Subject: POLITICO’S Huddle: REID OPENS DOOR ON LIFTING OIL EXPORTS BAN — Cummings hires fundraiser, flirts with Senate run — CLINTON EMAILS NEWS OVERLOAD — New group buys hit Iran deal critics — PAUL PROFILE: PIT-BULL-LIKE EYE DOCTOR
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2015 07:05:58 -0600

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

REID: POTENTIAL FOR COMPROMISE LIFTING OIL EXPORTS BAN. The Senate Minority Leader told Pro Energy's Andrew Restuccia that he "sees room for a compromise on the effort to lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports" - music to the right's ears not doubt. The House will likely vote on lifting the decades-old restriction after recess, the Senate following sometime thereafter.The question is: what will it cost the GOP to get Dems onboard?

The story: "Reid, in an interview with POLITICO Wednesday, was careful not to choose a side in the fierce debate over ending the decades-old export ban, saying that both those in favor and those opposed to exporting U.S.-produced crude oil have made some compelling arguments. He instead made the case that lawmakers 'have to work out some sort of compromise' on the issue..."

"Proponents of lifting the ban have argued it unfairly burdens the U.S. oil industry... [O]thers argue that the U.S. is still reliant on importing millions of barrels of oil per day, and that selling the crude abroad could put U.S. drivers at risk of price hikes. So far, only a handful of Democrats in Congress have said publicly that they favored lifting the ban. In addition to Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manchin, who have long supported allowing U.S. crude to be exported, Sen. Bob Menendez (R-N.J.) appeared to open the door to limited exports this week." Sorry guys: this one is pro only right now." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc500c390a65d23356a88eeda47a9d4fc8b7199b8bf903de40 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc500c390a65d23356a88eeda47a9d4fc8b7199b8bf903de40 

Reid gives thumbs-down to Obama's green-light approvalof Shell's plans to explore in the waters off the coast of Alaska: "I don't think it's a good thing for the world," but he noted that the president doesn't have to run for reelection."

WILL HE OR WON'T HE? "Md. Rep. Cummings hires Senate fundraiser," Rachel Weiner for The Washington Post: "A veteran Senate campaign fundraiser is now working for Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a potential sign that he will run for higher office. Ashley Martens, who worked for Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) in past campaigns, is now doing fundraising for Cummings. She is organizing a fundraiser next month at a Nationals-Orioles game in Washington, D.C., asking for $1,000 to $5,000 contributions to Cummings's political action committee."

"Cummings is not known as a particularly large fundraiser. However, he has significantly more money in his campaign account than Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.), one of two Democratic candidates currently running to replace retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. A poll released by Edwards's campaign Tuesday showed Cummings is far more popular than either Edwards or her primary rival, Rep. Chris Van Hollen. About 65 percent of survey respondents had a favorable view of the congressman - 20 points higher than Edwards or Van Hollen." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abca63eaf09c715142a060917f5b02383dd2521b78ff2b39627 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abca63eaf09c715142a060917f5b02383dd2521b78ff2b39627 

ALMOST FRIDAY - IT'S THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015. Thanks for reading Huddle, where we apparently comment on food as much as we comment on Congress, according to one Hill staffer who wrote in yesterday: "I love that Huddle has basically turned into a daily dairy of your eating habits." What's for breakfast today? Email 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] , or Tweet: @RachaelMBade.

TODAY ON THE HILL: More and more and more recess... Maybe a fieldtrip to La Loma for lunchtime margaritas?

CLINTON STEPS UP DEFENSE ON EMAILS CONTROVERSY. Our Josh Gerstein called it first, noting Clinton camp's change in strategy now that Democrats are freakin' out about how they're handling the emails controversy: "The core of the current controversy, the campaign asserted Wednesday, stems not from Clinton's handling of emails but the dysfunctional system used by agencies to designate and safeguard classified documents. The new effort, which aides described as an educational campaign, came as a top Clinton strategist acknowledged that the Clinton team intends to respond more proactively to criticisms that Clinton put national security secrets at risk by relying on a private server." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc701da3055115c53ba50afe8f0795d10630a23330616ae3f1 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc701da3055115c53ba50afe8f0795d10630a23330616ae3f1 

More Hillary. Meanwhile, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is inquiring about potential conflicts of interest on the part of State employees working on FOIA requests and document production to Congress - namely those with links to David Kendall. My story here: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abcba407770bf9ea1ed79763cc4499d0027364d957f9bbe2f2e 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abcba407770bf9ea1ed79763cc4499d0027364d957f9bbe2f2e  Also on Wednesday, the State Department told a federal court that it had likely destroyed or sold the BlackBerry phones for Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, per The Hill: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc6934ebfdb53f1d78f9a35e886902e767762d0e7baa357419 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc6934ebfdb53f1d78f9a35e886902e767762d0e7baa357419 And in case you haven't read a million-gazillion Clinton emails stories already this week, here's another for you ("Hillary's email: 10 questions"), per Gerstein and your Huddle author: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abcb493aeee3d8569bb12652e8ae70d8295462215575b054419 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abcb493aeee3d8569bb12652e8ae70d8295462215575b054419 

