ACA enhanced tax credits have officially expired, meaning higher costs kick in this month for ~22 million Americans. House is likely to pass a 3-year extension… but Senate Republicans told me before the holidays that bill will die in the Senate. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

There’s a unique joy to being a longtime Knicks fan these days. They’ve scarcely been good this century, but what they’ve definitely not been is clutch when it counts. And this team looks CLUTCH 🙏🏀

How a Reddit tipster cracked the Brown University and MIT shooting cases www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Despite once again failing an audit, the Pentagon is getting a huge spending boost this year — up to $900 billion in appropriations plus another $150 billion in reconciliation.

Military Times: Pentagon fails financial audit for 8th year in a row www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...

New: Congress leaves town until 2026 with no health care deal 4 House Rs + 214 Ds teamed up to force a vote in January on a 3-year ACA funding extension. But Senate Republicans tell me that bill is DOA in the Senate. Premiums will rise for ~22 million. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Elise Stefanik’s journey: moderate Republican (2015) to MAGA warrior (2019 onward) to House leadership (2021) to potential VP (wasn’t picked) to maybe Speaker (didn’t run) to UN Ambassador nominee (withdrawn) to NY governor candidate (ended campaign) to retiring. All in a decade.

Elise Stefanik’s journey: moderate Republican (2015) to MAGA warrior (2019 onward) to House leadership (2021) to potential VP (wasn’t picked) to maybe Speaker (didn’t run) to UN Ambassador nominee (withdrawn) to NY governor candidate (ended campaign) to retiring. All in a decade.

TODAY —Epstein files released —Dems warn DOJ/Blanche —Trump open to war w/ Venezuela —Elise Stefanik quits gov race & Congress —Cynthia Lummis is retiring —Kennedy Center rename backlash —SCOTUS move in free speech case —More info on Brown suspect —US suspends green card lottery

EPSTEIN RECORDS RELEASED: The Justice Department released thousands of records related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein today after Congress passed bipartisan legislation last month forcing the release. NBC News is reviewing the documents. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

DOJ just launched justice.gov/epstein

🚨 Elise Stefanik says she’s suspending her campaign for governor AND retiring from Congress at the end of this term x.com/elisestefani...

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., says she won’t run for re-election. Opens on a safe red Senate seat in Wyoming.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., says she won’t run for re-election. Opens on a safe red Senate seat in Wyoming.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah: “end the tyranny of the zombie filibuster”

Trump is not ruling out war with Venezuela, he tells @kristenwelker.bsky.social. www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle believed dead in North Carolina plane crash www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

The DNC is burying its 2024 autopsy. "DNC Chair Ken Martin ordered a postmortem report after assuming his post and said it would help the party learn from mistakes. Now he says releasing it would be a distraction." www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...

Why a key group of Republicans revolted on Obamacare subsidies My analysis on the data & politics behind it: www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

Trump trashes the ACA as “the unaffordable care act” and makes his case against continuing the existing tax credits slated to expire. Regarding the impending insurance premium hikes, Trump says: “It is their fault. It is not the Republicans’ fault. It’s the Democrats’ fault.”

Trump says OBBB includes “no tax on Social Security.” Incorrect. The provision is a tax deduction for seniors; it has nothing to do with Social Security income, which will continue to be taxed as it has been. As the IRS website describes it:

Trump says in a speech tonight: “One year ago our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail. Totally fail. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that’s said by every single leader I’ve spoken to over the last five months.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is still not a fan of the 3-year clean ACA funding bill despite its likely House passage. “What we're trying to do is to put together a bipartisan bill that would have reforms plus a 2-year extension,” Collins tells me, citing an income cap as one.

In Senate testimony, FCC chairman says his agency isn’t independent www.nbcnews.com/business/med...

