A bipartisan group of lawmakers failed to reach a compromise deal to reform permitting rules that would speed the development of new energy infrastructure, people involved in the effort said on Monday.

The push to overcome partisan differences ahead of a crucial government funding deadline saw a significant push by key lawmakers — led by retiring Senate Energy Chair Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) — but the long-shot challenge of making progress on a major policy issue before Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress and the White House proved too difficult.

“It’s a shame that our country is losing this monumental opportunity to advance the commonsense, bipartisan permitting reform bill that has strong support in the United States Senate,” Manchin said in a statement.

Republicans have long pushed for changes to the federal government’s permitting rules, arguing that the cumbersome and timely process has stalled the build-out of fossil fuel projects.

And in recent years, many Democrats have come to the same conclusion, arguing that clean energy projects are stalling due to strict permitting rules and that electrical grid bottlenecks are preventing the delivery of renewable energy to major power markets.

Despite optimism from the lawmakers involved, major obstacles that tripped up previous efforts to pass permitting legislation over the past three years were ultimately too difficult to overcome.

Conservatives have rejected measures that would ease approval of grid projects in their states that they fear could raise power rates, while progressives oppose loosening rules for oil and gas projects that contribute to climate change.

Negotiators were also unable to agree to changes that would streamline permitting reviews and limit legal challenges under the landmark, decades-old National Environmental Policy Act, a top priority of House Republicans.

Retiring Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, blamed the GOP for permitting talks falling short.

“Democrats offered meaningful NEPA reforms, sought by Republicans,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, instead of taking real policy wins, House Republicans let their perfect be the enemy of the good.”

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to make a renewed permitting reform push next year with Republicans having narrow control of the Senate and House.

Trump has made permitting a focus — recently promising that anyone who invests at least $1 billion in the U.S. will be rewarded with expedited environmental approvals. But he has focused most of his attention on boosting fossil fuel projects.

Republicans have discussed trying to include permitting measures in a party-line reconciliation bill they want to pass early next year, but it’s unclear if they’ll be able to push through changes that comply with the strict budget rules that govern the process.

President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead HHS, wouldn’t be “radical” in his health policies — a concern for many Senate Republicans who will decide his confirmation.

“I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” Trump said during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago. “He’s going to have an open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.”

But in the same press conference, Trump suggested he was open to Kennedy’s more radical ideas, and dodged a question about whether he believes vaccines cause autism, a claim research has repeatedly debunked.

“We’re looking to find out,” he said, later suggesting pesticides, also a target of Kennedy, could be leading to rising autism diagnoses. “Something bad’s happening.”

Trump wouldn’t back long-standing vaccines for children going to school, either.

“I don’t like mandates,” he said.

But on the polio vaccine? “I’m a big believer in it,” Trump said. “You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine.”

Why it matters: Trump’s comments come as Kennedy is set to meet with Senate Republicans this week about his nomination. Some lawmakers have signaled concern about Kennedy’s views, especially his vaccine skepticism and misinformation.

Trump previously softened Kennedy’s position that the regulatory agencies need significant reforms, saying his nominee wouldn’t upset the current system and would work with the pharmaceutical industry.

As an example, Trump said Monday that in an earlier meeting with Kennedy, CMS nominee Mehmet Oz and pharmaceutical executives spent more time on drug costs than anything else.

On that front, the president-elect said he would target pharmaceutical “middlemen,” the shorthand policymakers have used recently in their push to further regulate pharmacy benefit managers. PBMs negotiate drug prices for insurers and employers.

“We’re going to knock out the middleman,” Trump said. “I don’t know who these middlemen are, but they are rich as hell.”

What’s next: Trump said policy changes wouldn’t happen quickly, saying he wanted to see data Kennedy brings to him on vaccines.

With little more than a month to go before Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, a set of federal judges who previously announced retirements are pulling back those decisions. And Republicans are none too pleased.

Most prominent among the federal jurists to reverse a retirement announcement is Judge James Wynn of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. His name vanished from a list of pending vacancies over the weekend, joining two district court judges in North Carolina — Algenon Marbley and Max Cogburn — in pulling back their decisions once it became clear President Joe Biden would not be able to appoint their successors.

In a letter to Biden, Wynn wrote “that, after careful consideration, I have decided to continue in regular active service” on the bench. All three were appointed by Democratic presidents.

Their decisions serve to deny Trump further bench vacancies to fill as he hopes to capitalize on his push to move the federal judiciary rightward. Though judges routinely time retirements to allow a desired president to appoint their successors, the GOP backlash has been consistent and heated.

“Judge Wynn’s brazenly partisan decision to rescind his retirement is an unprecedented move that demonstrates some judges are nothing more than politicians in robes,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whose state is part of the circuit, in a statement over the weekend. “The Senate Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on his blatant attempt to turn the judicial retirement system into a partisan game, and he deserves the ethics complaints and recusal demands from the Department of Justice heading his way.”

Tillis isn’t alone in his criticisms, as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has previously warned judges of consequences should they rescind previously announced retirements.

“Never before has a circuit judge unretired after a presidential election,” McConnell said on the Senate floor on Dec. 2. “It’s literally unprecedented. And to create such a precedent would fly in the face of a rare bipartisan compromise on the disposition of these vacancies.”

McConnell has urged any judge pulling back on their retirement announcements to recuse themselves from matters coming before them. He urged the incoming Trump administration to “explore all available recusal options with these judges,” since in his view they “have a political finger on the scale.”

“It’s hard to conclude this is anything other than open partisanship,” the outgoing Republican leader said on the floor.

For Democrats’ part, they pointed to previous instances of Republicans making choices around the federal bench post-elections, including McConnell’s decision to not consider a Supreme Court vacancy during the 2016 election cycle while President Barack Obama was in office.

“When I hear the senator [McConnell] come to the floor … and talk about whether there is any gamesmanship going on, I don’t know. But I can tell you we saw it at the highest possible level in filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court when Antonin Scalia passed away,” said Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on the floor following McConnell’s remarks.

The backdrop for the reconsideration of retirement announcements is a deal struck between Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republicans to grant Trump four circuit court nominations to fill — Democrats said President Joe Biden’s replacement picks for those slots lacked the votes for confirmation — in exchange for quicker consideration of a dozen or so district court vacancies.

But Wynn’s decision — he was one of those four circuit court positions — complicates that math. Durbin defended the deal as having “reflected some realities that haven’t been publicized much.”

“Two of them did not have the total support of the Democratic caucus — it was an uphill struggle,” Durbin said. “Two more of them decided to stay on and not leave,” he added, reflecting the future decision of Wynn to retain active status on the bench.

Another one of those involved in the appeals court deal, Adeel Mangi, decried the “broken” confirmation process in a letter to Biden obtained by BLaw on Monday. He would have been the first Muslim appeals court judge in the country, if confirmed, but couldn’t command sufficient support from Democrats.

“This is no longer a system for evaluating fitness for judicial office,” Mangi wrote in the letter. “It is now a channel for the raising of money based on performative McCarthyism before video cameras, and for the dissemination of dark-money-funded attacks that especially target minorities.”

He added: “For my part, I entered this nomination process as a proud American and a proud Muslim. I exit it the same way, unbowed.”

On the whole, reconsidering a judicial retirement decision is not an entirely new phenomenon.

Take, for example, the case of Judge Karen Caldwell of Kentucky. The longtime George W. Bush appointee was ready to step aside in 2022, but on the condition that Biden appoint a suitable conservative replacement in her place. But that rumored deal between Biden and McConnell eventually fell through, and Caldwell rescinded her initial decision to retire.

There are other recent examples. A conservative Wisconsin federal judge, Rudolph Randa, pulled back on his announced retirement in 2008 following the victory of President Barack Obama. And an appeals court judge from Indiana, Michael Kanne, abandoned his retirement in 2018 after then-Vice President Mike Pence spiked his intended successor from being tapped.

MAGA podcast host Steve Bannon on Sunday suggested that President-elect Donald Trump might be eligible to seek a third term in 2028, a step that would violate the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment.

“Donald John Trump is going to raise his hand on the King James Bible and take the oath of office, his third victory and his second term,” Bannon said in a speech at the New York Young Republican Club’s 112th annual gala.“Since it doesn’t actually say consecutive” in the Constitution, Bannon continued, “I don’t know, maybe we do it again in ‘28? Are you guys down for that? Trump ‘28?”

The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, states that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” The amendment is widely understood to prohibit anyone from holding the presidency for more than two terms, regardless of whether those terms are consecutive.

