Subject: POLITICO Huddle: Presented by Unum – THE TAMING OF THE TEA PARTY – McConnell vs. Grimes could top $100M – OBAMA HUDDLES WITH SHINSEKI IN OVAL – House takes up VA accountability bill – WRRDA sails through House – SCALISE ON THE RISE
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 May 2014 06:30:01 -0600

By Scott Wong (
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2014 TEA-PARTY INSURRECTION?MORE LIKE BOSTON MASSACRE - POLITICO's Alexander Burns tells us what happened last night: "In state after state this primary season, entrenched politicians are proving that incumbency counts for something after all, leveraging the stature and financial firepower that comes with high office to demolish challengers from the activist right. In three states Tuesday night, long-serving lawmakers rolled over tea party opponents. Eight-term Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson beat back a challenger supported by the Club for Growth, the most influential conservative group targeting elected officials in primaries. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Bill Shuster easily dispatched an opponent once
 touted as a tea party warrior. Overshadowing the whole night was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's decisive triumph over Matt Bevin, a conservative Louisville investor whose bid drew support from outside groups such as the Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks.

-- "... Republicans say the 2014 season is well on its way to reasserting a once-iron law of politics: It's awfully hard to oust a sitting member of Congress who's willing to fight for his seat. After all, a politician like McConnell got where he is for a reason. The political muscles and focused ambition that make a person a senior U.S. senator in the first place don't simply vanish the moment a primary challenger files papers. It takes time, energy and a painful amount of money: the cost of winning renomination as a sitting Republican senator has more than doubled since 2002, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings." 
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THE FRONT PAGE - WSJ: "GOP Sees Primaries Taming Tea Party." USA Today: "GOP fends off tea party threat: Incumbents face down challengers in several races." WaPo: "Republicans get boost in Senate primaries." NYT: Small photo of triumphant McConnell and wife Elaine Chao, with jump to A18 story: "McConnell Win Leads Night of Victories for G.O.P. Establishment ." Lexington Herald-Leader: U.S. SENATE RACE BEGINS IN EARNEST: McCONNELL EASILY DEFEATS BEVIN, SETTING UP A FEROCIOUS RE-ELECTION RACE AGAINST GRIMES."

McCONNELL, GRIMES MATCH COULD COST NORTH OF $100M - The Courier-Journal's Joseph Gerth reports: "U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes cruised to victories in Tuesday&#39;s primary elections, setting up a general election tilt that some predict will cost more than $100 million. McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, easily bested Louisville businesman Matt Bevin. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, McConnell led Bevin 60 percent to 36 percent. Grimes was leading her nearest competitor 76 percent to 8 percent. ... In their acceptance speeches, both Grimes and McConnell went on the offensive and signaled what the November race will look like. McConnell
 continued to attack President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Harry Reid, D-Nev., trying to dirty Grimes with their negative impressions in the state. ... Grimes, for her part, accused McConnell of causing gridlock in Washington and on at least two occasions called the 73-year-old Republican the 'senior senator.' 'We will take the fight to Mitch McConnell and hold him accountable for 30 years of failed leadership,' she said." 
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MORE ELECTION COVERAGE BELOW ... 

**A message from Unum: Nothing is more important to America's fiscal future than ensuring the financial stability of individuals and families. By opting to provide private disability insurance, businesses save American taxpayers up to $4.5 billion a year. Financial protection benefits: American workers win, and American taxpayers win. Learn more at 
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HAPPENING AT 10 A.M. TODAY: President Obama meets with embattled Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors in the Oval Office to receive an update on the situation at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

