The powerful Congressional Black Caucus is under intense pressure from within to refrain from endorsing any candidates in contested committee leader races — including one of their own.

Several members stood up during the Black Caucus meeting Wednesday afternoon to argue against the group formally endorsing any Democrats in the contested races and instead allow Democratic caucus members to make their own choices, according to two people familiar with the meeting who were granted anonymity to discuss a closed-door event. Such a move would signal a stunning shift for the group, especially if it refrains from backing ailing House Agriculture ranking member Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.).

Black Caucus members left the Wednesday meeting without making a decision on the endorsement matter, according to the two people. Asked later about the timing of endorsements for the ranking member contests, incoming Black Caucus chair Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said they were still being decided.

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CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he’s open to working with President-elect Donald Trump’s new border czar — but said he was skeptical the incoming official had the “authority” to do everything he said.

“Being a border czar is not an official position in the government, and it will be up to the President of the United States and up to the leaders of the Customs and Border Patrol to make decisions about how we’ll manage the border,” Pritzker said.

Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, visited Chicago on Monday and said both Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “suck” for their comments about not working with federal agents on deportations. Illinois is a sanctuary state and Chicago is a sanctuary city, meaning there are laws and ordinances that prevent local law enforcement from working with ICE.

Homan spoke at a Chicago GOP gathering and said the city would be ground zero for “the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”

Pritzker dismissed Homan’s comments as political rhetoric but said he should be “serving Democrats and Republicans. If you take a position in the executive branch, you serve all of the people of the United States.”

Pritzker said he agrees that “violent criminals who are undocumented and convicted of violent crime should be deported.” Asked if that meant he would work with federal agents to allow deportation of convicted violent criminals, Pritzker said, ‘Yes. Sure, just as I do every day with federal and state law enforcement on other matters.”

Trump has also promised to bring in National Guard units to help in the new administration’s deportation efforts. Pritzker said he would reject any attempt to use the Illinois National Guard to assist ICE, and he would reject Guard units from other states coming to Illinois.

“I do not believe that we should be pitting one state’s National Guard against another state,” said Pritziker. “I think that’s un-American.”

Elon Musk, who is spearheading President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, is touting GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity.

“Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors [sic] super low cost to the public,” Musk wrote in a post on X Wednesday. “Nothing else is even close.”

Musk’s comments come just two weeks after the Biden administration made an 11th-hour push to require Medicare and state Medicaid programs to cover obesity drugs. The administration is proposing to reinterpret a 2003 law banning Medicare from covering popular GLP-1s directly for weight loss to do so.

The Biden administration’s proposal comes as the treatments can often be out of reach for consumers due to their cost, lack of insurance coverage and drug shortages. Congress is weighing legislation to lift the ban, which would dramatically expand access to the drugs but also would likely cost tens of billions of dollars.

Musk is leading the “DOGE” effort along with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and has pledged to cut trillions in federal spending. Congressional Republicans have said it’s too early to lay claim to top priorities or cost-cutting moves, but a DOGE framework has started to take shape.

It’s not clear how Musk would make GLP-1s “super low cost.” The drugs are expected to be eligible for Medicare price negotiation down the line, which could be one potential avenue to reduce their cost. The pharmaceutical industry and business interests have challenged in court the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions establishing the price negotiations.

Still, Musk is pitching the drugs as a long-term cost saver.

“Vast majority of healthcare spending is near end of life and obesity often plays a major role,” Musk said in a July post on X. “GLP and other hunger inhibitors might be the single biggest positive effect on healthcare and quality of life in the 21st century.”

The Congressional Budget Office has said it doesn’t have direct evidence showing that using GLP-1s for obesity reduces other health care spending.

Musk could have an ally in Trump’s pick to run CMS, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has touted Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic for weight loss. But Trump’s pick to run HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been skeptical of the drugs.

Kennedy has raised concerns about cost and said in a recent Fox News interview that pharmaceutical companies are “counting on selling it to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.”