In May, Bannon, who was White House chief strategist during the first seven months of Trump’s first administration, said allowing Trump to serve more than two terms would take “two-thirds of the House and the Senate.”

“It’s a whole process. It’s not going to happen,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast.

The same month, Trump said at a National Rifle Association event that “you know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” And the president-elect reportedly jokingly suggested to House Republicans in November that he will not run again in 2028 “unless you do something,” according to The Hill.

President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he doesn’t expect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to the Senate.

The seat in Florida will soon be vacant because Trump has chosen Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of State. Trump had discussed the possibility with DeSantis that he pick Lara Trump to fill the seat, but he told reporters Monday at Mar-a-Lago that he “probably” didn’t expect that.

“I don’t. I probably don’t, but I don’t know,” he said when asked if he expected DeSantis to appoint her. “Ron is doing a good job. It is his choice, nothing to do with me.”

POLITICO previously reported that DeSantis was considering several options for the seat, including Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody or former Florida House Speaker José Oliva. The governor announced over social media that he was vetting candidates and interviewing them, with a selection “likely made by the beginning of January.” The formal confirmation process for Rubio won’t begin until after Trump is sworn into office.

Trump’s biggest supporters on social media — and a few in the Senate, including Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) — have been pushing for DeSantis to appoint Lara Trump, who has been a Florida resident for 3.5 years and was co-chair of the Republican National Committee. She has said during media interviews that she would be interested in the job, and recently resigned from her RNC role. But on Monday, Trump noted his daughter-in-law was also being recruited for television jobs as well. “She’s got so many other things that she’s talking about,” he said. “He’ll make the right decision.”

Trump and DeSantis spoke a couple of weeks ago when they both attended a memorial for state deputies who were killed in a crash. On Monday, he called his daughter-in-law “unbelievable” and “incredible,” citing her work at RNC with chair Michael Whatley, who is staying on in the role.

“She is so highly respected by women,” Trump said. “I mean, even her workout routines are through the roof. She lifts 150 pounds. I don’t know how the hell she does it. She is a bad example for men and women because I wouldn’t be able to beat her, I don’t believe. I would try like hell.”

The Trump administration’s landing team will arrive at the Pentagon on Monday and be led by Michael Duffey, a former deputy chief of staff at the agency during the president-elect’s first term, according to four people with knowledge of the decision and internal documents obtained by POLITICO.

Duffey, who served in several roles in the first Trump administration, ensured the continuation in 2019 of Trump’s controversial hold on U.S. military aid to Ukraine after career officials raised questions about the legality of the move. That hold, which Duffey assisted with keeping in place while at the Office of Management and Budget, helped lead to Trump’s first impeachment.

POLITICO earlier reported that Robert Wilkie, a former Veteran Affairs secretary, would lead the Defense Department transition effort, but his name was missing from the list on Sunday.

He said in an interview on Sunday evening that he is still leading Trump’s policy implementation teams for the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs. Wilkie said he made recommendations on a landing team and filling positions at the Pentagon but did not handle the personnel side.

The Trump administration’s agency review team at the Pentagon contains nearly a dozen people. The list provided to POLITICO includes former Pentagon official Ralph Cacci; House Speaker Mike Johnson’s legislative director Jay Hurst; Dane Hughes, who serves as a staffer on the House Armed Services Committee; former acting Army general counsel Earl Guy Matthews; and House Judiciary Committee staffer and former White House Office of Presidential Personnel official Jimmy Sapp.

Bryn Woollacott, a national security adviser to Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) is also on the list, as is Thomas DiNanno, a former assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance during the first Trump administration.

John Troup Hemenway, a former White House personnel office staffer, Bradley Hansell, a former National Security Council director, and Gregory Halsted Pejic are also on the list of those who will arrive at the Pentagon on Monday.

The Trump transition team did not directly comment on the names. “As per the Transition MOU, the White House is receiving landing team names. Some teams have begun connecting with their counterparts at agencies,” Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.

The arrival of the Trump administration’s landing team at the Pentagon comes amid frustration within the president-elect’s orbit over the slow pace of staffing the agency.

“They don’t like the way things are spiraling so they’re just looking for shakeups,” said a person familiar with the transition, who like others contacted for this story was granted anonymity to talk about personnel moves before they are announced.

One person who is applying for a DOD appointment said unlike some other departments staffing up, they and their friends applying to Pentagon jobs haven’t been called down to Mar-a-Lago for job interviews yet.

Opponents of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead HHS are buying tens of thousands of dollars in ads across the states of key Republican senators as he plans to meet with them this week.

Protect Our Care, which has launched a Stop RFK War Room, has bought advertising slots — from digital ads to billboards — calling on constituents to urge their senators to oppose Kennedy’s nomination, leaders of the group told POLITICO.

“We’re going to accelerate our activity,” said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, a health advocacy group aligned with Democrats. “We think this week’s a big deal.”

The group is targeting GOP senators it believes could be persuaded to vote against Kennedy’s confirmation: Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and the newly elected Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).

The ads connect Kennedy’s unsupported claims about the danger of vaccines to the deaths of more than 80 children during a measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 — and argue that health professionals, scientists and the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board oppose his confirmation, making it a safe position for Republicans.

Why it matters: Protect Our Care, along with several groups focused on public health, are arguing to senators — and the public — that Kennedy’s views on vaccines, medical authorities and key health policies would be detrimental to the U.S. population, should he lead HHS.

To block Kennedy, four Republican senators would have to oppose his confirmation if every Democrat votes no.

What’s next? Protect Our Care expects more campaigning against the nominee in the future.

“We will spend more,” Woodhouse said. “We’re just starting this process.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s Homeland Security landing team is starting work today with meetings at the Transportation Security Administration’s headquarters in Springfield, Va.

The sprawling Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA as well as Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and a bevy of other agencies, will play a core role in Trump’s second-term agenda, particularly in delivering on his promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Trump has tasked a number of high-ranking alumni from his first term to lay the groundwork for those plans in his second.

According to three people familiar with the team’s composition, the DHS landing team is being led by Robert Law, a top official in the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during Trump’s first term. He is also the Senate sherpa for Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump’s pick to helm the Department of Homeland Security.

Other landing team members include John Feere, a senior official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump’s first term; John Zadrozny, also an alum of USCIS, as well as the Trump State Department; and Joe Edlow, acting head of USCIS during the Trump administration.

Karen Evans, a top cybersecurity official at the Department of Energy and DHS during Trump’s first term, is also on the landing team. She is expected to focus on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA).

A Trump transition team spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The team members will work with the agency’s career staff to review the Biden administration’s homeland security policies, as well as the status of a host of challenges related to cybersecurity, immigration, border security and other issues the department handles. The information they glean will help shape the Trump transition team’s preparation for his first days in office.

Immigration policy has been at the core of Trump’s presidential campaigns, and it was one of his top focuses in office. He has long promised to dramatically increase border security and to deport countless undocumented immigrants. At the Republican National Convention this summer, delegates hoisted pre-printed signs reading “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!”

Trump and his advisers say his November victory gives him a clear mandate to deliver on that promise.

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

 🗓️ What we’re watching

• President-elect Donald Trump met with Speaker Mike Johnson and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune in his suite at the Army-Navy game on Saturday to discuss how to implement his agenda, Playbook reports this morning. Johnson and Thune are anxious to get the internal debate over next steps settled, and both know only Trump can do the settling.
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking aim at his party’s isolationist wing in a new op-ed in Foreign Affairs, a rare rebuke of Trump. 
• Trump renewed his push to end daylight saving time, calling it “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

👀 What’s Trump up to?

• He’s making an announcement at 11 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago.

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s secretary of Defense pick, told him that he would release the person who accused him of sexual misconduct from her nondisclosure agreement.
• On Saturday, Trump chose Devin Nunes to run the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, an independent group within the Executive Office that oversees the U.S. intelligence community’s compliance with the Constitution. Nunes was a former Republican representative from California and chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He is the current CEO of Trump’s social media platform Truth Social.
• Trump’s national security adviser pick, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), said that the U.S. needs to take a stronger stance on consequences for foreign hackers following recent hacks targeting Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance by a Chinese-backed group. “We need to start going on offense and start imposing, I think, higher costs and consequences to private actors and nation state actors that continue to steal our data, that continue to spy on us,” he told CBS News on Sunday.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Trump administration picks 

• Trump tapped businessman Bill White to serve as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Saturday. White stepped down as CEO of the New York Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in 2010 due to an investigation into a state pension scandal launched by then-Attorney General of New York Andrew Cuomo. He was a major donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign.