Subject: POLITICO Huddle: CONGRESS’S ENVIOUS WORKWEEK -- AAN targets CFPB -- Corker complaint filed -- MORE RECONCILIATION DRAMA
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 06:46:52 -0600

By Burgess Everett | 11/10/2015 07:45 AM EDT

Featuring Seung Min Kim

THE SENATE AND THE 'FRENCH WORK WEEK': Jeb Bush was taking it easy on the Senate when he compared the chamber's schedule to a French work week. Considering the French use 35 hours of work a week as their baseline and get five weeks of vacation, most people of any nationality would welcome a schedule that features about 3.5 days in session a week with just more than six hours of work per day. And things are going to get a lot more lax next year during the election year: 31 weeks in session in the Senate, 28 in session for the House. "It's unbelievable. It's awful. I don't even know how to respond," rookie Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said after perusing next year's calendar.

War of words: The Senate is set to adjourn on Tuesday for the rest of the week. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is threatening to call the chamber back to work after Wednesday's Veterans Day holiday if senators don't finish work on a veterans spending bill. This is precisely what McConnell meant when he said his Senate would work more, said spokesman Don Stewart. "Reid used to threaten weekend votes all the time. He said that dozens of times. He did it once," Stewart said. "Threats have to be believed." But Kristen Orthman, a spokeswoman for Minority Leader Harry Reid, said next year's calendar is evidence that "Republicans' rhetoric was bankrupt all along." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a5421a7bc1196c442694670d7687a86d5d2d4e8c70bdbdb3f

'Mom, the meatloaf! Some editors over at Rosslyn, ahem, did not think readers would get this reference from Generation X Rep. Tom Rooney. "I don't know what a French work week means ... Literally don't know what they do over there [in the Senate]. It's kind of like Will Ferrell in 'Wedding Crashers': 'I don't want what she's doing back there.'" Here's the scene if you've been living under a rock, but be warned its filled with expletives: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749aa92931dda9dd18b60a531f309fbf3d73948147ec3139112c

LAMAR TRIES AGAIN: One thing I heard repeatedly when reporting out the above story is that while everyone is frustrated, senators should not confuse "activity with results." Sen. Lamar Alexander is trying to figure out how to get results in less time, per NYT's Carl Hulse, with a major twist: "His idea? Use the next few months to develop, debate and approve proposals to make the Senate more efficient, but then agree not to institute the changes until 2017 - after next year's election." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a1a708a992597b34c16fa27f2f1ad18109cbf0eb1133bfe0e

DEBATE ADS TARGET CFPB: During tonight's presidential debate the American Action Network is running to ads on Fox Business Network to whack Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Richard Cordray and the CFPB and bring Dodd-Frank into the presidential conversation. Featuring an unsubtle communist theme with Warren and Cordray posters looming over a sweatshop-like CFPB, we're guessing this one is going to create a bit of a stir. AAN is spending $500,000 to run the ad seven times tonight, on D.C. cable this week and on online advertising. Watch it here first: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a2a8d082eedf8d21589372e770324a231e152f2a856b56733

AIMING FOR CORKER: The Campaign for Accountability is out with a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee this morning over a Wall Street Journal story detailing Sen. Bob Corker's shrewd financial trades, some of which the senator did not report. CfA Executive Director Anne Weismann: "Sen. Corker's trades followed a consistent pattern - he bought low and sold high. It beggars belief to suggest these trades - netting the senator and his family millions - were mere coincidences." Read the complaint: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749ae9fcde4695c052a9bf34a642b83f8c6ec9f6fb1506086713

Don't expect a follow-up: The Senate Ethics Committee is a often vast hole of nothingness and opaqueness. Pop a complaint to them and you may never heard about it again; the lawmakers on the committee refuse to discuss it and they have no press shop. But it can cut both ways: Many groups know that they can file a complaint, get a little bit of press coverage and not worry about the end result.

RECONCILIATION COULD SLIDE AGAIN: After dropping hints that the Senate could bring up reconciliation repealing Obamacare before Thanksgiving, GOP leaders are now cautioning that the timeline isn't definite - raising the prospects that the Obamacare repeal bill could slide into December or beyond. When asked about reconciliation coming to the floor next week, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) responded: "That's one possibility but that's not the only possibility ... still discussions need to take place." The Republican trio of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Utah Sen. Mike Lee (two of whom are running for president) say they won't vote for the current
 reconciliation bill as written because it doesn't go far enough, and moderates could peel off because of a measure defunding Planned Parenthood included in the reconciliation bill.

