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04/12/2016 07:57 AM EDT


By Rachael Bade (Rbade@politico.com or @RachaelMBade)

NUISANCE CHALLENGERS IRK GOP SENATORS. "Republicans don't appear to have a Dick Lugar problem this year: None of their incumbents is in apparent danger of going down in a primary to a tea party challenger, as the Indiana senator did in 2012, and as Utah's Bob Bennett in 2010," Burgess Everett reports in a story up rooster. "That's not to say primary season is going to be pleasant. Some of the GOP's biggest-name incumbents and front-runners still must beat back nagging challengers from the right who promise to sap energy and money from the party's efforts to fend off Democrats in the general election even if they're almost certain to lose."

"Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire will spend their summers under attack by underfinanced tea party opponents. In Nevada, the reemergence of Sharron Angle - who infamously blew a chance to defeat Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid in 2010 - means the GOP's hand-picked candidate for the open seat, Rep. Joe Heck, has a fight on his hands to get to the general election. And Republicans also are fretting over primaries in Colorado, Indiana and Florida, as well as the fate of a former leader of their campaign arm. It's a nuisance the party could do without. Republicans already have to defend 24 seats, many in Democratic-leaning states, and anxiety runs high that
having Donald Trump or Ted Cruz at the top of the ticket could badly damage down-ballot hopefuls." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143dbc39156e508927e40610d68a9a682aa9557cff65a75110c0

"WHY RYAN WON'T RUN." Jake Sherman with the Team Ryan mind-meld: "Paul Ryan's confidants see it as one of the great, strange conspiracies theories of 2016. Somehow, by deciding against running for president, and repeatedly saying he has no interest in running for president, Paul Ryan is secretly running for president... In fact, in Ryan's (R-Wis.) universe - among the small group of insiders who know Ryan's thinking first-hand - the sentiment is resolute: Ryan will not accept his party's nomination. He simply doesn't want to be president right now. One aide said 'over my dead body' would Ryan emerge from Cleveland with the GOP nomination. In an interview with POLITICO last month, Ryan was
perplexed that the issue hadn't been put to bed, saying, 'I am not going to become the president through Cleveland.' Ryan's orbit firmly believes that, in a few months, everyone will look at this bubble and realize just how ridiculous it was." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143d8425a1f7eca3e9474317583ad771b9eb19e78a4e222669e6

HAPPY EQUAL PAY DAY. It's April 12, 2016. Thanks for reading Huddle. Always reachable here rbade@politico.com, or here @RachaelMBade

TODAY IN CONGRESS. The House returns from the two-week recess for a series of suspender votes at 6:30 p.m. Senate in at 10 a.m., too.

** 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=37b97e371337143dd755cd3768258417c286982db60417db5d08cb9985010e7c for a tax policy that treats all businesses fairly. **

AROUND THE HILL. Driving the morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Merrick Garland will meet for a private breakfast. At 11 a.m., House Democratic Whip Hoyer Steny Hoyer holds pen and pad briefing. Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Heidi Heitkamp will join Sandra Black from the Council of Economic Advisers at a Third Way luncheon celebrating Equal Pay Day at 11:45 a.m. at 500 North Capitol Street NW. Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell will moderate the discussion. At 3 p.m., at the House Triangle, the Connecticut Congressional Delegation stands with 'Team 26' Sandy Hook cyclists to call for action to end gun violence. And Sen. Cory Booker at 4 p.m. meets with Garland.

THROWBACK TUESDAY? "Grassley, Garland reprise 1990s judicial confirmation fight." There's actually a history between the Senate chairman leading the hold-up of Obama's SCOTUS nominee, and Merrick Garland - and it isn't pretty. Reuters' Richard Cowen has an interview with Grassley on their past, running the same day the Judiciary Chairman meets Garland: "Two decades ago, Grassley, an Iowa Republican, spearheaded a fight against Garland's nomination to the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Just like now, a Democratic president, in that case Bill Clinton, submitted Garland's nomination to a Republican-controlled Senate."

"Garland, then a top Justice Department lawyer, was denied a Senate confirmation vote in 1995 and 1996 despite earning bipartisan praise. Finally, in 1997, after Clinton renominated Garland upon winning re-election in 1996, was he confirmed to a seat on the court that was a launching pad to the Supreme Court for Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas, as well as the late Antonin Scalia. Fast-forward to 2016: ...Grassley and a Republican Senate maneuver to block the nomination without so much as a Judiciary Committee hearing... Garland, 63, will sit down with Grassley on Tuesday and be told that once again, his nomination will be put on ice."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143dcc99581c032ede48b47d6a6a89835507c1f2850d283f41e9

'BEAUTIFUL DAY' (SINGER) ON THE HILL. U2's Bono is in town testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and foreign operations at 2 p.m. in Dirksen 192. But he's not there about the sweetest thing - nah. He's there to talk refugees in Kenya, Jordan and Turkey as co-founder of The ONE Campaign. Here's an excerpt from his testimony: "For too long, aid has been seen as charity - a nice thing to do when we can afford it. But... aid in 2016 is not just charity - it is national security... The global refugee crisis is the product of a lot of things: poverty, insecurity, violence, and poor or non-existent governance. When those things happen, people flee where they are and -
often at the mercy of bad men and worse ideas - take themselves and their despair elsewhere."

In addition to the testimony, Bono has a complimentary op-ed and his own "multimedia travel journal" on refugees - written and shot by his truly - on the N.Y. Times website: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143da7da1397abb0f26ea73b9a479cbdc1c9a2bf46057a53fcfc and http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143d829cf643317e70b01f0e6862d06592cc4cb9e88184fc6c09

MUTINY IN THE SENATE - Mike Lee to run for Senate leadership post. The Utah Republican must have been watching Donald Trump and Ted Cruz trounce all over GOP establishment candidates in the Republican primary - because now he, one of the most conservative members of the Senate, is plotting to make his move up the leadership ladder. He's seeking the Senate's No. 4 leadership post, Republican Policy Committee Chair - only, that job is currently filled by his colleague Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming.

The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein first scooped the news and will post "an exclusive interview with the Examiner on Tuesday." More from Klein: "A constitutional lawyer, Lee rocked the political establishment in 2010 when he knocked off sitting three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett at Utah's Republican Convention, representing an early victory for the Tea Party movement...Lee was a leading proponent of the 2013 push to defund Obamacare and is an ally of Sen. Ted Cruz, who he teamed up with in several clashes with leadership - and he has endorsed Cruz for president. But Lee has also done more to straddle the line in working with leadership.... has emerged as one the leading advocates in the
Senate for the idea that conservatives need to not only to be vocal in opposition, but also in pushing policy solutions. The new role, should he be elected, would put him in a stronger position to steer policy, especially if Republicans hang on to the Senate this November." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143d8bf8de9e94ee89f57022e2501f0a2ba08520a3a2260a3c0a

--Lee's ambition sets up an internal Senate GOP clash, Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim report: "Barrasso is eligible to serve one more two-year term after this year, though GOP leaders are term-limited to three two-year terms. GOP leadership elections typically occur at the end of the year before the new session. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly moved to back up Barrasso over Lee, who was seen leaving McConnell's office on Monday evening at a leadership meeting. 'The conference precedent is that the members determined that a partial term as chairman does not count, for purposes of term limits, as a full term. Therefore, Sens. [John] Thune, Barrasso and [Roy] Blunt are all
eligible to run again. The Leader believes they've all done a great job and he hopes that they do all run again,' said Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143d41af9c89d86ddfa33a89447235e64ace359e68f9687e2563

GOSSIP GIRL - "Cruz's Relationship with Cornyn Seen as Disconnected." Abby Livingston at the Texas Tribune with the juice on the tense relationship between the senior and junior senators from the Lone Star State: "One is a steady 16-year veteran of the U.S. Senate, a well-connected elder in the Grand Old Party. The other is an energetic bomb thrower who in four short years has positioned himself as the only thing standing between the Republican presidential nomination and Donald Trump... [T]he widely held perception in Washington is that the pair are the two same-state senators who least like each other."

"For years, their detached relationship has been little more than the subject of Capitol Hill gossip. Yet now, with their party at a crossroads and the presidential nomination at stake, Cornyn's and Cruz's fates may be unexpectedly intertwined. In claiming victory last week in Wisconsin, Cruz touted how his campaign is unifying the Republican Party behind his bid for the presidency in an effort to topple Trump... But not everyone in the party is behind him. Most noticeably, Cornyn and the vast majority of the U.S. Senate remain unwilling to publicly back Cruz. In any other circumstance, it would be curious that a viable presidential candidate did not have the support of his fellow state
Republican. But each man in this case represents the visceral divide raging in the party: Cornyn is the consummate establishment team player, while Cruz is the Tea Party insurgent." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143d1189b103aaaba283ae548c470ab6f294dd1a2933f086360a

HOUSE STAFFERS SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY IN ILLINOIS. Ten bucks says this relates to resigned lawmaker Aaron Schock... Jake and Anna Palmer got it: "Four House financial staffers were subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury in the central district of Illinois, the same court where former Rep. Aaron Schock is the subject of a closed-door probe. Traci Beaubian, the chief financial officer of the House of Representatives, and three other staffers were called to testify, according to a letter that was read on the House floor Monday afternoon. The letter did not specify whether Beaubian and others were subpoenaed to testify about Schock, but the former Illinois congressman has long been the
subject of grand jury hearings in the central district of Illinois in Springfield." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=37b97e371337143d8c6f834a1e4327810194e4fc9e398eb150ed90836fbe1560

MOVING ON. Press guy Ken Scudder has left Rep. Alan Grayson to become the Democratic communications director of the Joint Economic Committee. This follows recent House Ethics Committee findings that Grayson allegedly improperly received compensation from a hedge fund and failed to properly disclose millions of dollars in assets and income.

Joanna Rodriguez, former digital director for Sen. Marco Rubio, has also moved to Sarasota to be press secretary for Carlos Beruff for Senate.

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER: Patrick Boland, senior advisor to Rep. Adam Schiff, was the first to answer that Alf Landon in 1936 was the nominee at the last Republican national convention in Cleveland. "Knew my independent study in college on conventions and delegate counting would someday come in handy," he snarked via email upon learning he won.

TODAY'S TRIVIA: Comes from our winner: Who is the last major party candidate for president to name their running mate prior to the convention and ultimately not receive the nomination? Who was the pair and what was the year? Email me: rbade@politico.com

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** 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=37b97e371337143dd755cd3768258417c286982db60417db5d08cb9985010e7c for a tax policy that treats businesses fairly.

(c) 2016 Grant Thornton LLP | All rights reserved | U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd **

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