Blanche Lincoln Wins Arkansas Senate Runoff, Defeats Bill Halter

Speaker Mike Johnson left the door open to adjourning Congress so President-elect Donald Trump can appoint his Cabinet nominees outside of the usual Senate confirmation process if necessary, NBC News reports. Said Johnson: “We’re in a time of very divided government and a very partisan atmosphere in Washington. I wish it were not.

“Democrats who won major Senate races have a blunt message for their party: Get a better economic message or keep losing,” Politico reports. “From Elissa Slotkin in Michigan to Ruben Gallego in Arizona and Adam Schiff in California, these soon-to-be senators took to the Sunday television shows to answer what they did right that other Democrats failed to do.

“Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have told advisers they plan to make a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities,“ Bloomberg reports. “If new rules enable cars without human controls, that would directly benefit Elon Musk, the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer and Trump mega-donor who has become a powerful fixture in the president-elect’s inner circle.

“Support for deporting undocumented immigrants has grown since Donald Trump was last in office, a review of recent polling finds – as have nativist sentiments more broadly,” CNN reports. “But the level of public backing for mass deportation varies significantly depending on the framing of the question, suggesting there are limits to the public appetite for denying any pathway to citizenship to people in the US illegally.”

“Billionaire Elon Musk and Key Square Group LP founder Scott Bessent, whom President-elect Donald Trump is considering for Treasury secretary, spoke after Musk publicly endorsed Howard Lutnick as the best pick for the post,” Bloomberg reports. “Trump’s decision on who will take on the powerful cabinet post — which includes overseeing the $28 trillion Treasuries market and economic sanctions — has become riddled with chaos as the two top advisers publicly battle for the job.”