What Republicans are blasting... "Yarmuth: E-mail issue could &#39;upend&#39; Hillary Clinton campaign," per Joe Arnold of WHAS in Louisville: "Kentucky&#39;s only Democratic representative in Congress is expressing concern about Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton&#39;s e-mail controversy, calling it 'very confusing,' and potentially a disqualifying scandal for her candidacy. 'I just never feel I have a grasp of what the facts are,' Yarmuth told WHAS11 on Wednesday. 'Clearly, she has handled it poorly from the first day. And, there&#39;s the appearance of dishonesty, if it&#39;s not dishonest.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abce94cc426de9507740ba7532364eb5a57a4851ec92d81a274 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abce94cc426de9507740ba7532364eb5a57a4851ec92d81a274 

OBAMA'S AIR COVER: (Burgess Everett writes in) Americans United for Change is dropping $500K on a new spot starting today taking a whack at critics of the Iran deal, a significant development given all the spending by groups that oppose the deal. Running for two weeks in L.A., Florida, Baltimore, Boston, New York, Rhode Island and D.C., the 30-second spot warns that "the same people that rushed us into war in Iraq want to sink the new agreement that would help stop war with Iran," displaying images of former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton. "They were wrong about Iraq -- now they're wrong about Iran. They
 fooled us once.Don&#39;t let them fool us again," the ad concludes. Watch here first: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abcd4605cb3285bfde6265c01e80a95485aae32280390ae3ad0 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abcd4605cb3285bfde6265c01e80a95485aae32280390ae3ad0 

PROFILE OF THE DAY-

'RAND PAUL: A HUMANITARIAN IN HAITI, A PIT BULL IN 2016.' AP&#39;s Steve Peoples caught up with Dr. Paul in Haiti over recess, fixing eyes for a good cause. His profile: 'Even while fighting blindness in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere this week, Republican presidential contender Rand Paul intensified political attacks against rivals in both parties, vowing to continue pressing billionaire businessman Donald Trump in particular as the Kentucky senator embraces the role as the GOP&#39;s leading pit bull."

"An ophthalmologist by training, Paul left Haiti on Wednesday afternoon after spending four days on a humanitarian mission to the island nation. From a small urban clinic guarded by a team of armed police, Paul joined six eye surgeons who restored vision to dozens of impoverished Haitians, many living for years in blindness because of ailments such as cataracts that are easily treated in the United States.' 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc0b6920988ff4e49396d8f7b4bbd3ff407cfdf735fb5357eb 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abca9bc088df22a848812315d615bae477d22dd561caaefe0c1 

KLOBUCHAR, THE 'ANTI-TRUMP.' USA Today's Capital Download sat down with Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar to discuss her new book, "The Senator Next Door: A Memoir from the Heartland," which she jokingly called "an anti-Trump book," on bipartisanship, Iran, Cuba and more. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abca3bc5bbb64f1def80df802801eda027f299d892eec2c04b1 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abca3bc5bbb64f1def80df802801eda027f299d892eec2c04b1 

HILL GOSSIP:"Ex-Cochran Aide Pleads Guilty to Drug Conspiracy," Bridget Bowman with Roll Call: "The former aide to Mississippi GOP Sen. Thad Cochran who was arrested as part of a sex-for-drugs scheme pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc3cab285ffea37ca02e388f0485b062df5e96a8caf442bce3 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc3cab285ffea37ca02e388f0485b062df5e96a8caf442bce3 

SCHUETTE NEXT JEB CHAIR. Former Rep. Bill Schuette (R), who preceded former Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp in Michigan's 10th, is joining Jeb Bush as chair for his Michigan campaign. Kyle Feldscher for MLive.com in Lansing: "Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will be the campaign co-chairman for Jeb Bush in Michigan during the presidential campaign.Schuette made the announcement in a press call Wednesday morning. He said he&#39;s backing Bush in the presidential campaign because he believes Bush will serve with distinction. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abce95bb4ce4bc25b9523fb31d57a0f61b12cff4d5838362439 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abce95bb4ce4bc25b9523fb31d57a0f61b12cff4d5838362439 

REMEMBERING LOIIS STOKES. New York Times obit: "Congressman from Ohio and champion of the poor, dies at 90," by Dennis Heves: "Louis Stokes, who as the first African-American congressman from Ohio helped focus federal attention on the nation's poor and led a special House investigation into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died on Tuesday at his home in a Cleveland suburb. He was 90."

"The cause was lung and brain cancer, said his daughter Lori Stokes, who is a news anchor on WABC in New York. Mr. Stokes, a Democrat, served in the House for 30 years starting in 1969, representing Ohio's 21st Congressional District. Encompassing the east side of Cleveland and several suburbs and comprising a predominantly African-American population, the district was created in 1967 in response to a Supreme Court ruling in a case in which Mr. Stokes, then a civil rights lawyer, played a major role..

"Louis Stokes garnered national attention as the head of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which after two years of investigations in the late 1970s concluded that the Kennedy and King killings may have involved conspiracies. But he thought that his most significant role was as a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which helps determine how federal dollars are spent." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc8f0e0f684cf660b24b2e35cb1c2ee8d1c39320fd2abc6d6e 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c70b893849fa7abc8f0e0f684cf660b24b2e35cb1c2ee8d1c39320fd2abc6d6e 

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER. Justin Arnold, a correspondent with The Yomiuri Shimbun, was the first to answer that Gerald Ford was the president who started his career as a male model and was on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine.

TODAY&#39;S TRIVIA: Which comes from our winner: This president was born during George Washington&#39;s Administration. His youngest child died during the Truman Administration. Who was he? Bonus points if you can name the age when he had his last child. Email 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] .

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