Subject: POLITICO Huddle, presented by Business Roundtable: Congress will likely avoid the cliff….for now – Schock didn’t report lavish gifts in London – Harry Reid is acting like he’s still the majority leader
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 06:16:00 -0600

By Lauren French (
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CONGRESS WILL LIKELY AVOID THE CLIFF...FOR NOW. Burgess Everett and Jake Sherman report, "First the good news: Congress appears to have found a way to avoid a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security for the next three weeks. Now the bad: March is beginning to look awfully grim for the new Republican Congress that had lofty expectations for legislating in 2015. GOP leaders appear set to win approval of their short-term solution to the DHS impasse on Friday, hours before the money runs dry. But that will leave the House and Senate just three weeks to bridge their fundamental differences on funding the department for the long term and blocking President Barack Obama's changes to the
 enforcement of immigration policy." 
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SCHOCK DIDN'T REPORT LAVISH GIFTS IN LONDON. By POLITICO's dynamic trio, Anna Palmer, John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman, "Rep. Aaron Schock attended dinner and drinks in 2011 at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and at a swank nightclub London - and never disclosed receiving a single gift on his financial disclosure form. This past September, the Illinois Republican held a golf fundraiser - the "Aaron Schock Golf Classic" - at Anne Arundell Mannor in Maryland, but never reported a payment for use of the golf course and facilities on his campaign finance forms. Schock, a fourth-term Republican congressman with a prized seat on the Ways and Means Committee, 
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has hired lawyers  and a crisis communications firm amid a burgeoning scandal over his high-spending ways and potential misuse of official and campaign funds. His office said it is performing an internal audit of his official accounts in response to questions over whether he improperly spent money from his House office budget and failed to report gifts." 
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ELECTION? WHAT ELECTION? From Manu Raju and Burgess Everett, "He only controls 46 seats, but Harry Reid is acting like he has 60. Reid's uncompromising posture during the flap over homeland security funding and his emerging plans for an upcoming fight over immigration make clear he's doing little to change the hardball style that defined his tenure as majority leader. This despite losing control of the chamber after last fall's Democratic debacle and tamping down a coup among centrists seeking his ouster. The 75-year-old Reid, who may seek reelection next year and is in his second stint as minority leader, is betting that Republicans are so nervous about being blamed for a crisis in
 Washington - as they have been repeatedly before - that they will capitulate again. Naturally, his unyielding stance has maddened Republicans."

TGIF, and welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill. Thanks for waking up early with me. The talented Burgess is up next week - make sure to drop him a line with any fun over-the-weekend color from #shutdownmania (if it happens.) As always, we're accepting tips, complaints and compliments at 
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[email-masked]  . You can also find me on Twitter @
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laurennfrench .

TODAY IN CONGRESS -  The House will meet at 9 a.m. with first votes expected between 10:20 and 11:20 a.m. Last votes are TBD. The Senate could have up to 5 votes beginning at 10 a.m.

** Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) now will help ensure America's children graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and the workplace. Quality education is a top priority for business leaders, and it should be for Congress, too. Read the Business Roundtable ESEA reauthorization 
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principles . **

TRANSITIONS. In a big loss for the Hill and huge win for Wisconsin, AshLee Strong, a senior communications director for the Senate Republican Conference, is joining Scott Walker's Our American Revival PAC . March 6 is her last day in the Senate. -- Brad Grantz is leaving Rep. Tim Murphy to join Sen. Pat Toomey's team as a staff director for a Senate Finance subcommittee. -- Sean Dugan is leaving Rep. Frank Pallone's office to join the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a deputy director of health policy.

CBC WILL LOBBY COLLEAGUES ON LYNCH. From your Huddle author and Seung Min Kim, "The Congressional Black Caucus is preparing a forceful lobbying push in support of President Barack Obama's attorney general nominee. Loretta Lynch was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday with three Republican votes. She is expected to win confirmation on the Senate floor, but a number of hardline conservatives are already opposing her over her stance on Obama's immigration actions. Black caucus chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield argued in a letter to Senate leaders on Thursday that Lynch should be swiftly approved, touting her career as a New York prosecutor." 
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REPUBLICAN LEADERS SEARCHING FOR 'YES' VOTES ON EDUCATION BILL. Jake Sherman and Maggie Severns report, "House Republican leadership was working Thursday evening to figure out whether there are enough votes to pass their proposed rewrite of No Child Left Behind, several GOP aides and lawmakers said. The House is scheduled to vote on final passage of the Student Success Act on Friday. But in the days leading up to the House taking up the bill, the Republican whip team has been working hard to turn 'no' votes." 
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NETANYHU WILL HUDDLE WITH SENATE LEADERS. Burgess Everett reports, "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a bipartisan meeting with Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid the same day as his controversial address to Congress on Tuesday, McConnell's office announced Thursday. Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Reid (D-Nev.) will also hold a joint photo-op with Netanyahu, whose address to Congress has sparked a rebellion among Reid's party. Four members of the Senate Democratic Caucus as well as a growing number of House Democrats have announced they will skip the speech, while many more congressional Democrats are undecided." 
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SCALISE: WILL GO TO SELMA NEXT YEAR. The Hill's Mike Lillis and Scott Wong report, "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has declined entreaties from black lawmakers to attend next week&#39;s civil rights ceremonies in Selma, Ala. Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) had urged the Louisiana Republican to participate in the events commemorating the watershed 1965 march as a way to mend fences following news that he&#39;d given a speech before a white supremacist group as a state lawmaker in 2002... 'We&#39;ve talked to them about going," [Scalise said.]." 
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POT TROUBLES IN D.C. Ben Nuckols writes for the Associated Press, "The new mayor of the nation's capital was hoping to get along fine with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Instead, they've threatened her with prison and she has accused them of acting like bullies in a showdown over legal pot that could end up costing District of Columbia residents dearly. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser defied threats from Congress by implementing a voter-approved initiative on Thursday, making the city the only place east of the Mississippi River where people can legally grow and share marijuana in private. But Congress still has the final say over the city's budget and laws, and the Republicans in charge seem
 determined to make Bowser pay." 
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MUST SEE TV. Sen. James Inhofe throwing a snowball on the Senate floor. 
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THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Patrick Boland was the first to correctly guess that Richard Nixon was Johnny Cash's favorite president.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -Today's question is from me - and is Mardi Gras based as after this week we all need a little more revelry in our life. The forerunner of our current Mardi Gras celebration was held in New Orleans way back in the 1730s but in what year did the French fete because a state holiday? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at 
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** Helping America's children reach their full potential includes providing them with a quality education that prepares them for college or the workplace after high school. Equipping all students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed is a priority for America's business leaders, and it should be one for Congress, too. Business Roundtable CEOs released 
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principles  to guide ESEA reauthorization, which include holding schools accountable, using reliable data to make improvements in educational outcomes and measuring progress in meaningful ways, particularly with annual testing. The future success of our children and our nation depends on decisions we make today. Congress, reauthorize ESEA. **

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