THE WHEELS ON THE OMNIBUS — The House is moving toward passage of the big omnibus spending bill today to keep the government open and set funding levels for the next year. The lower chamber voted 215-206 to approve the rule to move the legislation forward, a crucial procedural step. Now, an hour of floor debate will precede the final vote on the bill. With many members home for the holidays to beat the winter storm, proxy voting appears to be at an all-time high (even though it was originally introduced for Covid concerns).

But before it goes through, GOP Leader KEVIN McCARTHY got one last, extended swipe in at the legislation.

“This is one of the most shameful acts I’ve seen in this body,” McCarthy declared on the House floor of the $1.7 trillion legislation, which he called “jam-packed with woke-ism.” In a roughly 25-minute “Magic Minute” speech, he railed against massive spending, a failure to address border policy and provisions that put Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s name on buildings. And he vowed that the House will have a new approach once Republicans take over the chamber in a couple of weeks. The handful of House Republicans in the chamber gave him a standing ovation.

Democrats were rather less moved. “After listening to that, it’s clear he doesn’t have the votes yet,” deadpanned House Rules Chair JIM McGOVERN (D-Mass.) as he took the mic. Asked about McCarthy’s “shameful” comment, Pelosi retorted, “I can’t help but wonder, had he forgotten Jan. 6?” Latest updates from Sarah Ferris, Nick Wu and Olivia Beavers

As CNN’s Phil Mattingly notes, this Congress began with the Jan. 6 insurrection and is ending with the Electoral Count Act reform passing via the omnibus — a full-circle moment for efforts to protect American democracy.

THE BILLIONAIRE SHUFFLE — MICHAEL BLOOMBERG is eyeing a potential acquisition of Dow Jones or WaPo, if JEFF BEZOS wanted to sell, Axios’ Mike Allen and Sara Fischer report. “Bloomberg wants to expand his media empire and sees Dow Jones as his ideal fit,” including the WSJ, MarketWatch and Barron’s. He thinks the opportunity could arise if RUPERT MURDOCH’s efforts to combine News Corp. and Fox Corp. fall short. But Bloomberg “has not yet approached Murdoch about his interest, nor has he begun to engage any official third parties, like bankers, to evaluate the opportunity.” The Post, meanwhile, says it’s not for sale.

INFLATION NATION — Here’s some good news on prices as we head into the holidays: The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the inflation metric that the Fed prefers, rose 5.5% last month year over year, slowing from the 6.1% annualized rate for the month prior. The new data out today showed the annualized core price index, exempting fuel and food, increasing 4.7% in November, down from 5%. Both are solid indicators that inflation is slowing down, though it’s still elevated well above the 2% measure the central bank wants to see. More from the NYT

Meanwhile, consumer spending ticked up just 0.1%, a notch lower than economists had expected. Though the slower inflation and consumer spending growth rates are signs that the Fed’s efforts to cool down the economy are having an impact, they won’t be “enough to discourage the Federal Reserve from driving interest rates to higher levels next year,” per Reuters.

MORE RELIEF — “Supply Chains Upended by Covid Are Back to Normal,” WSJ

Happy Friday afternoon, and thanks for reading Playbook PM. We’ll be taking next week off for the holidays, but Playbook will still be in your inbox every morning. Drop me a line at [email protected].

CONGRESS

THE TALENTED MR. SANTOS — If it’s a day ending in y, it’s time for another new story about Rep.-elect GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.). This time, NYT’s Michael Gold, Grace Ashford and Ellen Yan go deep on his early career, when he appears to have been working as a customer service representative at the Dish Network call center in Queens, not — as he’d claimed — at Citigroup. He owed debts to friends, landlords and credit card companies, facing multiple evictions. And people who knew him “recalled an ambitious young man with fine taste, whose lavish descriptions of real estate owned in Brazil, Nantucket and New York seemed vastly disconnected from the rented apartments in Queens he lived in.”

But wait, there’s more: After the NYT linked to photos of Santos maskless at a Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve 2020 party, the future congressman complained that his home had been vandalized as a result. His landlord doesn’t recall that. And it’s not totally clear where he lives now, but there are indications it’s just outside his district.

But wait, there’s even more: Talking Points Memo’s Hunter Walker dove into Santos’ business ventures, finding among other details that Santos’ “‘family firm’ that supposedly managed $80 million in assets was initially registered at a gynecologist’s office in a Florida office park.”

HOW CONGRESS WORKED — After a slew of big, bipartisan bills over the past two years, Sen. TODD YOUNG (R-Ind.) tells Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig that working across the aisle helped keep Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-Ariz.) from trashing the filibuster. “The fact that some old ideological lines between the parties have begun to blur also may have opened up space for cooperation,” as Young epitomized with the CHIPS bill. Looking ahead, Young sees room for more bipartisan dealmaking on China-focused tech legislation, but he also predicts a “nasty” debt limit standoff.

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

BIG NYT MAG READ — “Inside the Jan. 6 Committee,” by Robert Draper and Luke Broadwater: “The most consequential congressional committee in generations was immersed in high drama from beginning to end. … [W]e have been able to reconstruct a previously unreported account of the committee’s fevered, fraught and often chaotic race to a finish line that has always been understood to be Jan. 3, 2023 … [T]he group often found itself in a state of conflict with recalcitrant witnesses … A more immediate source of conflict was the committee’s own investigative staff, a team of highly accomplished lawyers who were used to being in charge and often bristled when their ideas were overruled by politicians.”

THE SCOTUS ANGLE — WaPo’s Emma Brown and Rosalind Helderman explore the long-standing ties between JOHN EASTMAN, the lawyer who tried to help overturn the 2020 election, and Justice CLARENCE THOMAS, for whom Eastman once clerked. The Thomases still welcomed him at a reunion of former clerks in summer 2021, even though his presence made some others uncomfortable. When they knew each other while working in the Reagan administration, both men were intellectually influenced by the Claremont Institute, and they have a similar legal worldview now. But Eastman says “they do not discuss issues pending or likely to come before the court.”

HELPFUL GUIDE — “Seven takeaways from the Jan. 6 committee’s final report,” by Kyle Cheney and Nick Wu

THE WHITE HOUSE

FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE — Russia tried to have TARA READE, the woman who accused President JOE BIDEN of sexual assault, brief the U.N. Security Council on the diversion of U.S. weapons sent to Ukraine, Semafor’s Max Tani reports. India rejected Reade as irrelevant to the topic. “But it marks a growing interest among Biden’s enemies, domestic and foreign, in a figure from the 2020 campaign whose story faded away,” Tani writes. She’s appearing more on Fox News. And Reade says that if House Republicans want her to testify about her accusations, she will.

IT’S OFFICIAL — Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law this morning, even though it includes a repeal of the coronavirus vaccine mandate for troops, which he opposed. More from Connor O’Brien

ALL POLITICS

McCONNELL NOT HOLDING BACK — In some of his sharpest criticisms of DONALD TRUMP yet, Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL told NBC’s Sahil Kapur that “the former president’s political clout has diminished.” And McConnell doesn’t sound likely to stand by and let Trumpist candidates who can’t win a general triumph in Senate primaries again: The minority leader said he’ll “actively look for quality candidates” in 2024 and jump into GOP races, while “less potential interference” from Trump would be beneficial. This year, he said, he was able to stop bad candidates only in Alabama and Missouri: “Everywhere else, we had to play with the cards that were dealt.”

