With coronavirus relief negotiations at an impasse, the to-do list for the lame duck session will in all likelihood be limited to funding the government, passing an annual defense bill and confirming nominees.

Senate Republicans also have the majority on their mind, with twin run-off races in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber. While Republicans are favored, Democrats could flip the Senate if they win both seats. That’s got the GOP eager to do what they can between now and January while their majority is assured.

The Senate held hearings Wednesday for three nominees to the Federal Election Commission, a panel that has struggled to hold a quorum during Trump’s presidency. If Senate Rules Chair Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) can get all three nominees through the committee and ready for the floor in December, the nation’s chief campaign finance watchdog will have a full slate of commissioners for the first time in years.

By law, the six-member commission cannot have more than three members from the same party serving, so the GOP would not have an advantage, but it would give Trump an opportunity to leave his mark.

When asked about the timing of hearings for the FEC nominees, Blunt responded that filling lifetime vacancies was the first priority but “there just aren’t many of them left.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is moving quickly to advance a new tranche of judicial nominees, including Thomas Kirsch to take a seat on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to replace Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats are protesting the committee moving forward on new judicial nominees after Trump’s defeat, but Graham dismissed their concerns in an interview.

This week alone, the Senate confirmed four district court judges.

“The forces behind this operation want to see these goals accomplished,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). “They spent a lot of good money for the majority that’s doing it and they want to use every last day of it.”

Meanwhile, the Senate Energy Committee advanced two nominees this week for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees the nation’s electricity markets. If confirmed, the picks would lock in three Republican appointees on the five-member commission through mid-2021.

Senate Republicans also face pressure to jam through Trump’s nominee to the FCC. Doing so would delay Biden’s ability to form a Democratic majority at the five-member regulatory body next year and likely push off new regulations such as a revival of the Obama-era net neutrality rules. Trump himself has needled Senate Republicans to pick up the pace on the appointment, a Commerce Department staffer named Nathan Simington who some conservatives see as critical to Trump’s attempted crackdown on social media giants.

“When you have openings in agencies that are usually Republican you probably want to fill it while he’s president. But this is not new ground we’re plowing,” Graham said of the party’s efforts.

Even though Trump has largely remained out of sight since losing the Nov. 3 election and continues to block the transition of power, the White House is still sending nominations over to the Senate.

On Tuesday, Trump announced his intent to nominate Brian Brooks to a five-year term as Comptroller of the Currency. Brooks currently holds the role in an acting capacity and Senate Banking Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) told reporters he’d consider the nomination given that “Trump is president until this election is resolved, and maybe beyond.”

While Republicans may view the lame duck session as a final opportunity to implement their conservative agenda before Biden is inaugurated, Democrats see a Trump-led effort to impede the president-elect wherever possible.

“Whether it’s new sanctions against Iran or a pull-out from Afghanistan or FEC and Fed nominees, Trump’s goal right now is to sort of sabotage and make complicated a Biden administration to the maximum extent possible,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), adding that Senate Republicans “are along for the ride on all of it.”

John Hendel, Anthony Adragna, Victoria Guida and Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.

OAKLAND — Does a fancy open garage count as an outdoor dining venue?

That’s the question prompted by pictures that emerged this week of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s dinner with friends and lobbyists at the posh French Laundry in Yountville.

The photos, taken by another dinner patron and obtained by Fox LA, show Newsom sitting at a round table for 12 in a dining room that is enclosed on three sides and covered. In his Monday apology for attending the dinner, Newsom stressed repeatedly that the event was outdoors, a qualifier that in the pandemic era implies safer conditions due to natural air circulation that reduces transmission.

The definition of outdoor dining has suddenly become ever more important, given that Newsom has forced 94 percent of the population to abide by rules that only allow outdoor restaurant operations. The governor moved quickly Monday to assign 41 counties to the most-restrictive purple tier in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. At least one other county, San Francisco, has already done the same even though it is not required to shut indoor dining rooms.

“That is not outside,” said Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association in San Francisco, after viewing the photos of the governor dining with guests to celebrate the 50th birthday of lobbyist Jason Kinney.

