Happy Wednesday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com, njagoda@thehill.com and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.

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THE BIG DEAL—12 million to lose federal unemployment benefits after Christmas: Twelve million people would lose federal benefits the day after Christmas if Congress does not pass extensions for key unemployment programs, according to a study by The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank.

“Absent congressional action to extend CARES Act benefits, December 26 will mark the end of one of the last lifelines available to millions of Americans in desperate need,” said Andrew Stettner, who co-authored the study with Elizabeth Pancotti. “It will be a crippling end to one of our darkest years.”

Congress passed a slew of expanded benefits programs in the CARES Act, March’s emergency COVID-19 relief bill. 

• One program, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, expanded eligibility to the self-employed and gig economy workers, a group that normally is not eligible for unemployment benefits. The program will have 7.3 million people on it when it expires the last week of December, with 945,000 people losing the support earlier.
• Another program, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, provided an extension of benefits after the 26 weeks most states offer ran out. If that program expires at year’s end, 4.6 million workers would lose benefits. Another 3.5 million will have already used up the benefits before that point.

The Hill’s Niv Elis breaks it down here.

No progress in sight: The prospects of Congress moving to extend the programs remain murky. While both Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiOn The Money: 12 million to lose federal unemployment benefits after Christmas | Warren urges Biden to cancel student debt | Stocks close with losses as states, cities reimpose COVID-19 restrictions Trump’s cyber firing stirs outrage Overnight Health Care: US passes 250K COVID deaths | Pfizer says vaccine shows 95-percent efficacy | Coronavirus relief at a standstill MORE (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: 12 million to lose federal unemployment benefits after Christmas | Warren urges Biden to cancel student debt | Stocks close with losses as states, cities reimpose COVID-19 restrictions Hillicon Valley: Trump fires top federal cybersecurity official, GOP senators push back | Apple to pay 3 million to resolve fight over batteries | Los Angeles Police ban use of third-party facial recognition software Overnight Health Care: US passes 250K COVID deaths | Pfizer says vaccine shows 95-percent efficacy | Coronavirus relief at a standstill MORE (R-Ky.) have called for some level of relief, the two remain hundreds of billions of dollars apart on how large the bill should be. They have yet to schedule or sit down for any formal negotiations.

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LEADING THE DAY

Warren urges Biden to cancel student debt: ‘Single biggest stimulus we could add’ Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenOn The Money: 12 million to lose federal unemployment benefits after Christmas | Warren urges Biden to cancel student debt | Stocks close with losses as states, cities reimpose COVID-19 restrictions Warren urges Biden to cancel student debt: ‘Single biggest stimulus we could add’ Democrats vent to Schumer over Senate majority failure MORE (D-Mass.) on Tuesday urged President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenManufacturers association calls on GSA to begin transition process Biden vote tally getting close to 80 million AOC, progressive Dems attack corporate greed during health care discussion MORE to cancel student debt, calling it the “single biggest stimulus” for the ailing economy, a claim economists dispute.

Speaking at The New York Times’s Dealbook Summit, Warren said that student debt cancellation was part of Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala HarrisKamala HarrisOn The Money: 12 million to lose federal unemployment benefits after Christmas | Warren urges Biden to cancel student debt | Stocks close with losses as states, cities reimpose COVID-19 restrictions OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Barrasso to seek top spot on Energy and Natural Resources Committee | Forest Service finalizes rule weakening environmental review of its projects | Biden to enlist Agriculture, Transportation agencies in climate fight US is far from gender balance in politics despite record year for women candidates MORE’s election mandate.

“For me it is a mandate to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to do the things we can do, to cancel student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans, [the] single biggest stimulus we could add to the economy,” she said.

Niv Elis has more here.

Stocks close with losses as states, cities reimpose COVID-19 restrictions: The stock market closed with losses Wednesday after reversing from earlier gains, closing in the red for the second consecutive day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of 345 points, falling 1.2 percent after rising by more than 140 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 also closed with a loss of 1.2 percent, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.8 percent.

Stocks have whipsawed over the past two weeks as investors see encouraging progress toward two COVID-19 vaccines amid severely rising coronavirus cases. 

• More than 250,000 Americans have died from complications of COVID-19, and the U.S. has recorded more than 100,000 new cases every day since the Nov. 3 election. 
• And while vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer could be available to front-line workers and high-risk individuals as soon as next month, it could take until April for vaccines to be widely available to the general public.

I have more here.

GOOD TO KNOW

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon poured cold water on a column suggesting that he join President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet as Treasury secretary, saying he is content in his current role in the private sector.
• CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Wednesday that Congress and President TrumpDonald John TrumpManufacturers association calls on GSA to begin transition process Biden vote tally getting close to 80 million Brent Budowsky wins The Hill’s 2020 election prediction contest MORE “doomed so many companies” with their failure to pass a COVID-19 stimulus deal in the fall after months of negotiations. 
• Apple will pay $113 million to settle allegations from a coalition of nearly three dozen states that the company concealed battery issues with its iPhone products to prompt users to buy new devices, state officials announced Wednesday. 
• New York City hotel owners will have to pay more than $500 million to employees displaced by the coronavirus pandemic following a recent arbitration ruling, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

ODDS AND ENDS

• President-elect Joe Biden is eyeing the departments of Agriculture and Transportation as key partners for achieving his climate goals, exciting progressives by broadening efforts beyond traditional environmental agencies.
• Op-Ed: Former Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) argues why “The future of ‘fintech’ is at stake for Biden and the Senate”

The Los Angeles Police Department has reportedly banned the use of third-party commercial facial recognition software after controversial firm Clearview AI came under scrutiny this year amid reports it was working with law enforcement agencies across the country. 

