Subject: POLITICO Huddle: SPEAKER WHO CHANGED CONGRESS FOREVER, DIES—Obama summons Democrats on trade—IRAN TEST VOTE TODAY—Military already enlisting ‘Dreamers’—DESANTIS TO RUN FOR SENATE
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 07 May 2015 06:17:55 -0600

By Rachael Bade (
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  or @RachaelMBade)

THE HOUSE OF JIM. John M. Barry, New Orleans author, writes for POLITICO Magazine that Jim Wright's short speakership created the congressional gamesmanship that would become the "new normal." Wright died Wednesday at 92 and "served as speaker of the House for just one full Congress and five months, from January 6, 1987, to June 6, 1989. Yet this brief reign marked a major watershed in American politics... Wright's term would be tremendously successful, but those very successes created openings that Newt Gingrich, his most bitter enemy, would exploit to gain power..."

"His aim was no less than to rearrange the balance of power between the president and the speaker, along the way taking power from committee chairmen as well. Power is a zero-sum game; if the speaker had more, others had less. And they would fight to get it and keep it. Wright was ready to fight, too, at least twice almost getting into fistfights on the House floor. A former boxer whose bushy and slanting eyebrows were a gift to cartoonists, he had an unnerving and unreadable smile-a smile that seemed to mask a rumbling underneath and made people uncomfortable..."

"Within a few weeks of taking office as speaker, he led Congress into major confrontations with President Ronald Reagan over domestic spending and quickly overrode two Reagan vetoes, setting a tone of confrontation. Extraordinarily frustrated by the deficits Reagan created-the national debt was $900 billion when he became president and $2.6 trillion eight years later-Wright also pushed for tax increases, pressuring not only Reagan, who promised to veto any sent to him, but also his fellow Democrats, who were wary of the politics of combat." 
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That resignation speech - don't ever forget it, writes The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "Wright is by turns angry, defensive, amused and emotional as he prepares to walk away from a career that began with his election to the Texas state House in 1946. He spends much of the speech, which spans 61 minutes, defending himself against allegations... Later, he offers himself up as a sort of human sacrifice to end the partisan rancor that he believed had seized Congress since Texas Sen. John Tower&#39;s (R) nomination to be Secretary of Defense collapsed in 1989. 'Let [my resignation] be a total payment for the anger and hostility we feel toward each other,' Wright said. 'Let&#39;s not try to
 get even with each other.'" 
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OBAMA HUDDLES WITH DEMOCRATS AHEAD OF TRADE VOTE. Burgess Everett reports for POLITICO: "President Barack Obama hosted a group of Senate Democrats at the White House on Wednesday, hoping to shore up support for his free-trade efforts before a critical vote next week. The lawmakers in attendance included Democrats who are undecided on or support a bill to empower the president to expedite free-trade deals, Democratic aides said..."

"The meeting came just days before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to bring Trade Promotion Authority legislation to the Senate floor. Its immediate fate is uncertain after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would move to block the bill until Republicans take up two other pressing matters addressing government surveillance and highway funding. That conflict between Democratic leaders and the White House has put Senate Republicans in the unusual position of pleading with Obama to lobby Democrats to support opening debate on the trade bill." 
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Washington Sen. Patty Murray is breaking with Senate Democratic leadership over trade legislation and favors the GOP approach to moving the fast-track measure before Memorial Day recess, Alexander Bolton reports for The Hill. She joins Democrats Bill Nelson of Florida and Tom Carper of Delaware in that regard. But Obama still needs another handful to circumvent Reid. 
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GOOD MORNING! - IT'S THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015. Thanks for reading Huddle. I'm reachable at: 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] , or Tweet: @RachaelMBade.

TODAY IN CONGRESS: The Senate will take a procedural vote at 10:30 a.m. on the Iran nuclear review bill. The House is out.