California restaurant owners are already confused about what constitutes outdoor dining. State guidance limits private gatherings to no more than three households and says that they should take place outside. Those rules also say that private venues must have three open sides for air circulation to qualify as outdoor.

The three-side rule is repeated in other state guidelines for outdoor cardrooms and outdoor salons.

But no such rule exists in the state’s restaurant guidance. The state recommends limiting the number of patrons seated at a table to a single household or to “patrons who have asked to be seated together,” but doesn’t specify a number and says they don’t need to be six feet apart.

Equally unclear is the guidance on what kind of structures a restaurant can use for outdoor dining. The only state definition appears to be under the July 13 rules for general business outdoor operations, but it is not specific to restaurants.

That guidance allows outdoor operations “under a tent, canopy, or other sun shelter, but only as long as no more than one side is closed, allowing sufficient outdoor air movement.” The French Laundry gathering was in a private fixed annex called the Board Room, based on a photo on the restaurant’s website.

Officials from the California Department of Public Health did not respond to a request for clarification about whether the tent and canopy guidance applied to restaurants.

California Restaurant Association spokeswoman Sharokina Shams said restaurants adhere to the state rules, unless the county guidance is stricter. A spokeswoman for Napa County, where the French Laundry is located, said the county is following the state guidance and has not issued additional rules. Napa County was in the second-least restrictive orange tier until Monday, when the governor moved it to the most-restrictive purple.

Santa Clara County is one of just a handful of counties statewide with clear guidance on outdoor dining structures. Under the county’s guidance, any temporary or permanent structure such as a canopy must have at least 50 percent of the perimeter open to the outdoors.

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association’s Thomas on Wednesday clarified outdoor dining guidance for her members, which in San Francisco means that no more than one vertical side of any tent, canopy or other structure can be closed.

Thomas said she hopes that at least two sides of any structure will be allowed to remain open, especially with the advent of cooler temperatures.

Even outdoor dining could become a thing of the past in some parts of the state if the rise in cases continues unabated.

In Los Angeles County, which has never budged from the purple tier since the rollout of the state’s reopening framework nearly three months ago, health officials plan to end outdoor dining if the average daily case count reaches 4,000 over a five-day period, or hospitalizations hit 1,750. A Los Angeles Times analysis reports that five-day average at 2,800.

Still, Barbara Ferrer, director of the county’s public health department, said hitting those thresholds wasn’t inevitable. “I hope with every single bone in my body that we don’t get there,” she said at a press briefing Wednesday.

While the meal amplified criticism of Newsom’s coronavirus management, with the governor parrying accusations of hypocrisy, it also cast a brighter spotlight on Kinney and the dual clout he wields in the insular world of California politics.

The longtime California Democratic politics fixer has had a hand in both winning campaigns and influencing policy. He was chief speechwriter for Gov. Gray Davis, served for years as a senior strategist for Senate Democrats and has long counseled Newsom politically. He continues to advise Newsom on politics even as his lucrative, newly launched lobbying firm works on bills that could land on Newsom’s desk.

Kinney is not the first California political operative to blur the line between politics and policy. The doors between campaigns, administrations and Sacramento’s lobbying corps have long swung open for people with contacts and experience to leverage.

“He’s got some deep roots in government. Like any successful lobbyist, he uses those to his advantage because he’s smart,” said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic operative who has also worked both for the California government and for the interest groups that seek to sway it. “Any special interest hires the best talent they can get and that was the decision they made with Jason.”

The governor and Kinney have a relationship extending back decades. In apologizing for attending, Newsom referred to Kinney on Monday as “a friend that I have known for almost 20 years.”

But the fact that Kinney, a registered lobbyist, got an intimate audience with Newsom immediately raised questions about conflicts of interest. Newsom said he paid for his meal, so it did not qualify as a lobbying payment.

“Newsom’s got to bend over backwards and not give him any favors,” said Bob Stern, the architect of California’s campaign finance laws. “People are going to be watching what Newsom does in terms of Kinney clients now.”

