Washington, DC

1. Fed chair in the frame
2. Economic confidence dims
3. Investment rules push
4. Schumer safe for now
5. Venezuela pressure
6. Uncertain Africa deal
7. Trump boosts gas cars

PDB: Anthropic CEO’s meetings in DC today

The New York Times is suing the Pentagon … US releases initial jobless claims … Putin in India

Hassett unlikely to get bipartisan support

Senate Democrats helped confirm President Donald Trump’s frontrunner to chair the Federal Reserve, Kevin Hassett, to Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers in 2017. It’s highly unlikely he would receive the same bipartisan support for the central bank job. Hassett, a PhD economist who has advised Republicans like John McCain, extolled the benefits of free trade during his time at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. His pivot since to defending Trump’s tariffs is one of several that has those in Washington and beyond questioning whether he can stand up to a president trying to bend the central bank to his will. The latest example of the Trump administration trying to exert more control over the Fed: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday he would push for a rule requiring regional Fed presidents to have lived in their district for three years.

— Eleanor Mueller

Confidence in US economy falls

Americans’ confidence in the US economy fell in November, a worrying sign for the White House as it works to convince the public its agenda is working. Gallup’s latest economic confidence measure fell seven points last month to its lowest point since July 2024. Only about two in 10 US adults said current economic conditions are excellent or good, compared to four in 10 who rated them poor. And just 27% said the US economy is improving, while 68% said it’s worsening. The negative sentiment extends to the labor market, with nearly two-thirds of Americans believing it’s a bad time to get a job. And respondents said they plan to spend an average of $778 on holiday gifts this season, according to the November data, a substantial decline from the $1,007 they said they’d expected to spend on gifts last month.

Senators move to ease investment rules

Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., are introducing a bill today, shared first with Semafor, that would make it easier to invest in startups by letting them discuss their products at events like demo days. The rollout comes as the House, which advanced a similar measure earlier this year, prepares to vote on a capital markets package next week. “Entrepreneurs… shouldn’t be stifled by red tape when trying to share their ideas,” Ricketts said. Senators expect the Banking Committee to take up the issue after it advances cryptocurrency legislation, people familiar with the talks said; Ricketts and Gallego hope their bill can make it into a bipartisan bundle of bills akin to the panel’s housing package. It’s unclear whether ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., would sign off on such a package after long raising concerns that the measures could endanger consumers.

— Eleanor Mueller

Dems punt Schumer debate past midterms

Senate Democrats have no interest in litigating Chuck Schumer’s leadership of their caucus until after the midterms, even as outside groups stoke criticism of the New York Democrat, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Though Democrats understand the frustrations within their base due to divisions over how to fight Trump, a lot of Democrats say a debate over their leader is a distraction from the task at hand. “I just think it’s focused on the wrong thing. I mean, we are 11 months away from a midterm where we can literally take back control of the Senate,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. Progressives have floated Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., as a potential leader, and groups have approached Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., about taking on a leadership fight. Both have demurred — though each wants their party to fight a lot harder.

Dems up pressure over Venezuela

Senate Democrats are mounting a multipronged push to draw attention to the Trump administration’s controversial military campaign in Venezuela. Today, Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., are introducing a bill that would block US military action in Venezuela not authorized by Congress by preventing the Pentagon from spending any money toward it. A separate effort from Schumer and Kaine, plus Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., will soon force a vote on blocking Trump from engaging in hostilities against Venezuela. While certain to fail, the resolution will put Republicans in a tricky position as scrutiny grows over Trump’s moves. In a classified briefing to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees today, a Navy admiral who conducted a second strike on an alleged drugboat is expected to say survivors were seen alongside packages of illegal drugs, making them legitimate targets, The Wall Street Journal reported.

— Morgan Chalfant

Trump’s uncertain peace deal in Africa

Trump welcomes half a dozen African leaders to Washington today to highlight what he’s pitched as one of several successful efforts by his administration to end foreign wars. But the devil is in the details, as Semafor’s Yinka Adegoke writes. The US-brokered peace deal that leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda will sign at the newly renamed “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace” has yet to result in change on the ground, and “both sides remain quietly concerned about whether real peace will be achieved,” Yinka writes. Still, a lot is riding on this pact, with leaders flying in from Angola, Burundi, Kenya, and Togo to support a keystone of the administration’s faltering US-Africa policy. A Congolese senior official told Semafor ahead of a busy day that he was starting to feel good, saying: “We need to be optimistic.”

Trump takes aim at electric cars

The Trump administration moved to significantly weaken Biden-era fuel efficiency standards and prioritize gasoline cars over electric vehicles, a setback for climate activists that will also likely raise fuel costs for drivers. Low-emission vehicles have been a target of the White House and Congressional Republicans, with moves to unwind tailpipe emissions regulations and eliminate tax credits for electric cars. Now, the Transportation Department plans to slash Biden-administration rules that required automakers to make their cars 2% more fuel efficient every year; that requirement will now fall to 0.5%. The change will make new cars less expensive, the administration said, but that could be offset by higher fuel costs. Automaker executives have pledged to keep developing EVs anyway — but the lower standards will make it easier to keep selling SUVs and pickups, which have a higher profit margin. 

— Tim McDonnell

Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., will join the stage on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at Principals Live: Powering America’s Future in Washington, DC. As the AI boom intensifies pressure on America’s energy systems and infrastructure, lawmakers across the aisle are pursuing permitting reform to unlock new opportunities and cut through the political and regulatory barriers standing in the way of viable solutions. Semafor will sit down with key legislators for onstage conversations exploring what’s at stake — and the potential bipartisan solutions to the challenges emerging from this new technological era.

Dec. 9 | Washington, DC | Request Invitation

Blindspot: Israel and Ukraine

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The House passed a bill by voice vote to expressly bar anyone who planned or supported the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel from coming to the US.

What the Right isn’t reading: The EU could use frozen Russian assets and international borrowing to channel as much as $105 billion toward Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: A bipartisan House group led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jen Kiggans, R-Va., will unveil a new plan to extend expiring ACA subsidies for one year.

Axios: President Trump is set to begin a year of US-based travel to sell his economic agenda ahead of the midterms, starting in Pennsylvania next week.

WaPo: “I just don’t think we should have the presidential pardon for any party, for anyone,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said.