The Hill’s 12:30 Report

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The Hill’s 12:30 Report: NBA gets involved with gun violence debate | What Cruz said behind closed doors about gay marriage | The next GOP debate could have fewer candidates

A RYAN, REID ALLIANCE NEXT YEAR? Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told his GOP colleagues at a closed-door meeting that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) “promised” to return to regular order on appropriations. The room erupted with laughter. 

— “I personally don’t trust Harry Reid as far as I could throw him,” quipped Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), chairman of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. LOL. The Hill’s Scott Wong explains what Ryan and Reid both have at stake and what the chances are of them working together. http://bit.ly/1OiWuq8

Happy Festivus (Wednesday!) and the day before Christmas Eve. I’m Cate Martel with a brief recap of what you missed and what’s going on for the rest of the day. Send tips, comments, story ideas and Christmas e-cards (I’m a big fan of e-cards these days) to cmartel@digital-staging.thehill.com and @CateMartel. 

Programming note: The 12:30 Report will go offline after today until the New Year. If anyone really needs to know the national food day or anything, email me and I may be able to work something out 😉 Have a safe holiday! 

{mosads}WHAT CRUZ SAID BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Via Politico’s Mike Allen, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) promised last summer to make opposition to gay marriage a top priority. But behind closed doors in December, Cruz told big donors it wouldn’t be a priority. Here’s the transcript: http://politi.co/1O9nNHT

NEW THIS MORNING — NBA TAKES ON GUNS: Via The New York Times’ Zach Schonbrun and Michael Barbaro, Stepping directly into the polarizing gun control debate, The National Basketball Association has partnered with Michael Bloomberg‘s Everytown for Gun Safety organization to campaign against guns. http://nyti.ms/1PkZ1W5

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER NEW HIGH FOR TRUMP: GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is now up to a 21-point lead over his closest competitor, at 39 percent support nationally. Cruz is laps behind at 18 percent, followed by Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), both at 10 percent. http://bit.ly/1QHxMGS

NEXT GOP DEBATE COULD BE MUCH DIFFERENT: Via The Hill’s Ben Kamisar, Fox Business released the criteria for the next debate and as few as six candidates could make the main debate stage in January. The network hasn’t released which polls would be used, but based on RealClearPolitics averages, it would currently include Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Notably not on that list? Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. http://bit.ly/1QX45Qa

THE SPARKLY PINK TAX: The Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette has a fascinating write-up of a study comparing the prices of 800 men’s products versus their female counterparts (such as razors) and found a major female surcharge. Example: A scooter comes in red for boys and pink for girls — the red one is $24.99, the identical pink scooter is $49.99. http://wapo.st/1U4IMeQ

HEADLINES THAT MAKE ME QUESTION MY PROFESSION: Following Trump’s remarks over Hillary Clinton going to the bathroom during the debate break as “disgusting,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) stood up for Clinton. From The Huffington Post, here is the follow-up, “Bernie Sanders Wants Donald Trump To Know He Also Went To The Bathroom.” God help us all. http://huff.to/1JuVsq1

SOCIAL CATCH-UP:

The Wall Street Journal’s Beth Reinhard
“You’re a good man” said Jeb Bush to @EliStokols as he ate a chicken finger off his plate at the Northland Restaurant & Dairy Bar in NH

Politico’s Eli Stokols retweeted, adding: “He probably didn’t realize who you were,” [Jeb Bush’s communications director] Tim Miller told me right after this. http://bit.ly/1J4hgOc

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) 
Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me–Caroline & Catherine are out of your league. http://bit.ly/1OL1Cnz

Politico’s Burgess Everett
Per C-SPAN, Rubio spoke on the Senate floor eight times this entire year http://bit.ly/1Zp6B4E

The Los Angeles Times’ Sarah D. Wire (the video is beautiful!)
California Rep. @gracenapolitano brings Christmas cheer to the halls of Congress http://bit.ly/1U4sO4G

The Hill’s Sarah Ferris
“My coffee,” a dude next to me on the train says, as he sits down with a Heineken. (Timestamp 9:14 am) http://bit.ly/1U4EO66

DATES TO KNOW: 

President Obama joins Jerry Seinfeld for an episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” on Dec. 30 at 11:30 p.m. EST. Watch here: http://bit.ly/1MtDELI 

The House is back from the holiday break on Jan. 5. 

The next jobs report comes out on Jan. 8.

The Senate is back from the holiday break on Jan. 11.

President Obama’s final State of the Union address is on Jan. 12.

The next Republican presidential debate is Jan. 14 in North Charleston, S.C. 

The next Democratic presidential debate is Jan. 17 in Charleston, S.C. Note, this is the final Democratic debate before the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

Tax season officially starts on Jan. 19.

The final Republican presidential debate before the Iowa Caucuses is Jan. 28 — in Iowa (!)

The Iowa Caucuses are on Feb. 1.

The final Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary is Feb. 6 — in Manchester, N.H. (!)

The New Hampshire presidential primary is Feb. 9.

Now for the fun stuff…

Today is National Bake Day! Tomorrow is National Eggnog Day. 

IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT STUFFING AND MASHED POTATOES, YOU GUYS: The U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway created a video of Americans trying traditional Norwegian food for Christmas. Some of the dishes were intriguing. http://on.fb.me/1NK8i5B

DOES YOUR NFL TEAM STAND A CHANCE? There are 4 billion ways the NFL season could end — and The New York Times has a cool interactive chart of your team’s chances of making it to the playoffs. http://nyti.ms/1PkvifL Go Pats!  🙂 

And with that, here’s something to smile about before the holidays: A list of some of the best acts of kindness in 2015.  http://bzfd.it/1V7hTbj 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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