PULL UP A CHAIR — Turning Point Action’s CHARLIE KIRK, a supporter of HARMEET DHILLON’s insurgent campaign for RNC chair, sent an “extraordinary” email Monday to all RNC members warning that the GOP will lose badly in 2024 if it doesn’t change, WaPo’s Isaac Stanley-Becker reports. But Kirk’s missive has sparked some backlash from RNC members, the majority of whom are believed to support incumbent RONNA McDANIEL. “Harmeet, you claim we’re your friends and colleagues,” JOSÉ CUNNINGHAM wrote in an email. “Are you really okay with someone accusing [us of] being a ‘cartel?’ Where are the ‘smoke-filled rooms,’ Harmeet? I’ve never seen them.”

DEMOCRATS’ LAND OF ENCHANTMENT — Could New Mexico be a model for Democrats to turn Arizona and Nevada more reliably blue? The state’s Dems think so, WaPo’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports, by “continuing to make deep investments in Latino voters, running Latino candidates and putting up a fight in traditionally more conservative districts.” Though New Mexico looks different than many other Democratic strongholds, the party has been able to succeed through a combination of year-round community outreach and demographic changes. But Republicans say the state is still competitive as they make some inroads with Latinos.

FOR YOUR RADAR — “Tax forms reveal steep legal fees for voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams,” by Brittany Gibson: “The voting rights organization founded by STACEY ABRAMS, Fair Fight Action, spent an additional $12 million in legal fees in 2021, bringing its running total to $37.7 million from 2019 through 2021 alone … A significant portion of the fees went to a single voting rights case that ended this September when a judge rejected the group’s final claims in a bench trial. The recently filed federal 990 form for 2021 also shows that the group paid an additional $4.4 million to the self-described boutique law firm of Abrams’ former campaign chairperson and longtime friend, ALLEGRA LAWRENCE-HARDY.”

POLICY CORNER

TALES FROM THE CRYPTO — Deputy AG LISA MONACO tells WSJ’s Aruna Viswanatha and Dave Michaels that SAM BANKMAN-FRIED’s arrest is just the beginning: The Justice Department is doubling down on cryptocurrency investigations and enforcement. Having pumped more resources into the sector last year, DOJ is growing its expertise about the sector and coordinating prosecutorial work across the country — an answer to critics who say the government’s been too slow to tackle the crypto world.

WAR IN UKRAINE

THE WAR MACHINE — “Inside the monumental, stop-start effort to arm Ukraine,” by WaPo’s Karen DeYoung, Dan Lamothe and Isabelle Khurshudyan at Dover Air Force Base, Del.: “Washington has dug ever-deeper into its own arsenal and treasury to supply Kyiv with massive quantities of arms. … But the initial war supply operation clearly wasn’t built for the long haul. As the grueling conflict continues with no end in sight, it has exposed flaws in U.S. strategic planning for its own future battles, and revealed significant gaps in the American and NATO defense industrial base. Stocks of many key weapons and munitions are near exhaustion.”

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

LITTLE ROCKET MAN — The latest provocation from North Korea: The regime launched two short-range ballistic missile tests today, per the AP. Though details on the missiles are scarce so far, they may be a response to joint U.S.-South Korean exercises earlier this week.

PLAYBOOKERS

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Phil Letsou is going to the NRSC starting as deputy comms director in mid-January. He currently is comms director for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

WEDDINGS — Houston Keene, an associate producer/writer for originals at Fox News, and Abigail Schwartz, a 2L law student at George Mason University, got married Saturday at the Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas. They met at Murphy’s Irish Pub on a Hinge date. Pic … Another pic

— Christina Baworowsky, senior adviser of federal policy at Tesla, and Jessica Kreidler, audiologist at Audiology Associates, are renewing their vows on a honeymoon in Cancun after signing their marriage certificate at the National Gallery of Art last December. The couple, who have been together since 2018, expedited the wedding so Kreidler could receive treatment after being diagnosed with ocular melanoma. She is now in remission and expected to make a full recovery. Pic … Another pic 

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Ellen Carmichael, president of The Lafayette Company, and her husband Walter, a software developer, welcomed twins Christian Joseph and Camille Léonie on Tuesday at Sibley Memorial Hospital. They join big sister Elizabeth Ruth. Pic