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Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY started his term with the most exhausting path to the gavel in a century. Then he pulled off a near-unanimous Republican passage of a controversial rules package and a series of successful votes, many of them essentially symbolic, on conservative priorities like attacking the IRS.

That tension — between chaos and control — will likely define McCarthy’s tenure atop the House this Congress. A handful of interesting stories this morning highlight both the lingering fallout of those early days this month and the smoother course the speaker’s now trying to chart.

The chaos …

White House pouncing: The Biden administration smells blood in the wheeling and dealing that McCarthy undertook to land the speakership. Now the White House is stepping up its efforts to link him to his conference’s far right by publicly calling on him to “come clean” about the concessions he made, Chris Cadelago scooped this morning. Spokesman ANDREW BATES in a statement decried McCarthy’s “secret, backroom deals … with extreme MAGA members.” It’s a preview of President JOE BIDEN’s more aggressive stance toward House Republicans as he gears up for a reelection bid and fights off a looming wave of oversight requests.

“While McCarthy has insisted he made no formal agreements in exchange for getting conservative holdouts to vote for him, conservative members have said they received certain promises from the new speaker,” Chris writes. “McCarthy’s office did not immediately comment, though he’d said when asked about any backroom deals last week: ‘There’s not a side deal to anything.’”

Ways and Means to an end: Republican speculation is swirling around whether Rep. VERN BUCHANAN (R-Fla.) might quit Congress — and shrink McCarthy’s narrow margins — after losing the Ways and Means chairmanship, Puck’s Tara Palmeri reports. His reps say he won’t leave — but he’s not happy.

“Just how angry was he? Well, a source on the House floor during the vote told me that while McCarthy was gaveling down the votes, Buchanan walked up to McCarthy and said, ‘You fucked me, I know it was you, you whipped against me.’ … It was shocking to see such fury from Buchanan, who’s known for being mild mannered.”

The control …

Relationship status: Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL and McCarthyare quite different temperamentally, ideologically and generationally. But the GOP leaders’ work together will be pivotal for this Congress, WaPo’s Liz Goodwin and Marianna Sotomayor write in a look at their relationship. Despite their differences, the men have a solid professional relationship and a shared obsession with winning elections. Though they’re not personally close, McConnell and McCarthy respect each other, and they’re planning to start meeting more often.

Sen. JOHN KENNEDY (R-La.), always good for a quote: “Mitch is more of an enigma … I saw him smile once back in 2017.”

Truth and consequences: McCarthy is handling his conference’s biggest headache, Rep. GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.), by staying calm and making sure he doesn’t lose a member in the House. He told CNN’s Manu Raju that Santos will be seated on committees today. Asked whether he’d had concerns about Santos before the election, McCarthy said, “My staff had concerns when he had a staff member impersonate my chief of staff and that individual was let go when Mr. Santos found out about it.”

Also getting committee seats: Rep. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) will return to Natural Resources and Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) will join Homeland Security. Democrats voted to kick both off their panels in the prior Congress. The pair could get additional assignments as the House GOP finishes filling committees today.

Good Tuesday afternoon, and thanks for reading Playbook PM. When did you last see McConnell smile? Drop me a line at [email protected].

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

WHAT WASN’T IN THE REPORT — The House Jan. 6 committee’s investigation dug up plenty of evidence about social media companies’ failure to police extremism on their platforms leading up to the insurrection, going soft and not heeding their own rules for prominent conservatives like DONALD TRUMP, WaPo’s Cat Zakrzewski, Cristiano Lima and Drew Harwell report. That was especially true of Twitter. But the panel ultimately left this part out of its final report, not wanting a battle with Big Tech or with the GOP beyond Trump. WaPo points to not only Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.), who’s already been known for wanting to focus specifically on Trump, but also Rep. ZOE LOFGREN (D-Calif.), who sources say didn’t want to focus on tech companies.

CONGRESS

THE TALENTED MR. SANTOS — “All in the Family: Fringe NY Political Group Paid George Santos’ Sister And His Other Associates,”by Talking Points Memo’s Josh Kovensky and Hunter Walker: “[Rep. GEORGE] SANTOS’ sister, TIFFANY LEE DEVOLDER, played a leading role in a little-known organization called Rise NY PAC. … The PAC formed what one New York GOP operative described as a supporting pillar of the myth that Santos constructed for himself. The committee received contributions from many of the same people who donated to his congressional campaign [and] appears to have employed staff who worked on his campaign.”

YOU WANNA BE ON TOP? — “America’s Next Top Moderate: Which House Republican wants the title?”by Semafor’s Kadia Goba

ALL POLITICS

THE GMAIL QUESTION — After Republicans complained that Gmail was biased in filtering Republican fundraising emails to spam more than Democratic ones, the FEC has investigated and found no wrongdoing, WSJ’s John McKinnon scooped. The agency concluded that there was “‘no reason to believe’ that Google made prohibited in-kind corporate contributions, and that any skewed results from its spam filter algorithms were inadvertent.” It has closed the case file.

PRIMARY COLORS — Rep. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) hasn’t officially gotten into the Senate race yet, but he’s already gathering a campaign staff and reaching out to state politicos about endorsements, The Daily Beast’s Sam Brodey reports in a look at the state of the (mostly shadow) race. He adds that people close to Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.) aren’t sure whether he’ll toss his hat in the ring. Rep. ERIC SWALWELL (D-Calif.) says he won’t run. With few ideological differences among the field of would-be contenders, the race could get personal — and it will surely get exorbitantly expensive.

