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04/15/2016 07:17 AM EDT


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

With an assist from Burgess Everett

SENATE GOP REBUKES LEE OVER LEADERSHIP BID - From The Hill's Alex Bolton: "Senate Republicans piled on conservative Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) during a private meeting Thursday, rebuking him after he pressed several GOP leaders earlier in the week to step down from leadership because of term limits. Colleagues scolded Lee for lacking collegiality by trying to enforce a GOP conference rule that allows lawmakers to serve only three terms in the elected leadership, according to lawmakers who attended the heated discussion."

--"Some GOP senators accused Lee, a favorite of Tea Party groups and conservative activists, of fomenting internal frictions at a time when they should be unified and focused on the challenge of keeping their majority. Senators also criticized Lee's leadership of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, which hosts a weekly lunch and promotes conservative policies. One lawmaker said it became clear in the meeting that Lee would lose by a big margin if he squared off against Barrasso, noting the Wyoming senator is very popular with colleagues." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d661648528e786376643486d848e53a922481b37f0c2679eafc66

--With all the talk about Mike Lee's challenge to the Senate GOP's leadership rules, we're getting a lot of inquiries about where exactly these arcane GOP guidelines can be found. Luckily, we're posting it right here for all to see as Lee challenges the GOP's interpretation of the three-term limit which they saw exempts partial terms, and he says do not: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d66160adef6bf273cd3e0de69860a88fa446acab06417239ca1fa

DO-OR-DIE FOR PUERTO RICO BILL - Speaker Paul Ryan is convening a special conference meeting later this morning for the Puerto Rico bankruptcy bill, now at a critical juncture, from POLITICO's Colin Wilhelm: "If Republicans can't muster enough conservative support for the bill, the measure could be dramatically rewritten to win over Democrats, who are currently opposed to the legislation. But it was those kinds of maneuvers that turned Republicans away from his predecessor, John Boehner."

--"Moving too far leftward risks alienating key members of Rep. Rob Bishop's House Natural Resources Committee and could imperil the bill on the House floor. Both Bishop and GOP leadership believe if this bill goes down, a taxpayer bailout would be practically inevitable ... 'I hate to say this, but the two weeks we were all gone did not help the situation,' Bishop said. 'What I'm getting back from everybody is they don't know what the hell this does.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d66167ff379f9072e028d62592a45f257e29a6dbe7f29d3272eb2

SCOTUS CHARM OFFENSIVE FALLING FLAT - Your Huddle author writes with Burgess Everett on where we are in the battle to confirm Merrick Garland, which is basically the same place we were at this time last week: "If you're the White House, the six Senate Republicans who met with Merrick Garland this week are the ones you really wanted to break. Any one of them would be a prime get: The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee; a known moderate who'd called for a confirmation hearing, before backtracking; a conservative who'd shown deference to President Barack Obama's nominees in the past; and a trio of vulnerable lawmakers getting hammered back home by Democrats."

--"But each of the half-dozen Republicans were essentially unmoved after huddling with the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ... 'He's obviously a very, very bright man,' said Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who met with Garland for about 30 minutes on Thursday. 'Very engaging and kind. But we knew all that before.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d66166fc73d7eab73c9b70900ad06fd79dff5fb0feb2ccec0f238

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY - From @chuckschumer, who talks about how he is #sheddingforthewedding: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d66169755d79c2c2cb2403d23417113a9c1ad6efba3bf0bf1aa3a

TWEET OF THE DAY - From @JohnDingell, during the Democratic debate: "Old Guy Who Yells A Lot Sick Of Listening To Old Guy Who Yells A Lot"

MUST-LISTEN - The Takeaway's Todd Zwillich sat down with outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who remarks during the six-minute interview: "I bet I'm the only senator who learned to swim at a whorehouse swimming pool." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d661618909a7c3aa5b1f7cec4a7358ea0ae9661b5749d190a5164

TRANSITIONS -- Janice Mays, the longtime Democratic staff director and chief counsel on the House Ways and Means Committee, is leaving at the end of May to join PricewaterhouseCoopers as a managing director. Michigan Rep. Sander Levin, the top committee's top Democrat, said: "It is hard to imagine the Ways and Means Committee, indeed the House of Representatives, without Janice Mays. Her service has epitomized the very best in public service: hard work, loyalty and complete dedication to making government work for the people."

** A message from Grant Thornton LLP: As business owners prepare for their tax filing deadline, many will ask, "Did I pay more than my competitors?" For a number of businesses, the answer is YES. Visit http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d6616f51167437f1649bd585691bcb240d94d4b064897f0ac1ede for a tax policy that treats all businesses fairly. **


HAPPY FRIDAY, April 15, 2016 and welcome to the Huddle, where we hope our readers have already done their taxes! Don't be that guy trying to do it at 7 p.m. on April 18. Feel free to give me a shout at skim@politico.com, and please follow me on Twitter at @seungminkim.

