(with assists from Jake "Fast Break" Sherman and Kevin Robillard)
LEGISLATIVE EXPRESSWAY: FAA, HIGHWAY EXTENSIONS COMBINED -- Huddle told you on Friday that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica was going to introduce a Federal Aviation Administration extension that would last into December. We swear it was good information at the time. Since then, a deal was struck to combine a "clean" FAA extension through January with a six-month highway bill. Here's how I wrote about it late Friday night when the new two-part bill: "The bill would authorize programs of the Federal Aviation Administration through January and surface transportation laws through March. Highway programs would be funded at the fiscal 2011 rate — $41.7 billion — far above the $27 billion approved in their budget earlier this year. Because the extension is for six months and not a full year, the actual amount authorized is half of the fiscal 2011 level. The FAA would get about $5.4 billion for the four-month period beginning in October and ending Jan. 31. ... The higher funding level for highway programs may cause heartburn with House and Senate conservatives ... The legislation does not include retroactive pay for FAA workers who were furloughed." http://politi.co/nljdzP
MUM -- Most of our sources have been silent on the exact contours of the deal struck by House Republican leaders and Senate Democratic leaders. But we are told that the Senate made some concessions on labor issues, particularly with regard to the National Labor Relations Board, while the House gave ground on the funding level for the highway bill. Of note, a bill written by Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) limiting the NLRB's power is expected to be on the House floor this week.
WEINERSCHNITZEL!: DEMOCRATS START TO PANIC IN NY-9 -- If you were one of the nine Democrats in the country not panicking about losing former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat on Tuesday, maybe it's time to hit the button. A Siena poll has Republican businessman Bob Turner taking a 6 percentage point lead over Democratic State Assemblyman David Weprin, 50-44. A Public Policy Polling poll has Turner up 47-41. In his analysis, PPP’s Tom Jensen pinpoints two major factors hurting Weprin, who actually is viewed favorably by a plurality of voters. The first is the the President’s unpopularity: “Obama won 55% there in 2008 but now has a staggeringly bad 31% approval rating, with 56% of voters disapproving of him. … If Obama's approval in the district was even 40% Weprin would almost definitely be headed to Congress.” The second is Israel: “A plurality of voters- 37%- said that Israel was 'very important' in determining their votes. Turner is winning those folks by an amazing 71-22 margin. With everyone who doesn't say Israel is a very important issue for them Weprin actually leads 52-36. Turner is winning the Jewish vote by a 56-39 margin.” http://bit.ly/qbKHSw
SUPERCUTS: BIG RISK, BIG REWARD -- “A group of at least 57 prominent business executives and former government officials have signed a petition in support of a greater deficit reduction, which they are to release at a news conference on Monday. Among them are former treasury secretaries, budget directors and economic advisers to eight presidents from Richard M. Nixon to Mr. Obama; former Congressional leaders; and executives of top companies,” Jackie Calmes writes in the New York Times. The group is pushing the committee to “develop a large-scale debt-reduction package sufficient to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy.” That would mean about $3 trillion in cuts over the next decade, twice the committee's current goal. http://nyti.ms/pjsm0B
-- POLITICO's Scott Wong writes mini-profiles of each of the supercommittee members. http://politi.co/plXAP3
-- In a bit of a sneak preview, here's part of a story due out from the hometown paper's Darren Saumuelsohn later today on how legislative committees are reacting to an Oct. 14 deadline to make suggestions to the supercommittee. "Without much prodding, some committee leaders are jumping the gun to suggest familiar and sometimes controversial ideas. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) wants the supercommittee to authorize oil and gas drilling in ANWR, saying it could generate several billion in new revenue over a decade and between $150 billion to $296 billion over the lifetime of production," Darren writes. "With the supercommittee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, many panel leaders are prepping suggestions in the hopes of minimizing the long-term implications for their programs. ... Others wondered whether it was even worth the effort to participate. 'It doesn't matter what you send them,' said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who serves on the Finance, Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees. 'They get to decide what they're going to take.'"
