News: Dems tee up doomed abortion rights vote

Monday, May 9, 2022

Dems tee up doomed abortion rights vote

May 09, 2022

With some help from Sarah Ferris

SETTING UP A ROE VOTE — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will file cloture tonight on legislation from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that would create a federal statute that assures health care providers have the right to provide abortions and patients have the right to receive them.

The move sets up a cloture vote Wednesday, but the votes to move forward aren't there. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted against a nearly identical piece of legislation that failed in the Senate in February, meaning not even the whole Democratic caucus is united on the issue.

But Democrats aren't backing away from this assured failure, hoping that making an ill-fated attempt and highlighting their disagreement with Republicans on abortion could help them in the midterms.

"If we are not successful, then we go to the ballot box," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "We march straight to the ballot box, and the women of this country and the men who stand with them will vote like they've never voted before."

UKRAINE AID STILL COOKING — Negotiators are still working through the details of a package of Ukraine aid intended to support the country, under attack from Russia since late February, through September. Some Republicans are concerned that the early fall timeline is too short.

President Biden asked Congress for $33 billion in new aid to Ukraine and Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that despite the bill not yet being complete, the legislative process could start as soon as this week.

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was asked over the weekend if Congress could get the Ukraine aid package done this month, she said, "I think we have to."

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GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Monday, May 9, where the House returns tomorrow for the first time since the draft abortion decision was published.

CONGRESS TEAM, ASSEMBLE! — These transitions are simply too exciting to wait for the bottom of the newsletter. Jordain Carney is POLITICO's newest Congressional reporter, joining us May 17 from The Hill where she's been a mainstay of Senate coverage. Tyler Weyant is our new deputy Congress editor for Minutes – our real-time guide to the biggest, wildest and weirdest moments on the Hill. He's helped steer the Politico Nightly newsletter since March 2020. Last (but not least!) Minutes' own digital producer Nancy Vu is being promoted to a reporting role on our team. For more details and fun facts about Jordain, Tyler and Nancy check out the full announcement .

DEMS' LAST, BEST CHANCE TO SAVE THE HOUSE— If House Democrats have any hope of keeping their majority in 2022, it will be thanks to candidates like Rudy Salas — a Central Valley Californian that national Democrats have been trying to lure for years.

Salas is part of Dems' prized recruiting class aiming to win roughly a dozen Republican-held House seats that Joe Biden carried in 2020. Salas is trying ti unseat Republican incumbent Rep. David Valadao. Ally Mutnick & Sarah dug deep into Dems' offensive effort for November:

Who else to watch

Greg Landsman, education advocate-turned-Cincinnati city councilman who's taking on GOP Rep. Steve Chabot in 2022. (Trump +3 >> Biden +9)
Nikki Budzinski, a former adviser to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, running in a seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Rodney Davis, who's now running in a neighboring district. (Trump +4 >> Biden +11)
Attorney Hillary Scholten seeking a rematch against Rep. Peter Meijer in Western Michigan (Trump +3 >> Biden +9 points)
Las Cruces, New Mexico a former aide to Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), is taking on GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell. (Trump +12 >> Biden +6)
Nebraska state Sen. Tony Vargas who will run against GOP Rep. Don Bacon, who represents Omaha. (Biden +7 >> Biden +6)
Quaye Quartey, a Navy intelligence officer, who hopes to run against GOP Rep. Mike Garcia if he can clear the Democratic primary next month. (Biden +10 >> Biden +13)

IMMIGRATION ASK FOR THE COMPETES CONFERENCE— A group of national security heavy-hitters are asking conferees on the China competition bill to keep a House provision that would exempt immigrants with advanced STEM degrees from green card caps, to bolster the U.S. workforce.

"In today's technology competition, the most powerful and enduring asymmetric advantage America has is its ability to attract and retain the world's best and brightest…Bottlenecks in the U.S. immigration system risk squandering this advantage," write several former senators, secretaries, deputy secretaries and undersecretaries of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security, plus former heads of of CIA, NSA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Read the full letter.

ELISE'S ENDORSEMENTS— GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) announced her third slate of E-PAC endorsed House candidates, including Sarah Palin in Alaska, Catalina Lauf in Illinois's 11th district, Jennifer-Ruth Green in Indiana's first district and Carolina Serrano in Nevada's first district.

"Former Alaska Governor and first-ever GOP woman Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a trailblazer for GOP Women, a household name in Alaska, and a national leader for the America First movement. I am thrilled to join President Trump in endorsing Sarah Palin's campaign for Congress," Stefanik said in a statement.

Palin responded: "Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has done an outstanding job recruiting strong conservative women leaders, many of whom are mama grizzlies who will shake Washington to its core."

HERE'S TO THE MIDLEVEL AIDES— Have you ever been cc'd on an email that made you sweat? As Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) put it, "the beauty of emails and meetings is that not many of them are principal to principal. Many of them include staff."

Jan. 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said his panel has spent much of its energy lately on figures who are not "household" names but "had knowledge and information about what went on leading up to January 6. And we appreciate them for coming forward with it."

Kyle and Nicholas dissected the committee's interviews with Cassidy Hutchinson, a close adviser to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, Ken Klukowski, who advised former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, and Ben Williamson, a longtime Meadows aide who followed him from Capitol Hill to the White House, and what they yielded for the panel.

INCOMING CHILD CARE PROPOSAL — Senate Democrats are making moves to try and tailor a future reconciliation package to Sen. Joe Manchin's liking and the latest revamp is a childcare pitch championed by Senate HELP Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a recent recruit to the cause, reports Eleanor Mueller.

Here's what's in the proposal:

— between $150 and $200 billion as part of a future bill
— $72 billion to the existing Child Care and Development Block Grant program
— $18 billion to a new grant program that would help states expand access to pre-K
— $12 billion to the Head Start program to raise wages for teachers
… all over six years. There's more on the proposal, planning and how Murray and Kaine are pitching in in Eleanor's weekend scoop: Senate Democrats shop revamped child care reconciliation proposal

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HUDDLE HOTDISH

Is the union bug catching? … We're closely watching the vote anticipated later this week to extend collective bargaining rights to around 10,000 House staffers.

QUICK LINKS

How the future of Roe is testing Roberts's clout on Supreme Court, from Robert Barnes, Carol D. Leonnig and Ann E. Marimow at The Washington Post

Democrats hope abortion will jolt young voters to action in the midterms, from Juana Summers at NPR

TRANSITIONS

Courtney Klein is now an executive assistant at Raytheon Technologies. She most recently was scheduler for Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). HSBC USA has hired Dan Taylor as senior vice president of federal government relations. He most recently served as the financial services policy adviser to Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.).

Barbara Boland is now comms director for Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio). She most recently was comms director for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

Taylor Doggett has been promoted to comms director for Rep. David Price (D-N.C.). Jake Rascoff has been promoted to assistant legislative director for Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

Selina Sun is now special assistant and district scheduler for Pelosi. She most recently was director of scheduling for the office of the mayor of San Francisco.

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House is out.

The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. with a cloture vote on the nomination of Anne Claire Phillips to be administrator of the Maritime Administration expected at 5:30 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL

Looks quiet.

TRIVIA

FRIDAY'S WINNER: Scott Wollek correctly answered that Sen. S.I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.) was an in-law of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (Hayakawa's brother-in-law, the late architect William Wesley Peters, was married to Joseph Stalin's daughter, Svetlana). The former Soviet leader's granddaughter was born in the Hayakawa residence in Mill Valley, Calif. Yes, really.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Name the two current lawmakers, one House and one Senate, who are daughters who directly succeeded their fathers in Congress?

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

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Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus