memeorandum: Schumer regime promises a sharp break from Reid (Seung Min Kim/Politico)

10:15 AM ET, January 3, 2017

Top Items:

With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Hobble Independent Ethics Office — House Republicans, defying their top leaders, voted Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, theGrio, The Resurgent, Raw Story, The Democratic Daily and Unqualified Offerings

John Bresnahan / Politico:

House Republicans gut their own oversight — In one of their first moves of the new Congress, House Republicans have voted to gut their own independent ethics watchdog — a huge blow to cheerleaders of congressional oversight and one that dismantles major reforms adopted after the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Raw Story, The Guardian, ABC News, ThinkProgress, The Root, Vox and Daily Kos

Bloomberg:

House GOP Votes to Strip Ethics Office of Independent Status — Surprise move by Republicans comes day before new Congress — Pelosi says vote contradicts Trump's ‘drain the swamp’ pledge — House Republicans abruptly voted Monday night to effectively weaken the independent Office …

Discussion: Politico, Shareblue, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and Shakesville

CNN:

House GOP guts ethics panel — Washington (CNN)House Republicans voted Monday night in favor of a proposal that would weaken Congress' outside ethics watchdog and remove its independence. — Republican Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte's proposal would place the independent Office of Congressional Ethics …

Discussion: Raw Story, Politicus USA and Balloon Juice

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

House Republicans Vote to Rein In Serious Investigation of Republicans — When Republicans control Congress and a Democrat is president, it's all investigation all the time. It doesn't matter if any of the stuff they're investigating is genuinely scandalous or not. They just keep at it, month after endless month.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

House Republicans vote to rein in independent ethics office — Defying the wishes of their top leaders, House Republicans voted behind closed doors Monday night to rein the independent ethics office created eight years ago in the wake of a series of embarrassing congressional scandals.

Discussion: NPR, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, The Democratic Daily and The Week

Ian Schwartz / RealClearPolitics:

Assange To Hannity: Source For WikiLeaks Was Not Russian Government — In an exclusive interview with FOX News Channel's Sean Hannity the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange said Russia was not the source for the DNC and John Podesta hacks. — HANNITY: Can you say to the American people …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and The Last Tradition

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:
WikiLeaks founder: Obama admin trying to ‘delegitimize’ Trump

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Geller Report and We Are Change

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:
Journalists Exposed By WikiLeaks Will Now Cover Trump White House

Discussion: The Geller Report

Alex Stedman / Variety:
Fox News' Sean Hannity Lands Interview With WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Gateway Pundit

Rachana Pradhan / Politico:

Dems, GOP get ready for showdown on Obamacare — The long-standing fight over Obamacare's repeal is about to become a battle over messaging. — Instead of doing a victory lap after they start dismantling the law in January, Republicans will not only have to rewrite a massive law …

Benjamin Siegel / ABC News:
Congress Prepares to Battle Over Obamacare

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire, TheBlaze and Associated Press

Richard Cowan / Reuters:
New Republican-led U.S. Congress lays groundwork for Trump era

Discussion: The Geller Report

Melanie Zanona / The Hill:
Pelosi: Ball in GOP court on ObamaCare replacement

Discussion: TheBlaze and LifeNews.com

New York Times:

To Stop Trump, Democrats Can Learn From the Tea Party — Today is the first day of the 115th United States Congress. In less than three weeks, this Congress will join with President-elect Donald J. Trump to claim a mandate they do not have for policies that most Americans do not support.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Republicans Stonewalled Obama. Now the Ball Is in Their Court.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Week and No More Mister Nice Blog

Wall Street Journal:

Robert Lighthizer Is Expected to Be Named U.S. Trade Representative — Donald Trump is also considering ways to bring his daughter and son-in-law into the administration — Donald Trump is expected to name Robert Lighthizer, a former trade official under President Ronald Reagan …

Discussion: Washington Post, Cafe Hayek and RedState

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump: North Korea will be stopped

Discussion: ABC News and Political Wire

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:
Trump Said to Pick Lighthizer for U.S. Trade Representative

Discussion: New York Times and The Week

Timothy W. Martin / Wall Street Journal:

The Champions of the 401(k) Lament the Revolution They Started — The dominant vehicle for retirement savings has fallen short of its early backers' rosy expectations; longer life spans, high fees and stock-market declines — Herbert Whitehouse was one of the first in the U.S. to suggest workers use a 401(k).

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Schumer regime promises a sharp break from Reid — It's been hard to tell lately that Harry Reid and Joe Manchin even belong to the same party. When Reid attacked Donald Trump after the election, Manchin called his own party leader an “absolute embarrassment”; Reid fired back that Manchin was just …

Melanie Zanona / The Hill:

Remittances to Mexico spike after November election — Remittances to Mexico saw the biggest spike in more than a decade during the month that President-elect Donald Trump — was elected, Reuters reported Monday. — Mexican citizens in the U.S. sent home nearly $2.4 billion in transfers in November …

Alexandra Alper / Reuters:
Remittances to Mexico jump by most in 10 years after Trump win

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Deborah Cole / Yahoo:

Hitler's ‘Mein Kampf’ becomes German bestseller — Berlin (AFP) - The first reprint of Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” in Germany since World War II has proved a surprise bestseller, heading for its sixth print run, its publisher said Tuesday. — The Institute of Contemporary History of Munich …

Discussion: Althouse

CNN:

Adviser contradicts Trump: Russians hacked the US — Washington (CNN)A top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he thinks the Russians were involved in election-related hacking of the US — a very different view than that held by the incoming administration.

Discussion: twitchy.com, Post On Politics, alan.com and The Week

Mike Wehner / BGR:
CNN uses screenshot from ‘Fallout 4’ to show how Russians hack things

Discussion: Infowars and Raw Story

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Inside Trump's strategy to remodel the Supreme Court — Donald Trump has narrowed his short list for his first Supreme Court pick down to roughly a half-dozen finalists but the president-elect and his top advisers are already thinking about a second selection, as they seek to quickly remodel …

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:

The media's hypocrisy and hyperventilating in the age of Trump — Facts are stubborn things. Unfortunately in the age of Twitter journalism, too many reporters find such details to be both onerous and optional. — This past week, I met twice with President-elect Donald Trump attempting to secure an interview for inauguration week.

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Prokop / Vox:

The 2018 midterms are nearly two years away. Start paying attention now. — When 2009 began, the Republican Party looked like a smoking pile of rubble. The GOP had lost the presidency, and much of their outgoing president's legacy seemed set to be reversed. They had fallen into the minority in both houses of Congress.