| | | | |  | | By Katherine Tully-McManus, Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz | Presented by Sallie Mae® | ON CALL — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned senators heading out on the weeklong recess that they should be prepared to jet back to Washington with just 24 hours notice in case they need to vote on a debt limit deal. But given that the House would have to make the first move, senators will likely have more than a one day heads up.
|  Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) arrives at Senate Judiciary Thursday. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images) | AP | AP | NOT FINE-STEIN — Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) colleagues on Capitol Hill are holding two truths at once: they’re glad that she’s returned to work, but recognize that she remains unwell and they’re openly concerned. Democrats are relieved to have her vote on nominations and heading into a high-stakes legislative summer. But on her pared down work schedule and continued recovery, her colleagues on both sides of the aisle and both sides of Capitol Hill say they haven’t even talked to her since she returned to Washington. “I do really worry about her health and I hope she's making decisions that are best for her health and best for the country because it was a really important time and she's had an amazing legacy,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said. “I don't want anything to ruin that.” The Senate Judiciary Committee is working around her, placing nominations on the agenda for meetings that only get taken up if she is able to appear. But that schedule is relentless compared to her other committee assignments. At Senate Intelligence, her staff designee is a regular but her colleagues report she has not returned to the panel. As spending fights simmer, her colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee admit they won’t “need” her until markups. Senate spending bill markups aren’t set to start until at least June. “We need her in committee and on the floor,” Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, alluding to the need for Feinstein to vote on judicial nominees who lack any GOP support. “We’re doing our best to be sensitive to her medical condition.” “She's obviously fighting this sickness. And when you get older, when you get sick. It just gets compounded,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told Huddle earlier this week. But he won’t hear talk of resignation: “That's not for anybody in this body to even say. It's a decision she has to make, whenever she makes it. That'll be the right time to make it, but not until then.” But multiple lawmakers, unprompted, brought up their own mortality when discussing Feinstein.
- Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.): “I'm a little biased because I'm 71 and almost died a couple years ago. So the political sharks are swimming around. The system is the system. And the big thing was their inability to get there for judiciary and floor votes. And she’s able to do that.”
- Tester: “It’s a very hard situation because, let’s face it, when I’m 89 years old I’ll be long dead. Trust me.”
KTM and Nicholas talked to Feinstein’s colleagues, committee mates and fellow Californians to capture how her return to Congress is really going: Feinstein’s return leaves her party on edge Related read: Feinstein Suffered More Complications From Illness Than Were Publicly Disclosed, from Annie Karni and Carl Hulse at The New York Times
| | A message from Sallie Mae®: Every year, Federal Pell Grants help nearly 7 million students access college. Pell Grants, however, only cover one-third of the average cost of attendance today, compared to more than 75% when it was introduced 50 years ago. Private student lender Sallie Mae believes modernizing the Pell Grant can more meaningfully support students with the most need. Learn more. | | | GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, May 19, where your Huddle hosts are happy it’s Friday! STILL DEBT TO DISCUSS — Time waits for no one, even Congress. There are plenty of ways each chamber manipulates the calendar when they need to, but it might not be enough on debt. “If Congress pulls out all the procedural stops, passing a debt ceiling and broader budget deal through both chambers could take a week and a half. That would push the U.S. uncomfortably close to the potential June 1 default deadline, even if leaders can reach a deal this weekend,” report Caitlin and Jennifer. Don’t miss their road map to how each chamber could go into hyperdrive and why there might be wiggle room on that deadline. Debt limit and sexual health (yes, really): Senior Biden administration officials and public health leaders are warning that debt ceiling negotiations around clawing back unspent Covid-19 money would have an unintended consequence: increasing sexually-transmitted diseases. Funding clawbacks would undermine work to slow the spread of syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV and hepatitis, and leave the country weaker in the face of future pandemics. More from our colleague Alice Miranda Ollstein. Freedom Caucus says freeze: The House Freedom Caucus adopted a resolution calling on Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Republicans “to use every leverage and tool at their disposal to ensure the Limit, Save, Grow Act is signed into law,” adding: “There should be no further discussion until the Senate passes the legislation.” This is a sign of the challenges McCarthy faces from the most conservative members of his conference, which make up 20 percent of the voting bloc, whose positions he will have a hard time reconciling with any agreement he can reach with President Joe Biden. ICYMI: White House negotiators signal concessions on work requirements in debt talks, from Meredith Lee Hill
