign announcement, Trump called for a ban on early voting practices and demanded that the U.S. adopt “same-day voting” and mandatory paper ballots.  Meanwhile, after a lackluster general election in which Trump’s endorsed candidates lost, some Republicans are likely concerned about the prospect of the former president wading into the race. A c c o r d i n g t o C N N e x i t polls, only 39 percent of midterm voters view Trump favorably, while 58 percent have an unfavorable view of him. Twenty-eight percent said their vote in the U.S. House elections was to show opposition to Trump. Still, Trump’s ability to motivate the GOP base could work in Walker’s favor, though Democrats are hoping it will also mobilize those who oppose the former president. Since Trump announced his candidacy for 2024, Warnock’s team has already released a new ad warning voters to “Stop Donald Trump. Stop Herschel Walker.” Independent and splitticket voters During the general election, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) won 2.1 million votes while Walker won only slightly more than 1.9 million votes, indicating that not all Republican voters cast their ballots based on party alliance. Kemp, who easily won his primary election in May and handily defeated his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, on Nov. 8, is now using his political cache with moderates and independents to motivate them to back Walker, even though Kemp is on bad terms with Trump for refusing to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia in 2020. Kemp recently cut an ad for Walker, appeared beside him for the first time ever at a campaign rally and has formed a partnership with a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to boost the Republican. “I know that Herschel Walker will fight for us,” Kemp said at the event in Cobb County. “He will go and fight for those values that we believe in here in our state.” Kemp lost to Abrams in Cobb County by 5 points, while Walker lost to Warnock by 17 points. Abortion After the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer, abortion played a defining role in this year’s midterms. While inflation and the economy have been top-of-mind issues in many polls, abortion has also been a priority. An early November poll by 11Alive showed 57 percent of voters said a candidate’s stance on abortion would be a major factor when they cast their ballots. Nearly 86 percent of Black voters in Georgia oppose the state’s current law, according to a University of Georgia survey commissioned by the Georgia News Collaborative.   Abortion became a pivotal topic in the Senate race this year as controversies surrounding Walker’s campaign made headlines.  Before Nov. 8, multiple women alleged Walker, a staunch proponent of anti-abortion policies, had previously encouraged and paid for them to seek an abortion after he got them pregnant.  In August, Walker said that he opposes any exceptions to a ban on abortion, though he walked that statement back at a debate in October to say he supports Georgia’s current ban on abortions after six weeks with exceptions for cases of rape or incest and if the pregnant person’s health is at risk. Warnock’s campaign has seized on these comments to release ads for the incumbent’s support for pro-abortion rights legislation. Warnock has mostly avoided speaking directly on the topic of accusations that Walker paid for abortions except to say Walker “has trouble with the truth.” The Obama effect Former President Obama announced before Thanksgiving he would campaign with Warnock on Dec. 1. It will be Obama’s second time campaigning in the Peach State for Warnock — he rallied for the senator in October before a crowd of more than 7,000 people.  Obama remains a popular Democratic figure and he hasn’t pulled punches when it comes to speaking out against Republicans.  At his last visit in Georgia before the general election, he emphasized the importance of the election as a way to save democracy. An Obama visit could mobilize not only Black voters, but others as well — when campaigning for president, he built a coalition that was diverse in race, location and party lines. And as Republicans begin drifting away from Trump, Obama could convince independent and moderate voters — and perhaps even Obamaturned-Trump voters — to cast their ballots for Warnock.  Five things to watch for as voting begins in Georgia Senate runoff ASSOCIATED PRESS-BEN GRAY Data from the Georgia secretary of state show that as of Monday morning, more than 181,000 Georgians had already cast their ballots in the Senate runoff.

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NEWS 14 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), one of a handful of GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in an impeachment trial over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, tweeted Monday that Trump hosting Ye and Fuentes “encourages other racist antisemites.” “These attitudes are immoral and should not be entertained. This is not the Republican Party,” Cassidy tweeted. Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), another one of the seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in 2021, told reporters on Monday Trump “should never have had a meal or even a meeting with Nick Fuentes.” Several GOP senators who voted against Trump’s conviction, including Senate Minority Whip John Thune (S.D.) and Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.), who led the GOP’s Senate campaign arm and is seen as a Trump ally, were also critical. Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, earlier had criticized Trump over the meeting, saying “even a social visit” from those espousing antisemitism was unacceptable. Trump late last week hosted Ye at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The rapper, who has been widely condemned and lost business deals in recent months for his own antisemitic rhetoric, brought with him Fuentes, an outspoken Holocaust denier who has in recent years hosted a white nationalist conference. The former president has issued several statements in the aftermath of the meeting, none of which explicitly disavowed Ye’s or Fuentes’s past rhetoric. “So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black, Ye (Kanye West), who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, by allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so that I can give him very much needed ‘advice,’ ” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday. “He shows up with 3 people, two of which I didn’t know, the other a political person who I haven’t seen in years. I told him don’t run for office, a total waste of time, can’t win. Fake News went CRAZY!” To some Republicans, Trump holding court with an avowed antisemite highlights the risks with nominating him for president for a third time. “This is just awful, unacceptable conduct from anyone, but most particularly from a former President and current candidate,” Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who is mulling his own 2024 bid, tweeted in response to the Trump meeting. The meeting also reflects how easy it has become for fringe figures to gain access to Trump since he left the White House. Former aides expressed concerns about who was in Trump’s ear in the waning weeks of his presidency, but without the infrastructure of the White House in place, Trump is more likely to grant an audience to extremists like Fuentes. “Mr. Trump isn’t going to change, and the next two years will inevitably feature many more such damaging episodes. Republicans who continue to go along for the ride with Mr. Trump are teeing themselves up for disaster in 2024,” the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote in a piece published Sunday. While criticism from the likes of Christie and the Journal’s editorial board is nothing new for Trump, others in the party, including GOP leaders and potential 2024 candidates for president, have remained largely silent over the controversy. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has not weighed in on the meeting. McCarthy previously condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for attending a conference with Fuentes. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to offer comments on the controversy on Tuesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley are among those believed to be eyeing presidential bids who have not offered any comment on Trump’s meeting with West and Fuentes. