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By Lauren French (@
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THE GOP'S BUDGET CLOUT. The David Rogers reports, "The Capping weeks of backroom talks, House Republicans filed a $1.1 trillion year-end spending bill Tuesday night- a giant package that's both a last marker for this Congress and first step toward GOP control in the next. The action followed a fretful 24 hours of delay and fine tuning by top leadership, who added a late breaking -and potentially controversial-provision related to the financing of presidential conventions. Already, the abundance of policy riders-backed by trucking, mining and securities interests--show the GOP's new clout. But the giant measure also reflects a genuine give-and-take with Senate Democrats in hopes of averting
a government shutdown veto fight with President Barack Obama."
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THE RIDER LAWMAKERS THREW IN JUST FOR THEM. Ken Vogel reports, "A provision tucked deep inside the $1.1-trillion spending bill filed by Republicans on Tuesday night would dramatically increase the amount of money a single rich donor could give to national party committees each year - from $97,200 to $324,000 or more.The provision, inserted as a rider to the bill only hours before it was filed, would mark a further erosion of campaign cash restrictions. They've been whittled away by recent federal court rulings, most notably the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision."
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REID: STOPPING 'THE CRAZY.' Manu Raju reports, "As Reid heads for the minority, his caucus is divided between moderates and a rising progressive wing. His likely successor is waiting in the wings. The White House could cut deals with Republicans without him. And all the while, he'll be fighting for his life back home in a potentially brutal reelection race. In a wide-ranging interview with POLITICO, one of his first since the elections this fall, a defiant Reid showed his cards on the incredible losses his party suffered - he blames the rollout of the health care law - on his future - he's hiring staff for his next campaign already - on how he plans to operate in the new world order - ready
to take on Republicans when necessary but accepts that the White House may work with his rival Mitch McConnell, whether he likes it or not."
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GOP DIVIDED ON FILIBUSTERS. Burgess and SMK with the story, "Senior Republicans and rookies alike spent Tuesday "airing it out," in [Sen.-elect Bill] Cassidy's words, over how to treat presidential nominees now that the GOP has won the Senate. Since Democrats changed the rules to allow all presidential nominees save those to the Supreme Court to win approval with just a majority, the GOP has been going through different stages of grief. First, disbelief over the change. Then revenge, requiring time-delaying procedural votes for even less controversial, lower-level nominees. The final chapter is still being written. Republicans' could reverse the rules change they have railed against for a
year and require 60 votes for nominees, which may have to be done by the same reviled unilateral "nuclear option" that Democrats used."
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HAPPY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, and welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill. Anybody else wake up this morning and think 'it's only Wednesday?' Just three....wait four days to go. Please send tips to
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lfrench@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @laurennfrench.

** Brand USA benefits all of America. Brand USA creates jobs by promoting international travel to all 50 states. America's tourism marketing program is highly effective and makes us more competitive - all at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. Renew the Travel Promotion Act, S. 2250.
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TODAY IN CONGRESS: The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m. to consider the "National Defense Authorization Act." No votes are currently scheduled. The House meets at 10 a.m. with two votes series scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL: AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler is testifying at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on President Barack Obama's immigration executive action.Speaker John Boehner and the GOP leadership team will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. at HC-8. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Richard Blumenthal will address the 2-year anniversary of the Newtown shootings at 1:30 p.m. in HVC-215.

Sens. Mary Hirono, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Bob Menendez and Blumenthal will discuss immigration at 1p.m. in S-211. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Rep. Eliot Engel will discuss the "Laos Nine" orphans at 2 p.m. in 2255 RHOB. Boehner and other congressional leaders will issue a gold medal to honor the Civil Air Patrol at 3 p.m. Sens. Joe Donnelly and Roger Wicker on military suicide prevention at 1:45 p.m. in 188 Russell.

TRANSITIONS. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer has hired the Senate Budget Committee's Charlene MacDonald to serve as senior policy advisor. Mark Isakowitz is joining Sen. Rob Portman's team as chief. Anna has more details:
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TORTURE REPORT CREATES DEEP DIVIDES BETWEEN SUPPORTERS, OPPONENTS. The New York Times' Scott Shane reports, "Senator Dianne Feinstein was still speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday morning about the Intelligence Committee's report excoriating the C.I.A.'s interrogation program when a new website went live. Its name was self-explanatory: ciasavedlives.com. The site, created by a dozen former top officials of the Central Intelligence Agency, was only one element in a broad counterattack against the long-awaited Senate report, which says the program, which is now defunct, violated American ideals by torturing Al Qaeda suspects and got little useful information in return. The program's
outspoken defenders say the C.I.A. was advised that its methods were not torture, that the program played a critical role in dismantling Al Qaeda and that the interrogators deserve praise, not vilification."
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2014 WAS EVEN MORE OF A RECORD BREAKING $$ YEAR. Derek Willis reports, "Political groups independent of candidates spent more than $814 million to influence congressional elections last month, a record for the midterms and nearly twice the spending in 2010, Federal Election Commission records show. The most obvious explanation for the rapid increase is the effect of the 2010 Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court and the rise in spending by super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and unions."
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CHAFFETZ OVERHAULING OGR STAFF. Jake with the scoop, "Incoming House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz has invited the entire committee staff to "reapply for their position," a power move he seeks a clean split from Rep. Darrell Issa's tenure atop the panel... Chaffetz has already announced several of his top aides, including former Judiciary Committee aide and Podesta Group principal Sean McLaughlin and Andrew Dockham, ex-counsel to former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)."
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CONGRESS WANTS TO TAKE YOUR POT, D.C. Arthur Delaney &Matt Fernerreport, "Congress is looking to stifle the District of Columbia's marijuana legalization initiative.... The deal would allow the District to continue its marijuana decriminalization policy enacted by the D.C. Council, but would ban the city from using funds to enact legalization."
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LANDRIEU'S HOT JOB PROSPECTS. Anna and Burgess has the story, "Several headhunters, veteran lobbyists and consultants said Landrieu's status as a moderate Democrat and senior member of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee make her a top recruit from Capitol Hill. As the lame-duck session nears an end, another season begins in earnest - the annual dance of exiting lawmakers quietly reaching out to private-sector contacts and making the rounds at Washington law firms and lobby shops, with just a few weeks until the retiring or defeated lawmakers are out of a job. But even as a Democrat, Landrieu stands out among new retirees from a majority-Republican Congress."
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GRUBER APOLOGIZES. The Wall Street Journal reports, "Jonathan Gruber, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist whose remarks about the federal health-care law sparked a political furor, apologized to Congress Tuesday for "offending" comments that he said were insulting and mean. Mr. Gruber testified with Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Republicans had criticized both for statements they say show a pattern of deception by the Obama administration in passing and implementing the 2010 law."
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TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER: Seamus Kraft was the first to correctly answer that Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas and that it took the federal government another three decades to make Dec. 25 an official holiday.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Seamus has today's question. What winning presidential ticket - President and VP - was born in the same state and the same county? Name the ticket, state and county. The first person with the correct answer to
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lfrench@politico.com gets an answer in tomorrow's Huddle.

** Brand USA benefits all of America. Brand USA creates jobs and economic benefits by promoting international travel to all 50 states. America's tourism marketing program is highly effective and makes us more competitive - all at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. It's time to reauthorize Brand USA (S. 2250) in the U.S. Senate and keep the power of travel promotion working for all of the U.S. Learn how in two minutes:
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