GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, April 20, where your Huddle hosts hope to try the Dunkin Longworth breakfast tacos sometime soon. LET ME BE BRIEF(ED) — House lawmakers emerged from a classified briefing on leaked sensitive Pentagon documents with largely the same reaction their Senate counterparts had earlier Wednesday: They didn’t learn much new and see the briefing as the first-step in a long process. “I did not discern any more information,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters, adding that lawmakers “still need answers to a whole slew of questions before I can really answer” whether everything possible is being done to mitigate the impacts of the leak. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) agreed he had “not really” learned anything new from the Wednesday briefing with intelligence and defense officials. “The issues are primarily focused on how the hell did this happen,” he told POLITICO. “This is kind of like [Edward] Snowden, but without the ideology, because he was an IT guy.” FLORIDA DAM BREAKING FOR TRUMP? — One Florida man is having a good week in Washington, another is not. Former President Donald Trump is racking up the endorsements in the House, particularly among fellow Florida Republicans. GOP Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Carlos Gimenez, Vern Buchanan, Brian Mast and Greg Steube have all backed Trump for president this week. Eric Cortelessa at Time Magazine reported that Bilirakis and Gimenez will join other Trump backers at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach tonight, along with Floridiaian GOP Reps. Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna and Cory Mills. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t formally announced a White House run, was in Washington this week but came away with just one endorsement from the Florida House delegation: first term GOP Rep. Laurel Lee. FIRST IN HUDDLE: OCEAN STATE ENDORSEMENT — The campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is getting involved in the crowded race to replace retiring Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), throwing their support behind Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, who would be the first Afro-Latino to serve in the seat if elected. The move is the first endorsement made under new CHC BOLD PAC chair Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.). Matos may still have her work cut out for her: There are 13 other candidates in the primary race for Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District. BASS IS BACK — Los Angeles City Mayor Karen Bass returned back to her old stomping grounds of the House floor Wednesday, where she was greeted with lots of excited questions from her former colleagues about why she was visiting while answering questions from reporters. “I did my first State of the City the other day. So that was nice,” she said happily. Hill reporters got their chance to talk to her too – including Nicholas, who asked her if she had any comment on the calls for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to resign. “No, I just hope that she gets better soon. And obviously we need her back here so we can get those judges going. So hopefully she'll be back with us.” Asked if California Gov. Gavin Newsom should stick to his promise to appoint a Black woman if a vacancy occurred, she said: “that’s what he said he pledged.” But she’s happy in her new job: “I’m 130 days in. So far it’s been great.” “WILDLY UNDERWHELMING” — That’s what House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) called the report on the massive DC Health Link data breach by the third-party cybersecurity firm Mandiant. Lawmakers’ anger was on display at the contentious hearing on Wednesday, where members did not find much satisfaction in answers from the executive director of the operator of the DC Health Link system. POLITICO’s Maggie Miller hit some highlights (maybe lowlights?):
- A “misconfigured server” involved in the breach was operating since 2018 and was a vulnerability since then.
- House Administration Committee oversight subcommittee Chair Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) said the breach left the congressional community “in shock,” and that “it’s unacceptable that over a month later, we still don’t have answers and continue to be left in the dark.”
- Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), chair of the House Oversight Committee’s cyber panel, called for those involved to be fired, while members of both committees questioned why the House continues to use DC Health Link.
Speaking of bad data practices… CFPB Says Staffer Sent 250,000 Consumers’ Data to Personal Account, from Andrew Ackerman at The Wall Street Journal GREEN V. GREENE — After Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a “liar” and accused Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), without evidence, of an affair with a Chinese operative, House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) barred the Georgia Republican from further participation at the Wednesday hearing. “It’s pretty clear that the rules state you can’t impugn someone’s character. Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee and I make the ruling that we strike those words,” said Green, a Tennessee Republican. It’s hard to convey how seldom this is used by any member against their own party. Matt Berg really paints the picture of a hearing going off the rails. JUDICIARY ADVANCES BORDER BILL — The House Judiciary committee advanced its border bill out of committee in a 23-15 vote, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voting no with Democrats. The House Committee on Homeland Security is expected to mark up its piece of the GOP’s border bill next week. Meanwhile, another Mayorkas meeting: House GOP plows ahead on risky immigration plan, from Jordain
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