Here’s a selection of articles that are keeping us informed this week.
Shutdown Showdown – House Republicans are working on a multistep government funding strategy that involves a two-week stopgap measure to keep the lights on beyond Dec. 8 and fully funding defense by Christmas. No final decisions have been made but the idea GOP leaders have discussed with key conference members is to stick to the plan to pass a continuing resolution through Dec. 22. They then hope to pass a spending bill that would fund defense-related agencies through the end of fiscal 2018 and include another short-term CR for the remaining agencies, likely sometime into mid-to-late January. Read more from Roll Call.
Conferencing on the Tax Bill – The Senate’s passage of a tax overhaul illustrated a fragile coalition of support that ironically provides the chamber with the upper hand headed into conference committee negotiations with the House. House Republicans wanted a conference process on the two chambers’ differing tax bills to prevent the House from getting jammed by the Senate, as they acknowledge has happened frequently on major bills. But some members realize that a conference committee may still result in a final product that tracks more with Senate priorities given the thin margin of support in that chamber. Read more at Roll Call.
House HEA Proposal – The sprawling, 542-page revamp of the Higher Education Act released Friday by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.), chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, kicks off what is likely to be a rocky and drawn-out legislative process aimed at reshaping college education. Read more from the Wall Street Journal.
Meet the Moderates – These politicians and candidates are breaking with today’s aggressively partisan times to advocate a more centrist line. Read more from Governing.
The Silence Breakers – The #metoo silence breakers have started a revolution of refusal, gathering strength by the day, and in the past two months alone, their collective anger has spurred immediate and shocking results: nearly every day, CEOs have been fired, moguls toppled, icons disgraced. In some cases, criminal charges have been brought. Read more about TIME person of the year here.
Ranking the Bowl Games – Bow down to Washington! There are two ways to approach bowl season, which has been trimmed from 40 contests to 39 after the demise of the Poinsettia Bowl. One, you can grumble about how there’s too many bowl games, a truly “get off my lawn” way to handle things. Two, you can pick and choose some enjoyable matchups and ignore the ones whose greatest utility is providing a few hours of programming for the Four Letter Network and extra practices for the teams involved. Read more about all 39 bowl games from the Washington Post. Go dawgs!