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PORTER IN THE STORM — Rep. KATIE PORTER (D-Calif.) today jumped into the 2024 California Senate race, even before longtime Democratic incumbent DIANNE FEINSTEIN announces whether she’s running for reelection.

“California needs a warrior in the Senate,” declared Porter, a progressive ELIZABETH WARREN acolyte who just barely hung on to her Orange County-based swing seat in November. She highlights threats to democracy, an unfair economy and her work for a ban on congressional stock trading.

Feinstein, who is 89, is considered likely to retire. But even if she does, Porter could face stiff competition from other prominent Dems potentially eyeing the seat, including Reps. RO KHANNA, BARBARA LEE and ADAM SCHIFF. Porter’s launch video… More from the L.A. Times

Porter’s pollster DAVID BINDER put out a survey showing her leading Schiff 37% to 26% in a hypothetical top-two November election, Axios’ Josh Kraushaar reports. Particularly fascinating is that Porter picks up much more GOP support than Schiff if no Republican makes it to the general. One possible explanation: Even though she’s more progressive, Schiff has become the more visible GOP boogeyman. (Of course, a crowded Democratic field in the primary could pave the way for Republicans to make it to the general.) Among non-Republican likely voters in the primary, Porter has a tiny edge over Schiff, with Lee and Khanna well behind.

Khanna responded to Porter’s announcement by saying he’s currently prioritizing the response to California’s disastrous storms, and will make a decision in the coming months. Feinstein tells the S.F. Chronicle much the same thing about where her focus lies right now.

“You don’t announce a campaign in the middle of a natural disaster,” a Schiff source tells Jeremy White.

Porter’s move also opens up a key House seat, which got tougher for Democrats after redistricting and could be more difficult for the party to hold without an incumbent in 2024. Former Rep. HARLEY ROUDA may soon jump into the race, Olivia Beavers reports. And Republican SCOTT BAUGH, who lost to Porter last year, will make another go of it, per NBC’s Sahil Kapur.

WHAT’S UP, DOCS? — CNN’s Jamie Gangel and Marshall Cohen scoop details on what was in the classified docs from President JOE BIDEN’s time as VP that were found in his think tank office. Dated from 2013 to 2016, the intelligence memos and briefings covered Iran, Ukraine and the U.K. There were also personal documents like those relating to BEAU BIDEN’s funeral plans. “After making contact with [the National Archives and Records Administration], Biden’s team turned over several boxes in an abundance of caution, even though many of the boxes contained personal materials.”

— The official Republican recriminations have begun: Incoming House Intelligence Chair MIKE TURNER (R-Ohio) asked DNI AVRIL HAINES to provide “an immediate review and damage assessment.” Turner warned that Biden may have broken the law and asked Haines to brief the committee ASAP.

— The Democratic pushback: Heidi Przybyla obtained a set of talking points circling among Dems in D.C. (not written by the White House), which cast the documents as largely a nothingburger. “MAGA Republicans are threatening to impeach President Biden instead of focusing on the real problems that the American people care about, like inflation,” the document says. It casts the critics as hypocrites and the Mar-a-Lago comparison as apples and oranges. Read the talking points

“We are going on offense,” one Democratic strategist tells Heidi, calling the Biden story a “blip about a few misplaced documents turned over immediately after they were discovered. … They really want to put the [DONALD] TRUMP case front and center again?”

Good Tuesday afternoon, and thanks for reading Playbook PM. Which Republican could mount the most credible campaign for the California Senate seat? Drop me a line at [email protected].

CONGRESS

FOLLOW THE SPEAKER — At a closed House GOP Conference meeting this morning, Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY told members that there is no official written document detailing the concessions he granted to last week’s holdouts on the speaker vote, CNN’s Melanie Zanona reports. Some of the conference’s more moderate members have been demanding to see the fabled three-page addendum to the House rules package that would lay out what McCarthy gave away.

But no such three-pager seems to exist, according to McCarthy: Instead, he struck a “gentleman’s agreement” of verbal promises with his detractors. That’s notable since his opponents had repeatedly emphasized the importance of getting things in writing. (Punchbowl’s John Bresnahan: “It may be 4 pages now….”) More from The Daily Beast’s Ursula Perano on whether the document exists

THE TALENTED MR. SANTOS — Reps. DAN GOLDMAN (D-N.Y.) and RITCHIE TORRES (D-N.Y.) today are lodging a complaint with the House Ethics Committee against Rep. GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.), NYT’s Michael Gold reports. They’re focused on whether the apparent serial liar violated the Ethics in Government Act in his financial disclosures. Though House Republicans have just diminished the power of the Office of Congressional Ethics in their new rules package, Goldman and Torres’ move jumps over that office and heads straight to the committee, urging the panel to start an investigation.