-- NABORS "will fly to the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Phoenix on Wednesday to assess the most damning reports - that government workers falsified data or created secret waiting lists to hide the long delays veterans faced before seeing doctors," the NYT reports in the A1 lead. "The president is also sending Denis R. McDonough, his chief of staff, to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to consult with the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont. Lawmakers are working on bipartisan legislation that would give veterans officials greater authority to fire those responsible at the department." 
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THE REPUBLICAN-LED HOUSE today will take up the VA Management Accountability Act - a bipartisan bill to give the current or future VA Secretary the tools he needs to discipline or fire senior managers. Speaker John Boehner has not called for Shinseki's head - and has no plans to, a spokesman said. But Boehner's office is out this morning with a blog post highlighting "the gap between the President&#39;s rhetoric and reality on veterans&#39; issues.""The Obama administration says the president is 'madder than hell' at the widespread mismanagement of the VA health care system across the country, as all Americans are right to be," the post says, "but the administration's failure to resolve
 these problems is a far cry from the personal responsibility he promised." Read it here:
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TRANSITIONS - ABIGAIL SHILLING, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) is taking a new role in her native Minnesota. Tuesday was her last day on the Hill. "I&#39;m thankful to the offices and Members that offered me a chance to serve: Reps. Gutknecht, Forbes, Reichert, and Wittman," she emailed colleagues. "I&#39;ve been blessed to work and interact with so many wonderful people. Thank you for being a part of a great experience in our nation&#39;s capital."

-- REP. LOUISE M. SLAUGHTER (D-N.Y.) said that her husband of 57 years, Robert Slaughter, passed away Tuesday in Washington at the age of 82. "Mrs. Slaughter and her family deeply appreciate the thoughts and prayers of the community as they work through this difficult time," her office said in a statement.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, May 21, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to 
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TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and at 12:15 p.m. will vote on the confirmation of Stanley Fischer to be a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. The Senate will then recess until 2 p.m. for the Republican party caucus lunch.At 2:10 p.m., the Senate will hold a cloture vote on the nomination of David Jeremiah Barron of Massachusetts to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the First Circuit, followed by a series of voice votes on other nominations.

The House is in at 10 a.m. with first votes expected between 2 and 3 p.m. and last votes between 6 and 7 p.m. on The Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act. The House also will continue work on the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act.

AROUND THE HILL - House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, Rep. Eliot Engel and a Boko Haram survivor speak at 9:15 a.m. in Rayburn 2200. Sens. Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and transportation officials speak on a $1.25B grant for L.A. transit project at 10 a.m. in Dirksen 406. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and NAMM speak on access to music and arts education at 11 a.m. at the House Triangle. Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Carolyn Maloney roll out new gun control legislation at 11:30 a.m. in S-120.

ELECTION COVERAGE CONTINUED ....

KINGSTON, PERDUE IN LONG GA. RUNOFF - POLITICO's Manu Raju reports: "Republicans in Washington got the result they wanted in Georgia: Two candidates viewed as the strongest contenders to keep a Senate seat central to the fight for the majority. But the runoff between Rep. Jack Kingston and businessman David Perdue will be nasty, brutish - and long. As in the lengthiest in the state's political history - a nine-week intra-party slugfest at a critical moment in the battle for control of the Senate. ... Republicans will have a choice between Kingston, an 11-term congressman who has the backing of the likes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Sean Hannity - and Perdue, a first-time candidate
 who boasts of turning around Fortune 500 companies and being an 'outsider.' The winner will take on Democrat Michelle Nunn, who has yet to be tested after skating to her party's nomination Tuesday night." 
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SCHWARTZ LOSES PA. GUV'S RACE - Cameron Joseph writes for The Hill: "Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) has lost her primary to wealthy businessman Tom Wolf (D), who will face vulnerable Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) in the fall. The Associated Press called the race for Wolf, who was easily leading Schwartz by 54 percent to 23 percent, with two other candidates splitting the remainder of the vote.Schwartz, a fixture in Washington, former head fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and favorite of EMILY&#39;s List, was an early favorite in the primary. But Wolf spent more than $10 million of his own money on the race, blanketing the state with ads painting him as a
 fresh-faced political outsider." 
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WEHBY TO DEMS: VOTERS TIRED OF 'YOUR DIRTY TRICKS' - Jeff Mapes reports for the Oregonian: "Political newcomer Monica Wehby handily defeated state Rep. Jason Conger in the Oregon Republican race for the U.S. Senate as she survived the personal controversy that dogged the last days of her primary race. In her victory speech, Wehby thanked Republican voters for seeing through 'all the negativity' and said, 'I do have a message for those national Democrats who were willing to shred my family for their own political gain: People are tired of your dirty tricks.' ... Wehby, a Portland pediatric neurosurgeon, can now turn her full attention to running against U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. -- and
 to regaining her political footing. Since Friday, state and national coverage of the race has focused on revelations that two men in Wehby&#39;s life -- an ex-boyfriend and ex-husband -- had both called police at separate times to complain that she was harassing them." 
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WRRDA SAILS THROUGH HOUSE 412-4 - Kevin Robillard reports for POLITICO Pro: "Four of the House's most conservative members were for WRRDA before they were against it. Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) were the lone dissenters in Tuesday's 412-4 vote to approve the $12 billion Water Resources Reform and Development Act - seven months after they voted for an $8.2 billion version of the same bill. The House's only three 'nays' in October's House WRRDA vote came from Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), all of whom voted yes Tuesday. The Senate is expected to consider the bill
 later this week. The collective seven flip-flops show how even on legislation of national importance, such as a sprawling water infrastructure bill authorizing dozens of projects across the country, members' votes can still come down to parochial concerns and, perhaps, loyalty to powerful outside groups." More for Pros: 
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TWITTER TRAFFIC -- @dwallbank:Bill Shuster&#39;s day: Sails massive $12.3 billion WRRDA bill through the House with 4 no votes, then fends off Tea Party challenger

