Subject: POLITICO Huddle: JUDICIAL WARS FLARE ANEW – Kerry: Either way on Iran deal – DEMS TO WATCH ON IRAN – Capitol Hill’s July to-do list – EDUCATION DEBATE KICKS OFF – Boehner talks immigration reform
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2015 05:14:52 -0600

By Seung Min Kim (
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  or @seungminkim)

JUDICIAL WARS: GOP SLOW-WALKS OBAMA'S JUDGES - When the Senate returns Tuesday, they'll vote to confirm the first circuit court nominee this year - and just the fifth judge overall. That's not unintentional: top Senate Republicans say Obama can expect a "slow, steady pace" in getting his judges confirmed during the fourth quarter of his presidency. Burgess Everett and I report for POLITICO: "The GOP-controlled Senate is on track this year to confirm the fewest judges since 1969, a dramatic escalation of the long-running partisan feud over the ideological makeup of federal courts."

--"The standoff, if it continues through the 2016 elections as expected, could diminish the stamp that President Barack Obama leaves on the judiciary - a less conspicuous but critical part of his legacy. ... Republicans appear willing to absorb criticism that they're interfering with the prerogative of a president to pick his nominees in the hopes that the GOP can get its own judges installed in 2017, with one of their own in the White House. In the meantime, federal courts could be left with dozens of unfilled vacancies." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e825874aa449b239d12cd49a0a93c3875e755b96511c58133 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e825874aa449b239d12cd49a0a93c3875e755b96511c58133 

KERRY: EITHER WAY ON IRAN DEAL - The Boston Globe's Matt Viser on Secretary of State John Kerry's latest warning on the Iran talks: "[A]s talks entered a critical stage after nine days of marathon negotiations, Kerry warned Sunday afternoon that the whole thing could still collapse ... 'At this point, this negotiation could go either way,' he said, coming to the podium on crutches. 'If hard choices get made in the next couple of days, and made quickly, we could get an agreement this week. But if they are not made, we will not.'"

--"He added: 'If there's absolute intransigence . . . we'll be prepared to walk away.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ee7838a97f2031b588ea51181c15ef80f34180038a69ba7b1 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ee7838a97f2031b588ea51181c15ef80f34180038a69ba7b1 

--The Hill lists 14 Senate Dems who'll be crucial to whether the administration's Iran deal survives Congress: Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Chuck Schumer of New York, Gary Peters of Michigan, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jon Tester of Montana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Chris Coons of Delaware, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Michael Bennet of Colorado. Alex Bolton: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ef4668a3eb6a9274d3f6ec3ce937bcf1ce1110218c0c0fb01 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ef4668a3eb6a9274d3f6ec3ce937bcf1ce1110218c0c0fb01 

--Remember: The real deadline in the Iran talks is July 9. If a deal is sent to Congress before then, lawmakers have 30 days to review it. If it's after, then it's 60 days.

CONGRESS'S JULY TO-DO LIST - Susan Davis outlines key tasks that lawmakers must get done before the coveted August break. One of the major items is Iran (see above). Another major must-do is the highway bill. Susan writes: "A much-anticipated and long-delayed transportation bill will take top billing with a July 31 deadline on how to keep funding flowing to the nation&#39;s highways and other popular infrastructure projects. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently approved a six-year highway bill, but how to pay for it remains a significant hurdle."

--Other items on the Hill's July agenda, per the story: education (more on that below), cybersecurity and more appropriations fun: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e8f9acf0eec492d0d1e0ad22f3db74af1914d7e41461ca7b4 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e8f9acf0eec492d0d1e0ad22f3db74af1914d7e41461ca7b4 

SUNDAY SHOW WRAP-UP -

--Key senators, including Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), remained skeptical that a final Iran deal would be good for the United States. Corker tells "Face the Nation": 'We have gone from dismantling their program to managing proliferation." CBS News: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e692cf2930c9c2ccf9a7bcda68d013391765743b2d221e54f 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e692cf2930c9c2ccf9a7bcda68d013391765743b2d221e54f 

--On ABC's "This Week," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) pins some blame on the Obama administration in the death of Kathryn Steinle, who authorities say was killed by an immigrant here illegally with a lengthy criminal record. Fox News: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ef8fc973e1c84942d3af8f55f7fe1863e4c574b13915b15da 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ef8fc973e1c84942d3af8f55f7fe1863e4c574b13915b15da 

--And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2016 candidate on the Dem side, says he doesn't support taking away tax-exempt statuses for groups who don't recognize gay marriages on religious grounds. "I respect people who have different points of view," the senator says on CNN. The Hill: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50eb75b647ea826ebed5dd7f54a59400579263841fcf4f69e2a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50eb75b647ea826ebed5dd7f54a59400579263841fcf4f69e2a 

HAPPY MONDAY, JULY 6, 2015 and welcome to the Huddle, where we're glad we've never had Hill aides wrangle us with an actual piece of rope, like what happened to the poor Hillary press corps (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e4473de848bf45a8e8434331061b00df7c20c9d8391434dcf 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e4473de848bf45a8e8434331061b00df7c20c9d8391434dcf ). I'm your Huddle host for the week; you can reach me at 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  and at @seungminkim.

