Readers: Questions about the political and international scene? Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Seib would be happy to answer them in an upcoming Daybreak video. Send your questions to editor Kate Milani at kate.milani@wsj.com. We look forward to hearing from you.  HOUSE PASSES BILL TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: The House on Friday passed a bill keeping the federal government running for five days after its current funding expires at midnight. The Senate has already approved the measure keeping the government running through Wednesday and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it. Congressional leaders had hoped to pass a $1.15 trillion bill funding the full fiscal year 2016 by Friday, but have been bogged down for weeks over which policy measures, known as “riders,” will be included in the bill.  Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, have insisted the bill include conservative policy provisions. They are pushing to lift a 40-year-old ban on oil exports, roll back some of the Obama administration’s environmental and financial regulations, and halt the admission of refugees from Syria and Iraq while the administration overhauls the refugee-vetting process. But Democrats, whose votes will be needed to pass the bill in both chambers, have said they would only support legislation stripped of any objectionable GOP policy measures. Congress may need to pass another short-term patch to prevent the government’s funding from lapsing. Kristina Peterson reports.  A-HED: SOCIALISM NETWORK FINDS NEW FRIENDS  Sen. Bernie Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist, and when voters scan the Web to see what that means, the trail often leads to a band of about 6,500 leftists pining for relevance in a country that has long deemed “socialism” a dirty word. Since he entered the race in May, the Democratic Socialists of America have seen monthly new members spiking two and three times the levels of a year before. Nearly 10,000 people visited the group’s website the day of the Democratic debate in Las Vegas in October—more than six times the usual number. A vice chairman of the group says “this is a gift from the socialist gods.” Read Peter Nicholas’s full story.  RELATED: Bernie Sanders Isn’t a Classic Socialist, but Socialists Say That’s OK  WSJ STORIES YOU SHOULDN’T MISS  TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP STILL IN DOUBT: The House passed a key component of President Barack Obama‘s trade policy Friday, but tepid support among Republicans and business groups for his big Pacific trade agreement could keep that deal from coming to a vote until the final weeks of his presidency, if then. Republicans and powerful pro-trade business groups say they need more time to evaluate the agreement, a 12-nation compromise that includes North American partners along with Japan, Australia, Vietnam and others around the Pacific. William Mauldin reports.  SCALED-BACK BANK SAFETY RULE SETS UP CLASH WITH SEN. WARREN: U.S. regulators are set to hand large banks a significant victory next week, following the industry’s request to water down a rule requiring firms to set aside cash as a cushion against the risk of certain trades going bad. The measure the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is expected to finalize Wednesday bucks warnings from Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading advocate of more stringent financial regulation. Andrew Ackerman reports.  PARIS CLIMATE TALKS EDGE TOWARD DEAL BUT DISCREPANCIES REMAIN: A group of climate scientists said Friday that the latest draft for an international deal to tackle global warming showed serious inconsistencies and would require much deeper cuts to emissions than currently foreseen, as negotiators continued to haggle over a final deal. Talks between 195 nations here entered their 12th day and were set to go into overtime, with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying he now expects a final deal to be approved on Saturday. Gabriele Steinhauser and Matthew Dalton report.  Energy companies would have to report their payments to governments for developing oil and gas fields under rules the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Friday, two years after a federal judged tossed an earlier version of the measure.  American consumers increased their spending in November, offering some hope to retailers ahead of the holiday season. Sales at retailers and restaurants rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in November from October, the largest increase since July, the Commerce Department said. U.S. consumer confidence improved for the third straight month in December: The University of Michigan preliminary December sentiment index rose to 91.8 from a final November reading of 91.3.  Election 2016: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign bet on New Hampshire is started to yield dividends, with his support for the Republican presidential nomination rising to 12% from 2% in September, according to the WBUR survey of likely Republican primary voters. He is competing for second place with Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz … Donald Trump’s Trump Tower website was knocked offline temporarily on Friday, with Internet activists claiming they targeted the site over the GOP presidential candidate’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. … Campaign photos of the week.  Islamic State claimed responsibility Friday for triple suicide bombings that killed at least 60 people in a Syrian town controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish militiamen who have been battling the extremist group.  