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GOP MEETS NEW, OLD OBAMA - President Barack Obama returns to Capitol Hill for the third time in as many days, holding back-to-back meetings Thursday with Senate Republicans and House Democrats. But as POLITICO's Jake Sherman and Jonathan Allen report, Obama's charm offensive this week hasn't necessarily brought the two sides any closer together."After years of pining for more face time with the president, House Republicans found out Wednesday that Barack Obama looks and sounds the same behind closed doors as he does on TV. That's not to say they didn't appreciate the personal touches - gentle banter, praise for some of their ideas and handshakes all around afterward - but the president's
rare meeting with House Republicans in the basement of the Capitol yielded little in the way of movement on either side of the partisan divide. It's the first time the president has met with the House GOP since 2011.

-- "Obama still won't take any big risks on entitlement reform unless Republicans agree to raise taxes again, he declined to say whether he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline, and he still won't slash discretionary spending. Within a couple of hours of leaving the Capitol, Obama issued a threat to veto a job-training bill championed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). So much for the bipartisan note Obama struck in his closing remarks. Or, as some House Republicans concluded as they shuffled out of the meeting room: Meet the new president, same as the old president. ...

-- "Behind the scenes, Republican leaders made sure that the rank and file were on their best behavior Wednesday. They orchestrated the meeting by handpicking lawmakers to ask questions, vetting their scripts and allowing only a few aides from the White House and the GOP ranks in the room. The questioners were hardly rabble-rousers. Two committee chairs - Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and Administration Chair Candice Miller - both of Michigan. Two were members of leadership: Oklahoma Rep. James Lankford and Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam. Rep. Jackie Walorski, a freshman from Indiana, is a favorite of leadership. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who chairs the Republican Study Committee,
was a conservative representative."
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-- After Paul Ryan rolled out his budget which balances in 10 years, Obama told Republicans he didn't share their highest fiscal priority, the New York Times' Jeremy Peters and Ashley Parker write on A1: "'Our biggest problems in the next 10 years are not deficits,' the president said, according to accounts from the meeting, bluntly rejecting an idea that has become Republican fiscal dogma. That left many Republicans, who are resisting the president's calls to close tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy, wondering where they could find room for compromise."
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AT NOON TODAY, SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER will discuss a Democratic report - "Paul Ryan's 'Hocus Pocus' Budget" - that spotlights "magic tricks" the GOP uses to balance their budget in 10 years. Schumer will appear with the Senate Democratic leadership team in the Senate Studio. Read the report here:
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-- The Ryan budget passed out of the Budget Committee late Wednesday on a 22-17 party-line vote, The Hill's Erik Wasson reports.
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SPEAKER BOEHNER, writing in a Washington Post op-ed, called it a "good meeting" and a "frank exchange of ideas," but he said the onus for a deficit deal is on Democrats. "[W]hile this may have been the first time some of my colleagues have heard the president's arguments so personally and directly, I've heard them all many times before. If we're going to find bipartisan solutions, the president will have to move beyond the same proposals and Democratic dogma. For all of Washington's focus on the president's outreach to Republicans, it's his engagement with members of his own party that will determine whether we succeed in dealing with the challenges facing our economy."
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SENATE DEMS UNVEIL FIRST BUDGET IN FOUR YEARS - "[M]ore than anything, the Senate Democrats' budget was meant to land as a political counterpunch to the House Republican plan, an alternative political vision in a week of dueling budget blueprints," National Journal's Nancy Cook writes. The plan "stabilizes the debt held by the public to roughly 70 percent of gross domestic product by 2023, without proposing any major overhaul of the entitlement programs. By the end of the decade, under the Senate Democrats' calculations, the annual deficit projection for 2023 would be $566 billion. The health care savings they put forth-$275 billion-is not as much as the $400 billion in Medicare and
Medicaid cuts that President Obama proposed during previous fiscal negotiations."
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LAWMAKERS FLOCK TO CPAC - Many members of Congress are part of the lineup at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference, which kicks off this morning at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor, Md. Rep. Raul Labrador will deliver remarks, then join a panel discussion on 'Respecting Families and the Rule of Law: A Lasting Immigration Policy' at 10:45 a.m. Sen. Marco Rubio is on at 1:15 p.m., with potential 2016 rival Sen. Rand Paul following at 1:30. The WSJ has a good round up of speakers, including Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Tim Scott and Kelly Ayotte;
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CONGRESS CELEBRATES NEW POPE, OBAMA ANNOUNCES NEWS TO GOP - Catalina Camia and Susan Davis write for USA Today: "For one day at least, the election of a new pope has brought together members of Congress regardless of party or religion. Their good wishes about Pope Francis - the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires - spilled out on Capitol Hill via news releases and Twitter feeds. Some House Republicans heard about the new pope from President Obama, who announced the news during their closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, according to Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y.The election of a pontiff with so many historic firsts to his credit even raised the possibility that the
fractious Congress might learn a thing or two from the Vatican conclave as it deals with the federal budget. 'I'm looking for a little white smoke out of the Capitol here by the end of the summer,' said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, as he emerged from a Senate Budget Committee hearing. ...