-- And our own Anna Palmer looks at how K Street is laundering its influence. "When it comes to a lobbying strategy for the supercommittee, K Street has a new plan: use Main Street. Lobbyists and trade groups are turning to companies in the hometowns and states of supercommittee members to put a local face on their causes, which includes protecting oil and gas incentives and corporate accounting rules." http://politi.co/pYatRu
SPLIT DECISION: REPUBLICAN RESPONSE TO OBAMA JOBS PLAN -- House Republicans are starting to question the decision to pass parts of the president's jobs plan, Marin Cogan and Fast Break write for the hometown paper. "'Obama is on the ropes; why do we appear ready to hand him a win?' said one senior House Republican aide who requested anonymity to discuss the matter freely. 'I just don’t want to co-own the economy by having to tout that we passed a jobs bill that won’t work or at least won’t do enough.' Even with the presence of so many GOP-friendly provisions in Obama’s plan — like trade agreements and small-business tax relief — some senior lawmakers are pulling back, wondering how the president will ensure his initiatives will not add to the nation’s debt," they write. "'To assume that we’re naturally for these things because we’ve been for them does not mean we will be for them if they cause debt, if they [have] tax increases and if they take money from the free-enterprise sector, which creates jobs,' said Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, who heads up the House Republican campaign arm." http://politi.co/pXxTE0
-- The president's expected to send his jobs bill to the Hill today.
REMATCH: GOP DEBATE -- Tonight, CNN and the Tea Party Express host a Republican presidential debate down in Tampa. Wolf Blitzer is the moderator, and 31 different Tea Party groups from around the country will be submitting questions. Things get started at 8 p..m., and Michele Bachmann is expected to start critiquing Rick Perry’s record on social security not long after. An adviser tells the Washington Examiner’s Byron York reports that 'Bernie Madoff deals with Ponzi schemes, not the grandparents of America. Clearly she feels differently about the value of Social Security than Gov. Perry does. She believes Social Security needs to be saved, that it's an important safety net for Americans who have paid into it all their lives.'" http://bit.ly/okK8JV
--And while Bachmann attacks Perry in her person, a Bachmann-backing Super PAC is getting on the air in South Carolina with an ad going after Perry’s illegal immigration record, the Houston Chronicle’s Puneet Kollipara reports. http://bit.ly/npAI9L Here’s the ad: http://youtu.be/4xCkTdNx0hM
-- Six things to watch tonight, by POLITICO's Maggie Haberman http://politi.co/o0wKBB
SPOTTED -- D.C Police Chief Cathy Lanier driving a cruiser down Constitution Avenue near the Capitol Sunday.
GOOD MONDAY MORNING, Sept. 12, 2011, and welcome to The Huddle, where the Nats are implored to let Strasburg be Strasburg, it's always happy in gov-town when the Redskins win, it's not clear what we'll be watching now that the True Blood season has ended (probably the NFL), it is wondered whether J-Lo and Bradley Cooper are really dating or he's just the Backup Plan, we were sad to hear that Spartacus Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield died at 39 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, it's been 2,501 years since the battle of Marathon (that's the date modern Greeks have settled on), Elizabeth Barrett became Elizabeth Barrett Browning on this date in 1846 -- giving hope to countless doctoral students that they, too, might find true love in writing or analyzing Sonnets from the Portuguese ("How do I love thee? Let me count the ways") -- Jesse Owens would have been 98 today, Henry Waxman is 72 (he's been in Congress for more than half of his life), and the likely National League rookie of the year, Atlanta Brave Freddie Freeman, is 22.
Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections, your analysis of the new highways and airways bill and sports scores (like 422, the number of yards Cam Newton threw for in his NFL debut with the Carolina Panthers) to jallen@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @jonallendc. Fast Break is @JakeSherman, and Robillard is @PoliticoKevin. New followers include, but are not limited to, @TeddyDavisLA and @imonlyabill.
TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The House is in at noon, legislative business begins at 2 p.m., and votes are postponed until 6:30 p.m. The House will consider three bills from the Judiciary Committee under suspension of the rules (meaning a two-thirds vote is needed for passage). The first bill, by Rep. Trey Gowdy, HR 2076, would allow the Justice Department to give assistance to local authorities in the investigation of certain violent crimes. The second, by Rep. Howard Coble, HR 2633, would expand eligibility for a 60-day appeals window for the subjects of civil suits who are being sued for work they did for the federal government. The third bill, by John Conyers, HR 1059, would allow the Judicial Conference to redact certain information from judges' financial disclosures in the interest of protecting jurists.
