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

🗓️ What we’re watching

• President-elect Donald Trump’s transition, which kicked off at an expeditious pace with his naming of top Cabinet positions, comes to a close on Monday, when Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will be sworn in during a frigid ceremony at the Capitol. 
• Speaker Mike Johnson is remaking the House Intelligence Committee in Trump’s image, a shakeup with immense implications.
• Prospective Secretary of State Marco Rubio may be riding solo on Day One, as he appears to be the only Cabinet nominee with the backing to be confirmed Monday. 

👀 What’s Trump up to?

• Trump has a jam-packed weekend before Inauguration Day that will end with a MAGA rally Sunday night at Capital One Arena. He’s also scheduled to attend a dinner and a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery over the weekend. You can read the full inauguration schedule here. 
• New York City Mayor Eric Adams is headed to Mar-a-Lago. 
• Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is skipping Trump’s inauguration. 
• China is sending an envoy to the inauguration. 
• TikTok is spending $50,000 on an inauguration party honoring influencers who used the app to campaign for the president-elect. 

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

• Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee at 9 a.m., after her initial Wednesday hearing was delayed. 
• Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth’s confirmation vote has already been delayed past Day One of the Trump administration. 
• A progressive group is launching a $250,000 ad campaign against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Health and Human Services secretary. 

📝ICYMI: Here are Trump’s latest administration picks 

• Troy Meink was selected by Trump for Air Force secretary. 
• Trump announced actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone to serve as special envoys to “a great but very troubled place,” Hollywood. 
• Chris Stallings was tapped to be assistant administrator for disaster recovery and resilience at the Small Business Administration.
• Trump selected Bill Pulte to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. 
• The president-elect announced picks for three undersecretaries in the Agriculture Department: Richard Fordyce as undersecretary for farm production and conservation, Michael Boren as undersecretary for natural resources and environment and Dudley Hoskins as undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs. 
• Trump also named a number of Energy Department undersecretaries on Thursday, including Wells Griffith as undersecretary of energy, Darío Gil as undersecretary for science and innovation and Brandon Williams as undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

China will send an envoy, Vice President Han Zheng, to Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, the country’s foreign ministry said in a news release.

Karoline Leavitt, who will serve as press secretary in Trump’s new administration, confirmed last month that Chinese President Xi Jinping was invited to the event.

Han’s presence at the inauguration comes at a time of uncertainty for the relationship between Washington and Beijing, with Trump threatening to slap tariffs on the full scope of Chinese goods entering the U.S. In recent days, the Biden administration has ramped up export restrictions designed to reduce the flow of AI-related computer chips into China.

Xi apparently turned down Trump’s invitation last month but the Financial Times reported last week that the Chinese leader was considering Han or Foreign Minister Wang Yi to attend the inauguration in his place.

The choice of Han may be a disappointment for the Trump team because he has a largely symbolic role in the Chinese leadership structure. Wang’s attendance would have allowed him to segue post-inauguration into talks with Trump’s foreign policy team that could have — for better or worse — determined the tenor of U.S.-China ties at the administration’s outset.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has settled on the themes for its first hearings of the new Congress, focusing on bolstering U.S. innovations and advancements in domestic wireless technology and chemical production.

The topics send a signal about the panel’s priorities in the new Republican governing trifecta — and what political message it wants to send through the policies it plans to highlight.

On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Environment Subcommittee will hold a hearing to assess whether the EPA has interpreted a decade-old, landmark chemical safety law in contradiction with statute.

“The domestic production of chemicals is critical to the growth of our economy and vital to the success of American manufacturers,” full committee chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Environment Subcommittee chair Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) said in a statement. “The Subcommittee … will get to the root of those policies that have inhibited American innovation and our ability to compete in the global market.”

They added, “The new administration offers a chance to address these issues and ensure American leadership in safely producing the chemicals vital to manufacturing in the years ahead.”

The following day, on Jan. 23, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will meet to explore avenues for “Strengthening American Leadership in Wireless Technology.”

In a statement, Guthrie and communications subcommittee chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), said, “the United States needs a strategic spectrum policy that empowers our innovators to fully compete on the global stage.”

Guthrie is assuming the gavel of the committee with among the broadest jurisdictions in Congress from former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who did not seek reelection. The panel has authority over health care, tech and energy policy.

