Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., led a conference meeting on Wednesday in an effort to persuade fellow Republicans to home in on fiscal conservatism and delay a major spending bill until the next Congress is sworn in — when Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives.

The huddle comes as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he backs the framework of the omnibus appropriations deal Wednesday to fund the government through most of 2023, the first step in a scramble to prevent a government shutdown. Appropriators have yet to disclose the terms of the agreement, but it is expected to set defense spending at $858 billion. Read Full Story

• The Hill: 7 Scenarios for McCarthy’s Speakership Vote — Ranked Least to Most Likely
• Townhall: Tillis Amnesty Deal Is Dead
• PJ Media: Judicial Watch Releases Damning New Information on Moderna Vaccine
• The Federalist: End of Title 42 Caps Worst Year for Illegal Immigration in US History
• The Washington Times: Senate Passes Bill Banning TikTok From Government Devices

House Republicans have asked the Department of Homeland Security to explain how it will protect thousands of domestic flights this holiday travel season after pulling nearly all air marshals down to the southern border.

Seven GOP lawmakers sent Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a letter on Monday requesting that the department turn over information about the Transportation Security Administration’s decision to require Federal Air Marshal Service officers to help Border Patrol agents amid the crisis.

“We are profoundly concerned that the Department of Homeland Security is redirecting these Air Marshals away from their critical law enforcement functions in our nation’s skies, creating a massive risk to public safety,” wrote the seven members of Congress, led by Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio. “As we enter one of the busiest travel times of the year, it is imperative that we have every Federal Air Marshal tending to their actual job rather than assisting in a problem your administration created and continues to ignore.” Read Full Story

• PJ Media: People of the Lie
• The Federalist: ABC, CBS, Other Corporate Media Black Out Coverage of ‘Twitter Files’ Story
• American Greatness: McCarthy Promises to Subpoena 51 Ex-Intel Officials Who Discredited Hunter Biden Laptop Story
• Just the News: Concerns Mount Over Media, Government Quashing Election Integrity Efforts Through Intimidation
• The Washington Times: Lawmakers to Probe Intel Agencies Targeting Americans, COVID Origin

House Republicans are beginning to lay the groundwork for their first investigations into the Biden administration, starting with a review of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year. 

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, sent letters to a number of government agencies requesting documentation and other materials related to the troop withdrawal, accusing the Biden administration of committing obstruction.

“It has been over a year since the Biden Administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal and the American people have not received any answers about this national security and humanitarian catastrophe. U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives, thousands of Americans were abandoned, billions of taxpayer dollars are still unaccounted for, military equipment fell into the hands of the Taliban, progress for Afghan women has stalled, and the entire region is under hostile Taliban control. Under a Republican majority, the Biden Administration’s obstruction of this investigation will be met with the power of the gavel,” Comer said in a statement. Read Full Story

• PJ Media: Kari Lake Promises to Take Lawsuit ‘All the Way to the Supreme Court’
• The Federalist: Thom Tillis’ Amnesty Plan Act of Betrayal by Senate GOP?
• American Greatness: What House Needs to Do to Check China Threat
• American Thinker: Make GOP Brave Again
• The Hill: Frustration Swirls in House GOP Over McCarthy Speakership Opposition