The Senate's in at 2 p.m. It's in morning business until 4:30 p.m. After that, it's on to a Burma sanctions measure (H J Res 66), with a roll call vote on whether to invoke cloture on the joint resolution at 5:30 p.m. Senators will gather in the chamber at 5:50 p.m. to attend a Sept. 11 memorial service at the East Front of the Capitol.
AROUND THE HILL -- Majority Leader Eric Cantor has his pen and pad with special guest Rep. Tim Scott at 12:30 p.m. The House is considering Scott’s National Labor Relations Board bill this week. Rep. Thad McCotter talks Social Security reform at 2:30 at the House Triangle.
At 6:10 p.m., congressional leaders will conduct a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on the steps at the East Front of the Capitol.
GOLDEN SPIKES: CALIFORNIA DELEGATION 'AT WAR' OVER DISTRICTS -- “A debate over how to respond to California’s new Congressional map has deeply split the state’s GOP delegation and is pitting two top-ranking Members — Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Rules Chairman David Dreier — against each other in the fight,” Jonathan Strong reports for Roll Call. “At issue is whether Republicans should pursue a referendum to put the new district lines, which could jeopardize as many as a half-dozen of the 19 GOP-held seats, before voters. Adding to the drama is a mystery: a lawyer filed paperwork on Aug. 30 in California to pursue the referendum, but at a lunch meeting Thursday to discuss the issue, none of the Republican Members said they were behind the effort. 'Nobody’s really raising their hand, so if you can find that out, let me know,' one lawmaker said. 'Everybody’s denying that they’re the one doing it.' The question boiled over in August during a delegation conference call that devolved into finger-pointing and ended without resolution, according to three California sources with firsthand knowledge of the call. The delegation 'is at war,' one of the sources said.” http://bit.ly/nPeoTy
CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN?: NO RELIEF FOR SOME IN ARREARS -- Despite the president's plan to try to get banks to refinance home loans for folks in trouble, the L.A. Times reports that there's not much in the way of assistance for the hardest-hit folks. Don Lee writes: “More than four years after the sector's initial collapse, housing has become the economy's silent killer.With about one-fourth of all houses in the United States in foreclosure or still underwater — their mortgages exceeding their market price — millions of Americans face such severe financial problems that they cannot begin to resume their normal roles as consumers, move to new jobs or finance their small businesses. … The plan offers no new measures to give relief to several million borrowers in foreclosure or seriously behind on their loans. And there was no mention of such ideas, backed by some economists and community groups, to convert empty homes into rentals or offer principal reductions on a broader scale.” http://lat.ms/qmHk4X
ONE-WAY RELATIONSHIP: ROMNEY'S CASH DOESN'T BUY ENDORSEMENTS -- Of the GOP contenders, Mitt Romney was the only candidate to dole out money to congress candidates this cycle -- which he did to the tune of $340,000. Despite his generosity, USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich reports, Romney remains in a tight battle for congressional endorsements with Rick Perry. As a side note, in an article about soliciting endorsements from members of the House, Michele Bachmann goes completely unmentioned. Even best buddy Steve King has been reticent when asked about endorsing Bachmann. http://usat.ly/n3KJnm
ISSA TARGETS WH ON FAST AND FURIOUS -- “Congressional investigators reviewing the failed gun-tracking program Operation Fast and Furious have formally asked the Obama administration to turn over copies of "all records" involving three key White House national security officials and the program, other ATF gun cases in Phoenix, and all communications between the White House and the ATF field office in Arizona,” Richard Serrano writes for the Los Angeles Times. http://lat.ms/ozJbAS
ISRAEL TRIPS USE LOOPHOLE -- “Four years after Congress enacted new rules barring groups that lobby from paying for House Members to take long trips, dozens of lawmakers traveled to Israel this summer with staffers and family members for seven-day tours paid for by the nonprofit arm of a pro-Israel lobbying group,” Amanda Becker and Rachel Bade report for Roll Call.”The August trips, which cost about $10,000 a person and could total more than $1 million by the time the receipts are in, were all sponsored by a nonprofit organization so closely tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that the groups are almost indistinguishable. The biennial summer exodus to Israel is paid for by the nonprofit American Israel Education Foundation, a charity arm of AIPAC. The two organizations share leaders, employees and money. Even some of the speakers on the August excursions advertise that they interact with Members on behalf of AIPAC.” http://bit.ly/phqKi8
REPORTER SPOTLIGHT: EMILY CADEI -- CQ foreign policy reporter Emily Cadei has a pair of stories in this week's magazine that are well worth the read.
