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By Lauren French (
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com & @laurennfrench)

PATTY MURRAY'S NEXT STEP.Seung Min Kim has a sit-down with the Washington senator. "Sen. Patty Murray's two decades in office have been marked by her knack for turning her vanilla-ness into an asset to pass big bills and accrue power. Lawmakers in both parties say she has a high trustworthiness quotient. She used it to pull off the budget agreement with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a few years ago and has been back at it this month, clinching an education deal with GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander and helping to get the Senate out of its self-created jam on a sex trafficking bill. Now, in a measure of Murray's prominence and influence, she's managed to roil the Senate Democratic Caucus just by remaining
silent about her ambitions. Murray, in a POLITICO interview, refused to rule out the possibility of running against Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, currently No. 2 in her party's Senate leadership, who's been busy lining up support to keep his job."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=536413ba68de39df7afdcd144a1d81058addbb24645101662523bf358dfb5590
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=536413ba68de39df7afdcd144a1d81058addbb24645101662523bf358dfb5590

REPUBLICANS REACH 'TENTATIVE' BUDGET DEAL. From Rachael Bade, "House and Senate negotiators are putting the finishing touches on a budget agreement, nearing the finish-line of a weeks-long effort to align both chambers' fiscal frameworks - a key priority for the GOP-controlled Congress. Several senators told POLITICO that Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) - the upper chambers' chief negotiator - was working the floor during an afternoon vote series and pitching a "tentative" deal - though lawmakers remained hush-hush on details...one GOP source said negotiators had resolved a sticking point over how to offset a recently enacted bipartisan Medicare overhaul that was not entirely paid
for. The source said the agreement is likely to offset the overhaul, often called the "doc fix," starting next year."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826d8d88ffdd58ddf915464447becb90d91b43b00a03480fcd1
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826d8d88ffdd58ddf915464447becb90d91b43b00a03480fcd1

SENATE PASSES ANTI-TRAFFICKING BILL..... Burgess Everett has the story, "The Senate passed a bill aimed at combating human trafficking on Wednesday afternoon, putting to rest six weeks of gridlock over abortion politics and clearing the way for Loretta Lynch to be confirmed as the next attorney general. The unanimous 99-0 vote belied much of the drama behind the legislation, which jammed up the Senate floor amid partisan bickering over whether the bill's restitution fund for victims should be subject to abortion restrictions. The row over social issues also obscured strong support for the measure's core provisions aimed at combating sex slavery."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826ff644aaa48cee545e3955f6367462dda2601cea88e1270f5
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826ff644aaa48cee545e3955f6367462dda2601cea88e1270f5

... OPENING DOOR FOR LYNCH VOTE. By Erica Werner with the AP, "Five months after she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as attorney general, Loretta Lynch will finally get a confirmation vote in the Senate. Lynch is expected to win approval with the support of all Democrats and at least five Republicans in the vote set for Thursday. Now U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, she would replace Eric Holder and become the nation's first black female attorney general... five Republicans have said they intend to vote for Lynch - Mark Kirk of Illinois, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine. That
means she would win confirmation with at least 51 votes and no need for Vice President Joe Biden to cast a tie-breaking vote, as had looked possible in recent months"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c782624bf2225ef5c5cb221af00c89beece97629a940e44981373
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c782624bf2225ef5c5cb221af00c89beece97629a940e44981373

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill. Let me know what's going on at
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com or at @laurennfrench on Twitter. Thanks for reading!

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House will hold its first and last vote series between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.The Senate will hold two vote series at 11:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL - Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) will reintroduce the Supreme Court Ethics Act - a measure that would require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics - at 1:30 p.m. in SVC-208. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will hold a press conference at 10:45 a.m. in Studio A. Following that avail, Speaker John Boehner will hold his weekly address at 11:30 a.m.

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) along with Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) will introduce legislation to bring the Death Master File into order. There are widespread faults with the file and the lawmakers want to cut down on the number of likely deceased individuals who still have active Social Security records. Watch for the bills' introduction today.

DRIVING TODAY: GOWDY WILL ANNOUNCE NEXT STEPS ON CLINTON'S APPEARANCE. Via your Huddle author, "A top lawyer for Hillary Clinton reiterated Wednesday that the former secretary of state has no plans to testify privately before a House committee investigating Benghazi. David Kendall wrote to Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to say Clinton is ready now to appear before the panel for a public hearing on her email use and the 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya....Gowdy said in response to Kendall's letter that he will make a decision on Thursday about the panel's next move."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c78266bf171cf618342e636b3823b3dc06ced3e2325111084efba
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c78266bf171cf618342e636b3823b3dc06ced3e2325111084efba

SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE PASSES OBAMA'S FAST TRACK. From the AP, "President Barack Obama's trade agenda narrowly passed an initial Senate test late Wednesday, but many fellow Democrats hope to trip him in the House. The Senate Finance Committee endorsed Obama's request for 'fast track' legislation, which would renew presidential authority to present trade deals that Congress can endorse or reject but not amend. If the House and Senate eventually comply, Obama is likely to ask them to approve the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which involves Japan, Canada and Mexico, but not China. Other trade proposals could follow."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826c8c8366ce834526941e5dc6e52bf2fc9a0fafd50d6192105
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826c8c8366ce834526941e5dc6e52bf2fc9a0fafd50d6192105

DEMS PRESSURE CLINTON ON TRADE. Manu Raju and your Huddle author reports, "The 12-nation Pacific trade deal is the first major policy dilemma of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and she's under pressure to cast aside her own past as a free-trade proponent and buck the current Democratic president in whose Cabinet she served. Now, pressure is intensifying from Capitol Hill on the presumed Democratic standard-bearer. Democratic lawmakers intent on preventing fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership are calling on Clinton to take a more definitive stance on the legislation, hoping that she can tip the scales against President Barack Obama's position."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826cd39ef364ea82e80475ea3f8c5db4db53a7a8f5cf162bc72
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826cd39ef364ea82e80475ea3f8c5db4db53a7a8f5cf162bc72

SENATE WORKERS STAGE WALK-OUT. CNN reports, "About 40 contracted workers from the United States Senate walked off their jobs Wednesday morning and joined more than 1,000 labor activists at a rally calling on President Barack Obama and Congress to require federal contractors to pay their workers more. The Senate workers -- employed at the upper chamber's cafeteria, on janitorial duty and in other food service jobs -- along with other federal contracted employees, are calling on the President to sign a 'Model Employer Executive Order' that would give federal contracting preferences to companies that can pay their workers $15 an hour."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826ebe66c700f3f6e0de9d13be87fbe19be2da2a4335f91d5d0
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826ebe66c700f3f6e0de9d13be87fbe19be2da2a4335f91d5d0

MCCARTHY GRADES HOUSE ON FIRST 100 DAYS. The majority leader's office has a rundown for the first 100 days of the 114th Congress - all data focused on what the Republican-controlled House has been up to. McCarthy's office found that the House passed 62 bills - "more than doubled the 25 passed in the first 100 days of the 113th Congress and is twice as many as the 31 passed in the 112th Congress." Eight of those bills have been signed by President Barack Obama. More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c78266a239fad675b108ceee06ddb4055a2887e082ef59b9a37e6
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c78266a239fad675b108ceee06ddb4055a2887e082ef59b9a37e6

'MULTIPLE' WEAPONS AIMED AT GYROCOPTER PILOT. The AP reports, "Congressional lawmakers want security officials to explain how they determined that a small gyrocopter piloted by a Florida postal carrier didn't pose a threat to the nation's capital when it flew through restricted airspace. 'Multiple weapons' were aimed at the gyrocopter, but officials decided not to bring it down in part for fear of harming tourists and others on the National Mall, lawmakers said. The incident exposed a gap in efforts to ensure the security of the White House, the Capitol and other critical buildings in Washington."
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7295b95326c7826e3a2338ad40954d82b4494dfaa7162f90a12942862e9ab3a

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Stephen S. Huffman was the first to correctly answer that it was President Ulysses S. Grant who brought the first professional baseball team to the White House.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Huffman has today's question. Why were presidential inaugurations original held on March 4th?Be the first to email
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com with the correct answer and get a mention in tomorrow's Huddle.

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