AROUND THE HILL: At 11:30 a.m., Sens. Tom Udall, David Vitter, Tom Carper, Jim Inhofe, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley will hold a presser on chemical safety reform. At 12:30 p.m., Sens. Chuck Schumer, Bill Nelson, Ben Cardin and Amy Klobuchar will do the same on the looming highway trust fund deadline. At 1:30 p.m. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, Dick Durbin, Mazie Hirono, Al Franken, Jeanne Shaheen and Klobuchar will talk renewable fuel standards.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords and Americans for Responsible Solutions are teaming up with YWCA USA, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline for a 10:30 a.m. Mother's Day-card signing event in the Senate. The cards are for women living in shelters across the country.

REMINDER: Yes, Mother's Day is this weekend, so order those flowers and put those cards in the mail for Mom.

MORE ON THE IRAN VOTETODAY if you've been aloof to the Hill over the past few weeks. Here's an AP recap: "Legislation giving Congress a chance to review and possibly reject any final nuclear deal with Iran is facing a test vote in the Senate... comes after months of wrangling over the legislation while the U.S. and five other nations engage in delicate negotiations with Tehran. Negotiators have been hurrying to reach final agreement by June 30 on a pact to curb Iran&#39;s nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions stalling the Iranian economy. The talks resume next week in Vienna."

"The bipartisan legislation would block President Barack Obama from waiving congressional sanctions for at least 30 days while lawmakers weigh in on any final deal with Iran. It also would stipulate that if senators disapprove the deal, Obama would lose the current authority he holds to waive certain economic penalties Congress has imposed on Iran." 
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EARTH TO CONGRESS: ARMY ALREADY ENLISTING DREAMERS. Despite the hubbub about this in Congress right now, Kristina Wong scoops for The Hill that the practice of enlisting "Dreamers" is, well, old news: "The Army has already allowed almost 50 illegal immigrants to enlist as members of Congress debate whether to allow them to seek citizenship through military service.Since January, the Army has accepted into the ranks 46 so-called 'Dreamers" ... The Army this year expanded that program from 1,500 enlistees per year to 3,000 per year... will expand to 5,000 enlistees per year in October..."

"The House next week is set to debate a 2016 defense policy bill that contains an amendment by Marine veteran Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) to encourage the Defense Secretary to consider those who qualify for DACA as 'vital' to national security, enabling them to enlist in the military. On Tuesday, a group of 25 House Republicans asked the Rules Committee to remove the amendment, saying it threatened the passage of the bill, which authorizes Pentagon activities and spending." 
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SCHIFF TO WASHINGTON: TACKLE AMERICA'S SPY PROGRAM.Huffington Post's Ali Watkins profiles the ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee on the eve of NSA reforms: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)...has grown accustomed to the spy grind of daily closed-door briefings, hushed overseas trips, and visits to places the American people -- and many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill -- don't know exist..."

"Schiff, 54, a former federal prosecutor, said he wants to 'help shape the debate over privacy and security in a way that analyzes not only what we can do and what&#39;s constitutional to do, but what we should be doing and how we should be structuring our intelligence-gathering, so that we get the maximum security benefit along with the maximum privacy.' Schiff has been an outspoken critic of collecting Americans&#39; phone records.... Propose[d] reforms after Snowden&#39;s disclosures, pushing to end the program entirely and to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret judicial body that supposedly rules on most Obama administration surveillance programs." 
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FIRST LOOK: MCCAIN'S NEW AMERICA'S MOST WASTED. Sen. John McCain today will release the first in a series of oversight reports on duplicative and inefficient government spending, called "America's Most Wasted.""Unnecessary, wasteful government spending is putting America on a dangerous path, burdening future generations with a mounting national debt now totaling more than $18 trillion," McCain said in a statement. "I believe the America's Most Wasted reports should serve as a wake-up call to Congress."

Today's release calls out $294 billion, including $50,000 for Army research on "the bomb-detecting capabilities of elephants,"$390,798 on a dog-bite prevention website for NIH, and $15,000 for EPA "to study pollution from your backyard BBQ."

