Subject: POLITICO Huddle: The Seinfeld Congress is gaveled in for session - The new SCOTUS reality -- Ryan to Israel
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2016 04:58:46 -0600

03/22/2016 06:57 AM EDT

By Lauren French ([email-masked] or @LaurenNFrench) 

BREAKING: DOUBLE ATTACKS IN BRUSSELS. Nicholas Vinocur reports, "At least 21 people were killed and dozens were wounded after powerful explosions tore through a Brussels airport terminal and a subway train in the heart of the city's European Union quarter, in attacks that Belgian authorities said involved at least one suicide bomber. The Belgian government raised its threat level to four - its highest level, indicating fear of further attacks - after a wave of apparent attacks that struck the EU's capital days after the capture of several suspects connected to the Paris attacks on November 13... The first explosions struck shortly after 8am at Zaventem airport. Smoke poured from a damaged
 terminal building, as panicked passengers including many injured people rushed away from the site, some still carrying luggage." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d641857322c36e6b0e495c709fcc45662d9ddf31d2bcdb3cef4bfaa3e

CALL IT THE SEINFELD CONGRESS - Yours truly, with an assist from Burgess Everett reports, "The biggest achievement in the House last week was a party-line vote to file a brief in a court case. In other action, GOP leaders all but conceded they won't be able to pass a budget, the party's first order of business, this year. Over in the Senate, lawmakers have been busy debating whether it's good or bad to sit on the president's Supreme Court nominee for the next nine months. Call it the Seinfeld Congress - all about nothing. It's gotten so small-ball that one congressman, a chairman of a highly influential committee, introduced legislation last week to recognize the national significance of
 magic." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d6418573268e3f9bfa69e4ef60db4e8f80531f976ba09dc5465016b60

THE NEW REALITY? ONLY FRIENDLY SENATES CONFIRM. The New York Times' Carl Hulse reports, "The bitter impasse over the nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland is raising a once unthinkable possibility: Presidents may no longer be confident of filling a Supreme Court vacancy unless their party controls the Senate. With incumbents more worried about primary challenges and activist groups wielding greater influence, senators from both parties have shown increasing reluctance to back otherwise qualified judicial nominees whose views and records do not align with their own or their party's. Now the Republican decision to deny Judge Garland any consideration is taking court politics to a
 hyperpolarized level, one that does not bode well for the future of an already seriously troubled confirmation process." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d64185732980b7524b80be8cfbffceb6cdc54219685fcece8eaadabc6

TRUMP EMBRACES WASHINGTON...FOR A DAY. Eli Stokols writes, "Donald Trump, the anti-Washington insurgent, made a statement just by spending a full day in the nation's capital - wrapping his arms around the city and its entrenched power class that he is asking to embrace him. He's got his work cut out for him. Trump met with a small group of Republican members of Congress Monday afternoon that drew few politicians willing to be seen meeting with him beyond those who have already endorsed him. He used a news conference to show off the hotel he's building a few blocks from the White House. And in a rare occurrence, Trump sat for a live television interview in the actual studio, answering Wolf
 Blitzer's questions for 20 minutes." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d6418573224abe60478a6587901d9f5099837e330581a04ab861aed97

HAPPY TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 and welcome to the Huddle. Everyone Huddle spoke with yesterday was gripping that nothing was happening on the Hill this week. You can be the change! Send me a tip or some gossip and let's make some news. You can find me at [email-masked] and @laurennfrench on Twitter.

TODAY IN CONGRESS: The House votes between 2 and 3 p.m. The Senate is out of town.

AROUND THE HILL -The Republican leadership team will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. in HC-8. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer will hold a pen & pad at 11 a.m. in H-144. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers will attend a panel discussion on employment opportunities for individuals with Down Syndrome at the National Press Club at 12 p.m. Conversations with Conservatives will host their monthly lunch at 12:30 in 340 Cannon, featuring Reps. Ra&uacute;l Labrador, Tim Huelskamp and Jim Jordan.