-- "At a news conference, House Speaker John Boehner - the highest ranking Catholic in Congress - offered his congratulations to the first pontiff from South America. 'I'm happy that they were able to come to a choice as quickly as they did,' said Boehner, R-Ohio. 'I think that reaching out beyond the traditional continent of our church is another big step in the right direction of our church.'"
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McCAIN MARKS 40 YEARS SINCE HIS RELEASE AS POW IN VIETNAM - Arizona Sen. John McCain writes in the Wall Street Journal: "Forty years ago on March 14, my fellow prisoners of war in North Vietnam and I, dressed in cheap civilian clothes that had been provided to the 108 of us for the occasion, boarded buses for Gia Lam airport on the outskirts of Hanoi. A big green American C-141 airlifter was waiting there to fly us to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. ... I made the trip with two of my closest friends, Air Force officers Bud Day and Bob Craner, whose example and encouragement I had relied on for over five years. A few minutes into the flight, the pilot announced that we were 'feet
wet,' which meant we were now flying over the Tonkin Gulf and were in international air space. Everyone cheered. I doubt that any of us expected we would ever return to the country we had yearned to leave for so long. ...

-- "As it turned out, I would return to Vietnam. I've been back many times since the end of the war. It's a beautiful country, and the Vietnamese are welcoming hosts. Most of my visits have been for official business: accounting for American POW/MIAs, helping to facilitate the normalization of relations between our countries, and promoting a future relationship that will serve both countries' interests. I've made friendships with people who were once my enemies. I've become fond of a place I once detested. I am pleased that America and Vietnam have made so much progress in building a productive, mutually beneficial relationship in the wreckage of a war that was a tragedy
for both our peoples. Today, old grievances are being replaced by new hopes. ...

-- "And yet, when it comes to the values that Americans hold dear-freedom, human rights and the rule of law-our highest hopes for Vietnam still remain largely just hopes. The government in Hanoi still imprisons and mistreats peaceful dissidents, journalists, bloggers, and ethnic and religious minorities for political reasons.... In a positive recent step, the Vietnamese government has begun a dialogue with Amnesty International and suggested that Vietnam may finally reform its constitution to better protect civil and political rights for it citizens. I sincerely hope so-for while great relationships can be built on the basis of common interests, as the U.S.-Vietnam one is now, the best and
most enduring partnerships always rest on a foundation of shared values. In this challenge, as in every other challenge that the two countries have overcome together, I intend to remain Vietnam's dedicated friend."
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THE ROGERS REPORT: CONVERGENCE OF BUDGET FORCES, DEMS BLOCK OBAMACARE CUTS - "A stopgap spending bill advanced in the Senate Wednesday with Democrats keeping to a middle path in hopes of improving their chances for a strong bipartisan showing - and greater leverage with the Republican-controlled House. On a 52-45 vote, the majority quickly dispatched a tea-party-led bid to cut off funding for President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms. But five Democrats later crossed the aisle to help Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) win an evening vote, 50-48, backing his amendment to cut an estimated $120 million in unauthorized funds from the defense portion of the bill. Many more fights remain,
but there was cautious optimism that passage could be completed in time to clear the floor for the budget resolution next week. ...

-- "The floor action came as House and Senate Budget Committees moved ahead Wednesday with two wildly different, competing 10-year deficit-reduction plans. And with Obama back in the Capitol for the second of three days of meetings with lawmakers, the convergence of budget forces in a single week has been striking."
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-- The five Democratic caucus members who backed the McCain amendment eliminating funding for Guam infrastructure projects were: Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.).

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GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 14, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
mailto:swong@politico.com
swong@politico.com . If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include @BrianCBartlett and @PenningtonKenny.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and continues work on the continuing resolution to fund the government. At 11:15 a.m. the Senate will vote on the Harkin amendment to insert the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act.

The House meets at 10 a.m. with first and last votes expected between 5 and 5:30 p.m. on a resolution providing for the consideration of the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act.

AROUND THE HILL - Sens. Johnny Isakson and Jeanne Shaheen reintroduce their bipartisan Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act at 9:30 a.m. in SVC 214. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi holds an on-camera briefing at 10:30 a.m. in HVC Studio A. Rep. Ed Markey speaks on the TSA knife rule at 11:30 a.m. at the House Triangle. Rep. Ander Crenshaw and Sen. Bob Casey speaks on the ABLE Act at noon at the House Triangle. Reps. Aaron Schock and Allyson Schwartz speak on U.S. physician shortage legislation at 1:30 p.m. in HVC Studio B. Speaker John Boehner holds an on-camera briefing at 2 p.m. in HVC Studio A.

President Barack Obama meets with Senate Republicans at 12:45 p.m. He meets with House Democrats at 2:15 p.m., with a stakeout at the CVC Auditorium atrium. Following the meeting, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders will hold a press availability at 3:30 p.m. in HVC Studio A.

