Weekend in politics: Sandy aid vote, jobs report, and more

Phil Pruitt

The House will vote Friday on a $9 billion portion of the $60.4 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package passed earlier by the Senate.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner originally declined to bring the aid package to a vote Tuesday night and that sparked a backlash from Republican and Democratic politicians from New York and New Jersey. Boehner responded by quickly scheduling the Friday vote.

[Storm-ravaged Staten Islanders angry over stalled Sandy aid]

The monthly jobs report – Washington’s most-watched and most-talked-about economic statistic -- will be out Friday morning. Analysts expect the December report will show employers notched up hiring in December, but not enough to lower the jobless rate, Reuters reports.

What will the political reaction be? It’s an easy prediction that the White House will say the report shows the economy is on the right track but there’s more work to be done. Republicans, meanwhile, are likely to say the report shows that the economy is on the wrong track.

[Job growth cools slightly, recovery grinds on]

Also worth noting:

  • There will be a joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes for the Nov. 6 election and confirm President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the victors over the Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan.

  • There will be a White House “Office Hours” Twitter session held with Yahoo! Finance and National Economic Council Deputy Director Brian Deese. The topic in the 11:30 a.m. EST session will be the tax-cut extension in the “fiscal cliff” deal passed earlier this week.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is scheduled to be in court Friday in Alexandria, Va., after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Dec. 23. He reportedly is not going to contest the DWI charge.

And then there is this: The first family is scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday after spending the holidays in Obama’s birth state of Hawaii. Obama interrupted his vacation and returned to the White House Dec. 27 to deal with “fiscal cliff” negotiations. He then flew back Jan. 1 after the House passed the measure.

Sources: Yahoo! News’ The Ticket, Yahoo! News reporter Liz Goodwin, Associated Press, Reuters.