Luke Vargas

Here was New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim on MSNOW.

The White House isn't on board with that plan, and neither is Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who urged Democrats to advance the full spending package without delay.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but will need bipartisan support to hit the 60-vote threshold required to pass the spending package.

Staying in Washington, the chair of the Senate's antitrust panel has warned that Netflix's proposed $72 billion takeover of Warner Bros.

Discovery could substantially lessen competition in the streaming market.

A Warner spokesman said the company is complying with all relevant laws in its dealings with Netflix, while Netflix has declined to comment.

The Justice Department is currently reviewing the merger for potential antitrust issues, and a Senate subcommittee hearing to discuss the deal is set for February 3rd.

The takeover faces additional pressure from a $77.9 billion rival bid by Paramount.

And on the earnings docket today, all eyes will be on Boeing's Q4 results, which are due later this morning.

In spite of ongoing safety issues, the company is expected to have outsold Airbus for the first time since 2018.

Aerospace reporter Drew Fitzgerald says Boeing is gaining momentum as regulators ease production caps to meet a backlog of orders, and as the company reaps the rewards of President Trump's promotion of U.S.

industrial giants in global trade talks.

And if you're flying on Southwest today, you may want to book your seats ahead of time.

That's because after more than 50 years, the airline's open seating policy is over, a change it announced back in July 2024.

Journal travel columnist Don Gilbertson says the switch follows investor pressure on the airline to boost revenue, which also saw it end its bags-fly-free policy back in May.

Dawn told us she spent the last few days flying on packed Southwest flights where she heard mixed reactions about the changes at an airline that's a favorite of Wall Street Journal readers.

And that's it for What's News for this Tuesday morning.

Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach and Hattie Moyer.

Our supervising producer was Sandra Kilhoff.

And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal.