EMAIL DETAILS

12/11/2015 08:14 AM EDT


By Seung Min Kim (skim@politico.com or @seungminkim)

CONGRESS SCRAMBLING ON SPENDING DEAL - AP's Erica Werner: "Dozens of issues remain unresolved, mainly policy disputes over environmental and other issues that lawmakers of both parties are trying to attach to the must-pass spending legislation. Republicans are seeking to lift the oil export ban and roll back various Obama administration regulations; Democrats are maneuvering to protect President Barack Obama's environmental rules and enact permanent tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy. 'We're not going to get everything we want in negotiations. The Democrats aren't going to get everything they want in negotiations,' House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, told reporters
Thursday."

--" 'Everything is tenuous right now. We've had meetings, there's no finality," Senate Minority Leader Harry, D-Nev., said late Thursday. He said sticking points relate to labor and environmental issues, and a campaign finance provision pushed by his Republican counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, to lift certain spending limits by party committees." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b017753cb292992fba3d7443218f244c243863c088e99e36f

--Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn's friendly reminder on how the Senate works: "Well, if we have to go through the regular procedures, it could take up to eight days. So it's obviously going to take a little cooperation unless people want to spend Christmas here." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b4b1a2abfff24dd36b2bf12f9b8ea6773692ad952134f2d9c

--Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) says he will vote against any spending bill that does not end a ban -- nearly two decades old - on gun violence research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Hill: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b65e4b5edc27c5a5c767d84613aab66ed8809bcd9d7dc8654

--Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer write on how Speaker Paul Ryan has been the calm eye in the middle of an omnibus storm: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b4e63736cf8a6d316781bb4eb8349d1ef1f65f87d390cc16d

JUST .... NO. @RepCardenas:

Hello from the other side

we postponed this 1000 times

I'm sorry

we don't know

how to legislate

Republicans

made us

wait til the last date

TRUMP-INSPIRED MUSLIM BAN SPLITS GOP - Dems seized on an opening to put Republicans on the spot over Donald Trump's highly controversial proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Anna Douglas recaps the vote for McClatchy: "The issue arose when Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the [Senate Judiciary Committee's] ranking Democrat, offered a 'sense of the Senate' resolution affirming that the U.S. would not block people who want to enter the country on the basis of religion."

--The vote breakdown was 16-4, with Jeff Sessions, David Vitter, Thom Tillis, and Ted Cruz voting against it: "Tillis later explained his opposition, saying he didn't like the way the measure was introduced at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing - it was tacked onto an unrelated bill about nuclear terrorism - but agreed that the U.S. should not ban all Muslims. Cruz spokesman Phil Novack called the anti-discrimination measure 'nothing more than a political stunt.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7bc8f47dfac76f22c94afb59f2f93124db0a3a85f43e337d67

--Emmarie Huetteman has a nice profile in the New York Times of Reps. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) -- the two Muslims currently serving in Congress - and what they've faced since Trump proposed his ban: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b50cbe6ef0b4e833d397370b0ff577f89a1f519578618f55b

MCCONNELL WARNS OBAMA ON TRADE DEAL - Paul Kane and David Nakamura for the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dealt a significant blow to President Obama's global trade agenda Thursday, declaring that a sweeping pact with 11 Pacific Rim nations should not be sent to Congress for approval until after the 2016 elections - and maybe not until after Obama leaves office. McConnell, who previously supported efforts to enhance Obama's trade negotiating powers, signaled that he was undecided on how he would vote on the deal, but he was clear that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be defeated if it were sent to Capitol Hill next spring or summer, as the
administration was planning to do."

--" 'It certainly shouldn't come before the election. I don't think so, and I have some serious problems with what I think it is,' McConnell said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post. 'But I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There's significant pushback all over the place.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b3c21624bc8b40112dc4b84c520e6e485986028d4bfca15a3

--In a separate interview with Carl Hulse of the New York Times, McConnell says he hasn't decided whether to bring a criminal justice reform bill to the Senate floor next year: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b050cf14b11d0f407f381bd2c8eee6c9c9277d6df06bd4d9b

SCALISE CHIEF TO DEPART - Anna Palmer with the scoop: "Lynnel Ruckert, chief of staff to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, is stepping down. The Louisiana Republican's floor director, Brett Horton, will move into the position ... Ruckert's departure is not wholly unexpected. Her husband, Kyle Ruckert, is chief of staff to retiring Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). Scalise praised Ruckert as a 'strong leader' and 'ally.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b5023519eba65cc7dd3ef9adac5f515aaee9e55b638702cec

TRANSITIONS - Meghan Dubyak, longtime communications aide to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), will begin Monday as press secretary to Vice President Joe Biden. "The opportunity to serve my home state of Ohio is one that I'll never forget," Dubyak wrote to colleagues in her farewell note. "And working for a true public servant who reminds us each day 'who we're fighting for,' makes it hard not to be excited to go to work each morning."