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has in recent weeks inched toward criticizing Trump without naming his former boss, and did so again over the weekend when he decried antisemitism as a “cancer.” “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry,” Pompeo tweeted. Republicans spent four years trying to deflect, explain or dismiss Trump’s latest controversial comments or actions, and it is likely to once again become a central issue for the party. Trump has already announced his candidacy for 2024, and he may soon be back on Twitter, giving him an even wider audience to espouse unfounded or incendiary claims. “Ever since the election in 2020, I think the president’s descended deeper into the heart of darkness here,” Marc Short, a top aide to Pence and a former official in Trump’s White House, told CNN on Sunday. “I think it’s a big challenge [and] another reason Republicans are looking in a different direction in 2024.” Trump takes sharp GOP criticism over meeting with white nationalist UPI PHOTO Former President Trump is facing sharp criticism from Republicans, including some who served in his administration, over his dinner with prominent white nationalist Nick Fuentes. → TRUMP FROM PAGE 1

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Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott (Fla.). McConnell signaled to colleagues before the election that he favored passing an omnibus spending package before the end of the year, but that was before Senate Republicans fell short of expectations on Election Day, fueling conservative calls for new GOP leadership. Senate Republican sources say McConnell will want to hear from fellow GOP senators at lunch meetings this week before deciding whether to agree to an omnibus spending package, which would likely include tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid for Ukraine — a top McConnell priority. Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said there’s going to be a debate within the GOP conference this week over spending strategy and pointed out there are two factions, one favoring a deal with Democrats and another calling for a freeze on spending until Republicans take over the House. “I think we’re probably having a lot of discussions about that this week,” Thune said. “I think our members are going to be … in different camps on whether or not to do an omni or to just do a [continuing resolution].” Thune acknowledged that funding for Ukraine would have a tough time passing if attached to a stopgap spending bill. “Boy, that would be hard to get it on a [continuing resolution] right now,” he said. “Clearly we’ll see what the requests are, what the needs are,” he added. “We have a lot of members on our side who are very interested in trying to help any way we can. But that hill is getting steeper.” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D -Vt.) said Monday that he’s offered Republicans a top-line spending number, which would include defense and nondefense discretionary spending levels. “I’ve offered a good number,” he said, dismissing the prospect of a stopgap funding measure that simply freezes federal spending at current levels. “A continuing resolution doesn’t help anybody,” he said, noting that “we don’t have much time left” until government funding expires after Dec. 16. Leahy and Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said McConnell signaled before the election that he favored passing an omnibus spending bill before Christmas, instead of pushing decisions into 2023 and a new Congress. “I think we ought to do our jobs,” Shelby told reporters in September. “I want to help Leahy best I can to meet our obligation.” “I think McConnell is of that persuasion,” he added. “Some people want to kick [funding decisions] down the road.” Leahy confirmed Monday that he also thought that McConnell wanted to get the omnibus passed in December, instead of punting it into next year, despite pressure from conservatives such as Scott and Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “I’m not in their caucus, but I think Sen. Shelby and I had the same impression,” he said. One of the strongest arguments that Shelby and other Republican members on the Appropriations Committee have for passing an omnibus spending bill is that it would help the Department of Defense plan in the face of growing threats from Russia and China. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter to congressional leaders Monday arguing that a continuing resolution lasting into next year would hamstring military preparation and training. “The CR costs us time as well as money, and money can’t buy back time, especially for lost training events,” Austin wrote, referring to the problems caused by passing a stopgap spending measure instead of an omnibus package. “Under the CR, Congress prohibits the military from commencing new initiatives, such as those requested by our theater commanders in the Indo-Pacific and around the world or in support of service members and their families at home,” Austin wrote. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D -N.Y.) hammered on the potential impact on national defense during a floor speech Monday. He warned a stopgap spending measure “will not only cost our military billions every month, it will also freeze new investments in critical military infrastructure.” “It will mean many staffing and personnel decisions will be put on hold,” he added. “When we see some of the advances some of our competitors — China and Russia — have made in military equipment, we can’t afford to sit still.” The push for a longer-term stopgap spending measure to delay negotiations on the omnibus until Republicans control the House next year is being led by Scott, Lee and Cruz, who led the critiques of McConnell’s leadership during two intense closeddoor meetings that GOP senators held after failing to win control of the Senate on Election Day. The conservatives laid out their argument for postponing negotiations on spending priorities in a Fox News op-ed published in September. They argued that if Republicans control a chamber of Congress, they can block efforts to fund the Biden administration’s plan to beef up IRS enforcement. “Instead of funding thousands of new IRS officials to audit and harass Americans, we should spend that money to hire new border patrol agents and finally secure our borders,” they wrote. “The worst move imaginable would be to gift the Democrats one last liberal spending spree in December as they leave power,” they wrote. But not all conservatives think it would be smart strategy to punt major spending negotiations until next year, when Republicans will have a small majority in the House, making it likely the next Speaker will have to depend on Democrats to pass spending legislation through the lower chamber. “If you go back to 2013, we had a Republican House — with a larger margin — and a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president and we employed the [government] shutdown as the leverage and we got absolutely nothing out of that,” said Grover Norquist, a prominent conservative activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform. He said the negotiating leverage of House Republicans next year will depend largely on their ability to stay unified. “If you’ve got 10 or 15 people that say, ‘I’d rather be on Newsmax than cut the budget,’ then what are we waiting for? Because you’re going to have to buy 10 Democrats’ vote,” he said. Right now, 218 House Republicans have yet to unify behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bid to become Speaker. McConnell holds all the cards in spending package showdown → MCCONNELL FROM PAGE 1 GREG NASH Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said there’s going to be a debate within the GOP conference this week over spending strategy and pointed out there are two factions, one favoring a deal with Democrats and another calling for a freeze on spending until Republicans take over the House. NEWS 16 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL

THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 17 BUSINESS By Tobias Burns • Protests in multiple cities in China over the country’s so-called zeroCOVID policy rattled world markets Monday, adding to fears about stagnating growth and supply chain crunches as the holiday shopping season picks up. The S&P 500 index of major U.S. stocks fell three-quarters of a percent, dipping below 4,000 during Monday’s morning trading session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 180 points, falling below 43,160. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index fell off a cliff Monday morning, losing more than 3 percent of its value before climbing back to finish 1.5 percent lower than Friday’s close. China’s Shanghai Composite index finished down more than three-quarters of a percent, while the German blue chip DAX index shed nearly 1 percent of its value in Monday morning trading. Shares of U.S. electronics giant Apple were hit particularly hard by news of the protests, falling more than 2 percent on concerns that zero-COVID policies could affect iPhone production at key plants across the country. Protests erupted across China after 10 people died in a fire last week in Urumqi, a city in the western part of the country that has seen extended lockdowns, with some residents confined to their homes for more than three months. Demonstrations spread to multiple cities including Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing, where students rallied on the campus of Tsinghua University. Crowds in Shanghai even called for Xi Jinping, the head of the Chinese Communist Party, to step down, according to video circulated on social media. Economists say China’s position as both a leading global manufacturer and as an important market for many U.S. businesses means that its COVID -19 policies have far-reaching economic implications. “Big American companies in general earn a lot of profits in China,” David Dollar, a senior fellow in U.S.-China economic relations at the Brookings Institution, said in an interview. “Definitely, profits are not growing given the stagnation in the economy. There COVID lockdown protests in China rattle US markets → SEE COVID PAGE 19 By Adam Barnes • Growth in home prices is slowing fastest in cities to which remote workers fled for lower costs of living during the coronavirus pandemic. T h e i n f l u x o f w o r k e r s from coastal communities intensified competition and drove up costs by more than 30 percent in some of these towns. But lately high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty are keeping buyers out of these once-hot markets and starting to bring prices there back down to earth. Prices have slowed nationwide as mortgage rates have risen in response to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive effort to curb inflation by raising interest rates. A string of jumbo interest rate hikes has pushed mortgage rates from 4.16 percent to nearly 7 percent since the Fed first raised rates in March. Yet these high mortgage rates are hitting some markets harder than others. A new report from the real estate company Redfin shows that boomtowns like Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; and Phoenix are among the major U.S. metros where home prices are decelerating the fastest. “The forces slowing the housing market, such as high mortgage rates, are having an outsized impact on places like Austin and Boise that saw home prices skyrocket over the last few years,” Redfin Home prices cooling fastest in pandemic boomtowns → SEE HOMES PAGE 19 ASSOCIATED PRESS Protests erupted in cities across China after 10 people died in a fire in Urumqi, a city that had been under extended lockdowns as part of China’s zero-COVID policy.

18 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL POLICY FINANCE DEFENSE HEALTH CARE BOTTOM LINE • Russia has postponed a resumption of nuclear arms control talks with the U.S. government without explanation, the Biden administration said on Monday. The State Department said Moscow “unilaterally postponed” talks with the U.S. on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), an arms control pact that limits both nations’ stockpiles of nuclear weapons, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles. Talks were scheduled for Tuesday in Egypt and would have extended until next week. The State Department said Russia promised to provide new dates for a meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC), which agrees on details for the New START. “The United States is ready to reschedule at the earliest possible date as resuming inspections is a priority for sustaining the treaty as an instrument of stability,” the department said in a statement. The New START was finalized in 2011 during the Obama administration and serves as the last key pact to limit nuclear arms between Washington and Moscow. Last year, the U.S. and Russia agreed to extend the treaty to 2026, about a month before it was set to expire. The BCC held its last meeting in Geneva in October 2021, a time lapse attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, Moscow suspended U.S. inspections of nuclear arms in a protest of Washington’s continued funding of Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces. The talks that were set for this week were not expected to discuss Ukraine, State Department spokesman Ned Price said earlier this month. The Associated Press contributed. — Brad Dress • Cryptocurrency firm BlockFi filed for bankruptc y on Monday, just weeks after the high-profile collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. BlockFi and eight of its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, according to a news release. New Jersey-based BlockFi has about 100,000 creditors and has liabilities and assets both ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion, according to court filings. Mark Renzi with the Berkeley Research Group, a financial adviser for the crypto company, said “the BlockFi management team and board of directors immediately took action to protect clients and the company” after the collapse of FTX. “BlockFi looks forward to a transparent process that achieves the best outcome for all clients and other stakeholders,” Renzi said in a statement. BlockFi has already paused activity on the cryptocurrency exchange. The company says it has more than $256 million of cash on hand, which it expects to use to support operations during the restructuring process. Some had speculated that BlockFi would file for bankruptcy because of its close association with FTX, which also filed for bankruptcy this month. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that BlockFi was preparing to do so. In a blog post last week, BlockFi said it had “significant exposure to FTX and associated corporate entities,” including financial obligations and undrawn amounts of credit. The shocking downfall of FTX and its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, has led to congressional hearings and a lawsuit filed by former investors who say they lost billions of dollars. The collapse of FTX was preceded by two other crypto bankruptcies, at Voyager and Celsius. — Brad Dress Crypto firm BlockFi files for bankruptcy • The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said it is renaming “monkeypox” as “mpox” amid concerns that the name may be considered racist and might not accurately describe the origin of the virus. The two terms will be used simultaneously for one year while “monkeypox” is phased out, the WHO said in a statement. The agency over the summer said it would consider suggestions for a name change. “When the outbreak of monkeypox expanded earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO,” the agency said. “In several meetings, public and private, a number of individuals and countries raised concerns and asked WHO to propose a way forward to change the name.” Assigning names to existing diseases is rare, but it is the responsibility of the WHO under the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Usually, the ICD updating process takes up to several years, but the WHO said the process was accelerated in this case. LGBTQ activists, scientists and public health experts have been calling for the name change since the U.S. outbreak began earlier this year. They argue the name plays into racist stereotypes about Africa and hampers the global response. Cases of the disease have more often been found in Central and Western African countries, leading many Western nations to pay little attention to it, but a monkeypox outbreak earlier this year in Europe and the United States pushed the disease to the forefront. The