| | | | |  | | By Katherine Tully-McManus and Daniella Diaz | Presented by Southwest Airlines | With an assist from Jordain Carney and Burgess Everett
|  New battles over abortion on Capitol Hill have taken shape in the year since the Supreme Court's pivotal abortion rights decision. (J. Scott Applewhite) | AP | 364 DAYS SINCE DOBBS — Saturday marks one year since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion across the nation. The landmark case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, redrew battle lines across the country, including on Capitol Hill, where there are familiar fights playing out alongside fresh legislative questions. Democrats are fighting — where they can — to protect abortion access where they didn’t have to before (or haven’t since pre-Roe). Here's where they're on offense to carve out protections:
- Long shot to codify Roe: House Democrats were working this week to file a discharge petition to force a vote to codify Roe and lock in protections from the 1973 decision. While the effort has the support of the vast majority of Democrats, a handful of Democrats held back. The petition would also need a handful of Republicans to get to the magic 218 signatures to launch the bill to the floor. It was a long shot that didn't launch.
- Interstate travel: In the post-Dobbs landscape, where abortion restrictions vary widely state-by-state, Democrats are on offense as well to try and protect a patient's right to travel across state lines to receive an abortion. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) has a bill that would bar anyone from interfering with out-of-state travel for reproductive care. An attempt to move the bill by unanimous consent was halted this week by GOP objections.
- Military abortion travel: Republicans in both chambers are gunning to reverse a Pentagon policy, put in place post-Dobbs, that pays for troops’ travel to obtain abortions. The House Defense spending bill would block funds from being used for that policy, but the provision is seen as a poison pill by Democrats who want to preserve abortion access for service members in states where it is now banned. The House Armed Services Committee, however, punted on the abortion travel question this week when marking up the National Defense Authorization Act. An amendment to reverse the policy is likely to appear when the bill heads to the House floor. If included at the committee level, there were serious concerns that it would kill the bill. The same issue has been front and center in the upper chamber too, where Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) continues to hold up more than 250 senior military promotions over the Pentagon policy.
- VA abortion care: Attached to the House’s GOP-led Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bill is a block on funding for the VA to implement an agency rule to expand abortion access. That rule, first rolled out in late 2022, would permit abortion counseling and allow the VA to perform the procedure in certain cases in states where it is banned. The bill's report would require an update from the VA to Congress on how many abortions it has provided.
- Data privacy: Democrats are also racing to try and keep companies from profiting by advertising off of personally identifiable health data and to expand protections for health data privacy. Concerns have arisen that searches for abortion information, GPS location data and other digital footprints could put patients at risk of prosecution in states where abortion is now illegal. A bill to protect this data from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) was halted on the floor this week.
- Provider protection: Democrats are pushing for legislation to bar states from restricting or preventing health care providers from performing legal abortions. A bill from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to establish protections for providers in states where abortion remains legal is on the Democrats’ roster.
Some fights over abortion on Capitol Hill – think Hyde Amendment, Helms Amendment and the Mexico City Policy – are a tale as old as time, word-for-word replicas of amendments, policy riders and proposals that are fought annually in spending and policy bills. And the battle lines are the same as pre-Dobbs, largely along party lines with just a few outliers, like Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).
“We've debated the Hyde Amendment,” Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) told Huddle in an interview. “I think we're gonna continue to see those efforts in every committee and I've heard those same kinds of things. So the most important thing we could do is show up, do our committee work, fight back, try to get those things either out of or not into the bills. But all of these things point to how important it is to make sure that we are in a position to pass the legislation that the vast majority of Americans want passed.”