House lawmakers on Wednesday plan to take up one of the final must-pass bills of President Joe Biden’s presidency: the annual defense policy bill. It’ll hit the House floor with late afternoon votes under a rule, meaning it’ll need a simple majority of the chamber to pass.

What to watch: House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) did come out against final passage of the bill he helped negotiate over its inclusion of a provision that could bar health care for transgender children of servicemembers.

“The inclusion of this harmful provision puts the lives of children at risk and may force thousands of service members to make the choice of continuing their military service or leaving to ensure their child can get the health care they need,” Smith said, adding that Speaker Mike Johnson chose to “pander to the most extreme elements of his party in an attempt to retain his speakership.”

Elsewhere in the House: After months of fighting and threats of contempt of Congress, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee at 10 a.m. about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Across the complex, the Senate Rules Committee will hear from U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger for an oversight hearing at 2:45 p.m.

Some good news: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, teaming up with Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, passed legislation by unanimous consent providing direct grants to elementary and secondary schools for automated external defibrillators.

Hamlin drew national attention to the issue after collapsing on the field due a cardiac event in 2023 during a football game. The House previously cleared the bill in late September, meaning the bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature.

“When our young athletes have a cardiac arrest or need some other form of CPR, there will be the AED equipment at the school, and there will be trained personnel who know how to apply the AEDs and CPR,” Schumer said on the floor following the bill’s passage. “It’s going to save lives. It’s a beautiful thing.”

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

🗓️ What we’re watching

• President-elect Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are unleashing a pressure campaign against GOP senators to confirm his Cabinet picks.

👀 What’s Trump up to?

• Trump is going to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson this weekend to discuss the party’s reconciliation strategy, according to Johnson.

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

• At least three closely watched senators are noncommittal about confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s being considered to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Those include swing votes like Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well as Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Kennedy has nearly two dozen meetings scheduled on Capitol Hill for next week.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Cabinet picks 

• Trump picked Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina as deputy director of the OMB and conservative activist Ed Martin as chief of staff at the OMB.
• Trump picked private equity executive Tom Barrack, a longtime ally who faced legal scrutiny for his work on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Turkey.
• Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Court TV anchor and Fox News host who became a staunch advocate for the president-elect, was chosen to be the next U.S. ambassador to Greece.
• Trump tapped Jacob Helberg to be the State Department’s top economic policy and trade official
• Ronald Johnson is the president-elect’s pick to serve as ambassador to Mexico, which is bad news for failed Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, who was reportedly in the mix.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s eyeing a sweeping tax policy package by summer, but conceded it will take some time to reach agreement on changes to the complex code.

“It’s going to take a while to put that big package together because there are so many moving parts,” Thune said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

“My goal is to have this done by summer. I think that big tax piece is just going to take a while,” he continued.

But the South Dakota Republican was quick to add: “Failure is not an option as far as tax is concerned.”

Among the complex issues for the tax bill, according to Thune: what baseline to use, whether to make the cuts permanent and how much of them should be offset.

While those negotiations on complex tax policy continue, Thune said he’s eyeing a “big early win” for President-elect Donald Trump with a party-line push on border security, military and energy provisions.

Thune indicated he did not favor inserting consensus tax provisions in the first package.

“I think they’re all going to have to ride together,” he said of tax policy, noting the complexity of the nation’s code. “Don’t rush them, make sure we get it right.”

Both bills would rely on a party-line process, known in official Washington parlance as reconciliation, to allow them to pass with a simple majority of Republicans.

Thune indicated the second package would be a natural spot to implement government savings recommendations developed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy through their so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Thune’s two-track approach is at odds with that favored by House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who favors a single reconciliation package.

“If we don’t hit out the gates running, we’re going to be in trouble,” Smith said Tuesday on Fox Business. “House Republicans are ready to pass the president’s economic package. We’ve been working on this since April with the hopes that we’d have a unified Republican government.”

Sen. John Fetterman is on Truth Social.

The Pennsylvania senator appears to be the first Democrat in the chamber to join President-elect Donald Trump’s social media site.

