Search, seizure rankle Republicans

A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news

Aug 10, 2022 View in browser   By Katherine Tully-McManus House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol Aug. 9, 2022. (Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO) HOUSE STARTS THE CLOCK — The House kicks off consideration of the Democrats' pivotal climate, health care and tax bill that cleared the Senate over the weekend, laying the groundwork for the full House to act on the measure later this week. The House Rules Committee will take up the measure this afternoon. Democrats are billing the measure as a generational investment in climate policy and health care and touting what they see as overdue changes to the tax framework. But Republicans are already hurling attacks, and preparing many more. Are the attacks sticking? Internal GOP polling, scooped by Sarah , shows that certain provisions, including tax breaks on electric cars and hiring more Internal Revenue Service workers aren't popular with swing voters. In some key battleground districts, the polling showed that voters said they'd be less likely to support the member if they back the bill. But Democrats aren't sweating. The bill is expected to clear the closely divided House easily, even without Republican backing. RELATED: Biden, Democrats bet on long-term goals for short-term boost , from Seung Min Kim, Josh Boak and Chris Megerian at The Associated Press NOT ON THE DOCKET — Some Democrats were hoping to tack on a slate of law enforcement bills to their to-do list in this mid-recess session, but that is looking less likely to happen. On a private call on Tuesday night , Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she would defer to the Congressional Black Caucus on the policing measures. She didn't officially punt action, but with tight timing and disagreements about the measures still simmering, it looks unlikely to move forward this week at this point. "It's just up to the Black Caucus. I'll follow their lead on this," she said. Many Black Democrats and progressives are seeking additional accountability language and guardrails for funding the bills would authorize for law enforcement. CONGRESSIONAL SEIZURE — Just one day after the search at Mar-a-Lago, the FBI seized the phone of Donald Trump ally Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Perry was a key figure in Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election. But the seizure could be related to records, like the search of Trump's resort. The select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack received testimony that Trump's last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, communicated with Perry on the encrypted messaging app Signal and burned certain papers after meeting in the White House with Perry. Kyle, Nicholas and Olivia have more. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to explain Monday's search of Mar-a-Lago: "The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the events of Monday. Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately."   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today .     GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, August 10, where the Capitol's mice are on an early-August power trip. MOVE OVER, MAR-A-LAGO — House Republicans are outraged by the FBI search of Donald Trump's home, saying it is all political. But they are planning to launch a sweeping investigation of Hunter Biden, designed to take down President Joe Biden, ahead of 2024. If Republicans take the House, they will move to investigate in January. "House Republicans see no contradiction between their suspicion of the FBI's law enforcement activity at Mar-a-Lago and their interest in digging into the business dealings of the president's son and other family members. Oversight of the Bidens, they contend, would counterbalance what they see as a Justice Department where partisanship influences decisions like the probe of 2020 election subversion that's drawing closer to Trump," writes Jordain . Fears of violence: More than a half-dozen House Republicans who talked to POLITICO raised concerns about the furor stirred by the FBI's dramatic day-long search of Mar-a-Lago. "The base has lost its mind. If Trump decides to call them to arms, then I think he could get another Jan. 6," one senior House Republican said in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity. More from Jordain: Republicans who blast FBI's Trump search are prepping to snag Joe in a Hunter Biden probe UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT — GOP Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) conceded last night, after losing her bid for reelection in a primary in Washington state. She will not finish in the top two of the all-party primary, bested by Trump-back challenger Joe Kent. He will face off against Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez in November. Herrera Beutler's defeat is the latest blow for the group of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump early last year. Myah Ward and Ally Mutnick have more: Republican Herrera Beutler falls in primary after voting to impeach Trump That LegBranch angle… Herrera Beutler is the top Republican on the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee. With