RYAN TO ISRAEL OVER RECESS. Jake Sherman reports, "Paul Ryan will announce at the AIPAC policy conference Monday evening that he will travel to Israel in the next few weeks for his first trip abroad as speaker of the House, according to a source familiar with his remarks. The Wisconsin Republican will head to Israel during the upcoming Easter recess, the source said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d64185732b86106d62afbba1e563ebd0909bd3ae46cf8ec0a359fb31e

THEY (KIND OF) LIKE YOU, THEY REALLY (KIND OF) LIKE YOU. Donovan Slack for USA TODAY reports, "More than two thirds of Americans - some 68% - disapprove of the job Congress is doing, according to a Monmouth University poll released Monday. That's not too surprising, given previous polling. But what is surprising is that a whopping 22% actually approve of the job Congress is doing. "This is the first time Congress's approval rating has crossed the 20% threshold in nearly a year, so I guess that's something," Monmouth poll director Patrick Murray said in a statement." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d64185732956d652a1a74b09fba76b4b2753778b756456ba2cc6dbc6c

SCOTUS REJECTS MASS STUN GUN LAW. Robert Barnes with the Washington Post, "The Supreme Court on Monday overturned a ruling by Massachusetts's highest court that upheld a state law prohibiting the possession of stun guns. The justices, in an unsigned and bare-bones opinion, said the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court misread their ruling in the landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller. That 2008 decision said the Second Amendment provided an individual right to gun ownership and provided guidance on what kinds of weapons were covered." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d6418573273cc13279331d3a842a2858dbbedf537f6736ed1701b7513

HAVANA DATELINE: 

- Obama's Cuban missive crisis - By Edward-Isaac Dovere: "President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday morning at the Gran Teatro on the main square in Old Havana will be watched closely by Cubans - and almost as closely by Obama's supporters and critics in the United States.... The Cubans agreed to broadcast the speech on television and radio. What the translation will be like is a different question, of course, but for a government that's mastered isolationism and restricted internet access to the outside world-including actively jamming the signals of journalists covering Obama's meeting with Ra&uacute;l Castro on Monday-just the fact of the speech is a revolution." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d641857326302265694fd001a72b7fc73dc891d227b18c5cb8f802498

- On Cuba, Congress is needed for next step. By David Francis with Foreign Policy, "For U.S. President Barack Obama, this week's trip to Cuba helps cement a foreign-policy legacy that now includes ending more than five decades of strife with a onetime Cold War rival... But Obama can't do much more unless Congress acts to repeal the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which formalized the embargo put in place by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 and bars the executive branch from lifting it without congressional approval. In other words, without the help of Congress, Obama can't fully lift all financial penalties against Havana, and proponents of the move have acknowledged that is unlikely to happen
 while Republicans control both the House and the Senate." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d641857321eae5ea44e5a1e9338a3a793e012f15564ffef56ac5b531e

2016 PITSTOP:

- Tuesday states could favor Sanders but Arizona is key - By Daniel Strauss: "This was supposed to be the beginning of Bernie Sanders' comeback. But if the Vermont senator fails to win the big prize Tuesday - Arizona, where polls show him facing a double-digit deficit - his expected string of victories in the caucus states that follow won't make a dent in Hillary Clinton's daunting delegate lead, or erase the impression that his campaign can't win in states with diverse Democratic electorates. Still, after losing all five March 15 contests, the primary calendar is suddenly looking better for Sanders." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d64185732811c219ff80d7ed2cf4a19b6cef1db49418873fd598ae3f1

- Marco Rubio rejected 'unity ticket' with Ted Cruz - A scoop from Alex Isenstadt: "Ted Cruz's campaign has been exploring the possibility of forming a unity ticket with ex-rival Marco Rubio - going so far as to conduct polling looking into how the two would perform in upcoming primary states. The motivation, hashed out in conversations among Cruz's top aides and donors: to find a way to halt Donald Trump's march to the Republican nomination. It's unclear whether Cruz's campaign brass views a partnership with Rubio as realistic or quixotic. In Rubio's orbit, according to three sources, it's seen as an outright nonstarter - with Rubio telling his team he isn't interested." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d64185732f68af5d8f70590d6a0b8281f8918fbe928690b436b31cd90

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - We stumped you with yesterday's 2008 presidential history question. Here is a hint, it is not in May.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Let's try it again. On what date in 2008 did Barack Obama take the lead in total delegates, both pledged and unpledged combined? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail [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." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d641857323059ccd2576c2cc86bc0108d32e1baeb41446c53919c2b13

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d641857325d5e5a7fe5ab9ca7e468496abebcd44a962bbbd3779fbad5
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=293dd66d64185732bfc619f937d80144ace3921b8b0586c3a89f2a315d11ec74 or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=c1c81b2ef644fde1dd3c1f6178ef6a8ea3ee660992025bd4a62ab8d3c5883fe36bad576ebd7727cbc5f7a71b421d1a151fb06668d706a4a3This email was sent to [email-masked] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

To unsubscribe,http://www.politico.com/_unsubscribe?e=00000153-9df8-d543-ad5b-9dfdf46b0000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=626f6f02192685f08d31bf8f73960c6dbd3f0fface9bcbf77cfb445c7374c835e958c94b6f7173af3b0b4463e2bbc6a51d2afda1d7ee3c53d594a974e2803e0e