OBAMA TO DEMS: I'M NO DICK CHENEY ON DRONES - Josh Gerstein and Manu Raju report for the hometown paper: "President Barack Obama's defense to Democratic senators complaining about how little his administration has told Congress about the legal justifications for his drone policy: Dick Cheney was worse. That's part of what two senators in the room recounted of Obama's response when, near the outset of his closed-door session with Senate Democratic conference on Tuesday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) confronted the president over the administration's refusal for two years to show Congressional intelligence committees Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memos justifying the use of
lethal force against American terror suspects abroad. ... 'This is not Dick Cheney we're talking about here,' he said, according to Democratic senators who asked not to be named discussing the private meeting."
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MILITARY RAPE VICTIMS SPEAK OUT DURING SENATE HEARING - Matthew Hay Brown writes in the Baltimore Sun: "After he was raped by a fellow Navy sailor, Brian Lewis wanted justice. What he got, the Baltimore man told a Senate panel Wednesday, was an order to keep quiet. When commanders learned of the attack, Lewis said, he was told not to report it to naval investigators. From his unit's lawyers, he said, there was 'an eerie silence.' ...

-- "Lewis, 33, was one of four former service members to testify before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on the challenges of reporting rape in the military. While the Pentagon professes a zero-tolerance approach toward sexual assault, witnesses told senators, victims still face a military justice system that may deepen their trauma with indifferent investigations, unexplained delays, biased commanders and arbitrary decisions - all of which can leave accusers isolated among their peers and vulnerable to retaliation. They called on Congress to move the process for reporting and prosecuting sexual assault from the victim's chain of command and into the hands of an independent
prosecutor."
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-- "Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) said at a hearing that the situation had become intolerable," Julian E. Barnes writes in the WSJ: "'The issue of sexual violence in the military is not new. And it has been allowed to go on in the shadows for far too long,' said Ms. Gillibrand, who heads the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee and oversaw the hearing."
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SEQUESTER KICKS OFF LOBBYING FRENZY, WORRIES ABOUT DEEPER CUTS - Robert Pear writes in the NYT: "Construction companies are lobbying the government to spare their projects from across-the-board cuts. Drug companies are pleading with the White House to use all the fees they pay to speed the approval of new medicines. And supporters of Israel have begun a campaign to make sure the Jewish state receives the full amount of military assistance promised by the United States. A frenzy of lobbying has been touched off by President Obama's order to slice spending this year by $85 billion, divided equally between military and civilian programs. The cuts have created new alliances and strange
bedfellows. Hunter R. Rawlings III, a historian of ancient Greece who is the president of the Association of American Universities, joined Wesley G. Bush, the chief executive of Northrop Grumman, the maker of surveillance drones and B-2 bombers, in a news conference in which they denounced the automatic cuts known as sequestration. Health care and education groups, advocates for poor people, and state and local officials who fought in the past for bigger budgets are now trying to minimize the pain....

-- "The pace of lobbying has picked up because of a widespread belief that this year's cuts are locked in and may be a prelude to further cuts in the same programs in each of the next eight years. The Budget Control Act, signed by Mr. Obama in 2011, set annual spending limits from 2013 through 2021 and calls for across-the-board cuts to enforce those limits."
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GOP THREATENS TO SUBPOENA SURVIVORS OF BENGHAZI ATTACK, DELAY NOMINATION OF NEW AMBASSADOR -- Julian Pecquet and Carlo Munoz write in The Hill: "Exasperated GOP members say unless they get more answers from the White House, they will call on the survivors to testify before Congress, and might hold up President Obama's nomination to replace the U.S. ambassador who was killed on Sept. 11, 2012 in Libya. The recent revelation that U.S. survivors are recuperating at Walter Reed Hospital has sparked GOP demands that the White House provide Congress with access to them. It has also breathed new life into the controversy that was highlighted repeatedly during the 2012 presidential campaign. ...
Republicans say they might delay the confirmation of Deborah Jones, the State Department official Obama nominated Wednesday to succeed Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya who died along with three other Americans in the attack six months ago."
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CRUZ JOKES ABOUT McCAIN'S 'WACKO BIRDS' JAB -- Keynoting the annual Weyrich Awards, freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) addressed John McCain's suggestion that Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) are "wacko birds," Emily Schultheis reports for POLITICO."'It is wonderful to be among friends or, as some might say, fellow wacko birds,' he said, to laughs from the crowd. 'If standing for the Constitution, standing for liberty, standing for values makes one a wacko bird ... then I am pleased that birds of a feather flock together.' Cruz, a Tea Party favorite who rode grassroots enthusiasm to defeat establishment Republican candidate David Dewhurst in a runoff last summer,
has been a star of the conservative movement since he took office in January. Cruz spoke for 40 minutes and received multiple standing ovations from the crowd of a few hundred people."
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WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - No one correctly answered yesterday's question. It was Rep Bill Foster (D-Ill.), who interned on Capitol Hill as a policy adviser just a few months before he ran for his own seat. He had volunteered for the successful campaign of Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick J. Murphy, who in 2006 defeated Republican Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick. And he volunteered in Murphy's Capitol Hill office working for four months as an adviser on science and technology issues, according to a Politics in America profile.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Hunter Pickels has today's question: Who is the only U.S. president to have served in the House of Representatives as a non-voting member? And what district did he represent? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
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