Politics

The New York Times reports: The House on Tuesday approved the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades, voting along party lines to enact deep and permanent tax cuts for corporations and temporary cuts for individuals. The vote puts Republicans one Senate vote and one presidential signature away from their first significant legislative achievement. The Senate is expected to approve the …

Patch.com reports: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver a briefing for reporters Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern. Sanders will likely discuss the GOP tax bill which is scheduled for a vote before the House of Representatives Tuesday and in the Senate Wednesday. If the bill passes both chambers — as it is expected to — President Trump …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: State Sen. Karin Housley announced in an e-mail to supporters and YouTube video that she is running in the 2018 special election to replace the departing U.S. Sen. Al Franken. “I’ll work, hard, play fair, do the right thing and get things done,” said the St. Marys Point Republican, who was first elected to the state …

Sure, Jan: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders criticized Democrats early Tuesday for refusing to participate in the GOP’s effort to reform the tax code, saying that President Trump would have “welcomed” their input. Speaking on “Fox & Friends,” Sanders said Trump said many times that he was willing to work Democrats and invited them to the White House …

The Voice Of America reports: The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on a Republican $1.5 trillion tax bill that will provide tax relief for most Americans, but benefit the wealthy the most, according to a non-partisan tax analysis group. After the House vote, the Senate is expected to vote on the measure later Tuesday or Wednesday. If both …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Tuesday denied a new report he considered withdrawing Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court after the judge criticized him. “A story in the @washingtonpost that I was close to ‘rescinding’ the nomination of Justice Gorsuch prior to confirmation is FAKE NEWS,” Trump tweeted. A story in the @washingtonpost that I was close to …

Reuters report: U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he plans to nominate Liberty University School of Law professor Caren Harp to oversee the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. If ultimately confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Harp would oversee the Justice Department office that trains and works with state and local communities to develop effective juvenile …

Mediaite reports: Sen. Joe Manchin described President Donald Trump’s efforts to court him in a Politico “Off Message” podcast out Tuesday morning — which ranged from trying to sell the Democrat on Obamacare repeal to even attempting to persuade him to switch parties. Manchin, a Democratic senator in red-state West Virginia, revealed that the president repeatedly pushed him to switch …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate Intelligence Committee is looking at the presidential campaign of the Green Party’s Jill Stein for potential “collusion with the Russians,” a sign that the panel’s probe is far from over, even as allegations swirl that the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is racing to a close. The expansion of the investigation to include Stein suggests …

The New York Times reports: President Trump has finally arrived at Walt Disney World. And, yes, he speaks. After a delay that prompted online conspiracy theories, the most common one being that Disney was trying to silence Mr. Trump, Disney World unveiled an audio-animatronic robot in his life-size likeness on Monday as part of its famed Hall of Presidents exhibit. …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s approval rating has hit a new low in a CNN poll conducted last week. According to survey data collected Dec. 14-17, just 35 percent of Americans say they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, a record-low in CNN polling and lower than any of his predecessors at this point in …

The Washington Post reports: For nearly eight months, President Trump has boasted that appointing Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court ranks high among his signature achievements. But earlier this year, Trump talked about rescinding Gorsuch’s nomination, venting angrily to advisers after his Supreme Court pick was critical of the president’s escalating attacks on the federal judiciary in private meetings …

The Hill reports: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had his office professionally examined earlier this year to look for covert surveillance devices. The EPA paid $3,000 in March to Edwin Steinmetz Associates to do a “sweep for covert/illegal surveillance devices” in Administrator Scott Pruitt’s office at the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, documents provided to The Hill show. …

The Washington Examiner reports: Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Monday afternoon that she will vote for the final version of the Republican tax bill, likely guaranteeing that it will pass the upper chamber this week. “I rise to express my support for the conference agreement on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Collins said in a speech on the Senate …

The Washington Post reports: Matthew Petersen, a nominee to the federal judiciary, has withdrawn from consideration days after a video clip showed him unable to answer basic questions about legal procedure, the White House confirmed on Monday. Petersen, nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the third Trump judicial pick to withdraw …

The Week reports: President Trump tweeted that a devastating train crash in Washington state on Monday illustrates why his infrastructure plan “must be approved quickly.” A timeline for Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure overhaul — one of his major campaign promises — has been unclear, although it remains a possible next step in early 2018 after the GOP votes on a …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump’s son-in-law’s real estate company has a reputation of siccing lawyers on tenants who are late with the rent — but it doesn’t seem to pay its own bills on time. A law firm that represented Jared Kushner’s real estate company in dozens of eviction and housing court cases is now suing the …

Talking Points Memo reports: Senator-elect Doug Jones (D-AL) on Sunday said “we need to move on and not get distracted by” numerous women’s allegations of sexual misconduct against President Donald Trump. Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether Trump should resign because of the allegations, as some senators have called on him to do, Jones said, “I think we …

ABC News reports: This week’s “Saturday Night Live” once again found fodder from the latest headlines to lampoon in the show’s cold open, including jabs at recently-departed White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman, special counsel Robert Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner. Alex Baldwin reprised his role as President Donald Trump, who kicks off …

Newsweek reports: Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Spier said Friday the “rumor on the Hill” is that President Donald Trump intends to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller next week when Congress is gone for the holidays. Should Trump go through with the unconfirmed rumor, Spier said an “effort” for impeachment would follow. Spier added Republicans are aiming to shut down the House …