— House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE said today that Republicans “obviously” had “concerns” about Santos, but leadership would sit down to talk with him and handle the matter “internally.”

— “If I was the speaker, I wouldn’t put George Santos on committees until we had a deeper and more full understanding of exactly what went on during his campaign,” Rep. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-S.D.) told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins today. “He should be referred to the Ethics Committee.”

SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN — Asked by reporters if he could guarantee that the U.S. wouldn’t default on its debt this year, Scalise didn’t answer directly but talked about the long-term pain that accruing debt will cause when it has to be paid off. “When that comes up, at the same time you’re dealing with the debt limit, you ought to also put in mechanisms in place so that you don’t keep maxing it out,” he said.

IMMIGRATION REFORM TEA LEAVES — WaPo’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer have a preview of the next couple of years of the immigration policy debate in Washington, from bipartisan reform talks brewing in the Senate to the House GOP’s focus on border security. Notably, two House Republicans — TONY GONZALES (Texas) and MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR (Fla.) — go on the record already voicing skepticism about any legislation that would focus only on border security.

ALL POLITICS

WHERE THE RED WAVE WAS REAL — Asian Americans in NYC broke notably more Republican in November than they have in the past, with many longtime Democrats voting for LEE ZELDIN for governor largely over crime concerns, NYT’s Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Ellen Yan report. Many Chinese Americans tell the Times that they weren’t thrilled by Zeldin, but they feel unsafe and didn’t want Democrats to take them for granted. “Besides crime, Asian American voters expressed concern over a proposal by former Mayor BILL DE BLASIO to change the admissions process for the city’s specialized high schools.”

HIDING OUT — Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS managed to win reelection by a whopping margin while all but ignoring the mainstream, nonpartisan press — a new and increasingly popular tactic from Republicans who have spent years bashing the media, NYT’s Michael Grynbaum reports. Now the question is whether DeSantis could maintain that strategy in a potential presidential run. “His success is an ominous sign for the usual rules of engagement between politicians and the press as another nationwide election looms. Presidential candidates typically endure media scrutiny in exchange for the megaphone and influence of mainstream outlets. But in an intensely partisan, choose-your-own-news era, the traditional calculus may have shifted.”

2024 WATCH — Anti-abortion groups are tired of being blamed for Republican underperformance in the midterms — and they’re planning to use a federal abortion ban as a litmus test for their support in 2024, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reports. “Anti-abortion leaders feel they’re already compromising by backing a national ban that’s far less stringent than restrictions that have been enacted at the state level, including by Republican governors like GREG ABBOTT, MIKE DeWINE, and BRIAN KEMP who comfortably won re-election in 2022. … To improve their performance in 2024, groups are urging candidates to go on offense and refocus the political debate on Democrats’ support for the right to relatively unusual late-term abortions.”

MIDTERMS FOREVER — Georgia GOP Senate nominee HERSCHEL WALKER ended the year with more than $5 million left over in his campaign coffers, per NBC’s Ben Kamisar.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

BORDER SONG — With Biden in Mexico, his administration today is rolling out new measures aimed at stemming the flow of migrants to the southern border, CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez scooped. A new online platform later this year will provide people one-stop-shop info about immigrating legally to Canada, Mexico and the U.S., trying to offer an alternative to smugglers spreading misinformation. And a resource center offering information in person will open in Tapachula, Mexico, similar to one that’s been created in Guatemala.

THE SUMMIT OF SUCCESS? — At the summit in Mexico City, the three countries today are expected to announce deals on semiconductors, migration and climate, the White House says. WSJ’s Tarini Parti breaks it down: They’ll make plans for an international semiconductor forum early this year. The leaders “will commit to reducing methane emissions from the solid waste and wastewater sector by at least 15% by 2030 compared with 2020 levels, and to develop a proposal to cut food loss and waste in half by 2030.” Details of the steps on migration are a bit less clear.