CAN SCALISE CRACK THE LEADERSHIP INNER CIRCLE? - Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer report for the hometown paper: "[C]onservatives have been unable to vault one of their own to a top House Republican leadership slot. That is certain to change soon. When it does, lawmakers and top aides across the ideological spectrum think Steve Scalise will be the man. As his chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee winds down, the Louisiana Republican is emerging as one of the most powerful conservatives in the House. He's deftly navigated the stormy currents of conservative politics while keeping his influence in Republican leadership circles, helping sway policy at the top. Through his RSC post and
 other internal moves, he's paved a direct path into his party's leadership.

-- "When Speaker John Boehner eventually leaves Congress, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are expected to move up, leaving the whip job open. Conservatives will want to elevate one of their own, partially as a price of allowing Cantor and McCarthy to rise without significant angst. It's an open secret that Scalise is eyeing the whip job - the No. 3 leadership slot in the House." 
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-- CHIEF DEPUTY WHIP PETE ROSKAM (R-ILL.) could be the odd man out, write Lauren French and John Bresnahan: 
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NEW DHS HEADQUARTERS, 11 YEARS LATE, $1.5B OVERBUDGET, MAY NEVER BE BUILT -Jerry Markon writes on A1 of the WaPo: "The construction of a massive new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security, billed as critical for national security and the revitalization of Southeast Washington, is running more than $1.5 billion over budget, is 11 years behind schedule and may never be completed, according to planning documents and federal officials." 
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TUESDAY'STRIVIA WINNER - Colleen Shogan and Jane Meyer were our two winners. Between them, they named the three places Dolley Madison was buried after her death in 1849. Shogan answered the Congressional Cemetery and Montpelier. Meyer answered the Congressional Cemetery and then the Causten family vault.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Jane Meyer has today's question: What was the occupation of Sen. Chuck Schumer&#39;s father? First person to send the correct answer to 
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**A message from Unum: The new safety net. Financial protection benefits don't just add to current government benefits; they also act as a buffer to keep disabled individuals and families financially secure using private, rather than public, resources. In March 2014, the average social security benefit for a disabled worker was $1,146 - which would total about $13,750 over the course of a year. Providing over 650,000 disabled workers with more than $9 billion through employer-sponsored financial protection coverage in 2012, the disability insurance industry provides the security that most individuals and families need. Yet these benefits are not as prevalent as they need to be - only about
 one-third of American workers have employer-provided long-term income protection benefits. It's the new safety net being provided by Unum and the benefits industry. Financial protection benefits: American workers win, and American taxpayers win. Learn more at 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cf1af57d7d1cbce65728018e20c7d90ec646c3c93e33e22da4bf9ca245f18a9b 
www.ProtectingYourIncome.org  **

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