Two Sides of the Capitol

Today’s notice: The House and Senate couldn’t be more different when it comes to Matt Gaetz. Tulsi Gabbard’s old pals say they see a different person. And, surprise! RFK Jr. and health safety experts are already on different pages.

House and Senate Divide: Matt Gaetz Edition

It was one of those days on Capitol Hill when the two chambers — divided only by a rotunda — seemed to be in different universes.

In the week since Donald Trump nominated perhaps the most controversial person in Washington to be his attorney general, it remains unclear whether Matt Gaetz will actually get confirmed.

On the House side, a near-rabid throng of reporters staked out a two-hour Ethics Committee meeting Wednesday, hoping for an update on the panel’s much-anticipated report into allegations that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old and trafficked her across state lines.

For all the hallways jammed with journalists, for all the TV camera commotion, the committee adjourned with little more than a follow-up appointment. Chair Michael Guest said his panel “did not reach an agreement” on releasing the report. But the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Susan Wild, clarified that Republicans voted as a bloc to prevent the report’s release, while Democrats voted to make it public.

The Ethics Committee did approve finishing the report, which apparently remains incomplete, and the panel is set to reconvene Dec. 5.

On the Senate side, it was a very different image. (Think jackets buttoned, ties straightened and no one answering the shouted questions of those meddling reporters.)

Vice President-elect JD Vance sherpa’d Gaetz around to Senate offices to help lobby his old colleagues. And in true Senate fashion, much of the Matt Gaetz circus was confined to private phone calls, backroom meetings and measured statements.

The sticking point for GOP senators who spoke to Vance was clear: many want to let the Senate do its job. That means conducting a public hearing and thorough review process before a formal vote. But Republicans are also already coalescing behind a common talking point: let Gaetz speak for himself.

“We can either play the hearsay game, where it’s drip drip drip ... or we can say we’re going to move forward with the confirmation process and we’re going to allow him to address all of this,” Sen. Josh Hawley told reporters Tuesday night.

Many Senate Republicans seem ready to confirm Gaetz if he’ll just assure them — convincingly enough — that he didn’t have sex with a 17-year-old. (Because if you did have sex with a 17-year-old when you were 35, surely you wouldn’t lie about it!)

Of course, even if Gaetz isn’t confirmed in the Senate, there’s still the question of a recess appointment, which senators have not definitively answered.

Read the story here.

RFK Jr.’s Research Ban

A scientist close to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave NOTUS’ Margaret Manto an eye-popping look at what RFK Jr.’s HHS could look like.

Rutgers microbiology professor Richard Ebright said he expects Kennedy to seek a ban on certain infectious disease research, called “gain-of-function” (aka research involving experiments that could increase the pathogenicity or transmissibility of a virus).

“This is very much a priority for [Kennedy],” said Ebright, who told NOTUS he spoke to Kennedy “at length on the subject” earlier this year. Kennedy and the Trump transition team didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Health safety experts warn that a ban would have “the potential to basically shut down basic pathogen research.”

Read the story here.

Front Page

• What Will Trump’s Militarized Mass Deportation Look Like? Republicans Don’t Really Care.: GOP lawmakers broadly expressed confidence that a deportation operation would be fair and wouldn’t target people who don’t deserve to be targeted.
• House Republicans Are Calling For Big Changes at FEMA: With Joe Biden’s $100 billion emergency funding request pending, Republicans are focused on the agency as a whole.
• Senate Democrats Want the Full FBI File on the Matt Gaetz Investigation: Senate Democrats are saying they must be able “thoroughly review all relevant materials that speak to the credibility of these serious allegations against Mr. Gaetz.”

Austin Scott on the Farm Bill’s Future

As Congress navigates a farm bill extension, House Agriculture Vice Chair Austin Scott sat down with NOTUS to discuss the state of Ag.

What farmers are worried about: “There’s simply not enough cash” to pay the bills, Scott said. He expects a lot of idle land over the next two years, and for farms hit by Hurricane Helene, concerns were only “magnified.”

What can be done?: A farm bill this year, not next (which won’t happen). Scott said even influential Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop was on board and key Senate Republicans were aligned on advancing a bill. But Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow refused to play ball.

Did Trump’s win shift negotiations?: Scott expected Republicans’ trifecta to make Stabenow “come to her senses” and make a farm bill deal during this Congress. “That doesn’t seem to have happened yet,” he said.

Despite Trump’s win giving Republicans the upper hand next year, the desire to raise reference prices mattered more than a GOP-led farm bill. An extension of the current bill would mean reference prices remain the same through 2025.

—Ben T. N. Mause

Quotable: Tulsi’s Frenemies List

In a Congress not so long ago, Tulsi Gabbard was a well-liked member of the House Democratic Caucus. She worked out with Rep. Scott Peters. She hung out with Rep. Marc Veasey. And she rubbed shoulders with CPC Chair Mark Pocan. None of them recognize the woman who is now Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence.

“She’s gone away,” Peters told NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak. “I don’t understand it but what I see concerns me.”

“I spent a lot of time with Tulsi,” Veasey said. “We were all part of, like, a big friend group, and I was surprised that she’s taken the turn that she has.”

Read the story here.

Oversight Watch: Mass Deportations

Trump has vowed to begin mass deportations of undocumented immigrants as soon as he is able to. NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt, Casey Murray and John T. Seward report on the incoming Congress’ lack of interest in oversight when it comes to, well, whatever is coming.

“In interviews with more than 20 lawmakers this week, Republicans brushed off questions,” they report. “They said they trust Trump, endorsed using whatever means are available to remove foreign gang members and criminals from the country and unanimously expressed confidence that this operation would be fair.”

Read the story here.

Not Us

We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.

• Texas offers Starr County ranch to Trump for mass deportation plans by Alejandro Serrano at The Texas Tribune
• RFK Jr. wants fluoride out of drinking water. Oregon shows what’s coming. By Fenit Nirappil at the Washington Post.
• Hegseth took public potshots at Republican senators whose votes he wants by Burgess Everett for Semafor
• No plans to join Bluesky yet, Starmer says by George Wright for BBC News

Be Social

Dina Titus with some cat-itude.

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