In his “first truth,” Fetterman advocated for Trump to be pardoned from the New York hush money case for which he was found guilty of 34 felony counts, comparing the case to Hunter Biden’s and saying they were “both bullshit.”

“Weaponizing the judiciary for blatant, partisan gain diminishes the collective faith in our institutions and sows further division,” Fetterman said in the Tuesday evening post.

That’s not a new opinion for Fetterman, who’s been calling for Trump to be pardoned since President Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter, who had been embroiled in a series of legal issues regarding federal firearms and tax charges.

But the platform, which the president-elect launched in 2022 after being banned from Twitter, is new.

A spokesperson for Fetterman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although he is the first Senate Democrat to join Truth Social, a few other prominent Democrats — and Trump foes — have already made the leap, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

The U.S. Capitol Police have arrested 33-year-old James McIntyre for an alleged assault on Rep. Nancy Mace on Tuesday night in the Rayburn Office Building, according to the department.

Capitol Police, in a statement, said they responded to an incident reported by a member’s office just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. McIntyre is facing a misdemeanor charge for assaulting a government official, according to the department, though charging decisions are ultimately up to the U.S. attorney’s office.

The department added that “McIntyre went through security screening prior to entering the Congressional buildings.”

“I was physically accosted at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man,” Mace (R-S.C.) said in a statement posted to X. “One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it’ll heal just fine.”

Mace has been outspoken in opposing transgender women using women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill, a move which comes before the House welcomes its first openly transgender member, incoming Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.).

The South Carolina Republican sent out a fundraising message following the alleged assault, writing “after last night, it is clear that I CANNOT STOP the fight!”

Mace said in a separate social media post that President-elect Donald Trump called her following the incident.

Supporters of transgender rights protested in Capitol Hill bathrooms last week and were arrested in the aftermath of Mace’s successful push to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in the House portion of the Capitol building. She obtained a bullhorn and spoke outside a police facility following their arrests.

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

House Democrats formally approved their party’s picks Wednesday for several leaders, including the ranking members of the so-called exclusive committees.

These leadership spots — along with several other positions — were all uncontested. All of the lawmakers selected Wednesday also held their positions in the last Congress.

The Democratic caucus formally approved:

• Ways and Means: Rep.
  Richard Neal
  (D-Mass.) 
• Financial Services: Rep.
  Maxine Waters
  (D-Calif.) 
• Appropriations: Rep.
  Rosa DeLauro
  (D-Conn.)
• Energy and Commerce: Rep.
  Frank Pallone
  (D-N.J.) 
• Rules: Rep. J
  im McGovern
  (D-Mass.)
• Budget: Rep.
  Brendan Boyle
  (D-Pa.) 
• DCCC: Rep. S
  uzan DelBene
  (D-Wash.)

Up next: But the caucus will face contested races next week. Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) are facing off for Natural Resources. Meanwhile, Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) are locked into a tight race for Agriculture.

Stansbury’s last-minute entry into the race for the Natural Resources panel shook up the contest but has also caused some quiet drama within the Hispanic Caucus. Outgoing ranking member Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) raised some eyebrows in the bloc by throwing his weight behind Stansbury and spoke on her behalf in their caucus meeting Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter. He’s pushed the Hispanic Caucus to endorse her.

“I would have loved an opportunity to present, but I’m told that the decision was made that since I’d already presented in a prior race against Grijalva — that I didn’t get a second chance,” Huffman said in a brief interview.

The Senate failed to end debate on a bid to extend the tenure of Lauren McFerran at the National Labor Relations Board after drama on the Senate floor — and a final decisive “no” vote from Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.).

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hoped to extend McFerran’s tenure at the NLRB to give Democrats effective control of the body into 2026 — part of the way through President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

The floor stayed open at length awaiting a decision from Manchin with the tally tied at 49. The retiring West Virginian, who voted against several NLRB picks in September 2023, ultimately emerged in opposition to the nomination, making the finally tally 49-50.

Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to oppose ending debate, as did independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who voted no in her first appearance in the chamber since the Thanksgiving break.