He has vowed to “unleash” American energy, lower health care costs and help America stay ahead of the curve on technology innovation. He is also set to play a major role in the reconciliation bill, which is expected to be central to President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, and could include significant energy, border, tax and health care provisions.

GOP lawmakers are considering rolling back Biden administration climate policies and making significant changes to the safety-net program Medicaid to help pay for other priorities like extending Trump-era tax cuts.

“While the task before us is significant, the committee will champion a bold vision to deliver the change demanded by the American people,” Guthrie said in the committee’s organizing meeting Wednesday.

Paul Mango, a former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and senior health official during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term who was advising on the current transition, has died.

Mango’s death was confirmed Thursday afternoon by his current employer, the Paragon Health Institute.

“Paul was a mentor and friend who dedicated his life to serving his country, who led a life of amazing accomplishment, and who will be dearly missed,” Brian Blase, Paragon’s president, said in a statement to POLITICO. “Professionally, Paul’s unmatched leadership and management skills and attention to detail were instrumental in the success of Operation Warp Speed, saving many Americans’ lives.”

A longtime health care consultant, Mango spent three years in the Trump administration, including as deputy chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services. He played a central role in the creation of Operation Warp Speed, the federal initiative designed to accelerate the development of a Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic’s early days.

Mango later touted Warp Speed, which helped generate two vaccines for the disease in less than a year, as an unprecedented example of cross-government collaboration and efficiency in an inside account of the vaccine sprint that he published in 2022.

“Leaders within business, professional sports, government and politics know that talent and teamwork are often at odds with each other,” he wrote in Warp Speed: Inside the Operation That Beat Covid, the Critics and the Odds. “Operation Warp Speed was totally different, and the difference started at the top.”

Mango was tapped to help the Trump campaign with transition plans for the federal health department after he won reelection in November.

He had been on the short list to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, one of the department’s largest agencies, during Trump’s second term. He was also floated as a potential deputy secretary.

He most recently was an adviser at Paragon, a conservative think tank.

Prior to joining the first Trump administration, Mango ran an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania governor in 2018, losing in the GOP primary to the eventual Republican nominee, Scott Wagner.

A military veteran, Mango spent nearly three decades as a consultant at McKinsey, eventually leading its health care practice.

David Lim contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday tapped three new special ambassadors — but not to a foreign nation or policy area.

Actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone will serve as “Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, with the aim of boosting the American filmmaking capital after it “has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries.”

In this seemingly unprecedented role, the stars will serve as Trump’s “eyes and ears.”

“I will get done what they suggest,” he wrote.

The announcement comes as Los Angeles is tackling several raging wildfire disasters that have killed at least 25 people and caused significant damage in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods. Trump blamed California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the fires in a post on Truth Social, saying “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!”

Trump has long had deep ties within the entertainment industry. His pick for envoy to the United Kingdom is his old producer from “The Apprentice,” Mark Burnett.

Voight, Gibson and Stallone have been vocal supporters of Trump in recent years.

Stallone has been a supporter since 2016, and after moving to Florida has visited to Mar-a-Lago more than once. He introduced Trump at the America First Policy Institute gala at Mar-a-Lago last November, where he praised Trump as the “second George Washington.” Voight has also thrown support behind Trump since 2016, calling him the “greatest president since Abraham Lincoln” and supporting Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen.

Gibson endorsed Trump for president shortly before last year’s election, adding that Vice President Kamala Harris has “the IQ of a fence post.”

House Energy and Commerce Republicans met Thursday to shape their strategy for energy portions of the GOP’s budget reconciliation bill — including clawing back climate spending approved by Democrats.

Panel leaders previewed a “menu” of programs in the Inflation Reduction Act and other Biden administration climate spending that could be rescinded, lawmakers familiar with the discussion said.

Still, members said they were far away from reaching any definitive conclusions on what specific programs they will end up targeting.

“We’re just throwing mud against the wall to see what sticks,” said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.). “We’re putting a menu list of things that are available, and then saying, what we can do, and how will it impact our districts.”

The budget reconciliation process will allow Republicans to address spending-related issues by simple majority, and will involve a variety of major issues such as border security, tax cuts and energy production. Energy and Commerce lawmakers met earlier this week on health proposals.

Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said the lawmakers on Thursday discussed rescinding or drawing down IRA funds at both the Department of Energy and EPA, including targeting money already in the process of being doled out.

“We’re figuring out how much money is going to be recoverable for the Inflation Reduction Act that was sent out,” Guthrie said. “You look at climate justice grants and all those others, but we’re going to investigate and see where that money went.”

Guthrie has said Republicans are particularly interested in examining the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion investment created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

EPA announced this week the agency has obligated 88 percent of clean energy program money passed by Democrats that is currently available. How Republicans can take that money back remains unclear.

They’re also working on a very tight timeline. House Speaker Mike Johnson is planning for the House to coalesce around a strategy and write a budget resolution by Feb. 10, setting up floor debate and adoption that week. The resolution is part of the multi-step budget reconciliation process.

“We’re still just talking about what the options are and making sure everybody understands the details of what our options are,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.). “We’re looking at a menu, and there’s a dollar amount attached to each option.”

Beyond the Energy and Commerce portfolio, Republicans have discussed repealing green energy tax incentives and approving mining and oil and gas drilling projects.

Reporters Kelsey Brugger and Timothy Cama contributed.

President-elect Donald Trump has selected private equity CEO and philanthropist Bill Pulte to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

If confirmed, Pulte would become the country’s top housing regulator. FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage giants standing behind roughly half of the U.S. residential mortgage market.

Pulte founded Pulte Capital Partners LLC, which focuses on housing products, in 2011 and garnered attention in recent years for promoting his giveaways of money and other goods on social media. He is a grandson of real estate magnate William Pulte.

The Trump administration is expected to pursue a plan to release Fannie and Freddie from government control — a complex maneuver that could have major repercussions for the mortgage market.

More than 60 House Democrats backed a GOP bill that would make sexual and domestic violence deportable offenses, marking the second bipartisan immigration bill to pass the chamber this Congress.

The bill, led by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), earned 10 more Democratic votes than the 51 who backed it in the last Congress. Many Democrats who supported it were from purple districts, but some in solidly blue seats also voted for it, including Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

Congressional Democrats are under intense pressure from the GOP majority to vote for immigration and crime-related bills. The House passed the Laken Riley Act — which mandates detaining undocumented immigrants who are charged with burglary or theft — as its first bill of the new Congress last week. The Senate is currently debating amendments to add to that legislation.

Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), who represents a battleground district, said she voted for the legislation “because it further reiterates that sexual and domestic abuse are serious crimes under the law, delivering justice for victims and making our communities safer for everyone.”

Still, other Democrats in purple districts expressed serious reservations about the bill. First-term Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) said it could create an unintended chilling effect for victims of sexual abuse, who might fear they could be deported if they report the crime.

“This bill empowers rapists and criminals, putting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault — including those who are in this country legally — at risk,” Min said in a statement. “Rather than protecting the vulnerable, this bill will enact horrific consequences on survivors.”

Prepare to freeze at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

It’s forecasted to be the coldest Inauguration Day since President Ronald Reagan’s second swearing-in ceremony in 1985 (temperature: A cool 7 degrees). The weather is expected to peak in the mid-20s (very cold!) and dip as low as 10 degrees (very very cold!) at night. The good news: The sun is set to shine during Trump’s ceremony, but 10 to 20 mph freezing winds will make it feel even colder.

D.C.’s had its fair share of cold days in January, but frigid temperatures aren’t the norm for Inauguration Day. The average Jan. 20 temperature has hovered around a 45-degree high and 30-degree low with wind chill also in the 30s, according to the National Weather Service. Trump’s last ceremony eight years ago saw a high of 48 degrees with a bit of rain — nowhere near the ice-cold temperatures waiting for him on Monday.

Ironically, Reagan also had the warmest Inauguration Day on record. (His 1981 ceremony had a high of 55 degrees.) Four years later, his second ceremony was moved indoors because an Arctic cold wave brought in single-digit temperatures.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flood the National Mall to see Trump take his second oath of office. With freezing wind and blistering cold on the forecast, a few reminders: layer up, bring a hat and gloves and maybe invest in some hand warmers.