| | | | |  | | By Katherine Tully-McManus | Presented by the Alzheimer's Association | With an assist from Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers EMPTY SHELL — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture last night on what is slated to be the legislative vehicle for a fresh batch of covid preparedness funding. That's not a guarantee of fast action, but it is a signal of optimism for the ongoing talks. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is taking the lead on this issue for Republicans. He met with Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday night. His stance is that new covid investment needs to be fully offset and he wants a full accounting of the covid dollars already allocated, so that the Biden administration can repurpose unspent funds. Offers have been exchanged, but there's not been signals of a final deal. Schumer told reporters Tuesday that he and Romney "Are trying to come to an agreement." He said that Romney needs to get other Republicans on board with a proposal in the works that is fully paid for. Ten Republicans would be needed to get any deal past the filibuster. "It is a responsibility of both Republicans and Democrats to make sure we have the tools and resources in place that will keep the virus down, keep our schools, keep our communities open. We are not there yet on reaching an agreement but we are going to keep working in good faith to get there," said Schumer on the floor. JUDICIAL BATTLE LINES — Senate Republicans say that their demand to see Ketanji Brown Jackson's sentencing records is just the beginning. They plan to push for pre-sentencing reports and other records for other nominees to lower courts and turn up the heat on future judicial nominees. "While Jackson's sentencing record on child pornography cases is in line with the vast majority of federal judges, Republicans may well raise the issue again given that many appellate court nominees share her background on the federal district courts," writes Marianne. Judiciary Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reiterated that providing the reports would be "dangerous" because "there's a lot of innocent people whose names come into those reports with information that should not in any way compromise them." He raised concerns that individuals "are promised from the moment they sit down in these hearings that everything is confidential." Marianne looks at what the Jackson confirmation fight signals for future judicial nominations. | | | | 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. | | | | |
GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, March 30.
RUSSIA TRADE TALKS — Democrats are still trying to talk Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) into allowing swift action on a revocation of normal trade relations with Russia. But Sen. John Thune (R- S.D.) isn't optimistic: "I don't see that busting loose this week, and next week is the Supreme Court so it doesn't look like anything's likely to happen on that until after the Easter break…" he told reporters Tuesday. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who has been negotiating with Paul, told reporters "maybe we can get clarifying language that everybody can sign off on." But in that case, the bill would have to go back to the House for action instead of heading to Biden's desk. The status update is … wait and see. Remember that the measure got 424 yes votes in the House, where partisan division usually dominates. Briefing today: Lawmakers will be briefed this afternoon on the Russia-Ukraine conflict by officials from the State Department, Pentagon and Joint Chiefs, among others. The classified briefing in the Senate is at 3 p.m. and the House at 4:45 p.m. BOUND FOR BATON ROUGE? — "There's no Senate Republican quite like Bill Cassidy: He voted to convict Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection after getting reelected by 40 points, while helping cut big deals on Covid relief and infrastructure. Now he's eyeing the governor's office in Baton Rouge," writes Burgess. "'They've seen what I've done on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, see what I did on Covid relief in December' 2020, Cassidy said on Tuesday. 'They obviously see I'm trying to do good things for the state. And they like it.' Cassidy said he'll decide by the end of the year on whether to run. But it's a natural fit for him, since the governor's race in 2023 offers a low-risk campaign that wouldn't cost him or his party his Senate seat." WILL BROOKS BREAK THE DAM?— The select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol seemed to be on the cusp of deciding to draw the line and not compel Republican lawmakers to testify, to spare the rancorous fight. But they didn't see Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) coming. The spurned Alabama Republican said last week that former President Donald Trump had -- recently and repeatedly -- talked to Brooks about attempting to rescind the 2020 election results and reinstall him as president. On Tuesday, "Brooks all but dared the committee to call him, hinting he might comply, when reporters asked him Tuesday if he would testify," write Nicholas and Kyle. "I will take that under advisement if they ever contact me," Brooks said. | | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Alzheimer's disease is on track to cost our country nearly $1 trillion annually by 2050. Beyond the toll Alzheimer's takes on those living with the disease and their caregivers, it could also bankrupt our health system. With millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake, increased research funding and policies that increase the participation of underrepresented populations in Alzheimer's clinical trials will bring the breakthroughs needed to end this devastating disease. Learn more here . | | |
SO, ABOUT THOSE ORGY INVITES — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) isn't the only senior Republican who wants to have a stern conversation with freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) about his allegations that colleagues have invited him to orgies and done cocaine in front of him. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), chair of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, says he also plans to sit down with Cawthorn. "I think it is important, if you're going to say something like that, to name some names," Perry told Olivia Tuesday. Olivia digs into how Cawthorn's casual comments have rankled his colleagues, from the Freedom Caucus and beyond: Cawthorn's orgies-and-drugs comment stirs trouble within Freedom Caucus
RED TARGETS — The House GOP's campaign arm is again expanding its target list for November. Republicans are now going after a total of 72 seats. Out of those, 33 (!) are districts that Biden would have won – if they'd existed in their current shapes two years ago – by double digits. Among the new seats on the GOP's battleground list:
- Florida 14 (Castor)
- Nevada 1 (Titus)
- California 26 (Brownley)
- Illinois 11 (Foster)
- Ohio 9 (Kaptur)
Expect to hear more on Wednesday as NRCC campaign chief Tom Emmer holds a presser at noon to tout his candidates' first quarter performance.