My new followers include @felixatjazz and @KoreanAmDems.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - Both the House and Senate are still out. Continue enjoying your July 4 recess.

AROUND THE HILL - Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is holding a conference call on his recent visit to Kuwait, Iraq and Turkey at 2:30 p.m. For call-in info, email 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] .

THE ROGERS REPORT: ESEA EDITION - Our David Rogers dissects the dichotomy of what the GOP wants to do on education policy, and the funding that doesn't quite back it up: "With considerable pride, Republicans are prepared to bring up a long-delayed rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. But here ... the GOP's appropriations plan cuts from the very same programs it says it wants to increase."

--"Just three Republican senators opposed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act when it sailed through Congress last summer. But the GOP's appropriations bill in the Senate now cuts $330 million from the current 2015 funding for these same WIOA programs and is about $775 million below the authorized level for 2016." More from Rogers: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e6d3e191719fe4dd9129a75027129ddec952310da6e968449 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50e6d3e191719fe4dd9129a75027129ddec952310da6e968449 

LAMAR'S SECRET TALENT - Who knew the mild-mannered Tennessean who chairs the Senate HELP Committee had such a flair for tickling the ivories? The AP's Laurie Kellman with the profile: "How does a musician-senator fill the time during yet another partisan Senate stalemate? In Sen. Lamar Alexander&#39;s case, he sits down at a borrowed piano in his Capitol Hill office and, with a grin, bangs out 'The Memphis Blues.'"

--"He&#39;s been blending music and politics his whole life. And this coming week, the three-term Tennessee Republican hopes Democrats and the GOP harmonize as the Senate becomes Alexander&#39;s stage. The son of a school teacher and principal, this former federal education secretary and onetime university president will be shepherding a bill he&#39;s been working on for seven years: a rewrite of the contentious No Child Left Behind law." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ec8fdf41b7e4f837ec71c4bca30a6a3d67f48a3087c62f8ab 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ec8fdf41b7e4f837ec71c4bca30a6a3d67f48a3087c62f8ab 

CHAIRMAN VITTER, LIVE FROM LOUISIANA - Bloomberg's Richard Rubin finds that the Senate Small Business Committee has held more hearings this year from Louisiana rather than Washington at a time when its chairman, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), just happens to be running for governor: "So far this year, Vitter&#39;s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee has held 10 meetings in Louisiana and eight in Washington. That&#39;s unusual."

"Of the 26 field hearings held by Senate committees so far this year, Vitter has had 12 of them in Louisiana, including two by another committee he leads. No other state has hosted more than two field hearings ... Vitter held similar committee events in Louisiana when Democrats controlled the Senate and he does them regardless of whether he&#39;s on the ballot, said Luke Bolar, a spokesman for the senator." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ee54a0ada47fca90f0e093c508f5e8b9d89d76ba378afff55 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50ee54a0ada47fca90f0e093c508f5e8b9d89d76ba378afff55 

BOEHNER DETERMINED ON IMMIGRATION REFORM - This takes us right back to spring 2014. The Irish Times: "The speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner has told a Dublin audience of his determination to overcome Republican resistance to immigration reform. Mr Boehner also told how Taoiseach Enda Kenny has harangued him on the matter, telling him how the lack of reform has left some Irish immigrants listening to a parent's funeral by phone."

--"The speaker, second in line for the US presidency after Joe Biden, was addressing the Independence Day lunch of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland. Although he has consistently refused to put immigration reform to a House vote, he said certain colleagues thought the matter would be resolved by sticking their heads in the sand. 'It doesn't work that way.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50eb8f9a0639dbd2b961f9c225f2500ce960ac87d41f67e1f32 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04fc64dfed67b50eb8f9a0639dbd2b961f9c225f2500ce960ac87d41f67e1f32 

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Logan Ferree was the first person to correctly name the landmark U.S. document signed on July 2: the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Logan has today's question, in light of last week's news that United States and Cuba were reopening embassies: Cuba previously had two minor league affiliates of U.S. teams, although not at the same time. What were the teams and who were their major league affiliates? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail 
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