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By Scott Wong (
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HOUSE GOP ROLLS DICE ON DEBT LIMIT - Jake Sherman and Ginger Gibson write for the hometown paper: "After a few weeks of vote searching - and a good deal of soul searching - House Republicans say they think their best hope of raising the debt ceiling is to tie it to restoring pension cuts for retired soldiers. But even that might not work. The most recent strategy - unveiled in a private Monday night meeting in the Capitol - is meant to maximize Republican support, while daring Democrats to vote against restoring military benefit cuts. The vote is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, but top Republicans concede the bill might never make it to the floor - they won't bring up a bill that won't
pass.

-- "Republicans cannot pass it by themselves, and Democrats likely won't help push it over the edge. Senior Senate sources say it is likely a nonstarter in their chamber - they've constantly advocated for a debt-limit hike without extraneous policy provisions. On Monday, the Senate advanced a fix to military cost-of-living adjustments on its own, by a whopping 94-0."
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EMPLOYERS GET MORE DELAYS FROM OBAMACARE - Brett Norman and David Nather report for POLITICO: "Once again, it's employers who are getting a break from their Obamacare mandate - and that's sure to increase the pressure on the Obama administration to delay the mandate for individuals, too. Regulations announced by the Obama administration Monday give two levels of delay to employers who would have had to cover their workers next year. Some businesses will get an extra year - until 2016. And the bigger businesses that do have to worry about the mandate will have it phased in over two years. It's the second round of delays to the employer mandate, which will require all businesses with 50 or
more full-time workers to provide health coverage or pay a fine. The mandate was originally supposed to start this year - until, under pressure from business groups, it got pushed back until 2015."
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-- THE FRONT PAGE - Wall Street Journal, 5-col. lead: "Health-Law Mandate Put Off Again: No Fines for Most Employers Until 2016 as Firms Pressure White House in Wake of Troubled Rollout." Washington Post, 2-col. lead: "Employers get new reprieve from health law: MORE TIME FOR MIDSIZE COMPANIES: Insurance mandate won't kick in until 2016." NYT: "Further Delays for Employers in Health Law: G.O.P Assails Change as a Political Step." USA Today, banner headline: "Health law faces new delay: Some businesses get extra year to comply; GOP wants it extended to individuals."

-- SPEAKER BOEHNER: "Once again, the president is giving a break to corporations while individuals and families are still stuck under the mandates of his health care law. And, once again, the president is rewriting law on a whim. If the administration doesn't believe employers can manage the burden of the law, how can struggling families be expected to? This continued manipulation by the president breeds confusion and erodes Americans' confidence in him and his health care law.We need fairness for all, with relief from ObamaCare for every American."

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SENATE GOP TO HIT IRS RULE TODAY -- Look for Senate Republicans to hit the floor today to criticize a pending IRS regulation that would block social welfare (501c4) groups from political involvement. Republicans will say the rule limits first amendment rights for these groups by empowering the IRS as arbiter of political speech. GOP Sens. Flake, Roberts, McConnell, Hatch and others will introduce a bill to prevent the rule from taking effect.

-- Here's an excerpt from Sen. McConnell's floor remarks: "Commissioner Koskinen could go down in history as a hero, just like the IRS Commissioner who stood up to Nixon and said no to harassment of political opponents. I want to believe that this is the choice he will make - that he wants to be remembered as a strong and independent public servant, rather than some political pawn. But we can't be sure what he'll do. And the American people need a backup plan in case he decides his fealty lies with the opponents of free speech, rather than with them. So that's why today I, along with Senators Flake, Roberts, Hatch and others have introduced legislation thatwould prevent the IRS from
enacting regulations that would permit the suppression of First Amendment rights."POLITICO's Rachel Bade and Lauren French have a story on the bill for Pros:
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IMMIGRATION GROUPS UNLEASH ANGER - Anna Palmer and Seung Min Kim report for POLITICO: "Immigration reform advocates are done playing nice with House Republicans. After holding their fire for years at the urging of the Obama administration, several immigration reform groups now plan to unleash their anger at the right. A new, more aggressive campaign kicks off Tuesday, when these groups say they will begin confronting Republican lawmakers at public appearances, congressional hearings and events back in home districts. The goal: Shame Republicans in swing districts into taking up the issue - or make them pay at the ballot box in November."
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GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, FEB. 11, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your-play-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
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TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and will resume consideration of a bill that would restore cuts to military pensions. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. for party caucus lunches. The House meets at 10 a.m. with first votes expected between 2 and 3 p.m. and last votes to be determined. The House votes under suspension of the rules on several bills: one requiring the FAA to go through the rulemaking process before implementing new sleep apnea policies and the Small Cap Liquidity Reform Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection and Soundness Improvement Act. House Democrats hold their annual issues conference from Wednesday to Friday in Cambridge, Md.

AROUND THE HILL - House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra and Vice Chairman Joe Crowley hold a post-meeting availability at 10 a.m. in the HVC-210 alcove. Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders hold a post-conference availability at 10 a.m. in the RNC lobby. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer holds a pen-and-pad briefing at 10:30 a.m. in H-144. Rep. Rush Holt and others mark a Day of Action on NSA surveillance at noon at the House Triangle. Foreign Relations Chairman Ed Royce and the committee host the King of Jordan at 4:30 p.m. in H-137.

RUBIO WON'T SAY IF HE'S SMOKED POT - Alex Leary reports for the Tampa Bay Times: "Sen. Marco Rubio, appearing at an education forum today in Miami, was asked whether he's ever smoked pot. He wouldn't say. The question came in the context of the Florida ballot measure to allow medical marijuana. A moderator then asked Rubio if he's ever tried the drug. 'I'll tell you why I never answer that question,' Rubio replied. 'If I tell you that I haven't, you won't believe me. And if tell you that I did, then kids will look up to me and say 'Well, I can smoke marijuana because look how he made it. He did all right so I guess I can do it, too.' The bottom line is, it is a
substance that alters your mind. When I was 17 and 18 and 16, I made dumb decisions as is. I didn't need the help of marijuana or alcohol to further that.' Rubio went on to say that bad choices made as a youth can follow a person through life - an arrest record hurting job prospects, for example. 'At this point,' Rubio said of the question, 'it's irrelevant.'"
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TRANSITIONS - TYLER NELSON has been named chief of staff for Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas). He formerly served as Olson's district director and deputy chief of staff in the Sugar Land Office.

-- STEVE RUHLEN, Olson's current chief of staff, will be departing to become the chief of staff for Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.).

THE ROGERS REPORT: WAXMAN HANDS OFF THE TORCH - "A generation is passing in Congress these days, and with it goes a level of legislative craftsmanship that will be sorely missed by both parties," writes David Rogers. "Just six years ago, the House and Senate still boasted a solid bipartisan block of 32 members from the huge classes elected in the upheaval of the 1970s. By this time next year, no more than a dozen of them will remain in Congress. It's not that these lawmakers cornered the market on all knowledge or virtue. But they were a bridge back to a time when Congress was more a congress, a coming together. When legislation was written by committees, not the partisan leadership, and
when the institution occasionally stood up for itself - and even the American people. Democrats will feel the losses now most, but for Congress as a whole, the greater casualty is the legislative expertise, even art, that is going out the door. Nothing illustrates this better, perhaps, than the career of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)."
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YELLEN FACES FIRST GRILLING ON HILL - Paul Davidson writes for USA Today: "Janet Yellen, who on Tuesday faces her first grilling by Congress since she became the Federal Reserve chair this month, is expected to reiterate central bank plans to taper its stimulus despite recent weakness in the economy. Yellen is scheduled to deliver her semi-annual testimony on monetary policy before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. ... She is generally viewed as more concerned about promoting job growth and less worried about risks such as high inflation than Bernanke. She's likely to face tough questions from Republicans about whether
she'll retreat from plans to pare back the Fed's massive monthly bond buying, which is intended to hold down interest rates and spur economic and job growth."
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THE RISE OF RON WYDEN - Brian Faler has the story for POLITICO: "Wyden, a one-time backbencher with a penchant for big ideas, is now poised to take over the Senate's most powerful committee. It will instantly vault him into the ranks of the chamber's most influential, giving him a major say over taxes, health care, trade and programs like those Build America Bonds that made its way into Obama's stimulus plan. Wyden, who will officially become Finance chairman as soon as Tuesday, will confront a raft of unfinished business: a package of expired tax breaks, looming cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, a trade deal his predecessor Max Baucus worked out with Republicans, and a highway trust
fund projected to run dry as soon as this year, among the biggest."
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-- Capitol Police investigated a suspicious white powder at Wyden's Senateoffice but test results were negative. Roll Call:
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MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER -Drew Thies was first to correctly answer that Thomas Jefferson would bathe his feet in cold water each morning, a ritual he believed kept him free from common colds.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Jonathan Traub has today's question: Montana's John Walsh will join the Senate this week as No. 100 in seniority and, if he loses in November, could exit the Senate without moving up a single position.Name a senator who never made it higher than 100 in seniority.The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
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