Of course, McCain's critics on the right would say he's one of the reasons for the out-of-control spending. The defense hawk, who wants to lift the sequester spending caps, made it a point to threaten to vote against the GOP budget if lawmakers tried to offset a defense funding increase. But this gives him fodder to push back, for example, at a tea party challenger who calls him a big spender on the campaign trail next election.

SPEAKING OF...

DEAR MCCAIN: PLEASE ALLOW PRESS. The Armed Services Chairman had decided to close the defense authorization markup of non-classified material this year. And Kathleen Hunter, Bloomberg reporter who chairs the Standing Committee of Correspondents, has asked him to reconsider (H/t Seung Min Kim): "We believe the American public would be well served if the committee allowed them to see their lawmakers at work.... The House Armed Services Committee openly marks up the companion to the Senate bill. In that chamber, the process is smooth on the rare occasions when the committee does decide to close a markup to discuss classified data. The process of making decisions should itself be visible to the
 American people in real time - as it is in most other corners of Congress." 
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CARTER: GOP DEFENSE SPENDING 'ROAD TO NOWHERE.' Reuters reports: "Calling Republican defense spending plans a 'road to nowhere,' Defense Secretary Ash Carter appealed on Wednesday for lawmakers to work with him toward a new bipartisan budget deal to provide stable funding for a U.S. military hurt by years of steep cuts. Carter told a Senate appropriations panel that Republican efforts to try to meet President Barack Obama&#39;s defense funding request were well-intentioned but would not give the Pentagon the flexibility it needed and ultimately would lock in budget cuts Obama has threatened to veto." 
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ICYMI: DESANTIS TO RUN FOR RUBIO SEAT. Here's the Tampa Bay Times' Alex Leary on his strengths and weaknesses: "By his own telling, he's got quite the background. 'Ron DeSantis... performed every odd job imaginable -- sweeping floors, collecting trash, moving furniture, parking cars, serving as an electrician's assistant, and coaching baseball clinics,' reads his official Congressional bio. "He earned a bachelor of arts, magna cum laude... at Yale University. He also graduated with honors from Harvard Law School.... served as a military prosecutor, supported operations at the terrorist detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and deployed to Iraq during the 2007 troop surge as an advisor to
 a U.S. Navy SEAL commander in support of counterinsurgency operations in Iraq..."

"But here are the downsides. No one really knows DeSantis... DeSantis' record could be a challenge in the general election. DeSantis is very conservative; he once voted against aid for Hurricane Sandy victims, for example." 
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NO. OF THE DAY: NINE. That's how many months it has been since the U.S. began airstrikes against ISIL, something Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) plans to remind everyone today - asks he asks for Congress to advance a use-of-force authorization. 

DESSERT- 

CONGRESS HEARTS PRICEY STEAK DINNERS. POLITICO's gossip columnist Kate Glassman Bennett reports: "It's no secret that many restaurants in downtown Washington-and particularly those close to the Capitol-are funded not just by big-spending lobbyists but more or less right out of the campaign bank accounts of power-brokering members of Congress. But the sums can still be eye-popping. To wit: Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority leader as of last year, dropped more than $50,000 in the last election cycle at Ruth's Chris Steak House; Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the majority whip, spent more than $57,000 at the New Orleans-themed Acadiana; and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spent $27,000
 at the Italian eatery Acqua Al 2 and another $10,000 at the Occidental Grill, according to campaign finance filings." 
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WEDNESDAY&#39;S TRIVIA WINNER. Cody Pomeranz was the first to answer that Bill Clinton on "Wait Wait...Don&#39;t Tell Me!" answered several questions about the TV show My Little Pony.

TODAY&#39;S TRIVIA: ABC&#39;s "Nightline" was conceived as a news show to update viewers on what event? Name the event, year, and the original name of the program. Email 
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