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By Lauren French | 01/26/2016 08:37 AM EDT


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

RYAN: OBAMA LIVES IN A 'FANTASY LAND.' Speaker Paul Ryan told Hugh Hewitt yesterday that President Barack Obama is attempting to project his values onto the mainstream - creating a "fantasy land" for the president. This comes after Obama gave an expansive interview to Politico's Glenn Thrush where he discussed his 2016 strategy. The Wisconsin Republican reiterated his desire to outline concrete policy alternatives to the Democrats ahead of the GOP convention in July.

Ryan: "They want to bait us into looking like reactionaries so that we can't win elections. So the mantra is going to be we are the fringe, we're out there, we're angry, we're un-relatable, so that we cannot build a national movement, a majority campaign, and win the Electoral College, win the presidency and keep Congress. The goal of Barack Obama in 2016 will have to be undoubtedly bait Republicans into being angry reactionaries so that they can't win, so that the left, his successor, can win by default and cement his legacy." bit.ly/1lNLry8

OBAMA ORDERS CHANGES FOR SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. Sarah Wheaton and Josh Gerstein report, "President Barack Obama is ordering changes to how federal prisons use solitary confinement as Congress considers similar reforms as part of a broad package on sentencing, he announced Monday evening. Obama banned the use of solitary confinement for juveniles. While that is likely to affect only a tiny number of people - only about 26 prisoners in the federal system are under 18 - the move is intended to set an example for state and local jails, which hold 9 in 10 inmates in the U.S. Obama also banned using solitary confinement for low-level infractions at federal prisons and ordered the Bureau of Prisons
to develop alternatives for prisoners who are mentally ill or are place in solitary confinement for their own protection. The president also directed wardens at federal prisons to increase the amount of time prisoners in solitary spend outside of their cells." politi.co/1nkxtVA

HAPPY TUESDAY. Jonas has caused another snow day - but this is likely to be the last one. Enjoy it while you can. And if you're heading to Baltimore tomorrow for the House Democratic retreat, drop me a line as your Huddle author is going as well. Please send tips to lfrench@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @laurennfrench.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - Both the House and Senate are still out due to the snow storm. The federal government is shutdown as well. The D.C. government is up and running.

AROUND THE HILL - President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden will huddle with Minority Leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to discuss a 2016 strategy ahead of the House Democrats in Baltimore.

MAKING MOVES. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is promoting Daniel Huey and Chelsea Hawker, both senior advisers with the campaign committee, to director of independent expenditures and deputy director of independent expenditures, respectively.

LAWMAKERS: THEY'RE JUST LIKE US (IN THE SNOW). The Washington Post scoured social media to discover how members of Congress spent their time during the winter snow storm that rocked the East Coast. Winner (in Huddle's opinion): Rep. Erik Paulsen who created a sledding luge. wapo.st/1S6upd7

RYAN HOLD 50K FUNDRAISER. From Jake Sherman, "Speaker Paul Ryan will be in Chicago Wednesday evening for a fundraiser where tickets cost up to $50,000, according to an invitation. The event - hosted by Ryan (R-Wis.), National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon and the rest of the Illinois GOP congressional delegation - includes a "VIP photo reception," "general reception" and "private dinner." Lower-priced tickets are available. Ryan has been candid about his wariness of too much travel for fundraising, But this event and its big-dollar ticket price provides some more evidence about how the speaker will raise money as speaker. Instead of the lengthy trips John
Boehner took, where he mixed fundraising with golf and schmoozing, Ryan can command tens of thousands of dollars from a couple in one fell swoop." politi.co/1NxyqPy

DEMOCRAT PLACES 'HOLD' ON OBAMA NOMINEE. Toni Clarke for Reuters reports, "Democratic U.S. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts said on Monday he placed a hold on President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration until the agency agrees to reform its process for approving opioid painkillers. Markey wants opioid-approval matters to be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee and believes the committee should consider the risk of addiction and abuse during the approval process. He also wants the agency to rescind approval of OxyContin for children and convene an advisory panel to guide that process." reut.rs/1PhOr1I

DENT: TRUMP HAS ELECTABILITY, CRUZ DOESN'T. Jennifer Steinhauer with the New York Times, "While there has been a lot of hand-wringing among conservatives about the damage they fear Donald J. Trump is doing to their brand, one centrist leader among congressional Republicans sees a potential silver lining for Mr. Trump: electability. 'The Republicans' presidential nominee must build a winning coalition that extends beyond the Republican base,' said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania. 'Running a campaign and expanding the coalition is an exercise in addition, not subtraction.'...'Ted Cruz is a rigid ideologue,' said Mr. Dent, who is not supporting Trump and has yet to
endorse anyone. 'Donald Trump is ideologically scattered and malleable. In my view, a more rigid ideology would have a much harder time assembling a winning general election coalition than the less doctrinaire candidate.' nyti.ms/1QptMYw

NO EASY FIX FOR DIVERSITY ISSUES IN CONGRESS. The Washington Post's Amber Phillips breaks down why minorities are still so underrepresented in Congress. "Let's start off with some numbers. Minorities make up almost 40 percent of the U.S. population, yet they fill less than a quarter of congressional and state offices. This isn't necessarily a revelation. People have highlighted the lack of diversity in Congress for several years now. The 114th Congress, which was sworn in this month, is the most diverse on record and, yet, the Pew Research Center finds that all minority groups are underrepresented...But what really concerns people who advocate for more diversity in politics is something
else: the lack of diversity at the state level. Statehouses are some of the best and most reliable pipelines for national politics. About three-fourths of lawmakers in Congress got their jobs after holding political office in their states." wapo.st/1OMrxxS

TWO INDICTED OVER PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIDEOS. Manny Fernandez with the New York Times, "A grand jury here that was investigating accusations of misconduct against Planned Parenthood has instead indicted two abortion opponents who made undercover videos of the organization. Prosecutors in Harris County said one of the leaders of the Center for Medical Progress - an anti-abortion group that made secretly recorded videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to illegally profit from the sale of fetal tissue - had been indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony, and on a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs." nyti.ms/1KBWKjk

FRIDAY AND MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - No one was able to guess the correct answer to Joseph's question from Friday.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -I'll take today's question. How large was the largest snowflake to every fall and where and when did it land? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at lfrench@politico.com

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