AD ASTRA — “Space Launches Should Withstand Chinese Challenge, Pentagon Mandate Says,”by WSJ’s Doug Cameron and Micah Maidenberg: “The next generation of rockets built to launch U.S. spy satellites into orbit will have to be capable of fending off interference by China and Russia, according to people briefed on a coming Pentagon competition. … That marks a change from previous contract awards, which were driven primarily by reliability and cost concerns.”

THE ECONOMY

INFRASTRUCTURE DECADE — As the deluge of federal infrastructure spending (and Biden’s other major recent laws) starts to spread across the country, NYT’s Lydia DePillis examines what the jobs impact will be. It may be difficult to gauge the actual employment numbers, since there’s no clear way to count them and some of the money will go to just retaining jobs that already exist. But under the radar, there will be a significant effect in certain industries, from the obvious (construction) to the unexpected (archaeologists, who look through the soil before big projects get started).

FED UP — “The Fed May Finally Be Winning the War on Inflation. But at What Cost?”by Michael Steinberger in the NYT Magazine: “The medicine appears to be working — inflation is moderating, and some economists think that we have seen the worst of it. Wage growth remains strong, though, and until that changes, it is going to be very difficult if not impossible for the Fed to get inflation back to 2 percent. … If there is a recession, the pain will probably be felt most acutely by those on the margins — the very people that [NEEL] KASHKARI was eager to help. In a sense, Kashkari has come to embody the harsh trade-offs at the heart of the battle against inflation.”

— Meanwhile, Fed Chair JEROME POWELL said today in Sweden that the central bank should keep away from topics like climate change that are outside its congressional mandate. That approach distinguishes Powell from many European central bank chairs, who have focused more on accelerating a green economy transition. More from Reuters

WAR IN UKRAINE

THE PATRIOT ACT — Training in Oklahoma to teach Ukrainians how to use the Patriot missile system could start as early as next week, CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky scooped. The monthslong training will take place at Fort Sill.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

CLIMATE FILES — Greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. jumped 1.3% in 2022, a smaller increase than the year before but still a setback for efforts to meet climate goals, a new Rhodium Group report finds. The Paris climate accord targets for 2030 now look quite a long way off. More from the FT

POLICY CORNER

PUMPING THE BRAKES — “FDA Increasingly Halting Human Trials as Companies Pursue Risky, Cutting-Edge Drugs,”by WSJ’s Liz Essley Whyte: “The agency, which must sign off before companies can begin testing an experimental drug in people, has long used its authority to place holds on studies due to safety concerns. As biotechs pursue more cutting-edge cell and gene therapies, the FDA has been issuing more suspensions than it had, according to a Wall Street Journal review of FDA data.”

PLAYBOOKERS

WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Anna Perng has been named senior adviser for the Office of Public Engagement at the White House, where she’ll manage the disability and seniors portfolios. She most recently served in the Administration for Community Living at HHS.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Sean Calabria is now a research associate at American Global Strategies. He most recently was senior research analyst at America Rising.

MEDIA MOVES — Merrill Brown is now editorial director of G/O Media. He has previously been founder and CEO of The News Project, and is an MSNBC and Court TV alum. … Brianna Reilly is now a defense and national security reporter for CQ Roll Call. She previously was a Pentagon emerging tech reporter for Inside Defense. …

… Nate Robson is now deputy editor with POLITICO’s tech team. He previously was a Supreme Court and regulatory editor for American Lawyer Media. … James Bikales is now author of POLITICO’s Morning Energy newsletter. He previously was a general assignment reporter for WaPo.

TRANSITIONS — Katelyn Seago is joining the Republican Governors Association as governors board, council and roundtable membership director. She previously was deputy Northeast finance director at the RNC. … Josh Jorgensen is now associate director of legislative affairs at the Alliance of Community Health Plans. He previously was government affairs and policy director at the National Rural Health Association. … Marissa Davis will be press secretary and digital director for Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.). She previously was press assistant at the DNC. …

… Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.) is adding Shannon Geison as chief of staff, Kelly Nickel as legislative director and Teddy Lake as comms director. Geison previously worked on Salinas’ campaign and is a Tina Smith alum. Nickel previously was legislative director for Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.). Lake most recently was deputy press secretary for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). … Omar Hossino is now a senior professional policy staff member for the House Republican Study Committee. He previously was legislative director and counsel to Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

BONUS BIRTHDAY: Hannah Pope of the Problem Solvers Caucus