The department, which is the third largest in the nation, issued a moratorium on the use of third-party facial recognition software on Nov. 13, BuzzFeed News reported Tuesday. 

“It has come to the Department’s attention that a limited number of personnel have accessed commercial facial recognition systems (such as Clearview or other services) for Department business,” Deputy Police Chief John McMahon wrote in a department-wide statement, according to Buzzfeed. 

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“Department personnel shall not use third-party commercial facial recognition services or conduct facial recognition searches on behalf of outside agencies,” McMahon added. 

The moratorium reportedly comes after inquiries from BuzzFeed News about the use of Clearview AI by Los Angeles police officers. BuzzFeed News obtained documents that showed more than 25 officers in the department performed nearly 475 searches using Clearview AI earlier this year. 

“Last week, when you brought to our attention that we had employees who used Clearview, we put out a notice directing employees that they can’t use third-party software,” Horace Frank, an assistant chief with Los Angeles police, told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday. “We are in the process of putting out a larger, formal policy as we speak.”

Officials with the department told BuzzFeed News the proposed new policy will still allow the use of facial recognition only through a Los Angeles County system that relies on suspect booking images. 

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department was not immediately available for comment to The Hill. 

Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That told The Hill in a statement the Los Angeles Police Department had a trial of the software “as have many other law enforcement agencies around the country.”

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“Clearview AI is being used by over 2,400 law enforcement agencies around the United States to help solve crimes such as murder, robbery, and crimes against children to keep our communities safe,” Ton-That said.

“Clearview AI is proud to be the leader in facial recognition technology, with new features like our intake form — whereby each search is annotated with a case number and a crime type to ensure responsible use, facial recognition training programs, and strong auditing features,” he added.

Clearview reportedly built its software by scraping social media platforms and allowing users to upload photos of strangers. 

In March, BuzzFeed reported that more than 2,200 law enforcement departments, governmental agencies and private companies across 27 countries have used Clearview. 

Earlier in the year, The New York Times reported that more than 600 law enforcement agencies started working with Clearview and the firm claimed to have a database of more than 3 billion photos. 

The company has come under scrutiny in wake of the reports, spurring questions from Democratic lawmakers.

“Any technology with the ability to collect and analyze individuals’ biometric information has alarming potential to impinge on the public’s civil liberties and privacy,” Sen. Ed MarkeyEd MarkeyUK moves up deadline to ban sales of new gasoline and diesel vehicles Democratic senators call Boeing 737 Max ungrounding a ‘premature leap of faith’ Katherine Clark secures No. 4 leadership spot for House Democrats MORE (D-Mass.) wrote in the letter to Ton-That in January.

Democrats again raised concerns about the use of the firm’s technology in light of government surveillance of anti-police brutality protests that erupted across the country this summer after the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed after an arresting officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

–Updated 11:43 a.m. 

Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE backers are bullish about their chances for victory on Tuesday after another surprise from the FBI — this time in the Democratic presidential nominee’s favor.

FBI Director James Comey’s Sunday letter to Congress said recently discovered emails had not changed his conclusion that Clinton should not face criminal charges for her use of a private email address and server while secretary of State.

The letter comes on top of promising early-vote data for Democrats, particularly in Nevada, where Hispanic voters appeared to be flocking to the polls. Clinton’s standing in opinion polls has also stabilized in the past couple of days. 

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“She’s got it,” one close friend of the Democratic nominee told The Hill in the immediate aftermath of Comey’s announcement, predicting that Clinton would win between 310 and 320 votes in the Electoral College. The number required to win the presidency is 270.

Others expressed their views in even more colorful ways. Reached by text by The Hill, one Clinton aide replied to a question about how he was feeling by sending a celebratory emoji.

The FBI letter delivered a jolt of momentum for Democrats after a difficult stretch since Oct. 28, when Comey shocked the political world with news his agents were looking at new emails.

Polls had already been tightening before Comey’s first surprise, raising worries among Democrats that a race that had seemed to be in the bag could be lost after all.

Two widely respected national polls released Sunday, from ABC News/Washington Post and NBC News/Wall Street Journal, also gave reason for optimism to the Clinton camp.

They indicated that the Democratic nominee was leading Trump by 5 points and 4 points, respectively.

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“While recognizing that [Clinton] is not yet in the end zone, I would say it is first down and goal to go,” said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who served in President Bill ClintonWilliam (Bill) Jefferson ClintonWill the ‘law and order’ president pardon Roger Stone? Five ways America would take a hard left under Joe Biden The sad spectacle of Trump’s enablers MORE’s White House. 

Pro-Trump Republicans believe they will prevail on Tuesday night.

Trump, sprinting around a number of battleground states including Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia on Sunday, continued to exude confidence, insisting that his campaign would upset the experts.

During a stop in Minneapolis, Trump said his opponent’s strategists are belatedly realizing that they are in trouble.

“They know better than anybody this is a whole different ball game,” he said. “They don’t know about us, folks. We know how to win. They don’t know how to win.”

Republicans have also pointed to Clinton’s decision to spend time in Michigan, a state thought to be safely in her column, as evidence that the Democrats are nervous.

Clinton’s husband campaigned in the state on Sunday, while Clinton will visit on Monday, having been in Detroit on Friday. 

At his rally in Minnesota, Trump implored the crowd not to let him down by failing to deliver victory in the state. 

Minnesota last backed a Republican for president in 1972. If Trump were able to flip its 10 electoral votes, however, it would give him a significant boost. It would also augur very well for his chances in a swath of Midwestern and Rust Belt states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Reflecting the fluidity of the race, Trump was continuing to perform strongly in some national polls as well. He was up by 1 point over Clinton in an IBB/TIPP tracking poll released Sunday and just 1 point adrift in a McClatchy/Marist poll.

Democrats believe that Clinton’s get out the vote operation is superior to Trump’s and will pay dividends on Election Day. But conservatives counter that there could yet be a “hidden” Trump vote, meaning supporters who are reluctant to tell pollsters they are backing the controversial businessman turn up to cast their ballots.

The other question is how the new Comey letter might affect the closing hours of the race.

Clinton aides have taken a muted approach so far, with communications director Jennifer Palmieri telling reporters simply that the campaign was “glad this matter is resolved.” 

Outside groups aligned with Clinton have taken a more muscular approach. Brad Woodhouse, the director of the pro-Clinton group Correct The Record, said in a statement that Comey’s announcement “makes clear that Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE’s closing argument is a complete fraud.”

Trump did not make direct reference to the new letter in his first campaign stop after it emerged, but he did assail Clinton as “the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States.” 

During an interview with MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway also argued that the latest Comey letter would do nothing to change the widespread distrust of Clinton that shows up in many opinion polls. 

“The reason that so many Americans have a problem with Hillary Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness and veracity does not change,” Conway insisted.

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— Here is the official WWE.com Raw preview for the night after Elimination Chamber:

What fate awaits the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions?

In a historic whirlwind Tag Team Elimination Chamber Match, best friends Bayley & Sasha Banks reigned supreme over Nia Jax & Tamina, The Riott Squad’s Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan, Naomi & Carmella, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, and The IIconics to become the first-ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.

It’s a safe bet, however, that there will be no rest for the inaugural titleholders. Now that The Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection have reached unprecedented heights, what tandem will step into the spotlight to try and knock them back down on The Road to WrestleMania?

What will happen after Becky Lynch ruthlessly assaulted Charlotte and Ronda Rousey?

Last week on Raw, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon stunned the WWE Universe by throwing down a 60-day suppression on Becky Lynch and replacing her with Charlotte Flair in the WrestleMania showdown against Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey.

After Charlotte went on SmackDown LIVE and mockingly dedicated her match at The Showcase of the Immortals to Becky, The Man jumped the barricade at a weekend Live Event and attacked The Queen, only for Flair reinjure her adversary’s knee in a systematic assault.

Then, at WWE Elimination Chamber, moments after Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey overcame Ruby Riott in a title showdown, the injured Lynch emerged again and used her crutches to unleash a brutal assault on Flair and Rousey.

What will happen next on Monday Night Raw? Will the defiant Becky continue to show up on Raw despite her suspension? Will she face further penalty from the McMahon Family for not taking the suspension seriously and choosing to wreak havoc throughout the week? Will Charlotte return to Raw to take issue with the attack as well? And how will The Baddest Women on the Planet react on the turbulent Road to WrestleMania?

How will Bobby Lashley come at Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor?

Finn Bálor has done it. After overcoming the odds by winning a Handicap Match against Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush at WWE Elimination Chamber, the Irish Superstar has laid claim to his first Intercontinental Championship.

Though an irate Lashley took out Rush after he cost The All Mighty the title, Lashley later reemerged at the pay-per-view to again join forces with Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre to slam Brawn Strowman through a stack of tables.

It’s safe to say that Lashley will be coming after Finn, but will he enlist The Lone Wolf and The Scottish Psychopath in pursuit of the new titleholder? To that effect, could The Monster Among Men join the equation in his own quest for payback?

What will the age of The Revival look like?

Last week, The Revival laid claim to the Raw Tag Team Titles by defeating Bobby Roode and Chad Gable in an edge-of-your-seat thriller. What awaits the new titleholders one week after their monumental victory?

• UHT-OH: Dean Ambrose Isn’t ‘Playing Ball’ While On His Way Out Of WWE In April …

(Follow us on Twitter @RajahNews & Matt Boone @MattBoone1984 for more exclusive backstage wrestling news and rumors!)