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By Lauren French (
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com & @laurennfrench)

PAUL TAKES THE FLOOR...AND STAYS THERE. Seung Min Kim and Alex Byers report, "Rand Paul relinquished the Senate floor late Wednesday night after 10-and-a-half hours of lambasting the government surveillance programs - capitalizing on a sleepy day in the Senate to highlight his opposition to key parts of the PATRIOT Act that expire at the end of the month. Wearing dark green sneakers in apparent preparation to go deep into the evening, Paul launched into a lengthy critique of surveillance - a stance that's put him squarely against top Republicans and other GOP presidential contenders who advocate continuing the controversial bulk collection programs...By carrying his talk-a-thon to the brink
of Thursday, Paul prevented Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from filing cloture on a bill to extend or reform the PATRIOT Act."
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HOW IT PLAYS ON THE CAMPAIGN. Katie Glueck and Ben Schreckinger write, "Rand Paul seized the national stage on Wednesday with his second Mr. Smith-style speech on the Senate floor, linking his presidential hopes to an effort to halt the National Security Agency's data collection program. The 10 1/2-hour speech was the big, attention-grabbing moment that presidential campaigns crave, and Paul's advisers saw it as a huge opportunity, even as rivals insisted the move was out of step with the Republican Party's hawkish mood... People in Paul's orbit believe that the decision to take to the floor to fight the NSA - via a long, filibuster-like speech - will galvanize the libertarian base that
supported his father, Ron Paul, without turning off more mainstream Republicans. The Paul forces wasted no time fundraising off the event, something sources say will continue, and the campaign revived the #StandwithRand hashtag that Paul made popular with his 2013 filibuster of John Brennan's nomination to lead the CIA in order to dramatize his skepticism about the administration's use of drones."
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THE SENATE'S MESSY RUSH TO LEAVE TOWN. Manu Raju and Burgess Everett report, "Intraparty warfare is reaching a boil as Congress struggles to conclude a messy session of legislating and head home for a weeklong vacation. Ahead of a critical vote Thursday to advance President Barack Obama's trade agenda, pro-trade Democratic senators like Tom Carper are eager to finish a debate that's exposed them to attacks from their party's liberal wing - while progressives like Sherrod Brown suggest the trade supporters are choosing a politically expedient solution to avoid an extended debate. On the GOP side, two senior House Republicans privately sought to alleviate concerns from Senate Republicans over
a bill their chamber overwhelmingly passed to overhaul the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. The response from top Republicans like Richard Burr and John Cornyn: The House bill doesn't stand a chance in the Senate."
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RUBIO'S SPENDING PROBLEM. Sean Sullivan reports for the Washington Post, "Marco Rubio made $174,000 as a U.S. senator last year. He earned $52,000 from book royalties and a university teaching position, and at least $5,000 more from rental property. And yet, the 43-year-old Florida Republican also made what is typically viewed as a desperate financial maneuver - cashing out nearly $70,000 in retirement funds...But the problem isn't so much his income; it's his spending. Over the years, Rubio's spending habits have drawn regular scrutiny from opponents and have put him in an uncomfortable spot."
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GOOD MORNING, it's Thursday, May 21, 2015 and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill. This town is about to empty out before Memorial Day - that is if the Senate can finish its work in time. Let me know what's going on at
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com or at @laurennfrench on Twitter.

TODAY IN CONGRESS -Votes expected in the House between 12 and 1 p.m. The Senate will vote at 10 a.m. on a procedural motion for its fast track authority bill.

AROUND THE HILL - Reps. Lofgren, Gutierrez, Roybal-Allard will discuss family detention programs at 10 a.m. in 1310 LHOB. Rep. Wasserman Schultz will hold an event on pool safety for Memorial Day weekend at 10:15 a.m. at the House Triangle. At 10:45 a.m., Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will hold her weekly press conference in Studio A. Also in Studio A, Speaker John Boehner will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m.

DEPARTURE LOUNGE: Melissa Subbotin, the communications director for the House Oversight Committee, is leaving Washington for her native California. Bon Voyage!