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LETLOW'S LETDOWN — Nearly 50 House Republicans opposed a GOP bill that seeks to memorialize those in the U.S. who died from Covid. The problem is: The legislation was led by their Republican colleague, whose husband died from the deadly virus.
The vote: The House voted 376-47 last night to pass Letlow's bill, The COVID-19 American History Project Act, which is her first piece of legislation to clear the House. Similar to the Veterans History Project, it aims to have the Library of Congress collect personal stories, testimonials, photographs, and other records to capture people's lives throughout the pandemic through its American Folklife Center. "For families like mine, that loss means an empty chair at the dinner table, a son who won't be able to go fishing with his dad anymore, and a daughter who won't be able to dance with her father on her wedding day. But this bill also values our people's personal experiences during the pandemic, which will help inform the collective narrative," Letlow said in a speech on the House floor. Internal opposition: The GOP opposition underlined how politicized the pandemic has become. Of the 47 Republicans who opposed it, House Freedom Caucus members made up almost half. One Republican source said Letlow worked diligently to get her own colleagues on board. But some conservatives said they couldn't support the bill because it didn't blame the origins of the virus on China. "It doesn't have enough in there about Covid facts that I think matter..I just don't think it merits support. I mean, like if we're gonna have a full accounting on Covid, let's have a full accounting," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who said he opposed the legislation. "Honestly, for me, there's so many facts we need to know about Covid before we're doing a history of it." Letlow lost her husband, Luke Letlow, just days before he was set to be sworn in to Congress in late 2020. In the days after his death, Julia Letlow decided to announce a bid for the seat he had won but was never able to fill. | | |
Points for creativity… "Want to help 'butcher' ag consolidation?" That's what an eye-catching flyer outside the Senate's Cups coffee shop asks passersby. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is featured on the flyer, butchering a huge hunk of meat. There's little tear-away pieces with Tester's office line. Check out the flyer for yourself.
It's a creative solicitation for co-sponsors for his Meat Packing Special Investigator Act, a process usually dominated by personal appeals. The bill would create the "Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters" within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Packers and Stockyards Division. Right now there are six Republican and six Democratic cosponsors. Tester's team says it plans to put up more flyers. QUICK LINKS Don Young of Alaska, the House Dean, Leaves an Earmark Legacy, from Emily Cochraine at The New York Times Eaglet hatches at National Arboretum in D.C., from The Washington Post 'There is a big problem': Senators unite to slam FOIA compliance, from Josh Gerstein AOC's Warning for Democrats: 'We're in Trouble', from New York Magazine Thousands of Afghans were evacuated to the U.S. Will America let them stay?, from The Washington Post TRANSITIONS Danny Smith, previously Legislative Assistant for Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas) and a Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) alum, is joining Rep. Brian Babin's (R-Texas) team as a Legislative Assistant. JR Kane is now government and civic relations program manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, focusing on federal engagement. He most recently was a legislative assistant for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and is an EPW Committee alum. Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-N.J.) office has added Hartley Voss as senior speechwriter and Guillermo Perez as speechwriter. Voss previously was at West Wing Writers and has written for several Hollywood shows. Perez previously was a legislative correspondent for Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-N.J.).Nick Lisowski is now a director of federal advocacy at PhRMA. He previously was health policy adviser to Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), and is a Bruce Westerman alum.
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association:   | | |
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House convenes at noon for legislative business. The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. with votes at 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. AROUND THE HILL 10 a.m. House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing on the fiscal 2023 budget request for the Capitol Police (Rayburn 2362-B). 10 a.m. House Ways and Means Committee hybrid hearing on Biden's 2022 trade policy. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies (Longworth 1100). 10 a.m. Durbin and members of the Ukraine Caucus will meet with members of the Ukrainian parliament in the Capitol (SVC 203). Noon Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and other Republican Senators hold a press conference on the southern border (S-325). 1 p.m. House Rules Committee business meeting on the MORE Act, which would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances, and the Affordable Insulin Now Act (H-313). | | |
TUESDAY'S WINNER: Multiple U.S. presidents are honored in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, including George Washington, William Howard Taft, and Teddy Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln was honored by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with an "Outstanding American" award in 1992.
Meanwhile, Trump is featured in the WWE Hall of Fame. TODAY'S QUESTION: Seward's Day is celebrated on the last Monday in March and celebrates the purchase of what from Russia? 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 the Alzheimer's Association: More than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, and 11 million more are providing unpaid care to them. In 2022, Alzheimer's and other dementias will cost taxpayers $321 billion and, without medical breakthroughs, these costs will rise to nearly $1 trillion by 2050. Federal funding has grown thanks to bipartisan Congressional champions, but a sustained investment by the federal government is needed to continue the momentum. And while Alzheimer's disproportionately affects older Black and Hispanic Americans, much of the Alzheimer's research to date has not included sufficient participation to be representative of the U.S. population. The Equity in Neuroscience and Alzheimer's Clinical Trials (ENACT) Act (S. 1548 / H.R. 3085), would increase the participation of underrepresented populations in Alzheimer's clinical trials, while researchers work toward treatments for all. Congress must act now. Learn more here. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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