Presented by Amway.

Good morning. I'm Playbook editor Mike DeBonis.

It's Monday, October 30th. Here's what's driving the day.

We've got some exclusive news this morning on new House Speaker Mike Johnson,

in particular about one of the big questions surrounding his ascension, fundraising.

First off, we have some weekend numbers from the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Friday and Saturday, Johnson's first full two days as speaker were the NRC's best days of online

fundraising in more than 18 months, totaling more than $360,000.

Our political colleague, Ali Mutnik, has another scoop this morning, which is that

Johnson is standing by the Congressional Leadership Fund, the longstanding House GOP Super PAC, and its

president, Dan Conson. That news should start quieting some of the whispers about whether Johnson,

a newbie to big dollar fundraising, has what it takes to keep Republicans in the majority.

We continue to follow news out of the Middle East, where Israel has entered a new phase of its

war against Hamas, which reportedly involves a significant new ground assault in northern Gaza.

Here in Washington, the conflict is set to hit the House floor later this week, with GOP leaders

announcing last night that they will

call a Thursday vote on a $14.5 billion aid package for Israel. Keep in mind, this bill does not

include funding for Ukraine, which the White House, congressional Democrats, and Senate Minority

Leader Mitch McConnell all want to move in tandem with Israel aid. We're going to be watching

that debate play out

all week and beyond. And finally this morning, President Joe Biden is releasing a sprawling new

executive order dealing with artificial intelligence that includes new safety guidelines for

...