My new followers include @BobSalera and @CelinaYMoreno.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is in at 9 a.m. with first and last votes expected between 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. On tap is the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act. The Senate is out until Monday.

AROUND THE HILL - Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) will meet with a family who could qualify for Obama's executive actions on immigration at 8:30 a.m., with media avail at 9:30 a.m. RSVP to joe_lapaille@kaine.senate.gov. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other House Democrats will hold a news conference on oral arguments for United States vs. Texas, Obama's immigration case, at 10 a.m. at House Triangle.

PAUL RYAN HEARS ABOUT TRUMP ABROAD - The House speaker gathers with foreign-policy reporters to talk about his trip to the Middle East last week, and POLITICO's Michael Crowley was there: "Days after ruling himself out of White House contention, House Speaker Paul Ryan stepped into the arena of presidential state craft, talking up his recent tour of the Middle East and echoing complaints from foreign leaders about Barack Obama's foreign policy and Donald Trump's rhetoric."

--"Asked if leaders in the countries he visited last week - Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - had raised qualms about Trump, Ryan said: 'Sure, I got it.' Ryan said that Arab officials cited his condemnation in December of Trump's call for halting Muslim immigration into the U.S.'People over there knew about it and thanked me for doing it,' Ryan said. 'I didn't realize people paid this close attention to it.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d6616f997856d28826eae1267b686333df40b529546475f463d44

--Sooooo, if Paul Ryan is now chatting up foreign policy, does that mean he's ... running? (Just kidding.)

MARK KIRK TO SKIP GOP CONVENTION - The Chicago Sun-Times: "Republican Sen. Mark Kirk will be far away from what may become a heated political battle for Donald Trump at July's Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Kirk's office on Thursday confirmed the senator will be focusing on his re-election campaign instead of attending. That means he'll be away from a media melee, where he could have made some headlines." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d66166c587340bfe82d51b2cd6a5c4119cfc8e29cadb13a929d17

HOUSE TRUMP BACKERS: WE'LL LOCK UP NOMINATION - And without a contested convention, they insist. From Siobhan Hughes of the Wall Street Journal: "Reps. Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of California are leading the effort on Capitol Hill to deepen the coordination between the Trump campaign and Republican lawmakers. The plan is to hold weekly meetings when Congress is in session to plan strategies for how to help Mr. Trump on a state-by-state basis."

--"The Republican lawmakers said that they expected the nominating contest to be fought out through the California primary in June. But they said they were optimistic that Mr. Trump would emerge the victor because they say that even using conservative estimates, Mr. Trump has a way to win more than enough delegates ... 'The math added up to 1,265," Mr. Collins said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d6616331a77bf7fefc95c78c9f60009e49420b2d0cb1f3d6b55fb

WARDING OFF THE STONE ZONE - Controversial GOP operative and Trump confidante Roger Stone said last month that he's now working for Kelli Ward, who is running against Sen. John McCain in the GOP primary in Arizona. But Ward says that Stone is not officially working for the campaign - though she didn't deny that he may be aiding her steep battle. "As far as I know, he does not work directly for us," she said. "I don't know Roger Stone, I've never met him and never talked to him."

ENERGY BILL GETS GOING AGAIN ... WITHOUT FLINT - Morning Consult's Jack Fitzpatrick: "The Senate's wide-ranging energy bill has a path to final passage after senators agreed to decouple it from a bill on drinking-water in Flint, Mich., breaking a months-long stalemate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion to end debate on the energy bill Thursday ... Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) objected to the Flint bill, sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Stabenow relented on Wednesday evening." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d66163104cc24a9c02a61ce835a5b97695250eb842f0faefa155b

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Andrew Smith was the first person to correctly answer that Hubert Humphrey, who won the Democratic nomination in 1968, was the last non-incumbent candidate to win no primaries and yet secure the nomination.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Today's question comes from Huddle reader Frederick Graefe: Which senator had just two minutes from being sworn in to his first vote? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail skim@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=39c1da0c002d6616bd8b6fcad4c1c8a941190e2e4b0420a0d61addb9abc595b9


** A message from Grant Thornton LLP: Since 2013, pass-through owners have faced a potentially higher tax rate (39.6%) on their business income than their C corporation competitors (35%). This rate disparity puts pass-throughs at a competitive disadvantage and hinders U.S. investment, job creation and economic growth. In an ideal world, the same tax rates would apply to all business income, regardless of its form.

Visit http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=39c1da0c002d6616f51167437f1649bd585691bcb240d94d4b064897f0ac1ede for a tax policy that treats businesses fairly.

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