Taliban militants attacked a Spanish embassy compound in the Afghan capital Friday, the latest armed assault by the group following government efforts to revive peace talks and end the long-running insurgency.  Lawyers for police Officer William Porter wrapped up their defense in his manslaughter trial in connection with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, a case that has fueled a national debate on policing and race. Closing arguments in Mr. Porter’s trial are expected by early next week.  OTHER TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK  FED PLANS TO SIGNAL GRADUAL, CAUTIOUS PATH ON RATE HIKES: For Federal Reserve officials, deciding to raise short-term interest rates will be the easy part of their meeting next week. The harder part may be agreeing on how to signal the likely path of rate increases in 2016 and beyond. Jon Hilsenrath reported.  THE SAN BERNARDINO INVESTIGATION: President Barack Obama outlined on Sunday intensified efforts to combat “a new phase” of terrorist threats in the U.S., and called on Congress to pass provisions he believes would help protect the nation … Senior lawmakers introduced a bill to require social-media companies to report online terrorist activity ... A number of lawmakers on Thursday signaled Congress would consider either curbing encrypted communications or allowing law enforcement to gain new access to records, a sharp reversal from a multi-year shift towards more privacy … The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday it had uncovered evidence that both of the suspects in last week’s terror attack, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, had been radicalized—and that they planned the shooting that killed 14 and injured 22 … Federal investigators are probing whether one of the shooters had planned a previous attack in 2012 with a friend, then abandoned the plot when unrelated counterterrorism arrests were made in the area … The rifles used in the attack were illegal under California law because they were modified and violated the state’s ban on assault weapons … On Thursday, the FBI sent divers to search a lake for a computer hard drive missing from the home of the suspects.  U.S., IRAN DISCUSS PLAN TO SPEED SANCTIONS RELIEF: The U.S. is helping Iran with an arrangement to send part of its nuclear fuel stockpile to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, a step that would ease swift sanctions relief for Tehran. However, U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday that Iran last month conducted its second ballistic missile launch since it reached a nuclear agreement with six world powers in July, an apparent violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Laurence Norman and Jay Solomon reported.  DONALD TRUMP CALLS FOR BAN ON MUSLIM ENTRY INTO U.S.: GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump evoked outrage from across the political spectrum Monday by calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S., a proposal that taps into voter anxiety about the recent spate of terrorist attacks yet likely runs afoul of religious freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. Reid J. Epstein and Peter Nicholas reported.  ELECTION 2016 WEEKLY WRAP-UP: Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. is opposed by a solid majority of Americans, while almost four in 10 Republican primary voters support the idea, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds … The poll finds age and gender gaps in voters’ views of Mr. Trump and his controversial positions on Muslims … The proposal revived a testy split between Republican congressional and state leaders and the billionaire’s grass-roots supporters … Joe Lhota, a 2013 GOP mayoral candidate in New York City, is calling on the Manhattan Republican Party to kick Mr. Trump out … There’s little evidence that Mr. Trump is hurting the Republican Party … Sen. Ted Cruz, who is rising to the top tier of the Republican presidential primary field in Iowa, is plotting a protracted nomination fight through Southern states that are playing bigger roles than in prior elections … Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is proposing a raft of policy ideas for Congress to consider if she is elected president, and already promising to go around lawmakers if they won’t work with her.  MUSLIM AMERICANS SEARCH FOR A POLITICAL VOICE: Muslim Americans are enduring some of the sharpest attacks on their faith in recent memory, and they find themselves without a strong political voice to counter them. Byron Tau and Louise Radnofsky reported.  55%: The percentage of adults who have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence the U.S. government can protect citizens from future acts of terrorism, down 12 points from June, according to a Gallup poll.  FEEDBACK: This is the Friday afternoon newsletter from The Wall Street Journal’s Washington bureau. Send your tips, feedback and suggestions for recommended reading to editor Kate Milani at kate.milani@wsj.com.  SIGN UP: Capital Journal Daybreak, straight to your inbox http://on.wsj.com/CapitalJournalSignup  ______________________________________________________ 2016 Election Calendar | WSJ/NBC Polls | 2016 Poll Standings Politics Alerts: Get email alerts on breaking news and big scoops. Capital Journal Daybreak Newsletter: Sign up to get the latest on politics, policy and defense delivered to your inbox every morning. For the latest Washington news, follow @wsjpolitics For outside analysis, follow @wsjthinktank
Congress passes short-term measure to avert a government shutdown, and more of the biggest news stories and exclusive features from Washington on politics, policy, financial regulation and defense.