Right turn? Alexander Bolton reports that reconciliation will be more conservative than previously envisioned. "The House guys are going to be surprised when they learn they were outflanked by the Senate, which will pass a more conservative ObamaCare repeal," said a Senate GOP aide. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a08082e1d85c555bb228648ad290e7ddd31c0e5115494cba6

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Getaway day already? Welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where Sen. John Hoeven told me that his Grassley-esque sweater vest is sort of "GQ". Please send tips to [email-masked] and follow along on Twitter @burgessev. 

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate is in at 10 a.m. and will vote about 11:20 a.m. on passage of the NDAA. Keep your eye out for more votes -- these guys will probably be gone for the week by this evening. The House is out. 

Mea culpa: I apologize for erroneously reporting that the House is in session this week on Monday. I will be standing around the Capitol in shame today as penance. 

AROUND THE HILL - Sens. Jeff Merkley and Mike Rounds discuss VA health care staffing in S-115 at 11:30 a.m.

MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Seung Min's excellent story about the TPP being squeezed by 2016 was the big winner. 

GOOD OL' POLICE: Hannah Hess has a mic drop moment as she leaves Roll Call for E&E. "A two-word email sent on the eve of the Oct. 10 Million Man March prompted Capitol Police to confiscate the gun and badge of a newly promoted captain, only to return both items on Oct. 13. The incident is still under investigation, according to outgoing Chief Kim C. Dine, who credits the department with taking 'swift and appropriate action' when employees misbehave. But a congressional aide familiar with the captain's case said the agency's 'old boys' network is attempting to make an example of a woman who has a reputation for calling out improper behavior." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a8141427dba39ecd20de8246baca8fdb3df1de75dba4a7739

TRUMP CARD: Donald Trump has scooped Katrina Pierson, a former congressional candidate, as his national spokesperson, per the Dallas Morning News. "Pierson, a founder of the Garland tea party and an adviser to Cruz's 2012 Senate campaign, could not be reached for comment late Monday. The Trump campaign's announcement gave no indication why she chose to work for the New York real estate magnate instead of continuing her support for Cruz." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a0f17f4977e5adde1adff57c783942b89a36a38cb3074519e

Awkward retrospective: From May 20, 2014, two months after Pierson lost her primary to Rep. Pete Sessions. 

-- @CoachRogers92: Only mistake we've made was not running @KatrinaPierson vs RINO @JohnCornyn. 

-- @JohnCornyn: Did so great against Pete Sessions.

WARM COATS TIES: Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski has a fun look at two former staffers for Sen. Dan Coats who now basically run the whole Capitol. "The Indiana Republican's staff leader in the early '90s was Dave Hoppe, who just returned to the Capitol as chief of staff to Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis. Hoppe in turn hired Sharon Soderstrom for Coats' team. She's now chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749a9d218e78435cf99590c77a7b0c1ce3b6d4799fa5a452d04b

OUT THIS A.M.: The Senate Republican Conference has a vid out with GOP senators who are also veterans or active duty thanking those who served in honor of Veterans Day. In the video: Sens. John McCain, Pat Roberts, Mike Enzi, Johnny Isakson, Dan Sullivan, Joni Ernst and Tom Cotton. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749af7a87f7bb0b2f038d47d5c556bde449e17fc8ac91c5fc888

ON A ROLL: Man, Clickhole is hilarious with this item on finding out "What Anne Hathaway, J.J. Abrams, And Barbara Boxer Have To Say." "I'd need to see the proof in the sales figures, but sure." - Barbara Boxer, on whether she'd say Kayak.com KO's the competition. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749aabe7998d9de2c07b8cd662382f579e4410486976c83ebe9c

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Barry Scanlon was the first to answer that Al Franken got to "know his role" on Saturday night live by playing Sen. Paul Simon at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on Clarence Thomas. Ben Brubeck tracked down the clip for us: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=631354de51b8749abe97e59930936d741e10988f1be9c09baed31e4b5e376a0c

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Ben has today's question: William Steinway gave a Steinway piano as a wedding gift to this president, the only president to get married in the White House. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at [email-masked]

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