News: Capitol rattled by standoff ahead of House’s return next week

Friday, August 20, 2021

Capitol rattled by standoff ahead of House’s return next week

Aug 20, 2021

With Nicholas Wu, Andrew Desiderio and Lauren Gardner.

HERE WE GO AGAIN — Capitol Hill once again entered frantically into lockdowns and evacuations Thursday, as phones pinged with security alerts that ushered back in anxieties, doubts and fears for many who work in the complex.

Thankfully, Thursday's standoff ended peacefully. Your Huddle host touched base with close to a dozen staffers and workers in the Congressional community while the standoff dragged on. In between talk of evacuation logistics and location updates, a very clear common thread formed: how can this be happening again?

For anyone counting, the hours-long standoff between law enforcement and a man threatening to detonate an alleged bomb at the Library of Congress was the third time this year that a deadly threat to the Capitol complex interrupted a regular workday for thousands of employees (but who's counting?). The first was the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the second was the tragic vehicle assault in April that killed USCP officer Billy Evans and injured another.

Rational fears: Even with a $2.1 billion security investment, a new Capitol Police chief, and six (yes, six!) federal law enforcement agencies plus local police active on the scene Thursday, some Capitol Hill employees are still unnerved by the security failures of Jan. 6 that allowed the Capitol to be overtaken. Pipe bombs were found at both the RNC and DNC on Jan. 6 — the campaign headquarters for both parties, located near Capitol Hill — but the perpetrator was never caught.

Same wounds: Lawmakers, out of town on recess, chimed in on social media thanking Capitol Police. But Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks instead said that he understood citizens' "anger directed at dictatorial Socialism" as a pro-Trump North Carolina man was threatening Capitol Hill with an alleged bomb in his pickup truck.

The responses from Democratic lawmakers in both chambers and from Trump critic Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) showed that the bitter partisan divides that emerged on Jan. 6 still run deep and that divisions within the GOP caucus remain stark as the House prepares to return Monday.

"The GOP has a decision to make. Are we going to be the party that keeps stoking sympathy for domestic terrorists and pushes out truth, or finally take a stand for truth. I've made my decision, so has Mo. Now it's up to GOP conference leadership to make theirs," tweeted Kinzinger.

High stakes: Some staff knew the day would include life-or-death decisions, but they hadn't expected their own lives to be in the balance. Multiple House aides described to your Huddle host working on cases of people needing to be evacuated out of Afghanistan, a high pressure and gut wrenching task, only to be evacuated themselves due to an alleged bomb threat. They scrambled to get out of a potential blast zone and find a safe place to continue taking calls and piecing together potential solutions for allies stuck in Kabul. That's not to say there's a comparison to be drawn between Hill staff and what Afghan allies are facing under Taliban rule, but it's a striking detail about the work disrupted Thursday.

One day earlier, the House's Chief Administrative Officer reminded staff about the support resources available through the Employee Assistance Program, in light of the fraught U.S. exit from Afghanistan.

"Our nation's recent withdrawal from Afghanistan may bring up strong feelings for those of you who served or worked on issues in the region, as well as for others," read the memo. It told staff that OEA has an array of support services "or just for an attentive ear, to help you to process your feelings and reactions."

Police Pivot — It is hard to overstate how the Capitol Police have shifted its handling of transparency and public information when compared to the vacuum of information and updates the media received during and after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. USCP leaders held no briefings or press conferences between Jan. 6 and the April attack that killed Officer Evans.

There's no transparency awards being doled out yet for the notoriously opaque agency, but Chief Thomas Manger comfortably led two press conferences Thursday: the first a few hours into the ongoing investigation into the bomb threat, the second shortly after the suspect surrendered.

Manger, who's been at the helm of the department for less than a month, seems to be sticking to what he told POLITICO on his first day : he'd talk to the press and he feels a responsibility to inform the public.

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GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, August 20. Huddle wishes you a wholly uneventful, completely safe, bomb-threat-free day.

TUESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: "Floor staffers were a quiet force on Jan. 6. Now they're getting an award" from Chris Cioffi at Roll Call

FRESH BILL DROP — Rep. Blake More (R-Utah) will introduce a bill today during the pro forma session that would require an extensive report from the intelligence community on the "effectiveness of the production and communication of the intelligence and other information provided" to President Joe Biden between when he took office and August, relating to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

The bill would also require the secretary of state to submit a report on whether the Taliban satisfies criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization and urges sanctions for Taliban officials. The measure would also require regular reporting on human rights violations by the Taliban. Read Moore's draft bill here: https://politi.co/3B1ByV1

ARCHITECT TANGLES WITH GIG WORK — What if gig work, covid school closures, federal coronavirus relief aid and paperwork errors all collided under the Capitol dome. It's not a bad joke, it is a report from the Architect of the Capitol's Inspector General released Thursday.

An Architect of the Capitol employee who signed on as a gig worker with Amazon during the pandemic could be on the hook for $20,197 in "funds put to better use" after the agency's watchdog determined they didn't file the right paperwork to take out outside employment while on leave.

The employee took leave because their child's school was closed due to the pandemic, first under the agency's leave policy and then under the expanded leave coverage under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Workers are allowed to take on other jobs during FFCRA administrative leave, but not without advance permission.

The worker, who made around $19 per hour or $21 for night shift work and two-thirds of that while on pandemic leave, could have to pay back the more than $20,000 collected between July 2020 and Jan. 2021.

"This investigation and other cases involving administrative leave will be collectively presented to the Assistant United States Attorney for potential prosecution. The case is closed and management action is pending," reads the IG report.

FIRST IN HUDDLE — Dozens of House members are asking the Biden administration to get more Afghan allies out of Afghanistan. Reps. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) are leading them in asking DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to boost processing capacity at USCIS and to create a special humanitarian parole program for at-risk people like women leaders, activists, and human rights defenders, and journalists.

For those not eligible for the parole programs, the lawmakers asked for support to relocate Afghan refugees in third countries and to provide humanitarian aid.

"It should be the priority of this Administration to leverage all available resources at the Departments of Homeland Security and State to help as many people as possible relocate quickly and efficiently to the United States," they write. Read the letter: https://politi.co/3j0JlMn

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE AFGHANISTAN SCRAMBLE — Don't miss the detailed and previously unreported look in POLITICO Magazine this morning at how the Biden administration mobilized as Afghanistan was falling to the Taliban in rapid and stunning fashion. The Biden White House was just coming off a high of two big legislative victories, with officials preparing to check out for vacation. But hours later, it became clear that a disaster was looming on the other side of the world.

Just five days later, Kabul had fallen. So how did the U.S. get it so wrong? And what happened behind the scenes during those five chaotic days from Wednesday to Sunday, when the Taliban solidified its control of the country? Bryan Bender, Alex Ward, Lara Seligman, Andrew, and Alex Thompson strung together this day-by-day account of the Biden team's frantic response, based on interviews with 33 U.S. officials and lawmakers: https://politi.co/2XyrJPK

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE — The Covid positivity rate in the Senate is at least 3 percent, with Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) all reporting Covid infections Thursday after experiencing mild symptoms. https://politi.co/2Wc8cEg

All three are fully vaccinated against the disease and join GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina in the chamber's breakthrough club. Graham returned from isolation just in time for the vote-a-rama last week.

Lawmakers first got access to the vaccines in December 2020 under continuity of government allotments, putting them at the leading edge of the tranche of Americans who will soon be eligible for boosters.

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QUICK LINKS

— 'Locate us a ring': Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins challenges Facebook user to a fight, from The Advocate

— Missouri Rep. Sara Walsh's husband dies after contracting COVID-19, from the St. Louis Post Dispatch

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House holds a pro forma session at 3 p.m.

The Senate holds a pro forma session at 9 a.m.

AROUND THE HILL

2 p.m. Afghanistan Briefing: bipartisan briefing featuring Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.

TRIVIA

TUESDAY'S WINNER: Peter Roff correctly ID'd Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) as the senators who have twin siblings.

TODAY'S QUESTION: In what six countries does the Library of Congress have acquisitions offices, outside of the U.S.? (Bonus for what cities in each country!)

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to ktm@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning.

Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus