Subject: POLITICO Huddle: MOORE DEFIES GOP CALLS TO STEP DOWN – Sessions testifies before House Judiciary – MENENDEZ JURY DEADLOCKED – Rand Paul returns
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:57:48 -0600
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By Heather Caygle | 11/14/2017 07:56 AM EDT

By Heather Caygle ([email-masked] or @heatherscope)
 
With an assist from Elana Schor and Seung Min Kim 
 
WHAT'S NEXT IN THE MOORE SAGA? Roy Moore is showing no signs he plans to withdraw from the Alabama Senate race, despite calls from GOP leaders to do so and a fifth woman accusing him of misconduct, claiming he sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager. "I think he should step aside," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday, adding: "I believe the women, yes." With Moore refusing to drop out, Republicans are exploring their limited options to boot him other ways. 
 
Option 1: Write-in campaign - Sen. Luther Strange said it's "highly unlikely" he pursues a write-in bid before the Dec. 12 election but Republicans are considering asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been on the outs with the president, to run for his old seat. McConnell discussed the idea via phone with Vice President Mike Pence on Monday, Jonathan Martin and Sheryl Gay Stolberg report for the New York Times. "The swap would be something of a win-win for Mr. McConnell and Mr. Trump - the senator is eager to rid himself of Mr. Moore and the president has been open about his disappointment with Mr. Sessions."
 
Option 2: Expulsion - Republicans are divided over whether to try and expel Moore from the Senate if he does win the election. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), chairman of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, first raised the idea Monday. But other Republicans worry such drastic action could raise serious questions about the Senate defying the will of voters, Seung Min and Bres report. The Senate Ethics Committee would take the lead in expulsion proceedings and 67 senators would need to vote in favor for it to succeed. If Moore is elected, "what will happen then, none of us know," Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said.
 
Related: "The Republican National Committee hasn't yet dumped Roy Moore," Henry J. Gomez reports for BuzzFeed. 
 
SESSIONS ON THE HILL TODAY - Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify before the House Judiciary Committee today in what's expected to be a tense hearing on everything from the Trump campaign's contact with Russia to news that DOJ is considering appointing a new special counsel to investigate the Clinton Foundation and an Obama-era uranium deal. Sessions has repeatedly denied he knew of any contact between the Trump campaign and Russia. But two campaign aides have since told federal and congressional investigators that Sessions was in the room or informed about potential dealings with the Kremlin. Kyle with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c6255872c3c84ca7bac31a61cacb945ec52c301f03b683cc2b829e08e9982524d1af5bf294404e882b53e1b Tune in starting at 10 a.m.:
 http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c62558767d037a0492e344877153e857f0a1b0513ebf1e196a9e4f218d8056fa5e44961c2f9fd29c2ea503d 
 
CHC FEUD THREATENS DREAMER MOMENTUM - A clash between Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Latino Democratic lawmakers over his attempt to join the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has gotten so nasty that it's threatening to derail momentum for a year-end deal to save Dreamers. Some CHC members are miffed Curbelo won't sign onto their signature bill, the Dream Act, and have even accused him of discouraging other Republicans from backing the proposal. Democratic lawmakers are also smarting after Curbelo got into a fight with CHC Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham behind closed doors, accusing the group of discriminating against him and seeming to take a jab at her inability to speak Spanish. 
 
Curbelo formally submitted a request to join the CHC on Monday and the caucus could vote as soon as Thursday. But members say it's unclear how the vote will go given everything that's happened in recent weeks. "Don't give people reason to leave your bench," said one source. "Now you're making the caucus make a decision between you, an outlier, and someone who is thought of very highly." Your Huddle host with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c6255873934ec01d6c1988d95395378773059fb7e607d382188b2766cbb6205527347a30d82006a39d83757 
 
GUYS, IT'S TUESDAY. WE'RE DOING THIS. Welcome to Nov. 14, and thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. 
 
MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Emma Dumain's story about five senators to watch on the tax bill got the win to start off the week. 
 
HOUSE HARASSMENT HEARING TODAY - The House Administration Committee will hold a hearing on sexual harassment today as lawmakers look at ways to update the chamber's training and reporting policies. Ahead of the hearing, more than 1,500 former Hill staffers signed a letter calling on Congress to mandate sexual harassment training and overhaul the process for reporting complaints. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who has said she was sexually harassed as a Hill staffer, and Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), a former employment attorney, will testify during the first part of the hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. Tune in: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c6255876412e0837808ea8595ee25aba5fd3c12f9c4612cba2eaafca91e17accd0ba46b3ef3f3f6c426dfa7 
 
Across the Capitol, senators in both parties are touting their move last week to mandate sexual harassment training in the upper chamber. But the Senate did nothing to address the system for filing complaints, one many critics say is burdensome and deters victims from coming forward. Now Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is working with Speier to release a plan that would streamline the reporting system, which currently requires victims to undergo mediation and counseling before they can file a formal complaint, Elana reports. "No one reform is going to change everything," Gillibrand said, "but we have to at least keep trying." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c62558773853e4adfa936644ef5ecf9d437e4005f07b560280e526b41d6c2fa8043c9deba7901744648fbc8 
 
Related: CNN reports on the unwritten rules female Hill staffers follow to avoid getting harassed, including a "creep list," described as "an informal roster passed along by word-of-mouth, consisting of the male members most notorious for inappropriate behavior." According to the report, "more than half a dozen interviewees independently named one California congressman for pursuing female staffers; another half dozen pointed to a Texas congressman for engaging in inappropriate behavior. CNN is not naming either of those lawmakers because the stories are unverified." MJ Lee, Sunlen Serfaty, Sara Ganim and Juana Summers with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c625587c7d80776cab92a57d5068615d027b19ec3b162fcc2ab16a3855997cd4c246e691b59d17a6f790dc1 
 
MENENDEZ JURY: TRY, TRY AGAIN - Jurors in Sen. Bob Menendez's federal corruption trial will resume deliberations today after telling the judge they were deadlocked on Monday. "Go home, get a breath of fresh air or rain, or whatever it may be doing out there," U.S. District Judge William H. Walls said. The jury had already been instructed to start deliberations anew on Monday after an alternate was tapped to replace a juror who was dismissed last week to go on a pre-planned vacation. That juror, leaving the courthouse in Newark last week, said she thought Menendez was innocent and the jury likely wouldn't reach a verdict. Nicholas Pugliese with the N.J. Record: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c625587761d7c49c6ef0f44bed744a180f399e785e0598f51c12b92d763e3a44bccfc661bbaab5aee0b029c 
 
MARK YOUR CALENDARS - President Trump returns to Washington today after nearly two weeks in Asia. Trump will be on Capitol Hill Thursday to speak to House Republicans ahead of their big tax reform vote, Nancy Cook and Nolan McCaskill report. "Leadership believes, is very confident, that we will have, we do and will have, the votes for passage," House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady told reporters Monday. The Senate Finance Committee kicked off its multi-day markup Monday afternoon but the real work starts today when Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) unveils changes intended to make the bill comply with the Senate's strict budgetary rules. 
 
Meanwhile, Democrats are "going on offense" to toxify the legislation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared Monday. At an appearance alongside House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Schumer told reporters that the GOP tax plan "will be at the center of our efforts to take back the House and Senate in 2018." 
 
RAND RETURNS - Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) returned to Washington Monday, nursing six broken ribs and doing little to quiet speculation about what prompted an alleged attack by his next-door neighbor more than a week ago. "An aide attempted to deflect reporters as Paul quietly explained that he's still struggling to breathe as his ribs heal," Ed O'Keefe and Paul Kane report for the Washington Post. 
 
Paul told the Washington Examiner that there was "no justification" for the alleged attack. "I'm not really too concerned about what someone's motive is. I'm just concerned that I was attacked from the back and somebody broke six of my ribs and gave me a damaged lung where at least for now I have trouble speaking and breathing and now I've hurt for 10 days," he said. Paul Bedard with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c625587d045a6f8a0c52e9b2f53bfa1c8a117ec0bf495e04075c29e9439726f0a41f73f22a4682c77a55dff 
 
ANYTHING ELSE WORTH MENTIONING? Brett Talley, already a controversial judicial nominee for having never tried a case, has angered Democrats by failing to disclose in his Senate questionnaire that his wife is a top White House lawyer, the New York Times reports. But Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Democrats should've known and asked about that during Talley's confirmation hearing. "That wife was in the audience when he had a hearing. How come that didn't come up at that particular time?" Grassley told reporters Monday. "The wife was employed at that time she was in the very room where that question should've been asked and why wasn't that question asked by members that
 are concerned about it?" Talley's district court nomination was approved by the committee on a party-line vote but has yet to be considered by the full Senate. 
 
GREEN TO RETIRE IN 2018 - Longtime Texas Democratic Rep. Gene Green won't seek reelection next year after serving more than two decades in Congress. Green's district, which is more than three-quarters Hispanic, is overwhelmingly Democratic. Green won his last election with more than 70 percent of the vote. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c62558753f993a193cfbe30c6a4172c5259b58de543f79f2f2505f772be5e9e3b695c68d17ea7026347c1c0 

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House meets at 10 a.m. with first votes around 1 p.m. and last votes around 5 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=891dc27d5c625587aef8653d2b3c570288ce6288b92c86c49104f5b4efde45b42df10238324d2d0549667ccab8b984ae The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of DOT general counsel nominee Steven Bradbury. The chamber will recess for weekly caucus lunches from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
 
AROUND THE HILL - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. Suzan DelBene, (D-Wash.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) hold a press conference with MomsRising at 10 a.m. on the GOP tax bill in 234 Cannon. 
 
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), GOP Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) hold a press conference at 10 a.m. in HC-8. 
 
House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Vice Chair Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) take questions from reporters after Democrats' weekly caucus meeting starting at 10:15 a.m. in HVC Studio A. 
 
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) holds his weekly pen and pad at 11 a.m. in H-144. More than a dozen Senate and House Democrats hold a press conference on climate change at 11:30 a.m. in the Senate swamp. 
 
MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Cory Bisbee was first to guess that former Rep. Royal Hurlburt Weller (D-N.Y.) was born on July 2, 1881, the same day President James Garfield was shot. Garfield died eleven weeks later on Sept. 19 as a result of an infection from the gunshot wound. 
 
TODAY'S TRIVIA - Cory with today's question: Before redistricting in the wake of the 2010 census, Rep. Jim McGovern represented the 3rd congressional district of Massachusetts, a seat once held by this man. The man in question later lost an election following redistricting by his own party. Name the politician, what office he lost re-election to, and what office he subsequently held. The first person to answer correctly gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: [email-masked]. 
 
TONIGHT - SEVENTH ANNUAL EMERGING HEALTH CARE LEADERS EVENT - an evening of one-on-one conversations with the rising stars who are moving the health care system forward through improvements in payment, delivery and quality of care. Speakers include: Anna Abram, FDA; Adam Buckalew, House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health; Matt Gallivan, Office of Senator Bill Cassidy; Arielle Woronoff, Senate Committee on Finance. TONIGHT - 5:30 p.m. -- AJAX - 1011 4th St NW. RSVP: here Livestream: here.
 
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