her primary loss and Chair Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) making a bid for the Senate, the panel that sets priorities for spending within Congress itself will be under new management in the fiscal 2024 spending cycle. TIK TOK ON THE CLOCK — Will a warning from the House IT office make digital staffers on Capitol Hill rethink using TikTok? The House Chief Administrative Office sent a two-page memo to House employees Tuesday warning them against downloading or using TikTok, due to security and privacy concerns. It highlighted the trove of data that TikTok gathers from users, including biometric data, location, GPS status, contacts and photos. The data can be "potentially mined for commercial and private purposes" and stored on servers located in China, they warn. Do not download: "We do not recommend the download or use of this application due to these security and privacy concerns," says the Chief Administrative Office. Lots of House offices have adopted the wildly popular Chinese-owned app to connect with younger audiences. Some staffers are less concerned with the security issues than with meeting constituents where they already are, which for millions of Americans, is on TikTok. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who has been a strong voice critical of China, was an early adopter of the app. Rep. Katie Porter's (D-Calif.) account posts clips of her taking witnesses to task at hearings and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) posted her arrest on July 19. Digital staff are under pressure to be innovative and take their boss' message to the hot new place. "Each digital lead has to balance the impulse to innovate with the responsibility of having their boss set a good example of cyber hygiene," one Democratic digital staffer who doesn't manage an official TikTok told Huddle. "And clearly we're seeing digital leads on the Hill landing in different places." Some lawmakers have raised official concerns about data security practices of TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance. In July, the Senate Intelligence Committee called for a Federal Trade Commission probe of TikTok, in response to allegations that they had made "repeated misrepresentations" to Congress. Meanwhile on HillternTok… GenZ are the undisputed rulers of TikTok. And they're also interning on Capitol Hill. But "social media interns" aren't running lawmakers' Twitter or Instagram accounts, and interns aren't handed the keys to the TikTok. But they sure make their own. The app is full of "day in the life" and "outfit of the day" posts from Hill interns, real talk about constituent calls and reaction videos to Supreme Court decisions. RELATED: The TikTok influencers are coming for the midterms , from Makena Kelly at The Verge BIDEN TAPS CLEAVER'S SON-IN-LAW — Biden plans to nominate Jabari Wamble to the federal appeals court in Kansas. Wamble, who has served as an assistant US attorney in Kansas since 2011 and previously worked as an assistant attorney general there, would sit on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He is also the son-in-law of Missouri Democrat Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver. SPECIAL ELECTION — A special election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) will be held concurrently with the general election on Nov. 8, 2022. Governor Eric J. Holcomb signed an executive order on Tuesday setting the process in motion .   INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY .     HUDDLE HOTDISH Stark empty Senate… After a brief pro forma session at 9 a.m. Tuesday, all 100 Senate desks were removed from the chamber. The sight stunned our own Jordain, who lurked around looking for the desks (where would you store 100 desks?) We hear there aren't dramatic changes underway for the chamber, just some summer sprucing while lawmakers are away. New home for old stones… Almost 50 years ago, stones removed from the Capitol during a renovation were dumped in Rock Creek Park. Now, they are headed to an Architect of the Capitol facility in Ft. Meade. Jack Fitzpatrick from BGov had the scoop . QUICK LINKS   Capitol Police officer facing criminal charges tied to hit-and-run cover-up resigns, sources say, from Chris Marquette at CQ Roll Call 'People will die waiting': America's system for the disabled is nearing collapse , from Dan Goldberg Schumer isn't Harry Reid or LBJ. How his style helped land Democrats a string of wins , from Paul Kane at The Washington Post TODAY IN CONGRESS The House is out. The Senate is out. AROUND THE HILL 12:30 p.m. Pelosi and lawmakers who went on her CODEL to the Indo-Pacific region hold a press conference (Studio A). 2 p.m. House Rules Committee meets to consider the Democrats' climate, health care and tax bill (H-313). TRIVIA TUESDAY'S WINNER: Sue Gander correctly answered that Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in by Sarah T. Hughes, U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Texas, following the assasination of John F. Kennedy. TODAY'S QUESTION from Sue: Who was the first woman elected to Congress, and which two "no" votes is she most famous for casting? 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   Follow us

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