While Kinney worked on Newsom’s transition team and has continued to counsel the governor, he has also launched a lobbying shop, Axiom Advisors, whose client list included major California players that spend heavily to influence state policy. Axiom reaped $10.9 million worth of lobbying work in 2019-20, the first legislative session during which Newsom was governor.

Some of Axiom’s clients highlight Kinney’s overlapping roles. Kidney dialysis firms DaVita and Fresenius paid Axiom $475,000 this session. During the same period, Kinney earned $90,000 from the California Democratic Party, which spent money to pass a labor-backed initiative regulating kidney dialysis. DaVita and Fresenius were the measure’s principal opponents.

Not all Axiom clients are major corporations; some are just desperate to get through to the governor for survival. Theme parks have been trying to get the governor’s ear this year to reopen attractions during coronavirus. Three smaller amusement park operators — Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, San Diego Coaster Co., and Santa Monica Amusements — hired Axiom on Oct. 1, right as Newsom officials were discussing reopening rules. The state ultimately issued guidelines last month that allowed the Boardwalk and other smaller parks to operate, though the recent coronavirus surge has forced the closure of rides again.

The single most remunerative client for Axiom in the last two years has been Marathon Petroleum, giving Kinney’s firm $525,000 worth of business. Marathon is a member of a powerful oil industry organization that battled proposals to ban hydraulic fracturing; Newsom called on the Legislature earlier this year to send him a fracking ban.

“The thing that is so powerful about this luxury dinner story is that Newsom also risked the lives of Californians by violating his own Covid recommendations to party with the same oil lobbyist,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Center, which is planning a lawsuit over the state’s issuance of oil and gas well permits. “There’s just so many ways that ordinary people are suffering such incredible pain,” she added, “and it just shows his hypocrisy to be partying with an oil lobbyist in the middle of this. It’s just inexcusable.”

OAKLAND — California Medical Association officials were among the guests seated next to Gov. Gavin Newsom at a top California political operative’s opulent birthday dinner at the French Laundry restaurant this month.

CEO Dustin Corcoran and top CMA lobbyist Janus Norman both joined the dinner at the French Laundry, an elite Napa fine dining restaurant, to celebrate the 50th birthday of lobbyist and longtime Newsom adviser Jason Kinney, a representative of the powerful interest group confirmed Wednesday morning.

Both Norman and Corcoran are friends of Kinney, as is Newsom, who referred this week to his 20-year friendship with Kinney. In a photo obtained by Fox LA, Norman is clearly visible seated to Newsom’s left.

The presence of CMA brass could amplify criticisms of the dinner occurring despite coronavirus restrictions that have limited Californians’ movements and constrained businesses. While Newsom and Kinney’s lobbying firm have said the meal abided by public health rules, it has struck a chord with Californians who have assailed the upscale soiree as hypocritical as coronavirus cases surge.

The state has issued guidelines prohibiting more than three households from gathering privately — a limit clearly exceeded by the French Laundry dinner. However, the state has intentionally allowed restaurants to seat people from more than three households together.

Doctors and other health care workers have been vigilant since the pandemic began in asking Califorians to stay at home — a call that has ramped up in recent weeks as hospitals across the nation fill to capacity.

A spokesperson for the CMA, Anthony York, said in a statement that “the dinner was held in accordance with state and county guidelines.”

The photos suggest that the dinner was held in what amounts to a fancy garage, with walls on three sides and a roof. Newsom and Kinney’s lobbying firm, Axiom Advisors, has insisted that it was an outdoor dinner. It is unclear whether that counts as outdoor dining under state guidelines, though Napa County restaurants were allowed to serve patrons inside at the time of the Nov. 6 event.

The CMA has long been a powerful presence in the state Capitol, and its Sacramento officials are longtime friends with Kinney. The group spent $2.1 million last year lobbying state leaders.

The doctors’ lobby this year successfully convinced Newsom and state lawmakers not to slash Medi-Cal reimbursement rates that were funded by a tobacco tax that CMA spearheaded in 2016. Besides listing dozens of bills, CMA also reported lobbying the Newsom administration on Covid-19 screening and testing rules.

But the group isn’t always successful with Newsom. He signed legislation in September that will give nurse practitioners more authority to work without physician oversight, a bill that CMA opposed.