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By Burgess Everett | 12/03/2015 07:35 AM EDT


Featuring Sarah Wheaton

BIG DAY FOR BOTH LEADERS -- RYAN TRYIN' TO STAY HOT: House Speaker Paul Ryan will give a major address today at the Library of Congress and we've got all the inside deets for you. He'll preview his speech first on CBS "This Morning" at 8:30 a.m., then on "Morning Joe" at 8:40 a.m. The actual speech begins at 12:30 p.m. and Ryan will be introduced by Utah Sen. Mike Lee. The topic? A confident America at home and broad.

Some excerpts that just came off embargo for y'all: "We want America to be confident again. If you don't have a job, we want you to be confident that you can find one-and take it. If you do have a job, we want you to be confident that that job will pay well ... Medicare and Social Security will be there when you need them ... We have to make sure it always pays to work. In 1996, we created a work requirement for welfare. But that was just one program. We have to fix all the others now. I'd combine a lot of them and send that money back to the states for better poverty-fighting solutions ... We have to reform the Pentagon, so it can adapt to new threats ... We need a new president. It's just
that simple. But even if we can't move mountains, we can make moves in the right direction. The cautious may wait for their opportunity, but the prudent will make it."

McCONNELL *SO* CLOSE ON RECONCILIATION: We were waiting all day for Sens. Mike Lee, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to put out a statement in support of Obamacare repeal on Wednesday. But only Lee came to the floor to give his blessing, leaving the drama of getting 51 votes to today. Leadership is confident, however: Nearly a dozen sources told us they expect Rubio and Cruz to support the bill after complaining the House version didn't go far enough. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is operating from a place of strength: How are they going to vote against the only repeal bill to hit the president's desk? As Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn put it: "Running in a Republican primary and saying
you're going to vote against a repeal of Obamacare? That strikes me as counterintuitive."

The way to win: Much of the sausage-making occurred behind the scenes, where McConnell had a secret weapon: Anti-abortion groups. "Since the summer, the Senate majority leader had spoken with influential organizations opposing abortion such as National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List to ensure they would back his move to link the Obamacare repeal with a measure to defund Planned Parenthood ... In an interview, Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser admitted that the anti-abortion groups clashed behind the scenes with Heritage Action over how to construct the bill. She credited a Senate GOP Conference that is nearly uniformly anti-abortion and McConnell's shrewd
negotiating tactics for getting 'everyone playing together in the same sandbox' - to force Obama to veto language that would have defunded Planned Parenthood." Jen, SMK and I: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a4a50f624f33056e31a30fcda57306ab4941c703b9fd90cfdf

Vote-a-rama amendment of the day: The most hot-button vote appears to be a gun amendment by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in the wake of two mass shootings in Colorado last week and in San Bernardino yesterday, where 14 people were killed. Jordan Carney of The Hill: "The Democratic leader has introduced an amendment to the reconciliation bill that would make it illegal to sell or give a gun to someone who has been charged with blocking, or trying to block, someone from getting reproductive care with force or the threat of force. While Reid's amendment has only been filed and not formally teed up, he is expected to push for a vote Thursday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a4da2f850719150d05a5e2f1b468bd7ac0a50feb8feb6bae8f

EDUCATION REFORM ALMOST THERE: The House passed the replacement for Every Child Left Behind on Wednesday by a whopping 359-64 margin, setting up a Senate vote and a presidential signature by year's end. Take it away Maggie Severns: The bill "would dispense with No Child Left Behind's requirement that schools move towards having all students reading on grade level or face consequences, but still oblige states to establish ways to identify failing schools and improve them. It would keep standardized testing requirements, but encourage states to pare the number of tests students must take. Test results would be reported for groups that often lag behind, such as minority or disabled students.
And the bill would prevent the education secretary from pushing national standards like the Common Core - a set of reading and math standards spread in part through Obama administration incentives." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a4439a54c5fac593437ad53052712e6a53faa7ec5fa2ebd689

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Good morning Washington! And welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where we are really pumped that an all night Vote-a-rama seems unlikely tonight. Please send tips to beverett@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @burgessev.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m. and is currently on pace to begin voting on Obamacare repeal at 1:30 p.m. The chamber is ALSO supposed to consider the transportation conference today, a lot of work considering a group of Democrats are scheduled to fly to Paris tonight.

The House is in at 9 a.m. and will begin voting around 10 a.m. with hopes of wrapping things up by 1:30 p.m. or so. The chamber is expected to work on the transpo bill and complete consideration of the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015.