| | | | A message from Southwest Airlines: Southwest Airlines’ purpose has always been to connect you to what’s important in your life, and we’re ready to welcome you onboard this summer. To help us serve you, Southwest developed an action plan that accelerates operational investments and reliability, enhances cross-Team collaboration, and improves our operations. Learn about how Southwest is preparing for your next trip with our action plan and path forward. | | | GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, June 23, where there’s just one House vote series between us and the two week recess. UNION TRAIN PULLS UP TO SENATE — A group of Democratic senators led by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have introduced a resolution that would allow Senate staffers to form unions and collectively bargain, your Huddle hosts scooped this morning. But while Democrats control the Senate, they would need to find Republican senators in favor to overcome the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. CLERK CLOCKING OUT — House Clerk Cheryl Johnson will step down at the end of this month, she announced Thursday. The chamber’s chief legislative official, Johnson was sworn in in 2019 and renominated at the start of the 118th Congress. Kevin McCumber, Johnson’s deputy, was sworn in by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as interim clerk. THE SANTOS SUBPOENAS — The House Ethics Committee issued a remarkable update on its investigation into Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), announcing more than 30 subpoenas. The committee, which usually heeds Justice Department requests to put its investigations on ice while prosecutors work a case, is instead forging ahead on the Santos matter.
| | | | 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. | | | | | EXPUNGE TRUMP — Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have introduced resolutions to formally expunge former President Donald Trump for his past two impeachments. It’s unclear whether the resolutions will get a vote in the House. McCarthy asked earlier this year about expunging one or both of Trump's impeachments: “I understand why individuals want to do it, and we’d look at it.” "The American people know Democrats weaponized the power of impeachment against President Donald Trump to advance their own extreme political agenda," Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, said in a statement. The statement continued: "From the beginning of this sham process, I stood up against Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff’s blatant attempt to shred the Constitution as House Democrats ignored the Constitution and failed to follow the legislative process. President Donald Trump was rightfully acquitted, and it is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country." RICK SCOTT IS NOT — After the New York Times reported that Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was considering a presidential bid, he told Burgess on Thursday: “I’m running for the Senate. I’ve been very clear. I’m not considering running for president. I’m running for the Senate.”
| | You learn something new everyday … including that canned cheese is a thing from Washington. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) enjoyed some on Thursday afternoon, a gift from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Modi dinner… House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) were at the White House last night for the state dinner for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Others lawmakers in attendance included Indian American lawmakers Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Plus Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.). Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others were also in attendance. The president’s son Hunter Biden, who pled guilty to tax crimes earlier this week and is the subject of Congressional probes, was at the dinner but tried to keep a low profile. This one is presented without comment.
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QUICK LINKS
Capitol Police end contract with company that rejected atypical percentage of recruits, from Chris Marquette at CQ Roll Call Waning Blue Dogs eschew branding in favor of taking down ‘weirdos’, from Justin Papp at Roll Call State Dinners: Who Gets Them, Who Doesn’t and Why They Matter, from Zolan Kanno-Youngs at The New York Times U.S. Navy Heard What It Believed Was Titan Implosion Days Ago, from Ben Kesling, Nancy A. Youssef, Gordon Lubold and Costas Paris at The Wall Street Journal TRANSITIONS Matt Perricone has been promoted to be legislative director for Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.). He most recently was press secretary for Meuser. TODAY IN CONGRESS The House convenes at 9 a.m. for legislative business. First and last votes are expected at 10:45 a.m. The Senate is out.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO 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. | | | | | AROUND THE HILL 9:30 a.m. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), as well as the Pro-Choice Caucus, will host a press event marking one year since Dobbs decision. (390 Cannon) 12:30 p.m. Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Waters will host a roundtable on Deposit Insurance Reform. There will be a Q&A period at the conclusion of the roundtable. (CVC-268)
| | THURSDAY’S WINNER: This was a stumper. The national advocacy group launched a hunger strike outside of the White House to protest then-President Bill Clinton's efforts to roll back public assistance for poor families was the National Organization for Women. TODAY’S QUESTION: This speaker in the 23rd Congress took 10 ballots to be elected to lead the House. 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 and Daniella on Twitter @ktullymcmanus and @DaniellaMicaela
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