KNOWING WES MOORE — “Maryland’s First Black Governor Gives Democrats Hope After a Biden White House,”by Bloomberg’s Christian Hall and Mario Parker: “Moore has another trick up his sleeve. He embraces traditional Republican issues such as crime and the economy … But Moore also will be judged on how quickly he can jumpstart a Maryland economy that’s had a sluggish post-pandemic recovery.”

MUCK READ — Many restaurant workers have to pay a $15 fee for an online food safety course — unaware that the money actually goes to the National Restaurant Association, which is lobbying to keep their wages lower, NYT’s David Fahrenthold and Talmon Joseph Smith reveal. “For years, the restaurant association and its affiliates have used ServSafe to create an arrangement with few parallels in Washington, where labor unwittingly helps to pay for management’s lobbying.” Experts say it seems to be legal.

FUN ONE — “The Rise and Fall of the Bush Family Dynasty,”by Jeff Salamon for Texas Monthly’s 50th-anniversary issue

THE WHITE HOUSE

COMING ATTRACTIONS — Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS will welcome governors from both parties to the White House on Feb. 10, during the National Governors Association winter meeting. Economic issues will be the main topic of discussion. The governors and their spouses will attend a black-tie dinner at the White House the next day.

THE YOUTH VOTE — Teen Vogue’s Rachel Janfaza examines the White House’s efforts to connect with youth voters and work with their advocates, who mostly sound satisfied from their work with the White House’s HANNAH BRISTOL. The regular listening sessions, social media campaigns and influencer collaborations aim to spread Biden’s message. But some advocates say they’d like youth to have a more formal seat at the table in the White House power structure.

WAR IN UKRAINE

WHAT MARK MILLEY IS UP TO — The Joint Chiefs of Staff chair met with his Ukrainian counterpart in person for the first time today in southeastern Poland. The military leaders’ talks highlight the deepening cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine, as well as the precarity of this moment in the war, as Russia tries to gain momentum and reverse the tide. More from the AP

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

ANNALS OF INFLUENCE — “How dark money groups led Ohio to redefine gas as ‘green energy,’”by WaPo’s Maxine Joselow: “Ohio’s new law is anything but homegrown, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The Empowerment Alliance, a dark money group with ties to the gas industry, helped Ohio lawmakers push the narrative that the fuel is clean, the documents show. The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, another anonymously funded group whose donors remain a mystery, assisted in the effort.”

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

NEW OUT OF DAVOS — “Von der Leyen announces Net-Zero Industry Act to compete with US subsidy spree,”by Samuel Stolton: “The European Commission will propose a Net-Zero Industry Act that lays out a series of clean tech objectives for 2030 in order to compete with Washington’s massive green subsidy package, President URSULA VON DER LEYEN said Tuesday. … The efforts come in response to Washington’s Inflation Reduction Act — a $369 billion green subsidy package that the EU fears will drive industry abroad. In her speech, von der Leyen warned that the U.S.’s actions had provoked concern in the EU capital.”

KEEPING IT ISRAEL — Sen. JACKY ROSEN (D-Nev.) is leading a bipartisan Senate delegation this week to Israel, where she’s told the government that she doesn’t want to meet with the controversial far-right parties of the ruling coalition, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports. The group of senators from the Abraham Accords Caucus is also going to Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain.

HAPPENING TODAY — “U.S. drug trial opens for Mexico ex-security head,”by AP’s Mark Stevenson in Mexico City

LATEST SANCTIONS — The U.S. today slapped new sanctions on 25 Belarusians, imposing visa restrictions over democracy and human rights concerns, Kelly Hooper reports. Now more than 300 people from Belarus are on that list following two years of worsening authoritarian crackdowns.

PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED this morning chatting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Paul Ryan and Anthony Scaramucci.

IN MEMORIAM — “Arthur Ravenel Jr., politician and bridge namesake affectionately known as ‘Cousin Arthur,’ passes away,” by The Post and Courier’s Schuyler Kropf: “In his time, Ravenel shaped South Carolina politics. He moved to the Republican Party in 1960 … and championed environmental causes for decades … His crowning achievement was the $700 million Cooper River bridge replacement between Charleston and Mount Pleasant completed in 2005. He fought for funding for the project as a member of the U.S. House and later the state Senate.”

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ben Elleson is now senior policy adviser for Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.). He most recently was legislative director for former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.).

— Mallory Blount is now deputy comms director for the Senate Republican Conference. She most recently was deputy campaign manager for Herschel Walker’s Georgia Senate campaign and is a Trump White House, Treasury and HUD alum.

WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Elise Gout is now policy adviser for the Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation at the White House. She most recently was a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

TRANSITIONS — Karl Racine is now litigation partner at Hogan Lovells. He previously was D.C.’s AG and managing partner at Venable. … Former Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) is now a partner with BakerHostetler’s federal policy team. He most recently was a partner with Sidley Austin. … Kim Wehle is now counsel at Levy Firestone Muse. She currently is a visiting professor at American University and is a legal contributor for ABC. …

…Jeffrey Gee is now partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer. He previously was chief of the investigations and hearings division at the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. … Laura Stagno is now a policy analyst with the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee. She previously was legislative director for Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.) … Venn Strategies has added Jon Pyatt as EVP in its health practice and Andy Sigmon as a VP in its critical Infrastructure practice. Pyatt previously was chief of staff to former Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.). Sigmon previously was a legislative and intergovernmental affairs specialist with the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration.

ENGAGED — Robert Preller, a senior consultant at Redwood Strategy Group, and Grace Freeman, a fundraiser for the National Women’s Law Center, got engaged on New Year’s Eve in Paris underneath the Eiffel Tower. Pic