AROUND THE HILL - At 10:45 a.m., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi holds a press conference in HVC studio A. At 11 a.m. in Emancipation Hall, the bust of Vice President Dick Cheney is unveiled. At 11:30 a.m., Sen. Lindsey Graham talks about his AUMF in the Senate Studio. Same place at 12:30 p.m., Sen. Chuck Schumer and Co. will hold a press conference dissing Obamacare repeal. At 1:15 p.m., Rep. Maxine Waters will speak on Ex-Im Bank on the House Triangle.

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Rebecca Gale's profile of Natasha Guynes was #1 in Huddle reader's hearts.

SCALISE KEEPS IT TRILL: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise hasn't had the easiest past 18 months, but he reasserted himself in a major way this week by writing a letter calling out the "Hope yes, vote no" crowd in Congress that messed with former House Speaker John Boehner with astonishing regularity. Bres and Anna investigate what's behind the more stern Louisiana man: "That Scalise felt secure enough to publicly issue such a memo is a testament to his survival skills. Only months ago, some GOP insiders privately called him a 'dead man walking.'"

No, no, no ... I love my current job: "Scalise started the year embroiled in a career-threatening scandal over his 2002 speech to a white supremacist group, six years before he was elected to Congress ... Ten months later, Boehner's surprise retirement created an expected opening for majority leader, and Scalise pounced ... But it all collapsed when McCarthy suddenly withdrew his bid for speaker. Ryan was quickly anointed as Boehner's replacement, leaving Scalise stuck in place. In a recent interview, the 50-year-old Scalise, first elected to the House in a 2008 special election, insisted he's perfectly content with being whip ... 'I actually have known and worked with Paul longer than I
worked with John Boehner,' Scalise said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a44371f28d353a4890a4d3f9aa4964f79d044184814cd2fc4b

MORE MOVEMENT ON A MAJOR BILL: Advocates of Sen. Chuck Grassley's criminal justice reform compromise are running radio ads to gin up support in red states with large black communities. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has started airing spots in Jackson and Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; and St. Louis, Missouri, urging senators to support the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act. "The United States has more people locked up in prison than any nation on Earth and too many of them are people of color. Congress is considering a law to deal with this problem and our senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, can make the difference,"
the Tennessee spot says. Along with the ACLU and the United Methodist Church's advocacy arm, the Leadership Conference is also bringing in 55 people from 20 states - some formerly incarcerated - to lobby Senate offices today. Obama has called for a reform bill to hit his desk before the end of the year and will meet with lawmakers at 11 a.m. to discuss CJR today.

EX-IM TICK TOCK: The Koch network is taking a lot of credit for turning the Export-Import Bank into a political football after winning easy approval for years. Looks like the dream will die as soon as this week with a reauthorization, so it's the perfect time for Ken Vogel and I to look back at how the Kochs got here: "The Koch network's willingness to pick the fight was noteworthy precisely because it wasn't marching in step with establishment Republicans. It was promoting the Kochs' own brand of libertarian-infused conservatism, which views the bank as an example of government activism that skews the marketplace. Now, Republican leaders are warily eyeing the Koch networks' expanding
political muscle."

Two ways of seeing it: "'We've taken an issue that I bet you the majority of members of Congress were not familiar with \u2015 certainly not rank and file activists and folks across the country \u2015 and we've made it an important example of why government cronyism is a bad thing. So it's been a victory,' crowed Tim Phillips, president of the Koch-network-funded advocacy group Americans for Prosperity ... 'They've said to members of Congress: If you don't vote our way we'll contribute to your opponents. It frightens a lot of members,' said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois). But he suggested that, if the Koch network doesn't back up its lobbying by wading into campaigns, then 'after this
battle and this vote, the next time around there will be a lot of skepticism' about the network's demands." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a4a8310aef4c6dd9c54172af6647d259f6f234ccf9f889b6fd

Reid blames McConnell on pro-Israel language: Anti-BDS language was not included in the Ex-Im component, and in an interview Reid told me it's because "McConnell took it out," news that came at a Monday meeting between the two leaders that Reid left furious. Not so, says McConnell spox Don Stewart: "The provision was not rejected by anyone in that Monday meeting as was claimed." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a4bf4958edc46b6b88a1f9f7328ee197b3449653c7c1e45d54

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WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Greg Smith and Kirtan Mehta were tied and the first to answer that Benjamin Bristow was the original candidate and law partner of Kentucky's John Marshall Harlan. Since the question came from Mitch McConnell, you each get to choose an amendment during today's Senate vote-a-rama.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - A senior Republican aide has today's question: Angela McLean, the Lieutenant governor of Montana, announced she was stepping down this week. When is the last time the Governor of Montana went through three lieutenant governors in one term? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at beverett@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." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a84b6f7c7ee7c0a4dd3d6538318002c92344e957f31c2bd9331162b62d184dbf

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