Subject: POLITICO Huddle, presented by Allstate: SENATE SEEKS TO WRAP UP NSA BILL -- Amendment votes in doubt -- Inside the Mitch-Rand relationship -- GRAHAM IS IN -- Warren supporters give up
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2015 05:47:52 -0600

By Burgess Everett (@burgessev or 
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DECISION DAY FOR PATRIOT ACT: The Senate will vote to finish up the House's USA Freedom Act today, including roll calls on several amendments proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr intended to make the bill more palatable to Senate Republicans. Seung Min Kim: "The proposed changes include requiring telephone companies - which would be responsible for holding the bulk data under the House bill - to notify the government six months in advance of changing their retention policy; and calling on the director of national intelligence to certify that the phone companies have successfully transitioned into the new system. Other Senate amendments
 would lengthen the six-month transition period in the House bill to a year, as well as gut the bill's effort to make public any significant opinions from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court."

Amendment votes in doubt: But after all this, those amendments could fail and leave the Senate poised to pass the House's bill on Tuesday afternoon with little or no alterations. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the lead Republican sponsor of USA Freedom Act, said he will vote against the changes because they have been deemed "poison pills" in the House. And after being initially confident that the changes would pass, top Republicans have conceded the votes will be close after a bipartisan group of House members urged the Senate to reject any changes. 
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THE RAND AND MITCH SHOW: For a second straight day on Monday, McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul tangled on the Senate floor over the PATRIOT Act, with the majority leader trying to speed up votes on the USA Freedom Act only to be rejected by Paul. But despite the ongoing policy dispute, the two Kentucky senators are trying to move on, with McConnell refusing to join the Paul pile-on behind closed doors on Sunday and the two men even sharing a laugh on the Senate floor about Matt Bevin's "Team Mitch" video. "We have a difference of opinion on this, on the policy, but I've always found him to be very professional and not to hold a grudge and not take things personally," Paul told reporters outside
 the Capitol on Monday. McConnell, for his part, told Manu and I he'll continue to back Paul for president, though the Republican leader isn't doing much beyond offering his official nod." 
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Rand begins to take credit for bill he opposes: The senator told reporters that without his strong stand, maybe the USA Freedom Act wouldn't have been quite as successful. "I like to look at the bright side of things too ... before I got involved, there were 57 votes. Even though I object to the final vote, there are now 77 votes for ending bulk collection. So you could say I've in an unusual way to switch their vote and to vote to end bulk collection. It's kind of a different way of persuading people but it seems to work." Yes, you could say that.

TWO VIEWS OF WHO TO BLAME FOR MISSED DEADLINE: Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin says the two Kentucky senators should share it, telling me that "one of them provoked the confrontation and then the other one didn&#39;t count votes." But Senate Republicans seem just as annoyed with the House as they are with Rand Paul. Sen. Orrin Hatch put it this way: "It really isn't Sen. Paul that's making it difficult here. The House passed a bill that is inferior, at least in my estimation, to the PATRIOT Act. And then takes off and skip town and we have no alternative other than to do the Freedom Act."

Meanwhile: Somehow amid all the drama Senate found time to pass a resolution honoring Craft Beer Week even as the PATRIOT Act's provisions expired. NJ: 
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THEN THERE WERE FIVE: Sen. Lindsey Graham is officially in the race for the GOP nomination, joining Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders in the presidential race. The State reports from Central, S.C.: He "opened his 2016 presidential bid declaring himself the candidate most prepared to fight terrorism, adding he is willing to work with 'anyone' to address the nation's problems. 'I've got one simple message. I have more experience with our national security than any other candidate in this race. That includes you, Hillary,' Graham told a crowd of several hundred people on Central's Main Street in front of the building where Graham grew up. To Democrats, Graham added,
 'Our differences are real, and we'll debate them. But you're not my enemy. You're my fellow countrymen.'" 
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Graham's yearbook photo: 
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CNN's Dana Bash tours the pool hall that Graham grew up in: 
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Burr's take on Graham entry: The Senate Intel chair is barely concealing his jabs at Rand Paul at this point. "Lindsey's got a lot of substance to him. He's not a one-trick pony. Clearly I think others are going to flare out faster than some."

McCain moves in: Rachel Roubein has a fun read on how senators choose where they sit on the floor, where McCain is now sitting next to his buddy and self-described "illegitimate son" Graham. "The neighborhood really went to hell" when McCain moved in, Graham said. 
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It's a great day to have a national security debate. Welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where everything is quite soggy afterlast night's deluge. Please send tips to 
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TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m. and will take a cloture vote on the USA Freedom Act at 10:30 a.m., hoping to finish the bill by this afternoon. The House is in at 10 a.m. and will begin working on the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill, with votes expected sometime after 1 p.m.

RAND PAUL AROUND THE HILL - Sen. Rand Paul will join Reps. Walter Jones, Stephen Lynch, Thomas Massie and former Sen. Bob Graham on the House Triangle to talk about 9/11 transparency legislation, but don't try to ask about the PATRIOT Act because Paul's office says "all questions fielded must pertain to the legislation and issue at hand."

ALSO AROUND THE HILL: At 10 a.m. Reps. Xavier Becerra and Joe Crowley hold a post-meeting availability in the HVC 210 alcove, while House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy leads a GOP presser at HC 8. At 11 a.m. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer holds a pen and pad in H 144. At 11:30 a.m. Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Frank Pallone talk about the Takata airbag recall. At 11:45 a.m. Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Rob Bishop discuss the constitutional limits of the Endangered Species Act in SVC 203. At 2 p.m., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi leads a Steering and Policy hearing on domestic violence and guns in HVC 215, while on the House Triangle Reps. Chris Gibson and Joe Courtney talk about adding
 farmers to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

SPENDING TIME TOGETHER: Now that they've got a budget in place, Republicans next big goal is to begin moving the 13 spending bills. But in the Senate they won't be able to at the levels set by that budget, raising the possibility that the spending fights are over before they've begun due to already entrenched Democratic opposition. "Republicans have a basic choice here. The process is going to break down at some point and it is in everyone's interest to reach an agreement sooner rather than later," OMB Director Shaun Donovan tells Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski."But ultimately, they have a choice to make, whether they want to come to the table and negotiate or whether they're going to let
 this become another manufactured crisis." 
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One more headache for McConnell: The Democratic vow to filibuster spending bills at the levels set by Republicans is going to be just one more problem for the majority leader and his "regular order" vows. One Senate Republican put it bluntly to me yesterday: "In a perfect world he'd want to all 13 Appropriations bill but obviously that's not going to happen because we don't have the time."

KILDEE'S FIGHT: The second-term Michigan Democrat is fighting hard for the release of his constituent Amir Hekmati while the United States moves to cinch a nuclear deal with Iran. "We cannot let his case just fade, [or allow] his situation to become an asterisk in an otherwise really interesting and dynamic time in terms of the relationship between Iran and the rest of the world. I do not want to see this case just fade away," Kildee told my colleague Lauren French during a recent interview in his Capitol Hill office. "It's really important that we seize upon the moment where the world is watching Iran to call attention to these cases." 
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GOP'S SENATE DEFENSE TAKES HIT: Republicans are anxious to go on offense in Nevada and Colorado next year to blunt the Democrats' favorable map, but it's going to much tougher now that Rep. Mike Coffman is taking a pass in Colorado. Denver Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky took the congressman to breakfast in May to talk about taking on Bennet. 'It certainly was an option I was looking at,' Coffman [said]. 'But the fact is, I&#39;m really able to get things done where I am right now. I&#39;ve emerged as a national leader on veterans&#39; issues.'" 
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SO MUCH FOR THAT: A top liberal group is finally giving up its quest to make it six senators in the ring by recruiting Elizabeth Warren to run. HuffPo: "Run Warren Run, the collaborative effort by progressive organizations to show Warren that she had supporters, commitment and money for a 2016 presidential bid, will suspend operations on June 8. Time, political winds, and, in all likelihood, Bernie Sanders were the culprits." 
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MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Matt Bader was the first to answer that before the 12th Amendment was passed in 1804, the vice president was picked by presidential runner-up. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was a close second.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Matt has today's question: Who was the one member of Congress to vote against going to war with Japan? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at 
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