The Senate votes 77-20 to pass the national defense authorization act, or NDAA, increasing the annual U.S. military budget to $900 billion. This now goes to Trump's desk to become law, having already passed the House. These are the 20 senators who voted NO:

🚨🚨 OBAMACARE DAM BREAKS Four House Republicans rebel against their leadership, teaming up with Democrats to sign a "discharge petition" to force a 3-year extension of enhanced ACA funds to a vote. Fitzpatrick, Lawler, Bresnahan, Mackenzie. + 214 Dems. It has 218. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the last remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, won't seek re-election www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Big: GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick just signed the Democratic discharge petition by Hakeem Jeffries for a clean 3-year ACA funding extension. All 214 Dems have signed. Fitzpatrick is 215. Three more Republicans and it has enough support to end-run Mike Johnson and get a House vote.

🏆 KNICKS PRESENTED THE CUP 🏆

The Knicks are the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup Champions! 🏆

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, says the Republican health care bill coming to a House vote this week is “milquetoast garbage.”

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., says the Republicans scrambling on various ACA discharge petitions “are just trying to cover their ass for re-election purposes” rather than fix the problem. “They know Trump and their whole party have been about blowing up and cutting health care funding.”

Even if an ACA funding bill somehow passes the House, there's a torpedo waiting to blow it up in the Senate: Abortion. Republicans have made "Hyde" language a red line. Dems say hell no. Thune and Schumer both call this an obstacle. from 5 weeks ago: www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

I asked Schumer if Dems will tie ACA $ to 1/30 funding deadline like last time. Doesn’t sound like it. He says “toothpaste is already out of the tube” by then. “It’s on the Republicans that we haven't had health care done. After January 1, it's very, very hard to put it back.”

Chuck Schumer on ACA: “When these tax credits expire, when premiums spike, people will lose insurance, people will get sick, some will die, and many of them will go broke when it comes to health care… After January 1, it's very hard to put that tooth toothpaste back in the tube.”

NEW: Mike Johnson says he WON'T call a House vote on extending ACA funding this week Weekend talks with centrist Republicans on a health care amendment collapsed. Enhanced tax credits will expire, raising costs in 2026. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.: "2026 is gearing up to be the year of deeper pocketbooks and lower costs for the American people."

House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris tells me ACA money will expire on schedule at year-end. He isn’t worried about centrist Republicans pursuing discharge petitions and teaming up with Dems to pass ACA subsidy extension, because any such bill will “be killed over in the Senate.”

Already shaky job market weakened in October and November, according to delayed federal data "The unemployment rate in November rose to 4.6%." www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...

👀 White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Trump, Vance, Musk, Vought and Bondi: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/u...

Trump just posted this on Rob Reiner

GOP congressman tells Trump to stop ‘kissing Russia’s ass’ www.nj.com/politics/202...

NEW: Democrats tout projects funded by a bill they voted against It's a tactic Republicans have a history of using, which former Speaker Nancy Pelosi derided as “vote no and take the dough.” But now, some swing-district Democrats are doing the same. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

'We can't be bullied': How Trump and the GOP's redistricting push in Indiana backfired www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...

Speaker Johnson is eying a vote on a health care package *next week*, per House Republican leadership aides. Underlying bill will include policies like codifying AHPs, approving CSRs, PBM transparency. (NO Crapo-Cassidy.) Plus an amendment on extending ACA funds; no details yet.

House Democrats release more photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate This batch of photos includes Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Bill Gates, Steve Bannon and Woody Allen. www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

Michigan Advance: McMorrow slams Stevens’ impeachment bid, injecting fire into Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary michiganadvance.com/2025/12/10/m...

FBI operations director Michael Glasheen says antifa is the government’s “primary concern” as “the most immediate violent threat” domestically. Bennie Thompson asks where antifa exists in the US and how many members it has. “Well that’s very fluid.” A remarkable exchange. Full:

GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley applauds Indiana Republicans for defying Donald Trump and rejecting the gerrymander. Kiley’s California district has been smashed to pieces as part of the Democratic retaliation for the mid-decade redistricting war triggered by Trump and his allies in Texas.