U.S. outbreak began spreading rapidly across the country in May, catching administration health officials by surprise and resulting in a scramble to bring infections under control. A group of scientists wrote a joint statement to the WHO in June urging it to rename monkeypox, calling the name “discriminatory and stigmatizing.” Human monkeypox was given its name in 1970, after the virus that causes the disease was discovered in captive monkeys in 1958. In a statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra applauded the decision and said federal public health agencies will adopt the mpox name “in correspondence with the medical community and American public from this point forward.” “We welcome the change by the World Health Organization. We must do all we can to break down barriers to public health, and reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox,” Becerra said. — Nathaniel Weixel World Health renames monkeypox as ‘mpox’ Russia postpones nuclear arms talks with United States • DEFENSE. Raytheon Technologies hired Cornerstone Government Affairs to lobby on annual spending and defense bills and procurement issues. Christopher Hodgson, former deputy floor director for House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), will work on the account. AGY Holding Corp.  hired American Defense International to lobby for the use of the company’s high performance glass fiber for defense purposes. Josh Martin, former chief of staff to former House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), will work on the account. • HEALTH CARE. Biohaven Pharmaceuticals hired DLA Piper to lobby on policies and Food and Drug Administration regulations regarding the firm’s disease areas. Former Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.), who previously led the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, will work on the account.  Health care software firm Phreesia  hired FGS Global to lobby on issues related to patient reported quality measurement. Aryana Khalid, former chief of staff at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Obama administration, will work on the account. F r e n c h b i o t e c h f i r m bioMérieux  hired Groundswell Strategy  to lobby on issues related to food and consumer safety. Carmen Rottenberg, former administrator of the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, will work on the account. • TECHNOLOGY. Impulse Space, a startup seeking to make the first commercial mission to Mars, hired American Defense International to lobby on issues related to on-orbit logistics and space infrastructure. Todd Harmer, former military legislative assistant to former Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), will work on the account. Karl Evers-Hillstrom ASSOCIATED PRESS-MARY ALTAFFE An outbreak of mpox, also called monkeypox, in the U.S. this year caught the country off guard and brought the disease into the public eye.

THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 19 BUSINESS are key products, like certain types of smartphones, that are seeing clear supply chain bottlenecks. These bottlenecks jump around from sector to sector, city to city, and impact production in complex ways.” In October, Reuters reported that iPhone production at one of China’s main factories could drop by as much as 30 percent due to the country’s COVID -19 regulations, throwing a wrench in electronics pipelines ahead of the holiday shopping season in many Western countries. By and large, economists say that Chinese production has held up relatively well over the course of the pandemic, as authorities have ensured that key factories have been allowed to remain open and adjusted regulations in line with changing economic forecasts. During a press briefing Monday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the White House officials “don’t see any particular impact right now to the supply chain” as a result of the civic unrest in China. The real danger both for the Chinese population and the Chinese economy is that frustration over how the pandemic is being handled could subvert popular expectations about how and when a more substantial reopening will take place, which in turn could disrupt the government’s broader policy response. “They’ve created a real problem for themselves on the level of expectations,” Dollar said. “They’ve eased up and altered their zero-tolerance policies a little bit, such as with the length of quarantine time. But whenever they ease up a little bit, people expect that this is the beginning of a full opening, which then they’re reluctant to do. So I think there’s a lot of dissatisfaction now.” Rates of COVID-19 infection in China have been climbing in recent weeks, and the resulting crackdowns in social policy are adding to an environment that’s becoming less friendly to international business. “ You’re seeing a reversion to some of the more heavy-handed lockdown policies,” Willy Shih, a professor of business operations at the Harvard Business School, said in an interview. “It’s this kind of uncertainty that drives businesses to consider moving elsewhere and diversifying their supply bases.” Confidence in China among U.S. businesses had already been shaken over the course of the pandemic due to the government’s stringent public health policies. One survey from May carried out by the American Chamber of Commerce in China found that more than half of respondents had decreased or delayed Chinese investments as a result of the pandemic. “The foreign business community’s confidence in doing business in China continues to decrease, with 100 percent of respondents reporting an impact from China’s policies concerning the recent outbreak,” the survey from May found. Former Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor said in an interview that mounting friction between U.S. businesses and the Chinese government goes back even before the pandemic and can be traced to increased competition between the world’s two largest economies. “This situation is not touchand-go, it’s really a continuing process in which the U.S. has been somewhat of an aggressor,” Kantor said. “In cutting off high-technology exports to China and being very reluctant to allow U.S. businesses with export controls to do business in China — this is a huge factor for the Chinese economy, and for the U.S. economy as well.” T h e n a t i o nw i d e u n r e st over the weekend drew comparisons on social media to the student-led demonstrations in China of 1989, which resulted in a violent crackdown on protesters by Chinese authorities. American University School of International Service assistant professor Yang Zhang posted a video online of student protests at Tsinghua University, writing along with the video that such scenes were “very rare after 1989.” Economist George Magnus of Oxford University’s China Centre said in an interview that he could see the current upheaval going in one of four different directions. Either it could fizzle out as a temporary expression of pent-up frustration, and China’s zero-COVID policy could be accepted once again as an unavoidable if inconvenient status quo, or the government could capitulate to some degree and make concessions in line with public sentiment, risking an increase in infections and strain on the public health system. “The middle way, which I suppose is most people’s feared way, is that they ’ll use repression to basically imprison people and stamp out the protests. I’m not saying they’ll necessarily bring tanks out onto the street, but there could be violent repression and they ’ll carry on implementing zero-COVID as sternly as they have been,” Magnus said. “A glimmer of light would be that if the government is prepared to discriminate between protestors who are p u r e l y a n t i - z e r o - C OV I D and protestors who are taking more of a political stance, they might basically then continue to evolve zeroCOVID into a policy that is zero-COVID in name only,” he added. “In other words, they’ll call it zero-COVID, but they won’t implement draconian lockdowns; they’ll relax on personal contacts and testing regimes, and so on.” → COVID FROM PAGE 17 World watches response to zero-COVID protests senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a statement. “Home prices can only rise by double digits for so long before the growth becomes unsustainable. High rates and stumbling tech stocks are making it unsustainable quite quickly, especially in destinations popular with tech workers,” Bokhari added. The price per square foot in Phoenix and Austin slowed by 23 percent since February, when home buyer demand peaked, while the price per square foot decelerated by 22 percent in San Jose, Calif. Prices decelerated in Las Vegas by 21 percent over the same period and by 20 percent in Boise, the report shows. However, home prices in Phoenix, Austin and Boise also rose the most in the past two years, with the typical home now selling for around $500,000 in each of those cities. The price slowdown has also reached America’s major tech hubs. The popular Silicon Valley city San Jose, where prices fell by 1.6 percent from last year, is joined among the top 10 by Seattle, where prices slowed by 19 percent from February. And both Seattle and San Jose could be further impacted by a series of layoffs at major technology companies. Layoffs in these cities could cause forced sales, damage buyer confidence and lead to smaller down payments — even from buyers who kept their jobs. “The housing market is fueled by confidence, affordability and, most importantly, jobs. Housing demand in tech-heavy metros is expected to be lower in the near-term,” Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, previously told The Hill. “In some cases, prospective homebuyers will lack both the financial ability to purchase a home and the consumer confidence needed to go through with the purchase,” Wolf added. The median sale price in October for homes in San Jose fell by nearly 1 percent from a year earlier to around $1.3 million. In Seattle the median home in October sold for $845,000, rising after months of steady decline. Although home prices are rising more slowly across the country, they remain persistently high. In October, prices dropped by 1.4 percent. But they are still up 4.9 percent from last year, with the median priced home selling for $397,549. Meanwhile, mortgage rates fell again last week, a week after they experienced their largest weekly drop in nearly four decades. Data released by Freddie Mac showed that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage declined by 0.3 percent to 6.58 percent. Yet these fluctuating rates could put pressure on buyers who may be unsure when to enter or exit the market. “In recent weeks, rates have hit above seven percent only to drop by almost half a percentage point,” Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said in a statement. “This volatility is making it difficult for potential homebuyers to know when to get into the market, and that is reflected in the latest data which shows existing home sales slowing across all price points.” But the overall price slowdown could benefit first-time buyers who have seen both their purchase power and share of the market decrease dramatically in recent years. A separate report released recently by the National Association of Realtors showed that first-time buyers made up just 26 percent of the market in 2022. Austin real estate agent Maggie Ruiz said the recent slowdown in the formerly red-hot market has in “many ways” turned it into a buyers’ market. “Some first-time buyers finally have an opportunity to purchase a home without competing with out-of-towners and investors,” Ruiz said in a statement. “Because prices and rates are high, a lot of buyers are offering below asking price, negotiating with sellers on a rate buydown, or considering new construction because many builders are offering significant incentives, including rate buydowns, to offload their inventory,” Ruiz concluded. → HOMES FROM PAGE 17 Tech layoffs, Fed spur home market cooldown ASSOCIATED PRESS-MATT ROURKE Although homes prices are rising more slowly across the country, they remain persistently high.

20 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL CAMPAIGN By Zach Schonfeld • The GOP is locked in a battle with Arizona’s Maricopa County over its handling of the midterm elections, with Republicans claiming voter disenfranchisement and d e m a n d i n g c e r t i f i c a t i o n delays as election officials vow to move ahead. The campaigns of Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and Republican secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem have called for an election redo, contesting county officials’ assertion that affected voters could still cast legal ballots. GOP figures have already mounted legal challenges and promised to dig in as the county, which spans the Phoenix area and comprises about 60 percent of Arizona’s population, becomes the epicenter of Republican election challenges this year. Here are five things to know about the issues: Allegations are centered on printer issues Maricopa residents can cast a ballot at any of the county’s vote centers, so poll workers print customized ballots on demand to match one of more than 12,000 ballot styles, depending on where a voter lives. But after previously testing the printers, county officials say they began hearing at 6:30 a.m. on Election Day that some machines were printing ballots too light for tabulators to read. Maricopa officials on Sunday said the issues were rooted in the printers’ fusers. They say they identified a solution by 11:30 a.m., dispatching technicians to change printer settings at 71 of the county’s 223 vote centers throughout the day, adding that not all of those locations were ultimately confirmed to have printer issues. The GOP has seized on those malfunctions, claiming they led to a range of issues that effectively disenfranchised voters. Lake’s campaign has further alleged that election workers were aware of the issues as early as Nov. 2, arguing it “never needed to occur.” Officials insist no voter was disenfranchised Maricopa County officials acknowledge the malfunctions but insist voters could utilize one of multiple backup options: waiting until the issue was resolved, casting a ballot at another vote center or depositing the ballot in a separate box for tabulation later, known as “door 3.” “Maricopa County followed state and federal laws to ensure every voter was provided the opportunity to cast a ballot,” Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates (R) said in a statement on Sunday. Republicans have lambasted the backup plans, arguing it still led to disenfranchisement. “Because of the printer/tabulator problems, the polling locations were chaotic, voters were frustrated and voters had to endure long lines,” Lake’s campaign said in court filings. Maricopa officials pushed back on those criticisms in a response to the Arizona attorney general’s office on Sunday, asserting the average wait time was six minutes. Republicans have also argued workers did not properly check out voters who went to a second location, meaning it would appear as if they were fraudulently casting a second ballot and result in it not being counted. Maricopa said 206 residents voted at a second location and acknowledged that 122 were not properly checked out at the first vote center. Those voters cast provisional ballots, and the county says they ultimately tabulated all but 13 of them. Lake and others have also railed against officials for instructing voters to place ballots in “door 3” if they experienced the issue, posting videos of voters who lacked confidence their ballot was counted. The county suggested some voters did opt against using “door 3” but placed the blame on party figures like Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who on Election Day encouraged voters on Twitter to not place their ballots in the separate container. “I guess what I’ve heard here is that these folks listen to Charlie Kirk,” Gates said at a Nov. 12 press conference. “So maybe if Charlie Kirk would take the facts down that we’re presenting and share that with the folks, they would feel better.” GOP candidates have mounted legal challenges A Republican coalition began mounting legal challenges over the issues on Election Day, asking for an extension of voting hours in Maricopa. A state judge rejected the motion moments before polls closed, saying he had seen no evidence a voter was prevented from casting a ballot. Last week, Republican attorney general nominee Abraham Hamadeh formally contested his election result alongside the Republican National Committee. Hamadeh trails his opponent by just 510 votes out of 2.5 million ballots cast ahead of an expected recount; he argued to a judge that vote tabulations need changes to rectify the issues, insisting it would result in him emerging victorious. Lake, who trails Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs (D) by a far larger margin of about 17,000 votes, has not yet contested her election. But her campaign sued Maricopa over public records requests related to the malfunctions, and Lake’s attorney argued in filings that the problems meet the legal threshold for the county to delay its certification. Lake declined to commit to accepting results prior to the election Lake, an ally of former President Trump, sidestepped questions on multiple occasions prior to the election about whether she would accept the election results. “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” Lake told CNN’s Dana Bash on Oct. 16. “If you lose, will you accept that?” Bash followed up. Lake responded with the same phrasing. Speaking with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Oct. 23, Lake similarly hedged. “I will accept the results of this election if we have a fair, honest and transparent election, absolutely, 100 percent,” Lake said. Battle grows over state’s upcoming certification State officials will certify the election on Dec. 5, but GOP figures have scorned a refusal by Hobbs, Arizona’s governor-elect who currently serves as secretary of state, to recuse herself from signing t h e paperwork. Hobbs’s office has portrayed the certification as a ministerial act, noting that the paperwork will also be signed by some Arizona Republicans, like Gov. Doug Ducey. “For the governor, if he says he’s going to certify this, and Katie Hobbs to certify this, I think they really better think long and hard,” Lake said on former Trump chief strategist Stephen Bannon’s show last week. What you need to know about GOP election challenges in Maricopa County, Arizona ASSOCIATED PRESS-ROSS D. FRANKLIN Some Republicans in Arizona are raising questions about the impact of ballot printer issues on Election Day, while other Republicans in state government defend their handling of the election.

By Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) La s t D e c e m b e r, P r e s i d e n t Biden issued an executive order declaring that a “robust, resilient, and competitive domestic defense industrial base” was essential to America’s national security — and he outlined that it must come with the capability, capacity and workforce to meet the demand signal for the Virginia-class submarine production. To accomplish that, the order directed the Department of Defense to utilize the Korean Warera Defense Production Act (DPA) to expand the Virginia program’s largescale fabrication capacity, as well as our domestic maritime workforce training pipelines. Among the thousands of programs at the Department of Defense, this extraordinary edict specifically singled out the Virginia-class submarine program for DPA support. The White House justified the order as necessary “to ensure the U.S. Navy can maintain open sea lanes for global communication and commerce, enhance diplomatic partnerships, and grow a robust underwater capability.” Make no mistake — to single out this singular defense program as a DPA priority is incredibly unique. It recognizes that America’s submarine fleet still holds an advantage over a numerically larger Chinese Navy, but that the edge we hold is at risk if our nation’s industrial base isn’t sized up to take on higher production levels. In the year since that executive order was signed, the Biden administration has focused even more fervently on industrial base capacity. Navy shipyards of every sort — surface w a r s h i p s, s u p p o r t v e s s e l s a n d submarines — have been in COVID-19 recovery mode as supply chain bottlenecks and workforce disruption have slowed production. Like all U.S. manufacturers, shipyards in 2021 and 2022 have experienced a spike in retirements and sluggish new hiring that has resulted in unprecedented high numbers of job openings. Adding to the challenge, Navy shipyards are also now competing against smaller supply chain defense manufacturers similarly eager to hire, and against nondefense manufacturers in industries like electric vehicles, aerospace, m i c r o c h i p a n d s e m i c o n d u c t o r production, and wind turbines, to name a few. Ironically, this is all happening at a time where there is mounting consensus about the need to grow the Navy and the defense budget as a whole. In July, the Democratic-controlled House voted 329-101 to raise defense spending by $37 billion above Biden’s 2023 request, and in the Senate, there has been a push to go even higher. That higher spending, however, begs an important question: how executable are these budgets and shipbuilding goals, given the workforce strains on the defense industrial base? For defense leaders both in government and out, it’s a time of reckoning. We have got to go “upstream” to develop intensive, accelerated job training programs that can meet the moment, and help deter rising threats of malign behavior around the globe. This is a uniquely American task. Since World War II, the U.S. has been the “Arsenal of Democracy” thanks to its industrial might. That persistent role has been accomplished because of tried-and-true models of “earn while you learn” training, enshrined in the National Apprenticeship Act enacted in 1937. That law was enhanced with the Workforce Investment Act that was passed in 1998, opening pre-apprenticeship models for adult trainees that are developed locally, and funded federally. Lastly, the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act funds local technical high schools that connect teens to skills for manufacturing careers, not just jobs. These three programs have proven track records of success, but they share one adverse characteristic: they have been persistently underfunded over the years, undermining their visibility and scope. Indeed, all the funding for job training in the U.S. adds up to a fraction of what developed countries from Europe, Canada, and Australia invest in their economies. In 2022, this glaring shortfall is now biting into America’s economic growth and national defense. Rather than wring our hands, here is an agenda for defense leaders to solve the industrial base problem: 1. Pass the long-overdue reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act for the first time in 85 years to sizeup its scope, and extend its reach to underserved communities. The House passed this bill by 247-173. 2. Pass the reauthorization of t h e Wo r k f o r c e I nv e st m e n t a n d Opportunity Act to help us expand the size and reach of our already-successful, federally funded skills-training and workforce development programs. The House passed this bill by 220-196. 3. Ensure that the Department of Defense directs its funding in the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program to existing, high-functioning job training programs that the U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Education already oversee. This agenda might be viewed as “outside” of the national defense portfolio, since it revolves around programs in other agencies, but nothing could be further from the truth. When Congress passed the National Apprenticeship Act (the Fitzgerald Act) in 1937, it turned out to be a key moment that decided the outcome of World War II. The act established national standards for the metal trades and the building trades that was instrumental to the overwhelming output of planes, ships, munitions, and tanks that the U.S. and our allies needed to win. It was a true “all of government” approach, and it’s clear we need that same all-in effort to meet the challenges of today. Courtney represents the 2nd District and is chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 21 OPINION CONTRIBUTORS It’s the defense industrial base THIEP VAN NGUYEN II/U.S. NAVY VIA AP Courtney: The White House has recognized America’s submarine fleet still holds an advantage over a numerically larger Chinese Navy, but that the edge we hold is at risk if our nation’s industrial base isn’t sized up to take on higher production levels. For defense leaders both in government and out, it’s a time of reckoning. We have got to go “upstream” to develop intensive, accelerated job training programs that can meet the moment, and help deter rising threats of malign behavior around the globe.

22 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL OPINION By Gregory J. Wallance According to the political website FiveThirtyEight, “the vast majority of election-denying candidates who lost their races have conceded.” They no more deserve applause than would arsonists who, at the last minute, decide to fight the fire that they had set. But unlike these candidates, Kari Lake, the two-fisted, election-denying Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, adamantly refuses to concede even though The Associated Press declared that she lost the election by 17,000 votes. No surprise there because Lake had vowed during the campaign only to accept a result in which she was the winner — in other words, “heads I win, tails the election was rigged.” To emphasize her election-denying grit, Lake’s campaign recently began playing on social media the late Tom Petty’s song, “I won’t back down.” Time will tell whether the 2022 midterms were the Gettysburg of election denial, the kind of battlefield defeat that in hindsight was a turning point. But, as the midterms demonstrated, election denial is certainly losing traction. Its adherents’ most realistic hope of a revival depends on a replay of 2020 in which former President Trump, as the Republican nominee, loses the 2024 general election in a tight race and then uses election denial to rouse his MAGA mercenaries, at least those no longer serving prison terms, and the lunatic conspiracy theorists, to stop the electoral certification. It will be harder in 2024 since Trump won’t be rabble-rousing from a presidential perch and President Biden will have considerable means available to prevent a Jan. 6 replay. Without Trump, election denial has no future as a political strategy. Other prominent Republicans simply can’t conjure upon fake realities the way he can, as evidenced by the flop of Kari Lake’s one-woman election denial show. The outgoing Republican governor, Doug Ducey, congratulated Lake’s opponent, Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, on her victory. Tom Petty’s estate issued a cease-and-desist order to Lake’s campaign to stop playing “I won’t back down,” which it claims Lake stole. Even Trump devoted relatively little time to election denial in announcing his candidacy for president in 2024. Lake has none of Trump’s carnivorous, carnival-barker skills but all of his election-denying klutziness. During the Arizona election, technical problems prevented some vote tabulators in Maricopa County from processing the ballots. Poll workers offered voters the option of putting their ballots in a slot marked “3” in the locked boxes below the tabulators. Lake’s allies began spreading rumors that made what they called “Box 3” sound like an Area 51 conspiracy, and urged voters not to use “Box 3.” When the Lake campaign finally realized that the fear-mongering was depressing their voter turnout, a campaign lawyer had to reassure voters that they had nothing to fear from “Box 3.” Lake has begun filing lawsuits, but notwithstanding the tabulation problems, they will go nowhere. An investigation by The New York Times concluded that Lake has been unable to establish that any eligible voters “were actually denied the chance to vote.” I n s t e a d , L a k e ’s c a m p a i g n h a s r e s o r t e d t o s u bt e r f u g e s by, f o r example, posting an edited video from the site Rumble in which a voter complained about his inability to vote at a polling place because of the tabulation problems. But in the full, unedited video, the voter explained that, in fact, he had then cast his ballot at another polling place. To paraphrase a well-known saying, “Election denial history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Wallance, a writer in New York City, was a federal prosecutor in the Carter and Reagan administrations, where he was a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team that convicted a U.S. senator and six representatives of bribery. He is working on a book about a 19th century American journalist who investigated the Siberian exile system. Follow him on Twitter at @gregorywallance. CONTRIBUTORS Kari Lake and the last stand of the election deniers ASSOCIATED PRESS-MATT YORK Wallance: Kari Lake, the election-denying GOP nominee for governor of Arizona, adamantly refuses to concede even though The Associated Press declared that she lost her election by 17,000 votes. Without former President Trump, election denial has no future as a political strategy. Other prominent Republicans simply can’t conjure upon fake realities the way he can, as evidenced by the flop of Kari Lake’s one-woman election denial show.

