DOJ releases first batch of, but not all, Epstein files; Pres. Trump signs deals with more drug companies to cut prices; Sec Rubio holds year-end news conference

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: A discussion with Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York on his confrontation with Republican leadership for not acting on expiring ACA subsidies. Then: a conversation with John Della Volpe – polling director at the Harvard Institute of Politics. We'll talk about the Institute's latest youth poll – showing growing pessimism among young Americans about the direction of the country. Finally: we'll talk about President Trump's executive order blocking artificial intelligence regulations at the state level with Neil Chilson – former Chief technologist for the FTC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justice Department released the first batch of files on the late sex offender and accused trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche say not all of the files will be released by today's deadline as required under law; President Donald Trump announces deals with nine pharmaceutical company to lower drug prices; President travels to North Carolina for a speech on affordability and to support Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley; Federal court hearing in the last surviving case against President Trump over his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol; Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds an end-of-the-year news conference, getting questions on the U.S. policy towards Venezuela, moving to Phase 2 of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House and Democratic lawmakers weigh in on President Donald Trump's Wednesday night primetime TV year-end address, during which the president highlighted what he sees as his achievements after almost a year in office; Democrats make a last-ditch effort to get a vote to extend expiring Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidies; Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announces new rules that aim to prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender youth; President Trump signs an Executive Order to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, to ease restrictions and allow for more research. We will talk about it with Axios reporter Herb Scribner (30); White House says the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been renamed by the board of trustees the Trump-Kennedy Center, but there are questions about whether it would take an act of Congress; House votes to require the gray wolf be removed from the Endangered Species Act list; Pope Leo XIV names a new Catholic Archbishop of New York, who is from Chicago, like the pope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four House Republicans sign a discharge petition introduced by Democrats to force a vote an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits in defiance of the wishes of Republican Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA); House votes on a bill to criminalize providing gender-affirming care to minors; House votes on bill to prohibit the President Donald Trump from striking alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and carrying out military strikes against Venezuela without Congressional authorization under the War Powers Act; Senate passes the $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act, sending to the president to be signed into law; Senate also passes a bill to provision to reverse a provision in the NDAA concerning safe operation of military helicopters around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; President Donald Trump delivers an address to the nation tonight from the White House; former special counsel Jack Smith testifies in closed session before the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating his investigations of alleged criminal conduct of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says there will not be a vote on an amendment to extend expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies as part of a House Republican health care bill this week, and some moderate Republicans are not happy about it; Labor Department releases a jobs report that was delayed due to the federal government shutdown that shows 105,000 jobs lost in October, then in November, 64,000 jobs gained and the unemployment rate rising to 4.6 percent; Vice President JD Vance talks about the economy at a factory near Allentown, Pennsylvania; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells Senators & House Members in closed briefings the Pentagon will not release the full video of the second strike against an alleged illegal drug carrying boat in the Caribbean in September that reportedly killed survivors of the first strike, due to its classified and top-secret nature. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took part in the briefing; FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford says to the House Aviation Subcommittee the FAA was not consulted before a provision was included in the House-passed defense authorization bill about military helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that some Members and the NTSB Chair say will decrease safety; White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in an interview with Vanity Fair, says President Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality" and Vice President JD Vance is a “conspiracy theorist"; a statue of a civil rights leader Barbara Rose Johns replaces a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in representing Virginia in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall collection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is back to work today, and health care remains the top issue. The House is expected to vote this week on an extension of the expiring health care tax credits along with Republicans’ alternative proposal… Over in the Senate, debate continues on the annual Defense policy bill… And reaction continues to the two mass shootings that happened over the weekend on opposite sides of the world….Authorities continue to work to find the suspect who opened fire at Brown University…killing at least two students and injuring nine others… Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened his government to come up with ways to tighten gun ownership rules…following an attack in Sydney's Bond-eye Beach that killed at least 15 people and injured at least 40 others at a Hanukkah celebration…Prime Minister Albanese called the attack an act of antisemitic terrorism…. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First: A conversation with National Farmers Union's Mike Stranz – about the state of the U.S. agriculture industry, including the impact of the Trump tariffs and the recently announced aid package to farmers. Then: Career Education Colleges and Universities President & CEO Jason Altmire discusses a new poll that examines Americans' declining attitudes on the value of a four-year college degree, and educational alternatives to it. And finally: Author, law professor, and ABC News legal contributor Kim Wehle discusses the use of executive power by the Trump Administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kilmar Abrego Garcia checks in at an Immigration & Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, under protection from a judge's order not to be rearrested. He says he believes the injustice done to him by the Trump Administration will come to an end; House Republican leadership says a vote to extend Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies may happen next week. The tax credits are set to expire at the end of the month, raising costs for 20 million Americans; State legislators are pushing back against President Donald Trump's Executive Order limiting state regulation of artificial intelligence; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth travels to Huntsville, Alabama, known as Rocket City, to visit defense contractors & U.S. Space Command; Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism are handed out at the National Press Club in Washington. We will hear two winners, CBS 60 Minutes' Correspondent Scott Pelley and Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, which won in a new 'comedic commentary' category; Today is the 25th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore to prevent a new presidential election vote recount in Florida, giving Republican George W. Bush the victory over Democrat Al Gore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate fails to advance both Democratic and Republican health care bills the sponsors say would address expected increase in costs for millions of Americans Affordable Care Act insurance at the end of the month when enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire; House passes a bill to reverse President Donald Trump's Executive Order limiting the collective bargaining rights of around one million federal workers in national security departments & agencies; Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cancels a meeting to unveil major changes to how the agency responds to natural disasters. We will talk about it with The Hill's Energy and Environment Reporter Frazin (19); Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee and most of the questions from Members are on the Trump Administration immigration enforcement campaign; Indiana Senate, controlled by Republicans, votes down a Congressional redistricting map drawn by Republicans to get two more U.S. House seats for their party, despite Pres. Trump demands that it pass; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is asked about the Venezuelan oil tanker seized by the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal Reserve cuts interest rates a quarter of a percentage point. We will hear from the Chair and President Donald Trump and speak with The Hill's Business Editor Sylvan Lane (4); Speaker Mike Johnson presents a range of health care reform bills to House Republicans that could be voted on soon, but not among them is the Democrat's priority of extending expiring Affordable Care Act insurance premium enhanced subsidies; House passes the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA); Supreme Court hears arguments about how states should determine what makes a criminal defendant intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty. We will talk about it with Ian Millhiser, Vox Media Supreme Court reporter (30); Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a Congressional Hanukah Menorah lighting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices