| | | | |  | | By Katherine Tully-McManus | Presented by Sallie Mae® | ONE LAST RODEO WITH TWO OLD BULLS — Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) are looking to lock in one last spending deal to close out 35 years working together and end the CR to CR cycle that Congress has been stuck in. "Opposites attract. And if I've ever seen two opposites, they're it," said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). "And neither one of them has a reputation to be easy to get along with, and yet, with each other they do." Jennifer Scholtes and Burgess have a must-read story on the two tough customers who have been steering spending in the Senate together for years, featuring many fun quotes from their colleagues: Retiring Senate spending chiefs go for broke Power of the purse: "Next year, a massive shift awaits the exits of Leahy and Shelby, who have served a combined 82 years in the Senate — the vast majority of them together. They will likely be replaced atop the plum spending panel by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), joining Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). The spending leaders of the entire Congress will all be women for the first time ever," write Jennifer and Burgess. Where things stand: There is already (yet another) short-term stopgap in the works to get Congress past the Feb. 18 deadline, which buys Shelby and Leahy a little more time. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Sunday that a short-term CR is expected this week and that "very vigorous" negotiations are still underway on a deal for fiscal 2022 spending. | 
Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Richard Shelby (R-Ala) speak before the start a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. | Caroline Brehman-Pool/Getty Images |
| | | | HAPPENING THURSDAY – A LONG GAME CONVERSATION ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS : Join POLITICO for back-to-back conversations on climate and sustainability action, starting with a panel led by Global Insider author Ryan Heath focused on insights gleaned from our POLITICO/Morning Consult Global Sustainability Poll of citizens from 13 countries on five continents about how their governments should respond to climate change. Following the panel, join a discussion with POLITICO White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López and Gina McCarthy, White House national climate advisor, about the Biden administration's climate and sustainability agenda. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Monday, February 7, where this is honestly the mood (but we're open to alternatives). MURKOWSKI URGES MODERATION — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) would like to see a Supreme Court nominee from President Joe Biden that could get bipartisan backing in the Senate -- even though Democrats have enough votes to go it alone on a high court pick. She doesn't want to see a pick that would be "to the furthest left," she said during a joint appearance with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. "I want to make sure that the president nominates an exceptional candidate, an exceptional individual, and I would be honored to be able to support an exceptional African American woman," Murkowski said. Marianne tuned in and has more: Murkowski to Biden: Pick SCOTUS nominee who can get GOP votes ARBITRATE THIS— The House votes today on bipartisan legislation that would put an end to private employers' use of forced arbitration when victims and perpetrators enter mediation outside the legal system. The bill aims to allow victims to decide whether they want to take their sexual harassment or assault claims to court instead. Marianne wrote about the effort back in December. | | A message from Sallie Mae®: What's the difference between student lending and responsible student lending? For Sallie Mae, the difference is helping students and families borrow responsibly by approving loans they can afford. In fact, fewer than 2% of our loans in repayment default annually. But before we do that, we help students maximize scholarships, grants, and federal financial aid. See how Sallie Mae makes sense of paying for college. | | |
GOP SPLIT ON POSSIBLE PIVOT FOR 1/6 PANEL— If Republicans take control of the House, would they let the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol just peeter out, or will they reshape it into a political cudgel against Democrats? Olivia and Kyle talked to a dozen House Republicans and illuminate a divide over which path makes the most sense for the party. Read: The GOP's Jan. 6 committee dilemma: Disband it, or turn it on Dems?
More on this… There's no doubt that the Republican National Committee's censure of Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) will be buzzing this week, along with the RNC objecting to the 1/6 committee's work, calling it "persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol." FORTENBERRY CLAIMS CONFUSION — Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) claims he was not lying to FBI agents, but was confused by them. He wants to bring an expert witness focused on memory problems in older adults to address the jury in his court case, the Omaha World-Herald's Todd Cooper reported. His lawyers are "seeking to have the congressman's full statement to the FBI played for jurors — both to show the repetitive questioning of government agents and the idea that Fortenberry was simply confused, rather than lying to agents." PROBLEMS DOWN PENN AVE — Aides being browbeaten on Capitol Hill may have company just down the street. "President Joe Biden's top science adviser, Eric Lander, bullied and demeaned his subordinates and violated the White House's workplace policy, an internal White House investigation recently concluded, according to interviews and an audio recording obtained by POLITICO." Read more from Alex Thompson: 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde': Biden's top science adviser bullied and demeaned subordinates, according to White House investigation | | | | DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | |
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Telework update: The Capitol's Attending Physician has downgraded his recommendation for maximum telework to "an optional telework posture" with a reduction in in-person meetings and activities.
Capitol case rates: "Over the past two weeks our CVC test center positive rate has held constant at a 7-day average rate of 4%," he wrote in a memo Friday. Seventy-Nine percent of cases at the Capitol are symptomatic, while 21 percent are asymptomatic detection. | | |
Eyes on union effort… Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) said he'll introduce a resolution this week to extend collective bargaining rights to House staffers (which could be enacted without any Senate action.) On the senate side, keep an eye on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). His office said that in the coming weeks, he'll be working with Senate colleagues on a resolution to extend the same rights to Senate-side staff. You can bet that this will be a hot topic today both among rank-and-file aides, but also on the weekly conference call for House Democratic chiefs of staff. Meanwhile, your Huddle host is hunkered down with a Congressional Record from 1996 that contains the proposed regulations for staffers organizing.
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QUICK LINKS
Democrats' big dilemma: Avoid Biden or embrace him? , from Sean Sullivan and Marianna Sotomayor at The Washington Post How The Left Quit Worrying and Learned to Love Chuck Schumer , from Sam Brodney at The Daily Beast Trump's 'circular firing squad' threatens GOP midterm gains, David Siders and Natalie Allison in Salt Lake City TRANSITIONS Gil Ruiz has been promoted to deputy legislative director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). He previously was senior adviser on health, technology and homeland security. Tommy Brown is now legislative director for Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). He previously served as senior policy advisor. Mannal Haddad will be senior comms manager at the Campaign Legal Center. She previously was comms director for Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.). Josh Connolly is joining LinkedIn as senior manager of U.S. policy and economic graph. He previously was chief of staff for Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.).
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House convenes at noon for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business, with roll call votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. AROUND THE HILL 2 p.m. House Rules Committee virtual business meeting on H.R. 3076, a bill to reform the postal service. 7 p.m. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other lawmakers will hold a moment of silence for the more than 900,000 lives lost to covid (East Front Center Steps). | | |
FRIDAY'S WINNER: Lidia Stiglich correctly answered that the Congressional Black Caucus was established in 1971 by 13 founding members. The founding members include:
Reps. Shirley A. Chisholm (D-N.Y.), William L. Clay, Sr. (D-Mo.), George W. Collins (D-Ill.), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Ronald V. Dellums (D-Calif.), Charles C. Diggs, Jr. (D-Mich.), Augustus F. Hawkins (D-Calif.), Ralph H. Metcalfe (D-Ill.), Parren J. Mitchell (D-Md.), Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. (D-Pa.), Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) and Del. Walter E. Fauntroy (D-D.C.). TODAY'S QUESTION: Congress convened away from the Capitol in 1987 and 2002. Where did they meet and what were they commemorating? 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 | | A message from Sallie Mae®: Not all student lending is the same. At Sallie Mae, we help students maximize scholarships, grants, and federal financial aid before considering a private student loan. Next, we take the right steps to help ensure students don't overborrow and only approve loans we think they can effectively manage and afford. See how Sallie Mae makes sense of paying for college. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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