For Donald Trump, it couldn’t happen at a worse time. He wants everybody to talk about how wonderful it is that he’s running for president again. Instead, everybody’s talking about how insane it was for him to host Kanye West and Nick Fuentes for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Nov. 22. Americans haven’t been so shocked by a surprise dinner guest since 1967 and the blockbuster film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” in which Joanna Drayton, a 23-year-old white woman, showed up at her parents’ home with her fiancé, John Prentice, a 37-year-old Black man. But at least that movie had a happy ending, unlike this debacle. Trump’s response to the hullabaloo over his dinner guests shows how clueless he is about — well, everything. First, never accepting blame for anything himself, he blamed West, who now goes by Ye, for bringing a surprise guest. That is nonsense. In my career as political activist and journalist, I’ve been around several presidents. Nobody gets close to a president or former president unannounced, let alone have dinner with them. Nobody. Which, of course, begs the question: Forget, for a moment, about Nick Fuentes — why was Trump having dinner with West in the first place? Surely, Trump knew that West had been dropped by many sponsors, including Adidas and Balenciaga, for his own antisemitic remarks. On Oct. 9, West tweeted that he was “going death con 3 on Jewish people.” He was recently named a finalist for “Anti-Semite of the Year” by the organization StopAntisemitism.org — a strange credential for being invited to have dinner with a former president. Second, Trump insists he had no idea who Fuentes was before wining and dining with him. Again, nonsense. Fuentes could never be accused of hiding his hatred for Jews and Blacks under a rock. He shouts it from the rooftop, despite often excusing his views as political irony. He told Jews to shut up about the Holocaust: “I’ve heard enough about this Holocaust. I’ve heard enough about it ... . The real Holocaust was Jesus Christ being crucified.” In April, he proposed “discussing Jewish Power” as the next big agenda for Republicans. In February 2022, he bragged on his “America First” broadcast: “I’m just like Hitler.” That same month, as an avowed white Christian nationalist, Fuentes declared his mission: “America, for what it’s worth, was founded by white Christians. … Christianity is the religion of this nation. Not Judaism, not the Talmud, not that stuff. … And, if we’re going to make America great again, we’ve gotta talk about this antiwhite thing that’s going on.” No surprise, Fuentes attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017 where marchers chanted “Jews shall not replace us.” He was also present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, even though he did not enter the building. He later praised the attack on the Capitol as “awesome.” And Trump’s reaction on meeting Fuentes? “I really like this guy,” Trump reportedly told West. “He gets me.” And to this day, one whole week since their dinner together, Trump has not issued one word of condemnation for the hate-filled rhetoric spewed against Blacks and Jews by both West and Fuentes. So why should we be surprised? This is the same man who also insisted he knew nothing about David Duke, who insisted there were some “very fine people” among white supremacists in Charlottesville, and who urged the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” We’re just lucky Trump’s not still in the White House. He might have invited Fuentes to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom. Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.” THE HILL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 23 OPINION BILL PRESS Guess who’s coming to dinner at Mar-a-Lago Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose — the more things change, the more they stay the same. This old French saying epitomizes how the House Republicans must view their ability to govern in the face of a slim majority and a Democratic-controlled Senate. We have seen this before. We have seen everything before. And while politics might seem to be fundamentally and irretrievably different, basic human instincts remain largely unchanged. For Republican politicians who are newly elected to the majority, the challenges might seem insurmountable. A disappointing election. An angry base. An intractable Senate. A president who opposes everything that they are trying to do. So how does the House Republican leadership lead under these difficult circumstances? Here are six tips to surviving and then keeping the majority in the next two years. First, adequately set expectations. The old method of underpromising and overdelivering works, but is not sufficient. You can’t set expectations so low that supporters start asking the question, why bother? Republicans have to constantly remind their base that stopping President Biden’s agenda is well worth the effort of seizing the majority as they set a course for victory for their voters. Second, provide a solid gameplay for governance. Returning to regular order is a tested and true way to show that a majority understands how to run the legislative branch. It may seem silly, but spend some time putting together a budget. Outline an authorization process that makes sense. Get your spending priorities together early, and then do the due diligence that is the hallmark of the appropriations process. Grind out small win after small win. And for God’s sake, get rid of all of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) ridiculous COVID-19 restrictions. Open the House back up and get all legislators back to work. Third, identify three to four issues that resonate with all but the most doctrinaire progressives and spend your time focusing on them. I would suggest a general theme of securing American freedom. The issues I would focus on are energy security, border security, crime control, and economic security (education is a topic upon which Republican governors should take the lead). Fourth, coordinate with the Senate. The upper chamber is a constant annoyance to an aggressive, ambitious and rambunctious House majority, but it sure comes in handy when the other side is in control. In many ways, having the Senate controlled by the other side is an unwanted blessing, because it will necessarily dampen expectations of what can be achieved. But having the House majority and the Senate minority come up with a joint game plan will lead to better communication and a greater ability to achieve victories. Fifth, be ready to not only deal but to sell the deal. Politics is all about the ability to come up with negotiated settlements. But negotiating losing deals can depress the base and lose you your majority. Some basic principles apply. Don’t alienate a majority of your majority. A united team is stronger than a divided one. Keep faith with your echo chamber. Simple messaging trumps complex rationales. Always communicate openly and transparently. Don’t lie. And finally, a good leadership team is constantly listening to its members. Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) used to say that a leader without followers is a just guy out on a walk. Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) used to say that his job was less Speaker and more listener. And former Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) used to say that he would rather have a one-vote majority than a hundred-vote majority, because it inspired better discipline. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience to bring a team together. America is a big country with many competing interests that need to be adequately represented and appreciated. At the end of the day, if the American people feel the Republicans have done a decent job of protecting America by effectively governing, they will get another shot at keeping their majority in 2024. But they will only be successful if they stay united. Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.). JOHN FEEHERY 6 tips for the new House majority ASSOCIATED PRESS-REBECCA BLACKWELL Former President Trump is under fire for hosting rapper Ye and white Christian nationalist Nick Fuentes — both known for antisemitic remarks — for dinner.

24 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 THE HILL MORE AGILE. UNMATCHED ACCESS. boeing.com/kc-46 The KC-46A tanker enables the U.S. Air Force to deploy from more airfields. It can operate from shorter runways and takes up less space on ramps—meaning more booms in the air, faster refueling and dispersed operations for force projection. When winning won’t wait, it’s time for the KC-46A tanker. KC-46A TANKER