It’s Thursday. It’s the winter solstice, AKA the longest night and shortest day of the year. Here’s what’s coming up:

• Lawmakers are done for the year, but they’ve left a long to-do list for 2024.
• The latest fallout from the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to keep former President Trump off the GOP primary ballot.
• Going places? So is everyone else. TSA is predicting an exceptionally busy day at airports today.

I’m Elizabeth Crisp, filling in for Cate, with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here. Send me your tips: ecrisp@digital-staging.thehill.com and follow me on X, formerly Twitter, @elizabethcrisp. 

Congress has wrapped up for the year, and the Capitol halls are quiet, but lawmakers have a lot left on their plates for the January return.

“You can go buy your Christmas gifts now.” That was the message Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) told reporters as negotiations fizzled this week over efforts to hash out a deal that would provide additional aid to Ukraine and increase border security measures.

The lead brokers are expected to continue their talks virtually over the break, but it’s just one item that lawmakers have left over as they headed out for the holidays. But it’s not the only priority item Congress must navigate after the holiday break.

A hectic year for Congress: With a shocking House leadership shake-up and GOP in-fighting in the chamber, Congress has narrowly avoided government shutdowns by stitching together temporary spending plans that are set to unravel in the coming months without extended spending plans.

A temporary spending plan approved in November provided funding for agencies on a two-tier plan with one deadline coming on Jan. 19 and another on Feb. 2.

Sidenote: Lawmakers did manage to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act before skipping town.

The House GOP has indicated that bribery allegations will take center stage as it pursues an impeachment probe of President Biden, but so far it has remained the Republicans’ most disputed claim. 

It’s one of the few crimes spelled out as an impeachable offense in the Constitution and was a key part of the justification for formally launching the impeachment inquiry this month.

“The impeachable offense is…is in Burisma,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) recently told reporters, referring to the Ukrainian energy company that previously employed Hunter Biden as a consultant.

The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch has dissected the heart of the impeachment inquiry and explored what’s at stake.

The Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision earlier this week to exclude former President Trump, the clear frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, from the state’s Republican primary on 14th Amendment grounds has sent shockwaves across the political spectrum.

While it ultimately will be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to figure out the situation, here are some stories in the wake of the decision so far:

•  The Hill’s Julia Mueller and Jared Gans report on the “political conundrum for primary rival Nikki Haley, who has seen a burst of momentum in recent weeks.”
  
  
• Democrats and Republicans alike are treading lightly when it comes to the ruling and its implications. The Hill’s Hanna Trudo reports that the outcome “has the potential to normalize states’ ability to stifle candidates for possible partisan reasons, some say, raising questions about overreach and voter choice.”
  
  
• Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), GOP Whip John Thune (S.D.) and other Republican skeptics of Trump in the Senate are not jumping in to defend the former president, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.

• More than half of voters surveyed in a new YouGov online poll agree that Trump should not be on Colorado’s GOP primary ballot in March.
  
  
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has accused GOP presidential primary rival Vivek Ramaswamy of “just playing into the left” when he says he would pull out of Colorado if Trump is excluded.
  
  
• Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former constitutional law professor, believes the Supreme Court will side with Trump on the Colorado ballot issue.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is rolling out not-so-festive holiday ads declaring “Bidenomics ruined Christmas” — taking aim at the White House and more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers.

The ads started running today in the lawmakers’ hometowns, an NRCC spokesperson confirmed to The Hill. The goal is to tie vulnerable House members to the Biden administration’s economic agenda, which has been dubbed “Bidenomics.”

• Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola (Alaska)
• Rep. Jahana Hayes (Conn.)
• Rep. Angie Craig (Minn.)
• Rep. Pat Ryan (N.Y.)
• Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.)
• Rep. Jared Golden (Maine)
• Rep. Matt Cartwright (Penn.)
• Rep. Yadira Caraveo (Colo.)
• Rep. Gabe Vasquez (N.M.).
   

More details here.

It’s the busiest time of the year, especially at airports.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) predicts more than 2.5 million passengers will pass through airports each day Dec. 21, Dec. 29 and New Year’s Day.

Be prepared for more passengers and busier airport security checkpoints than last year.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters this week that he is feeling optimistic. A year ago today a meltdown at Southwest Airlines left millions of passengers stranded.

“I don’t want to jinx us, but so far 2023 has seen the lowest cancellation rate in the last five years,” Buttigieg said. (The Hill)

The House and Senate are out for the rest of the year. They will be back Jan. 9. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C.  (all times Eastern)

• 10 a.m.: President Biden received the Presidential Daily Briefing.
• 11 a.m.: Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated in a Defense Cooperation Agreement signing ceremony with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen at the Department of State. (Watch here)
• 1 p.m.: Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and White House national security spokesperson John Kirby will brief reporters. (Watch here)

🍤  Today is National Fried Shrimp Day! I prefer them on a po-boy, so here’s Emeril’s recipe if you are feeling adventurous. I will say I have had a decent shrimp po-boy or two around here…

👑 Royalty watch: Mariah Carey, the undisputed Queen of Christmas, visited the White House with her twins, Monroe and Moroccan, this week. See the cute snaps here, feat. President Biden, Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

🎁  Just in time for the holidays: The New York Times consulted economists and people involved in making the 1990 iconic film “Home Alone” to find out something we’ve all been wondering … Just how wealthy were the McCallisters? Spoiler: The fictional Chicago family that forgot a child when heading out on a fancy holiday vacation was very well-off.

🏈  For the Swifties: Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce defended his iconic girlfriend Taylor Swift after some New England Patriots fans booed her during a game this week.

Check out this Twelve Days of Pupmas video! (And let’s be honest … you have time to make your own version if you have a doggo at home, so send it to me!)

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