Subject: POLITICO Huddle: Presented by the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food – TRAFFIC JAM FOR HIGHWAY BILL – Obama lobbies Dems on Iran -- GOP CHILL TO CUBA THAWING? – Republicans pick immigration fight – CONGRATS TO DAVID ESPO
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 05:38:02 -0600

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

HOUSE, SENATE HEADED TOWARD HIGHWAY (BILL) COLLISION - Alex Bolton for The Hill: "Senate and House Republicans are headed to a showdown over transportation spending. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants to pass a six-year highway deal before Thursday to give the House time to take it up before the August recess, according to a Senate GOP leadership source. But opposition to the Senate bill is growing on the other side of the Capitol."

--"House Republican leaders want the Senate to instead pass a five-month highway patch and won't say whether they would give the Senate transportation bill a vote in their chamber. McConnell is betting that House GOP leaders will relent once they have the bill in their laps, with the Highway Trust Fund due to expire on Aug. 1 ... McConnell tried a similar gambit in May when he attempted to jam the House with a clean extension of the National Security Agency's surveillance authority. It blew up when he failed to muster the 60 votes needed to pass it out of the Senate." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d39c36ff698cd2b33dc6f1b9d2103686ab1d02771882a41c22 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d39c36ff698cd2b33dc6f1b9d2103686ab1d02771882a41c22 

--Pretty great hed from CQ Roll Call: "Senate Taking Scenic Route on Highway Bill." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3a1c48b6ebab5802fa0a5ce3bd753d5fda5e912ba184244dc 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3a1c48b6ebab5802fa0a5ce3bd753d5fda5e912ba184244dc 

--House Dems aren't looking like they'll bail out the Senate. Pelosi tells reporters that a long-term measure "cannot possibly be finished by the 31st of July when the authorization runs out." From The Hill: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3870f0ac9bc13f1038addf15c0a8c30b86a16582c527120c5 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3870f0ac9bc13f1038addf15c0a8c30b86a16582c527120c5 

OBAMA LOBBIES DEMS ON IRAN - Lauren French and John Bresnahan: "President Barack Obama personally delivered a stark message on the Iran nuclear agreement to nearly a dozen House Democrats on Thursday: there is no better deal out there. The 90-minute meeting in the White House Situation Room marks the beginning of a personal campaign by Obama to push House Democrats to support the Iran deal - an accord that would be the cornerstone of his foreign policy achievements as long as Congress doesn't scuttle the pact. The meeting included almost all the freshmen Democrats and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

--"Attendees said Obama had full command of the technical details of the accord and strongly pushed the on-the-fence lawmakers to support the agreement. He also warned them that they should signal their support now to avoid heavy lobbying from AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups looking to kill the deal." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d32314a6a6cacb4c145809d6343e78f6d8880fca369d039069 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d32314a6a6cacb4c145809d6343e78f6d8880fca369d039069 

--The New York Times' Jennifer Steinhauer files this dispatch from the Iran hearing, where Republicans seemed to have their minds made up already on the nuclear agreement: "Their view seems born of genuine distaste for the deal's details, inherent distrust of President Obama, intense loyalty to Israel and an expansive view of the role that sanctions have played beyond preventing Iran's nuclear abilities. The discord began the Sunday before a deal was announced this month, when some high-ranking Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, were booked on Sunday talk shows and denounced the accord ahead of its release." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3313e958dbf98fc5345ebe0c88ecf9cf8afc498efd0585e96 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3313e958dbf98fc5345ebe0c88ecf9cf8afc498efd0585e96 

--Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur writes on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a 2016 hopeful, during the Foreign Relations grilling -- pressing Secretary of State John Kerry on his view that the next president is "under no legal or moral obligation to live up to" the Iran deal: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3ebb81a0b61f9f4616e93bccf65115c870350f7f635ff2336 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3ebb81a0b61f9f4616e93bccf65115c870350f7f635ff2336 

--POLITICO's Burgess Everett writes about another 2016 contender, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), at the hearing - a more dispassionate, almost diplomatic approach: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d37701195c08c33866b92d424230a8d7bf3be3d9722c4f6d1c 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d37701195c08c33866b92d424230a8d7bf3be3d9722c4f6d1c 

--Meanwhile, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker Kerry: You got "fleeced." From CBS News: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3016b63495873512570a49a236a3c6d4bb292f42f4d6489b0 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3016b63495873512570a49a236a3c6d4bb292f42f4d6489b0 

GOP CHILL TO CUBA THAWING? AP's Andrew Taylor has the story: "A GOP-controlled Senate panel has voted to lift a decades-long ban on travel to Cuba, giving a boost to President Barack Obama&#39;s moves to ease travel restrictions and open up relations with the Castro-governed nation. The Senate Appropriations Committee also voted to block enforcement of a law prohibiting banks and other U.S. businesses from financing sales of U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. ... The Senate Appropriations Committee 18-12 vote comes just days after the U.S. and Cuba formally ended more than a half-century of estrangement by re-establishing diplomatic relations cut off during the Cold War."

--" 'We have the opportunity to increase the likelihood that Cuban people have greater liberties and freedom with the ability to connect with them,' said sponsor Jerry Moran, R-Kan. 'I also would say that as Americans we have certain freedoms that we cherish, and Americans can travel around the globe today without exception - no country is totally prohibited with the exception of Cuba.' The House Appropriations Committee has moved in the opposite direction, but the intra-party disagreement among Republicans makes it far less likely that the GOP-controlled Congress will try to use spending bills to challenge Obama&#39;s rapprochement with Cuba." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3e9524fc1646fee6a732ea64ab35fdab477db920c4e0455e0 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3e9524fc1646fee6a732ea64ab35fdab477db920c4e0455e0 

A HUDDLE FAREWELL - And congratulations to the great David Espo of the Associated Press, who is retiring after nearly four decades covering Capitol Hill. He was feted last night in the Senate Daily Gallery surrounded by essentially the entire congressional press corps, with cameos from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner, who praised Espo as a "consummate professional."

** A message from the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food: Thank you to the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the bipartisan Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. Now it is time for the Senate to take up this consumer-friendly legislation that creates a science-based, uniform food labeling standard. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d35d35dedb4203b5c9353152b5536b6d5013474b386d92f4f5 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d35d35dedb4203b5c9353152b5536b6d5013474b386d92f4f5  **

I'M-SO-HAPPY-IT'S-FRIDAY, July 24, 2015 and you're reading the Huddle, where it looks more and more likely that the Senate will be in session this weekend. I will eat my words, @StewSays. I'm at 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  and on Twitter at @seungminkim. My bro Burgess Everett is taking over next week; hit him up at 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  and @burgessev.

My new followers include @jordanlapier and @maeganvaz.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is out. The Senate is in at 9 a.m., with a vote at 9:15 a.m. on the motion to proceed to the highway bill.

AROUND THE HILL - Just watching the pot of water that is the Senate floor to boil.

GOP PICKS IMMIGRATION FIGHT - Your Huddle author: "As Donald Trump rides a stridently anti-immigration message to the top of GOP presidential polls, House Republicans are rushing to reopen the immigration debate with legislation that would crack down on so-called 'sanctuary cities,' the hundreds of localities that give safe harbor to those here illegally ... Republicans pressed forward on legislation that would block funding for sanctuary cities - where local law enforcement shields undocumented immigrants from federal directives - as an opening salvo in a broader immigration fight."

--"Still, while Thursday's bill - which passed the House 241-179 - was narrowly focused and won broad support from Republicans, some GOP lawmakers warned against pursuing an enforcement-only path. 'I don't think it helps us politically to deal simply with enforcement,' said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), a leading moderate in his party. 'We're not gonna be able to claim that we've fixed the ... illegal immigration problem by simply dealing with a border security bill or an interior enforcement bill.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3bf6f03f6d31a27b59d185fa79132e1549f7d8983bfb5a5e4 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3bf6f03f6d31a27b59d185fa79132e1549f7d8983bfb5a5e4 

BOEHNER: CR IS COMING - Matt Fuller for CQ Roll Call: With only 16 scheduled legislative days before government funding runs out, Speaker John A. Boehner finally acknowledged Thursday that the House and Senate were headed toward funding the government through a continuing resolution ... Boehner wouldn't say how long a potential CR would last - 'no decisions have been made about that' - but appropriators are already expressing concern that a stopgap, yearlong spending bill would not incorporate changes lawmakers adopted in the individual appropriations bills." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d34b790229e9d832d95b502c957f3fb6728f49820036a4320a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d34b790229e9d832d95b502c957f3fb6728f49820036a4320a 

--House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers warns against a long/long-ish continuing resolution in a C-Span "Newsmakers" interview set to air Sunday. Rachael Bade: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3a6d5631fad1e8282d212e4979c3b5c428aba6aa3438a8562 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3a6d5631fad1e8282d212e4979c3b5c428aba6aa3438a8562 

REID CASHES IN ON KOCH SLAMS - POLITICO's Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan: "For years, Harry Reid has railed against the Koch brothers as the worst example of the corrupting influence of special interest money in politics. But the Senate minority leader's crusade against the conservative barons recently yielded big bucks for his own party. Reid invoked the Republican megadonors during a July 12 fundraiser in Montreal for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

--"In the end, he raised more than $1 million from one special interest - trial lawyers - by criticizing another. Reid flew to the event in one lawyer's private jet. 'All that super PAC money that comes in from all those people - the Koch brothers and others - the TV stations see that coming, and they can charge them whatever they want,' Reid said, according to a transcript of his remarks obtained by POLITICO." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3bc47013e7a39bf358adf8cb0761218e87e4969aa0407bc1e 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d3bc47013e7a39bf358adf8cb0761218e87e4969aa0407bc1e 

NEXT PHASE IN GAY-RIGHTS FIGHT - Paul Kane writes for the Washington Post: "A coalition of liberal Democrats began a new campaign Thursday with a broad proposal to rewrite the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act to outlaw discrimination against gays in the workplace, in financial and housing markets, and in other areas of private and public life. Proponents describe the effort as the next gay rights movement ... 'The time has come to not just focus on one small piece of the puzzle,' Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the lead Senate sponsor of the measure, said in an interview before Thursday's formal news event announcing the effort." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d37fae6d12c6b00bef2092a715b9267f3a57735a4e2bc47e45 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d37fae6d12c6b00bef2092a715b9267f3a57735a4e2bc47e45 

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Shelby Boxenbaum was the first person to correctly answer that William Taft nominated Justice Charles Evan Hughes to the Supreme Court while he was governor of New York.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Shelby has today's question: Who is currently the oldest living former member of Congress? And before I get a bunch of wrong answers, it is not John Dingell. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] .

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 the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food: Thank you to the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the bipartisan Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. Now it is time for the Senate to take up this consumer-friendly legislation that creates a science-based, uniform food labeling standard. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d35d35dedb4203b5c9353152b5536b6d5013474b386d92f4f5 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=137e4c140d59f7d35d35dedb4203b5c9353152b5536b6d5013474b386d92f4f5  **

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