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S HEALTH CARE SUMMIT: The Covid-19 pandemic helped spur innovation in health care, from the wide adoption of telemedicine, health apps and online pharmacies to mRNA vaccines. But what will the next health care innovations look like? Join POLITICO on Wednesday June 7 for our Health Care Summit to explore how tech and innovation are transforming care and the challenges ahead for access and delivery in the United States. REGISTER NOW. | | | | | MCCAUL PAUSES — Chairman of House Foreign Affairs committee Michael McCaul (R-Texas) postponed a markup for a resolution to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress after he accepted the State Department's invitation to view a classified dissent cable and Blinken’s reply to it regarding the withdrawal of U.S. personnel from Afghanistan. The July 2021 document from diplomats in Afghanistan warned of the possible rapid fall of Kabul, which proved accurate. Related read, fresh this morning: GOP mulls how to make its Afghanistan oversight matter, from Anthony DELANEY DIPS OUT — The Biden administration is expected to withdraw the appellate court nomination of Michael Delaney — a rare failure of a judicial nominee with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House. Several Democrats on the Judiciary Committee were resisting supporting Delaney to serve on the First Circuit Court of Appeals, in part because of of his past work defending a school in a civil lawsuit over sexual assault. More from Burgess here. JOE SAYS NO — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has said “no” plenty of times to President Joe Biden, but on Thursday he cast his first “nay” vote against a Biden judicial nominee. Manchin joined Republicans in opposing voting rights lawyer Nancy Abudu’s confirmation to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. (Granted, Democrats in the 50-50 senate didn’t usually bring much to the floor without Manchin’s vote locked up.) Abudu was confirmed 49-47.
| | | | A message from Sallie Mae®:   | | | | | FIRST IN HUDDLE: Pickleball hits the Senate — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) is launching the Senate’s pickleball caucus and has already recruited Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Here’s the scuttlebut: The group hasn’t gotten to play together yet, but plans are already in the works. Capito has been playing back home in West Virginia and wanted to keep it up while she’s in Washington. The group has already scouted out a court situation very, very close to where they work. Capito said her pick either for a partner or opponent would be Tillis, but would be happy to be paired with Gillibrand, who she says is “a good racquet player.” No word yet on if they’ll face off against Reps. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), co-chairs of the House Pickleball Caucus. PARTY WITHOUT YOU: Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) didn’t invite you to their Russell courtyard hangout (which Sen. Alex Padilla made very clear). FRESH CUT: Jordain has been telling us about Attorney General Merrick Garland sightings at the Senate barber for years, but now there’s photo proof. QUICK LINKS Is Bernie Sanders happy?, from Kara Voght at the Washington Post Lawmakers Consider More Security for Offices Following Connolly Staff Attack, from Stephanie Lai at The New York Times ‘Single biggest threat’: Warren, Tester warn against bank consolidation, from Katy O’Donnell House GOP embraces FBI whistleblowers despite bureau yanking clearances over Jan. 6, from Jordain Carney On the Hunt for America’s Forgotten Apples, Andrew Zaleski from Outside Magazine TRANSITIONS James Hewitt has been promoted to deputy chief of staff for Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and will retain his duties as communications director. Carl Schuler has been promoted to legislative aide while Emma Schmidt has been promoted to legislative correspondent. Brandi Anderson has been hired full-time as a constituent service representative in Waltz’ Ormond Beach, Florida, district office. She previously served as a Gold Star fellow where she handled case work concerning veteran and military issues.
| | | | GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE. | | | | | TODAY IN CONGRESS The House is out. The Senate will convene for a pro forma session at 9:45 a.m. AROUND THE HILL Quiet Friday!
| | Thursday’s WINNER: Bruce Mehlman correctly guessed that Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo became the first Latino to serve in the Senate. TODAY’S QUESTION from Bruce: Calculate the age of the oldest sitting U.S. senator minus the age of the youngest U.S. senator… Which two sitting U.S. Senators are that number of years old? 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 Sallie Mae®: For too long, the federal student loan program has done too much for too many, and not enough for those who need the most support. Meaningfully increasing the Pell Grant, which provides need-based government funding that does not need to be repaid, would be a step in the right direction in supporting access for low-income students and helping protect against overborrowing. Learn more about why private lender and education solutions provider Sallie Mae supports expanding the Pell Grant, a critical tool in increasing college access and completion. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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