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Capital Journal
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Good morning from the WSJ Washington Bureau.
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Trump's Day: President Trump delivers remarks at a White House summit on child care and paid leave. The president and first lady later host the Congressional Ball at the White House.
Congress: The House Judiciary Committee convenes this morning to coninue its debate over articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump (More below). We're also watching for developments in spending negotiations.
Markets: The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady Wednesday and officials expressed an upbeat view of the economy. But global stocks has drifted today as investors await developments on the China-U. S. trade talks and the health of the European economy.
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) wielded the gavel at Wednesday night’s hearing on two articles of impeachment. PHOTO: ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG NEW
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The House Judiciary Committee began debating two articles of impeachment aimed at President Trump last night. The debate was expected to give lawmakers a chance to tailor their arguments to the two charges after 2½ months of testimony and intraparty debate over how to apply the Constitution’s impeachment clause, Siobhan Hughes reports.
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The committee aims to vote on the charges today and send the measure to the full House for approval next week.
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As a candidate for the White House, President Trump said he would blow up Nafta, which he branded ‘the worst trade deal ever.’ PHOTO: OLIVIER DOULIERY/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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President Trump seems to have won broad support for a major trade deal from Democrats and organized labor with USMCA. Neither President Clinton nor President Obama could make such a claim. On every other trade deal since the U.S. started negotiating bilateral and regional agreements in the mid-1980s, big labor has either been neutral, or, more frequently, vehemently opposed, reports Jacob M. Schlesinger.
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Nafta has been reviled by important voting blocs, especially in the industrial Midwest. Mr. Trump tapped into that anxiety.
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The original Nafta helped usher in a new era of globalization and U.S. unions were wary. Much of the final haggling for the new deal was over adding labor protections stronger than those in previous agreements.
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The Trump administration is scheduled to apply tariffs on $156 billion in Chinese imports of mostly consumer goods starting Sunday. Anthony DeBarros and Maureen Linke take a look at the products affected.
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President Trump’s threatened new tariffs on Christmas decorations from China won’t take effect until next year—but that’s no comfort to Mac Harman, who has to do his 2020 holiday shopping now, reports Alex Leary.
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A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from using billions of dollars in military funding to pay for a border wall, the second such decision in two days, report Alicia Caldwell and Brent Kendall. The judge said the administration’s plans violated the constitutional design that gave Congress the power to appropriate money for government spending.
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Three years into the administration, almost no border wall has been built in Texas as property owners resist federal efforts to claim their land.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made about 143,000 arrests in the 2019 fiscal year, a 10% decline from the previous year.
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The House has passed a bill providing a path to citizenship for the more than one million farmworkers estimated to be in the U.S. illegally. It's unlikely to be taken up in the Senate.
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The political fallout over the FBI’s actions during the 2016 presidential campaign continued on Wednesday. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog, Michael Horowitz, revealed new details about an unusual disagreement among top department officials over the propriety of the FBI’s Russia investigation, report Sadie Gurman and Byron Tau.
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The House approved a bill that includes paid parental leave for federal workers, the creation of the U.S. Space Force and new sanctions related to Russia’s energy ambitions, Lindsay Wise reports.
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Among other provisions, the bill authorizes 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all 2.1 million civilian federal workers.
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Under the bill, U.S. lawmakers aim to halt the $10.5 billion pipeline project Nord Stream 2, constructed to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, report Brett Forrest and Bojan Pancevski.
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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced bipartisan legislation that would punish Turkey for its purchase of a Russian anti-aircraft missile system and alleged crimes against Syrian Kurds, a measure that drew the ire of Turkish officials, Courtney McBride reports.
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Some Democrats Remain in Wait-and-See Mode Over Impeachment
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Moderate House Democrats are in no rush to say how they plan to vote on the articles of impeachment when they come to the floor next week.
Only two Democrats voted against the House’s decision to authorize the impeachment inquiry. But several Democrats from competitive districts maintain that they are still mulling whether they will actually vote to impeach the president.
The House Judiciary Committee is moving forward with marking up two articles of impeachment on Thursday, with one charging that President Trump abused his power and the other focused on the obstruction of Congress. Before the committee formally adopts those articles, though, some vulnerable Democrats say they are still waiting to see the final product.
“The committee hasn’t discharged the articles, and as soon as they’re formally adopted, I’ll make a decision,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.). “I’ve said all along I need to see all the facts, I’m not going to prejudge anything until we get every bit of information in.”
While it’s unlikely that there will be any new information about the months-old impeachment probe, Democrats may have another reason to take their time.
For lawmakers in districts where Mr. Trump retains popularity, a demonstrated hesitance to cast a vote to impeach the president may help convince voters that they did so because of the substance of the investigation—and not just party politics. And some Democrats may indeed vote against impeaching Mr. Trump.
Republicans have been attacking Democrats in competitive districts as harsh partisans maniacal in their quest to take down Mr. Trump, while those Democrats have sought to establish themselves as pragmatic bipartisans.
“When I was campaigning I really campaigned on the notion of ‘Hey, we might not always agree on every single issue, but my line, my door will always be open to you,'" said Rep. Haley Stevens (D., Mich.), who represents a district Mr. Trump won in 2016. “It’s this listening and review period right now and treating this with the sensitivity that it deserves.”
Write to Andrew Duehren at andrew.duehren@wsj.com
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PHOTO: MADDIE MCGARVEY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Plans for a Democratic presidential debate in January have been complicated by the expected Senate impeachment trial, Ken Thomas reports. The Democratic National Committee is struggling to settle on a date, a decision also complicated by the NFL playoffs.
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Senate presidential hopefuls like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have surrogates on hand to dispatch to Iowa if they have to serve as jurors ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses.
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"Stop-and-frisk" continues to pop up in Michael Bloomberg’s meetings with black leaders. Because of the former New York City mayor's unconventional plan to skip the first four state nominating contests, he'll have to make a convincing pitch to minority voters in states that head to the polls starting on March 3, Tarini Parti reports.
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Before his campaign launch, Mr. Bloomberg apologized at a black church for the controversial policing practice which a federal judge ruled in 2013 violated the constitutional rights of minorities.
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Amy Klobuchar calls for a return to international agreements. (Full story)
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Joe Biden is pledging to undo much of President Trump’s immigration policy in a new plan. (Full story)
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Judge upholds South Carolina Republican Party’s decision not to hold a 2020 presidential primary. (Full story)
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Who's running for president (Graphic)
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Former Attorney General Eric Holder writes that current Attorney General William Barr is doing "lasting damage" with his conduct in office. (Washington Post)
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Presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner writes that President Trump is acting to "crush" the evil of anti-Semitism. (New York Times)
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Neither voters' first nor second choices are fixed in a very fluid Iowa Democratic presidential race. (FiveThirtyEight)
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This newsletter is a production of the WSJ Washington bureau. Our newsletter editors are Tim Hanrahan, Kate Milani, Troy McCullough and Daniel Nasaw. Send feedback to capitaljournal@wsj.com. You can follow politics coverage on our Politics page and at @wsjpolitics on Twitter.
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