-- Her cover story delves into just how involved the U.S. remains in Iraq. "Both the level of violence and U.S. troop numbers in Iraq may have dwindled significantly since 2007 — and with them the television coverage — but the United States is still deeply engaged in the country. In fact, Washington is about to embark on a civilian-assistance program in Iraq that Thomas R. Nides, deputy secretary of State for management and resources, recently described as 'by far the largest military-civilian transition since the Marshall Plan,'" Emily writes. "But virtually no one in Washington’s halls of power is talking publicly about the ambitious civilian-led mission that still lies ahead in Iraq. The White House helped remove Iraq from the political radar by declaring the controversial conflict effectively over a year ago. President Obama, in a foreign policy speech last month, devoted only three sentences to Iraq, noting simply, 'We will end that war.' Now, with the year-end deadline for all U.S. troops to leave the country looming, the cracks in the Obama administration’s plan for post-combat Iraq appear to be widening, fueled by doubts about the State Department’s readiness for what could be its most ambitious undertaking in decades. With Iraq no longer a priority on Capitol Hill, the war’s low profile could hinder the administration’s efforts to see its plan through."
-- Emily also looks at Marco Rubio's emergence as a foreign policy hawk, adding to a wing of the party that's suffered some setbacks in recent years with a more populist isolationism taking hold in GOP circles. "This week, Rubio will expand on that theme with a speech at the Jesse Helms Center in North Carolina that is intended to be a full-throated defense of American engagement overseas, even at a time of belt tightening at home. Rubio says he believes its important to account to people why it is 'essential' for the United States to 'spend money and risk lives on foreign policy.' In particular, Rubio says he will reinforce the importance of promoting democracy. 'We don’t always agree with other democracies but very rarely do we find ourselves fighting them,' he says."
CHIPPING IN IN NY-9 -- More donations for David Weprin, the Democrat trying to win Rep. Anthony Weiner’s House seat: Aegis Atlantic threw in $1,000, so did Rep. Ron Kind’s PAC, Rep. John Yarmuth, Rep. Kathy Hochul, Mitch Modell of Modell’s Sporting Goods fame, Rep. Nita Lowey and Rep. Ed Markey. All in all, Weprin got $42,000 on Sept. 9, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.
FRIDAY'S TRIVIA -- Congratulations to Samantha Kappalman of the National Education Association for identifying Franklin Roosevelt as the man who spoke these words to Congress (in his post-Pearl Harbor address to a joint session): "When you talk with our young men and women, you will find that with the opportunity for employment they want assurance against the evils of all major economic hazards—assurance that will extend from the cradle to the grave. And this great government can and must provide this assurance."
TODAY'S TRIVIA -- For how many years did Rep. John Mica and his brother Dan Mica serve in the House at the same time? Send answers to jallen@politico.com. Prize: Mention in Tuesday's Huddle.
THE NATS' LINE -- Stephen Strasburg lasted just three innings and 57 pitches, giving up one run. But the Nats, on the strength of back-to-back-to-back home runs by Ian Desmond, Rick Ankiel and Ryan Zimmerman, cruised to an 8-2 victory over the Houston Astros. The Nats start a four-game series with the Mets in New York tonight. They're 67-77 and in fourth place, three-and-half games behind the Mets for third.
THE 'SKINS' LINE -- 1-0 beats the heck out of 0-1. And it's always extra special to beat an NFL East rival. Washington beat the New York Giants 28-14 with a balance of strong defense, the best game Rex Grossman's had at quarterback since he went to the Super Bowl with the Bears and a few key runs by newcomer Tim Hightower. Rookie Ryan Kerrigan scored a defensive touchdown by batting an Eli Manning pass in the air, catching it and rumbling nine yards into the end zone. Next up: The Arizona Cardinals at FedEx field at 1 p.m. next Sunday.
THE WEATHER -- From Steve Rudin at the ABC-7 Weather Center: "Monday will be partly to mostly sunny with a slight risk for afternoon thunderstorms. At this point, the chance is limited to about 20 to 30 percent. Afternoon temperatures should reach the lower to middle 80s."
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment