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By Burgess Everett (@burgessev or
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beverett@politico.com )

Featuring Manu Raju

RAND, NOT A ROBOT: Unlike his 2016 rival Sen. Ted Cruz (more on that below), Sen. Rand Paul does not stick closely to his prescribed talking points and usually just speaks his mind. That's led to some gaffes, like blaming hawks for creating ISIS and declaring that some in Washington wanted a terrorist attack after Paul forced the temporary lapse of key PATRIOT Act provisions. But Paul tells Manu that if he occasionally missteps, it's better than becoming a programmed pol. "People have to choose what they want ... If they want robots, who say the same thing over and over again, there are plenty of them. If they want something more genuine, where everything is not always perfect - we'll see
what people want. I am who I am."
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CRUZ MAKES MAJOR MISSTEP: Cruz is one of the most on-message pols out there, but someone in his camp should have retired his Joe Biden jokes after the vice president's son died over the weekend. The Detroit News: "'Vice President Joe Biden,' the Texas senator said to faint laughter among 650 Republicans packed in a Howell banquet hall Wednesday. 'You know the nice thing? You don't need a punch line. I promise you it works,' Cruz added. 'The next party you're at, just walk up to someone and say, 'Vice President Joe Biden' and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing.'"
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Cruz's mea culpa: After social media lit up, Cruz was quick with an apology for using a joke that he's used countless times in speeches. "It was a mistake to use an old joke about Vice President Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize." His Facebook apology:
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Roll the tape: The crowd's applause was described as tepid but the laughter seems pretty hearty in the video, and no one seems to give any indication that they thought the joke was inappropriate.
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Global concerns: Cruz also sent UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon a letter yesterday arguing that Israel is not a terrorist organization amid reports that the UN may add Israel to a list of countries "who commit grave violations against children."
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BOEHNER (AND OBAMA) GET AIR COVER: The American Action Network is dropping nearly a million bucks to aid House Speaker John Boehner in his quest to round up GOP votes for Trade Promotion Authority, making the argument that if the United States doesn't make moves it will only benefit China. The deets from Jake and Anna: "$375,000 for national television ads on Fox News, $250,000 on mail pieces in 25 GOP districts, $200,000 on digital advertising in 65 districts and $75,000 on radio spots."
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eb0074d0740c241c832d7582270a7ecd2e20c6a44f87cdffa4af29178bb42ed4 | Watch the ad:
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HASTERT FIRM IN LOCKDOWN: Things were already not looking so hot for Dickstein Shapiro's lobbyingshop, but after the indictment of former Speaker Dennis Hastert the organization is going dim, if not dark. Anna and Tarini: "The firm isn't talking to the news media and does not appear to have mounted a behind-the-scenes PR offensive to keep clients from fleeing amid the Hastert scandal. None of the firm's clients - including the Republic of Turkey, Secure ID Coalition and Fuels America - would confirm to POLITICO whether they intend to keep Dickstein Shapiro on their consultant rosters. Sources affiliated with some Dickstein Shapiro clients also said they had not heard from the firm since
Hastert's indictment on May 28."
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What's Hastert's predecessor up to? @NewtGingrich: "This morning i am going to use me apple watch to go through tsa and board a plane. I will report on the experience. Thanks to @mashable"

COMING ATTRACTIONS: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid sat down for an interview for NFL films with Dexter Manley yesterday. They work out at the same gym and have become good buds, we're told. Pic from Reid's Twitter account:
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Thursday is the new Friday. And welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where you should take just a minute to stop and smell the magnolia trees. Please send tips to
mailto:beverett@politico.com
beverett@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @burgessev.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is in at 9 a.m. and will vote between 11 a.m. and noon on amendments to the THUD appropriations bill. The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m. and will vote on a pair of NDAA amendments at 10:15 a.m.

AROUND THE HILL - At 10:45 a.m. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi holds her weekly press conference in Studio A, followed at 11:30 a.m. by House Speaker John Boehner. Also at 11:30 a.m., Sens. Casey, Ayotte and Shaheen and Rep. Nadler announce legislation to keep pregnant workers from being discriminated against in S 120. At 11:45 a.m. in the Senate studio Sens. Schumer, Tester and Reed discuss NDAA. At noon Reps. Hoyer, Heck, Waters and Moore discuss the Ex-Im Bank in Studio A.

OFF THE HILL AND UP PENNSYLVANIA AVE: Sen. Sanders and Rep. Conyers will introduce youth jobs legislation at 11:30 a.m. at the HOPE Project 3230 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. After Sanders will go to the Senate floor to give a speech on poverty.

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Seung Min Kim's pic of Sens. Leahy and Lee strategizing was clicked more than twice as many times as anything else in Huddle.

IN DELAWARE: Beau Biden is lying in state today in the Capitol in Delaware, where "Vice President Joe Biden and his family are welcoming Delaware residents to Legislative Hall to pay their respects" to the former attorney general. AP:
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A SUBTLE BUT IMPORTANT SENATE SHIFT: Is Mitch McConnell reinterpreting Senate rules? That's been the question going around the Capitol for the past few days as McConnell continues to limit the 30 hours of debate allowed after the Senate invokes cloture to defeat a filibuster. Typically under Harry Reid's reign, the Senate ran the full 30 hours of post-cloture debate. But according to rules experts, the majority leader can end that debate time if there aren't 30 senators seeking an hour apiece of floor time. If this trend continues, McConnell may save many days of wasted time. The USA Freedom Act, for instance, passed Tuesday when many expected it to clear Thursday after the 30
hours of wasted floor time. So why didn't Reid employ the same tactic when he was majority leader?Reid's office blames it on the GOP for consistently dragging out post-cloture debate when it was in the minority.

DEMS LOOK TO PLAY HIGHWAY HARDBALL: During a Tuesday bicameral Democratic leadership meeting, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin offered up an aggressive idea to confront the GOP over their lack of a long-term highway funding passage: Block any extension longer than 30 days, forcing the GOP to come up with about $2 billion a month to keep the program on its feed. While congressional Democrats aren't all there yet and will need to uniformly coalesce around such a strategy for it to work, it's clear Democrats are serious about taking it to Republicans when highway funding runs out after July 31. "'I think it's horrible that they're even thinking about the short-term extension,' Reid said in an
interview. 'I think it's ridiculous.' Unless Republicans can come up with tens of billions of dollars in new tax money or spending cuts, the GOP could be forced to acquiesce to Democratic demands or risk a shutdown of infrastructure projects in the middle of the summer construction season. Still, the strategy could also blow up in Democrats' faces, as the GOP is sure to paint them as obstructionists, particularly if a shutdown comes to pass in July." I teamed up with transpo expert Heather Caygle for this one:
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The Ex-Im wrinkle: Of course, if the Republicans want to try to dangle an amendment attaching the Export-Import Bank to a short-term extension of say, five months, they may be able to get Democrats on-board. They don't want the bank on the defense bill because they think the president will veto it.Here's what one of the chief Democratic Ex-Im backers, Maria Cantwell of Washington, told me: "The defense bill isn't going anywhere. So we're not going to have something where people go, 'Oh we passed something.' But then [the bank] expires ... we're not going to let transportation expire so that there's no transportation funds. But we'd have to see exactly what [an Ex-Im transportation combo]
was."

CAPITOL HILL BEEFS UP SECURITY: The tireless Hannah Hess of Roll Call checks in on what Congress is doing in the wake of an intern trying to take a gun into the Capitol. "Capitol Hill law enforcement authorities are quietly implementing a plan to make sure every person who enters the complex undergoes the same level of screening. Slated for multiple phases, a garage security enhancement project will move the entire Capitol complex far closer to 100 percent screening, House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving explained in testimony submitted to the House Administration Committee. The first phase is the installation of infrastructure and hardware to allow the garage entrances to be locked down in
the event of an emergency."
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THIS IS JUST THE HEADLINE HE WAS LOOKING FOR: "Lincoln Chaffee calls for change to metric system in launching White House bid." The Hill:
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WELCOME ABOARD: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise is bringing on Laura Trueman as a senior policy aide and conservative coalitions coordinator. Trueman's latest gig was as director of strategic operations at the Heritage Foundation, with a focus on healthcare, retirement and spending cuts. She's also worked in the Reagan administration and for former Sen. Don Nickles.

Bon voyage: Tomorrow is Megan Mitchell's last day as communications director for Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn. Take a minute to wish her luck as she takes her family to New Mexico for a new adventure, she's one of the nicest people you'll meet in the Capitol.

NOW LIVE: PRO'S CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTORY - POLITICO Pro's newest intelligence tool launched this week - free for Pro subscribers. The new feature is integrated into the platform Pros already rely on for news, and includes member and staffer information- work history, education, issue areas and recent news- as well as offering users the ability to create customized searches, export lists, and track updates. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's newest feature, email us at
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WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Kirtan Mehta was the first to answer that the Maryland Statehouse in Annapolis was used as the Capital/Capitol in 1783-84.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Kirtan has today's question:On this dayin 1919, the Senate passed the Women's Suffrage Bill, which then sent the bill to the states to be ratified.Name the first three states to ratify the bill on the same day.The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
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beverett@politico.com

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