| | | | Ryan: GOP Congress will defund Planned Parenthood | | House Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans will move to strip all federal funding for Planned Parenthood as part of the process they are using early this year to dismantle Obamacare. The immediate step into a social battle could be a tough vote for some moderate Republicans such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who have opposed past efforts, writes CNN's Deirdre Walsh.
The Democratic push-back from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: "I just would like to speak individually to women across America: This is about respect for you, for your judgment about your personal decisions in terms of your reproductive needs, the size and timing of your family or the rest, not to be determined by the insurance company or by the Republican ideological right-wing caucus in the House of Representatives. So this is a very important occasion where we're pointing out very specifically what repeal of the (Affordable Care Act) will mean to woman."
About the planned Obamacare repeal ... "We're not going to do a comprehensive bill. We are going to do it in a step-by-step basis," John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told CNN. "If I've learned anything since I've been here in the Senate, big comprehensive bills are not the way to go." | | "I do think public trust and confidence in the intelligence community is crucial." | | | | Vice President Joe Biden has a message for the next President: "Grow up, Donald. Grow up. Time to be an adult," he told "PBS NewsHour" in an interview Thursday. "You're president. You got to do something. Show us what you have. You're going to propose legislation. We're going to get to debate it. Let the public decide. Let them vote in Congress. Let's see what happens." | | Trump picks ex-Sen. Dan Coats for intelligence post | | President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana to serve as director of national intelligence, transition sources confirmed on Thursday. Coats, who retired from the Senate this month after deciding not to seek re-election last year, would become Trump's principal adviser on intelligence matters and would oversee US intelligence efforts should he be confirmed by the Senate.
About the current occupant of that job ... Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was on Capitol Hill, in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today. He bemoaned Trump's criticism of the intelligence community. "I've received many expressions of concern from foreign counterparts about the disparagement of the US intelligence community, or I should say, what has been interpreted as disparagement of the US intelligence community," he said.
Trump says that's not what he's been doing: | | | Trump has certainly changed his tune on Assange over the years. Trump strongly condemned WikiLeaks in a 2010 interview, calling its actions "spying" and "espionage" and saying its members would be shot within 24 hours if they were in a country like China, per the KFile's Andrew Kaczynski. | | | Tiger Woods says President-elect Donald Trump is a pretty good golfer for a 70-year-old. "What most impressed me was how far he hits the ball at 70 years old," Woods wrote on his blog. "He takes a pretty good lash." | | Rand Paul's lonely (so far) budget maneuverings | | Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican yesterday who voted against a budget resolution designed to allow the party to repeal Obamacare, warning that it would also massively add to the deficit, even as GOP leaders claim it's a stopgap, not an actual budget.
Today, he was making his case to House members. Paul met with 25 House Republicans -- mostly members of the Freedom Caucus. Later, he told reporters on a conference call, "I think it's important, no matter who's in charge ... to be vigilant for conservative principles."
Did he win over the Freedom Caucus? No -- at least not yet. "The Freedom Caucus has been very strong in its support of a balanced budget, and it's too early to tell whether that would be a casualty of voting for this budget," said Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. | | Indiana Mayor Buttigieg joins the DNC chair race | | Pete Buttigieg, a rising Midwestern star in his second term as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is entering the race for Democratic National Committee chairman, he announced Thursday -- potentially breaking up what's become a bit of a proxy battle between Clinton/Obama favorite Labor Secretary Tom Perez and progressive/Bernie Sanders preference Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison. "I think we need to get past that as a party. Reliving 2016 is not really good for business for the Democratic Party," Buttigieg told Eric today. "Obviously, we can learn from the past, but this needs to be about the future. We have much more important things to fight than each other."
His argument: "This is exceptionally important: Speaking to one group of potential Democratic voters cannot mean abandoning another." In South Bend, he said, "We didn't pick one demographic over another. The point is, look, the core of our moral authority as a party is our defense of equality, fairness, things like voting rights. But we also are, I believe, motivated by values that are universal. I believe when we talk about fairness, we can do that in a way that appeals to all types of voters and all kinds of Americans. And I think not being afraid to talk about our values will resonate in places where we as a party have been struggling."
The resume: Buttigieg (that's BOOTA-jidge, for the TV and radio folks who need to pronounce it) is 34 and openly gay. He was a naval officer in Afghanistan, a Harvard graduate and a Rhodes Scholar. He ran against Richard Mourdock -- the ill-fated future Senate candidate -- for state treasurer in 2010, and lost. He was elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 and re-elected in 2015.
Side note from CNN's Gregory Krieg: Buttigieg's bid will get a boost from an operative with some experience standing between the warring Democratic factions. Lis Smith, a top aide to former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley during his 2016 primary run, is handling communications for the South Bend mayor.
Here's the video Buttigieg released as he entered the race: | | | A list of who is performing at Donald Trump's inauguration and who isn't ... The Pentagon announced that four inmates were transferred from the Guantanamo Bay prison to Saudi Arabia, dropping the prison's population to 55. ... Matthew Dowd, a longtime Texas operative and George W. Bush aide, is considering running against Sen. Ted Cruz. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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