Subject: POLITICO Huddle, presented by Emirates Airline: Congress faces a dash before Memorial Day and a slew of deadlines – Portman under fire on trade
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 05:46:53 -0600

By Lauren French (
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  & @laurennfrench)

DRIVING THIS WEEK: A DASH BEFORE MEMORIAL DAY AND A SLEW OF DEADLINES. Seung Min Kim has the information you need to know, "Capitol Hill is - again - barreling toward deadlines on must-pass legislative items, this time on government surveillance powers and federal money for roads and bridges. The Senate, particularly the GOP, finds itself in a bind over surveillance, even as the chamber remains bogged down in a contentious fight over trade that's scrambling party lines and eating up valuable floor time. Meanwhile, lawmakers are edging closer to a highway funding cliff - though a two-month extension unveiled last week could resolve that tension. Still, it all makes for a hefty to-do list
 before lawmakers flee Washington for the weeklong Memorial Day recess at the end of the week."

"The most pressing - and complicated - hurdle is the stalemate over expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act used to authorize the controversial National Security Agency program that collects Americans' phone records. Those provisions are set to lapse at the end of the month." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4512b730f5ce87b48f4482c2e0930170a7004bbb3a071fbeea1036b55b71801e 
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PORTMAN UNDER FIRE ON TRADE. Manu Raju reports, "Sen. Rob Portman is generating a lot of attention from Republicans these days - and not necessarily in a good way. The Ohio Republican is locked in an increasingly tense battle with his party over his plan to target countries trying to suppress the value of their currency, a measure GOP critics say is so toxic it would kill the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest trade accord in history... It is pretty uncommon for Portman to incur such friendly fire - especially on this issue, given his long-standing support for trade deals and the fact that he served as the U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush. But Portman's
 campaign is emblematic of the careful and delicate balancing act a Rust Belt Republican must perform in a region of the country where manufacturing jobs have been wiped out." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=385a8579945b6b28155e51e01d943fffc7b354b806ff3019a325aa92bd54a55b 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=fc08fb53e96c7c8bc8e83c17f8420b8cd8888e1413984b4d9c022bf63d941a8a 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO BUSINESS LOBBY: YOU'RE BLOWING IT ON TRADE. Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, "Top House Republicans believe the business community is blowing its chance to clinch a trade deal. Unlike unions, they say, Big Business advocates aren't flooding Capitol phone lines. They're not winning over skeptical Republicans. And they haven't made much headway with business-friendly Democrats who are considering voting for the package, either. That threatens to create a dangerous reality for supporters of a sweeping trade deal with Pacific Rim nations: that it will become more politically tenable for Republicans to be against trade promotion authority legislation than for it." 
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OBAMA TO BAN MILITARY-GRADE WEAPONS FOR POLICE. The New York Times' Julie Hirschfeld Davis writes, "President Obama on Monday will ban the federal provision of some types of military-style equipment to local police departments and sharply restrict the availability of others, administration officials said, as he intensifies his push to ease tensions between law enforcement and minority communities in reaction to the crises in Baltimore; Ferguson, Mo.; and other cities.Mr. Obama is taking the action after a task force he created in January decided that police departments should be barred from using federal funds to acquire items that include tracked armored vehicles, the highest-caliber
 firearms and ammunition, and camouflage uniforms." 
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HAPPY MONDAY MORNING, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill. Lauren French here and I'll be your Huddle author for this sprint-to-the-finish week before Memorial Day. Let me know what's going on at 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  or at @laurennfrench on Twitter.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House will vote after 6:30 p.m. while the Senate will hold two votes at 5:30 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL - Fly-in days are always slow

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emirates.com/openskies . **

SANCHEZ UNDER CRITICISM FOR 'WAR CRY.'  It's been a tough rollout for Rep. Loretta Sanchez who is challenging California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris for Sen. Barbara Boxer's Senate seat. First the California Democrat saw a draft announcement launching her candidacy leak and now a not-so-political correct gesture made over the weekend has other Democrats shocked. The LA Times has more, "Sanchez of Santa Ana, [was] videotaped making a joke about the difference between Indian Americans and Native Americans in which she tapped her hand to her mouth in imitation of a 'war cry.' Sanchez made the controversial comments while speaking to the Indian-American caucus at a restaurant near the Anaheim
 Convention Center on Saturday... She said the joke concerned her confusion over whether a potential campaign supporter she spoke to on the phone was Native American or Indian American." 
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BECERRA: 'STAY TUNED' FOR SENATE ANNOUNCEMENT. Melody Gutierrezreports, "Becerra, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus who sits on the influential Ways and Means Committee, said he hopes to make a decision before the August recess so he could potentially use that time to launch a campaign. However, he said he is weighing whether he can be more effective in the Senate versus the leadership role he currently has in the House. He said his family is also a key factor. The father of three daughters, the youngest a junior who attends high school in the Washington D.C. area, said he's reluctant to be away from his family for long periods of time while campaigning. So, is he running? 'Stay
 tuned,' Becerra said." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5fa53e1f2b0a79116b55f4b299c8a365978f739113ef3987f461ff5bcd17c1fe 
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AUMF PUSH NEARLY DEAD. Deb Riechmann writes for the AP, "A move to write new war powers to authorize the Obama administration's 9-month-old battle against Islamic State militants has stalled in Congress. It might even be dead. President Barack Obama doesn't seem to mind. And while lawmakers say they don't want to give up their check on a commander-in-chief's authority to use military might, they have little interest in having what would be the first war vote in Congress in 13 years." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4e8ddb9db718205fb809db339c7c3c8dee8f616b5a85ba23658ba1cdb9b699e1 
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RUBIO EXPLAINS RETIREMENT ACCOUNT DISCLOSURE. Sean Sullivan reports for the Washington Post, "Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) explained for the first time in an interview broadcast Sunday why he cashed out retirement savings funds, saying he wanted 'access to cash' to address personal expenses and because he is running for president. The comments shed new light on why Rubio, 43, made the move, which is considered unorthodox because people are typically subject to penalties for claiming their retirement savings prematurely. Rubio said he maintains at least two other active retirement savings accounts." 
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FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Ben Marter from Sen. Dick Durbin's office was the first to correctly answer that the D.C. mayor and delegate are allowed on Senate floor.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Ben has today's question. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is the most recent U.S. Senator to be born in Canada. Who was the first? The first person to email 
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[email-masked]  with the correct answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says 'Sign Up.' 
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** A message from Emirates Airline: Right now, Delta, American and United are lobbying congress to take away your right to choose - and prevent you from flying Emirates airline. So, why should you care? Because Emirates supports over 400,000 American jobs, offers one-stop service to 57 destinations that none of the American carriers fly to and consistently receives passenger satisfaction ratings amongst the highest in the industry. Maybe the big three American carriers should have your best interests in mind-instead of their own. Get the facts at 
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emirates.com/openskies . **

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