GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, May 12, where the House is workin' on its fitness (more on that below.)
THE MAJORITY MIRAGE— Democrats are surviving, but not exactly thriving, in the longest 50-50 Senate in history. This week illuminated, once again, how fragile and fleeting Democratic "control" is with such tiny margins. "It's hard, we have the responsibility of being in the majority, without being able to count on all of the votes in our column. And that's tough," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told Burgess. "The good news is even a 50-50 Senate gives the Democrats control over the votes that come up, it means we can move judges and other nominees." With just 50 votes needed to confirm nominees, the Democrats have had success installing President Joe Biden's picks, including Lisa Cook, the first Black woman on the Federal Reserve Board. But legislating is harder. The 50-50 split puts a constant spotlight on internal Democratic Caucus disagreements that wouldn't be news if Schumer had even one vote to spare. Burgess looks at Schumer's tactics to manage the harsh reality for Senate Democrats. RELATED: As Senate became more polarized, messaging votes lost their power, from Paul Kane at The Washington Post SENATE GOP'S TV CASH— They're going big (and early.) Natalie Alison reports that the The National Republican Senatorial Committee is reserving $53 million in ads in top battleground states between this Friday and the November election. That's way more than the NRSC's moves at this point in the 2020 cycle, which was $33 million. It also tops the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's $33 million initial ad buy for the year. Blanketing the battlegrounds: The investment is focused on the states that are expected to determine Senate control in the new Congress: $3 million in Nevada, $6.5 million in North Carolina, $8 million in Arizona, $8 million in Pennsylvania, $9 million in New Hampshire, $9 million in Wisconsin and $9.5 million in Georgia, according to a plan shared with POLITICO. COMMITTEE SHUFFLE — A few committee moves have been announced this week, here's a little roundup: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that the House Democratic Steering & Policy Committee has recommended that Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) serve on the Agriculture Committee and Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) join Armed Services. Both still need to get approval from the full Democratic Caucus. On the Republican side , freshman Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) was selected to fill recently convicted and resigned Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's (R-Neb.) vacant seat on the Appropriations Committee. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the top Republican on Ways and Means, said Wednesday that he anticipates Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) would will replace Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), who resigned Tuesday, as the ranking member of the panel's subcommittee on social security. MAY DAYS — It's May, which means it's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Nicholas caught up with Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus chair Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who said the caucus had a whole slate of events planned. Among the events: Wednesday evening special order remembrances of the late Rep. Norm Mineta (D-Calif.), a commemoration of lives lost to anti-AAPI hate on May 18, and the unveiling of a new portrait of the late Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii), the first woman of color elected to Congress (though the official reveal will come in June, timed to the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which Mink co-authored). | 
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