Julia Slingsby, currently press secretary for the House Natural Resources Committee, will start as Speaker Paul Ryan's deputy communications director on Thursday, Dec. 17.

HAPPY FRIDAY! And welcome to the Huddle, where your writer is relieved she doesn't have to go on an omnibender this weekend. We're passing off the newsletter baton to Lauren French next week; she's at lfrench@politico.com and please follow her on Twitter at @laurennfrench. As always, I'm at skim@politico.com and at @seungminkim.

My new followers include @Socarides and @TerenceHyland.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is in at 9 a.m. and will hold two series of votes: one at 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The agenda includes the five-day CR and the customs report. The Senate is out.

AROUND THE HILL - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will hold her weekly news conference at 10:45 a.m. in HVC Studio A. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and California Republicans will hold a news conference on the state of drought legislation at noon in HVC Studio A.

HUDDLE OOPS - I incorrectly identified Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) as members of the House Freedom Caucus in yesterday's newsletter. I am slightly comforted by the fact that I can't be the only reporter who has screwed this up in the past.

PROGRESS ON 9/11 BILL - Cameron Joseph and Adam Edelman for the New York Daily News: "Finally, some good news for 9/11 survivors. House Speaker Paul Ryan told members of his conference Thursday morning that Congress will reauthorize the Zadroga Act in a comprehensive spending bill that will come up for a vote next week ... Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said House and Senate negotiators were 'close' to finalizing the bipartisan deal, and said they'd 'gone a long way on the pay-for,' describing the his confidence that the extension will be done as 'high but not certain.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b32c3421025b34b42a89063ebe3e8fcf32102449f47178486

DEMS BLAST SCALIA FOR 'RACIST' REMARKS - POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Lauren French: "Top Democratic leaders are condemning Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for saying "there are those who contend" that black students might do better at "slower track" schools during court proceedings on an affirmative action case. Harry Reid said Thursday morning that Scalia had 'endorsed' racist ideas while a leading African-American lawmaker said Scalia should rescue himself from the case. 'Justice Scalia's comments were disgusting, inaccurate, and insulting to African Americans, and his statements undervalue the historic achievements we have made,' said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C), the chairman
of the Congressional Black Caucus." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b51ec283eac7e20f80e520310f5c5f04246c071ef78e48390

HUELSKAMP SCORES STEERING COMMITTEE SLOT - Would this development have come under a Speaker John Boehner? Safe to say, probably not. Mike DeBonis and Kelsey Snell for WaPo: "Three years ago, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) was smarting after House GOP elders stripped him of his posts on the powerful House Budget and Agriculture committees in retribution for bucking leadership on key votes. On Thursday, Huelskamp got the last laugh by winning a seat on the conference steering committee - the very group of party elders who marginalized him in 2012."

--"His ascension to the steering committee, coming after a Thursday morning vote of House Republicans, is the latest sign that hard-line conservatives have won themselves a fresh start on Capitol Hill ... Huelskamp said in a statement that his election was a 'victory for conservatives.' 'With these changes to the influential Steering Committee, my colleagues have sent a strong message that they're listening to the conservative heart of the party,' he said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b55497a2661d5ca6b3abf8ab41143f93dce42460c68d44464

BLACK LAWMAKERS PONDER: SHOULD RAHM GO? Buzzfeed News' Darren Sands surveys members of the Congressional Black Caucus and gets some interesting responses: "Two Congressional Black Caucus members, granted anonymity to speak freely, told BuzzFeed News Emanuel should step down if he withheld information about what happened to McDonald. They both expressed serious doubt that Emanuel was not aware of the video, considering the $5 million dollar settlement distributed to McDonald's family by the city of Chicago. 'You're going to tell me that $5 million dollars goes to that boy's family, and you don't know why?' one member asked." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b2498613dde156cc875636a7b83453ad4c6d9ae8846c1daaa

--Did you know that POLITICO Pro, POLITICO's premium news and information service, has a team of more than 100 policy-expert reporters? It's true, and because of this we're able to report and analyze at a granular level on topics (nearly 100 for each!) within each policy. Another bonus: Pro's service is totally customizable, meaning you select the topics within your policy area and receive updates based solely on your selection. Curious to see what we mean? Download a sample topic tag page here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6c7452312f6b7c7b5c083735d57d8be3189a4928bceac10d13295e3bec94e664

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - James Casto was the first person to correctly identify the 1960 U.S. Senate race in Maine as the first where the two major party candidates were both women. Incumbent Republican Margaret Chase Smith went up against Democrat Lucia Cormier.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - James has today's question: On March 19, 1979, the House inaugurated live televised "gavel-to-gavel" debate on the House floor. What congressman made history as the first member to speak during that first live, televised session? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail skim@politico.com.

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