About this episode
It’s about time. After months of haggling, the chamber is expected to pass the BIF today at 11 a.m., then move fairly quickly to consider Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated late Monday night that he thought both sides would agree to forgo the 50 allowable hours of debate. That would allow the chamber to start their vote-a-rama today and get out of town ASAP. But, it’s the Senate, y’all. And all it takes is one senator to slow things down. And, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel has picked up on a really juicy dynamic playing out in Democratic districts across the country: a war between Justice Democrats and Democratic Majority for Israel. Per Kassel, the faceoff between the two groups is “unusually personal” and “has animated several high-profile contests in recent cycles, particularly amid growing divisions between the hard left and moderates over Israel.” We saw this playing out last week in the election-night speeches of Shontel Brown, who benefited from contributions from pro-Israel groups and thanked “my Jewish brothers and sisters,” and Nina Turner, who complained about “evil money” from outside groups. The Democratic Majority for Israel super PAC spent nearly $1 million to boost Brown. Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook. Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.