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By Lauren French (
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lfrench@politico.com or @laurennfrench)

DRIVING THE WEEK: THE BUDGET TALKS. Seung Min Kim and Jake Sherman write, "As budget season kicks off in earnest this week, defense hawks are clashing with fiscal hard-liners over military spending, Republicans are scaling back their deficit reduction targets, and Democrats are waiting in the wings to hammer GOP lawmakers with politically tough votes on education, infrastructure and health care. In the House, Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana are stuck between the budget-cutting demands of conservatives and the desire of defense hawks to provide the military with more robust funding. In the Senate,
Republicans are already getting hit by Democrats after indicating they'll target Medicaid and food stamps."

GET SMART FAST: THE BUDGET. Haven't been around for a normal budget process? No cause for concern, the Associated Press has the five things you need to know about the next two weeks:
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=34d497a40342d8ea147bdb63e140b69716318dc0fde367f658f1985abe33b561

MCCONNELL THROWS UP ANOTHER HURDLE FOR LYNCH. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated on Sunday that he has no plans to bring forward Loretta Lynch's nomination as attorney general until the Senate can tackle the ongoing fight over an anti-trafficking bill. Seung Min Kim writes, "Any additional lag time on Lynch - who has already waited far longer than other recent attorneys general to be confirmed - poses risks for both sides. Democrats believe the GOP would be damaged politically if a perception takes hold it is holding up Lynch, who would make history as the first black woman to serve as U.S. attorney general. But the longer her nomination lingers in the open, the more time
there is for wavering Senate Republicans to break against her - meaning that Lynch could be confirmed with the fewest number of "yes" votes in history."
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DEMOCRATS STILL OPPOSE IRAN TALKS. It cause all sort of dramatics last week but Republican Sen. Tom Cotton's letter - signed by 46 other GOP senators - on Iran has done little to move on-the-fence Democrats to the White House's side on the ongoing nuclear negotiations. Burgess Everett has more, "Though the White House has seized on the GOP's "open letter to the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran" in an effort to shift the politics of the nuclear negotiations in its favor on Capitol Hill, there's no evidence it's working so far. Nearly all of the 54 Republicans and more than a dozen Democrats in the Senate remain at odds with the president on the issue. Meanwhile, the House will hold
hearings this week to grill administration officials on Iran, a potentially troubling sign for the administration, considering the chamber passed a strict Iran sanctions bill in 2013 by a vote of 400-20 - far above the veto override threshold."
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A BOEHNER-PELOSI PRESCRIPTION FOR MEDICARE. Jennifer Haberkorn and David Rogers report that an "estimated $200 billion package could be introduced as soon as this week by House committees responsible for health care policy. Both Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are personally involved to the point where Pelosi reached out to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in recent days. Major hurdles remain, but the politics are intriguing given the very partisan character of the House. Both Boehner and Pelosi appear willing to take some risks to solve what has been a thorn in both parties' sides for years. And unlike the Homeland Security debate this winter, the speaker is being
bolder about building a bipartisan coalition to defuse a crisis-rather than waiting until it has engulfed him in the final hours."
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IT'S MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 and welcome to The Huddle. Make sure you send some loving vibes to any budget staffers in your life - they have a busy couple of days ahead of them. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com and please follow along on Twitter at @laurennfrench.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House will meet at 12 p.m. with votes on a series of healthcare bills after 6:30 p.m. The Senate will vote at 5:30 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL - The Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on the death master file at 4 p.m. in SD-342. Sean Brune, a senior advisor at the Social Security Administration, and Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr., the inspector general for the Social Security Administration, will testify.

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THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET DIVIDE. Jonathan Weisman reports for the New York Times, "The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military.'This is a war within the Republican Party,' said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has vowed to oppose a final budget that does not ensure more military spending. 'You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.'"
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GOWDY: HOUSE COULD TAKE LEGAL ACTION ON EMAILS. Ryan Tracy and Laura Meckler report for the Wall Street Journal, "[Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey] Gowdy said on Fox News he didn't have evidence Mrs. Clinton lied or committed a crime, but that he doesn't trust that Mrs. Clinton and her legal team correctly determined what emails from the account weren't personal and should be turned over to the government".
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THE THREE-BEDROOM HOUSE THAT HAUNTS MARCO RUBIO. Marc Caputo dives into the political liabilities following the Florida Senator and would-be presidential candidate over his shared Tallahassee home with David Rivera. "The three-bedroom property stands as a stubborn symbol of both a politically problematic friendship and lingering questions about Rubio's personal finances, which dogged him on the campaign trail in 2010 and may do so again. The friendship has frayed in recent years, friends say, as the fortunes of Rubio, 43, and Rivera, 49, have diverged. Last week, they put the 1,228-square-foot house up for sale. The list price is $125,000 - $10,000 less than what the two men paid for it a
decade ago."
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=34d497a40342d8eac66d96cf139ade4928cd737a34d336b5d42c5108829a2388

MY LIFE ON THE 'E-LIST': THE ANTHONY WEINER STORY. Carlos Danger is making a coming back, kind of. The disgraced former congressman is set to appear in the third installment of "Sharknado." The Washington Post has more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=34d497a40342d8ea75cc71d710e2ca573049a404b1361503ed66bf7a43f8c0d5
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=34d497a40342d8ea75cc71d710e2ca573049a404b1361503ed66bf7a43f8c0d5

COTTON: 'NO REGRETS' ON IRAN LETTER. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton stood by the letter he and 46 other Republicans sent to Iran on the country's ongoing talks with the U.S. and other nations on Iran during an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation." "It's so important we communicated this message straight to Iran,' said the freshman senator. 'No regrets at all.' FOX News has more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=34d497a40342d8ea5fad7346ecf26befebfe3a60d81856d291bd3275b7b56157
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=34d497a40342d8ea5fad7346ecf26befebfe3a60d81856d291bd3275b7b56157

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA - Anthony Coley was the first to name Joe Courtney as the member of Congress who found a historical inaccuracy in "Lincoln."

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Anthony has today's question. Each year, the friends of Ireland in the United States Congress release its St. Patrick's Day Statement. This statement was born in the Carter Administration when four Irish-American elected officials joined together to support moderation, dialogue and an end to violence in Northern Ireland. These four individuals became known as the Four Horsemen, who were they?The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com .

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says 'Sign Up.'
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Honda provides jobs for tens of thousands of people across America, with the Honda Aircraft Company alone employing over 1,000 workers. Our partnerships with various U.S. colleges are also helping create more opportunities for young Americans interested in manufacturing and engineering. In addition, Honda continues to invest millions in U.S. growth and innovation with the creation of the HondaJet-the fastest, highest-flying, most fuel-efficient jet in its class, developed right here in the U.S.

For additional information about Honda's impact, the HondaJet and more, please visit
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