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INSIDE ALAN GRAYSON'S HEAD. Mark I. Pinsky attempts to explain Congress' most bombastic lawmaker. "Alan Grayson is Elizabeth Warren without a filter-but he intends with her help to become Florida's great Democratic hope. Since Grayson first burst onto the national media scene as a first-term congressman from Central Florida with a savage wit, he has generated near non-stop headlines and Internet hits, calling all manner of political opponents "whores," "vampires" and "knuckle-dragging Neanderthals." Even some Democrats who agree with almost all of his policy positions want to keep their distance."
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THE RABBLE-ROUSING TEAM IS BACK: FAUXBUSTER PROVIDES REUNION FOR PAUL AND CRUZ. Katie Zezima reports for the Washington Post, "A band of senators had a reunion tour of sorts Wednesday night. Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) all spoke on the Senate floor as part of Paul's marathon, 10.5 hour floor speech against a renewal of the Patriot Act. The men, you may recall, all spoke during very long speeches Paul and Cruz gave in 2013; Paul spoke against the use of drones and Cruz against Obamacare."
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TAX-WRITING REPUBLICANS NOT KEEN ON USING REFORM MONEY ON HIGHWAYS. Brian Faler and Rachael Bade report, "House Republican leaders, eager to find new money to pay for decaying highways, are eyeing a massive tax reform-transportation package that taps $2 trillion in corporate profits parked offshore as a way to cover the costs. But the plan faces a major obstacle: Senate Republicans. For years, members in both parties have eyed foreign profits as a way to raise revenue. But tax-minded Republicans, like Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah and Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, aren't keen on using the money to cover the shortfall in the highway trust fund. They've got
much grander goals - like using the money to lower rates in a business tax code rewrite."
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MEN OUTNUMBER, AND OUTEARN, WOMEN ON CAPITOL HILL. More from National Journal's excellent reporting on women. Stephanie Stamm reports, House and Senate staffers are split pretty evenly when it comes to gender for both parties. However, in both chambers, men outnumber women in senior staffer positions. In the House, Republican female staffers make up 47.1 percent of their cohort, while Democratic female staffers comprise 53.2 percent. In the Senate, Republican women make up 49.6 percent of staffers, and Democratic women comprise 51.9."
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NEWS YOU CAN USE - SLEDDING BAN ON ITS WAY TO BEING LIFTED. Reuters reports, "The House of Representatives has voted to lift a ban on sledding on the U.S. Capitol grounds, freeing the area for one of Washington's winter delights, the District of Columbia's congresswoman said. The legislation passed by the House of Representative urges the U.S. Capitol Police not to enforce the law, which has prohibited sledding for security reasons since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States."
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HEADLINE YOU DON'T OFTEN SEE: VA CHIEF ACCUSES CONGRESS OF INACTION. Martin Matishak report for The Hill, "Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald is warning lawmakers that unless they act soon, construction on a delay-plagued agency hospital outside of Denver will come "grinding to a halt... Earlier this week, the agency chief sent a memo to the leaders of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and other key lawmakers asking for a $200 million increase in the funding limit for the facility being built in Aurora, Colo., for a new total of $1 billion. The authorization for the project, which began over a decade ago, expires this weekend."
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RUN, RUN, RUN. Helena Andrews reports for the Washington Post, "What's the best way to gin up intra-governmental warm fuzzies? Why, getting sweaty and gross before work, of course. At this year's annual ACLI Capital Challenge 3-miler, bipartisan competition hit the road...Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) beat out the title defenders, Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Kay Hagan (D- N.C.), as the fastest male and female senators (last year Cotton was the fastest congressman). On the House side, the golden sneakers belonged to Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Calif.)."
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SORRY WAPO, Sinema is actually from Arizona, not California.

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Stephen Huffman of HCM Governmental Relations was the first to correctly answer the Nixon was the first president to visit Israel.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Stephen has today's question. What Senator did Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defeat in 1984 to win the seat and how many terms had that senator served? The first person to email
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com with the correct answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle.

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