1/ Biden acknowledged that the Build Back Better bill will not clear Congress this year despite efforts and pledges by Democrats to pass the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate bill before Christmas. “It takes time to finalize these agreements, prepare the legislative changes, and finish all the parliamentary and procedural steps needed to enable a Senate vote,” Biden said after it became clear that his team, so far, has failed to secure Joe Manchin’s vote. Pushing back the Build Back Better bill until next year means that the Dec. 15 child tax credit payments, which have been sent to families for the past six months but expired Wednesday, will be the last ones until the program is renewed. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has “talked to Treasury officials and others about doing double-payments in February as an option,” if the Build Back Better Act passes in January. (Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / Business Insider / Bloomberg)

2/ The Senate parliamentarian rejected the Democrats plan to include immigration reform in the social spending bill for the third time. Elizabeth MacDonough said provisions to extend work permits and provide temporary deportation protections for some immigrants who have been in the U.S. since before 2011 don’t comply with Senate rules associated with the reconciliation process. A so-called reconciliation bill can’t have provisions that are driven more by policy changes than by changes in the federal budget. Democrats had argued that the work permits and other provisions would have a budgetary impact. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg)

3/ The Trump administration engaged in “deliberate efforts” to undermine the nation’s response to the coronavirus for political purposes, the House Select subcommittee on the coronavirus said in a report. The committee said the administration repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance by the nation’s top infectious disease experts, blocked officials from speaking publicly in order to promote Trump’s political agenda, and attempted to interfere with other public health guidance. The subcommittee also found that the Trump White House blocked the CDC from conducting public briefings for more than three months after a top CDC official in late-February 2020 “accurately warned the public about the risks posed by the coronavirus.” (NBC News / CNN)