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01/25/2018 07:55 AM EDT


By Nolan D. McCaskill (nmccaskill@politico.com or @NolanDMcCaskill)

SENATE DEMS OPEN TO BUDGET DEAL SANS DACA - Looking to avoid another shutdown fight and finally raise stiff spending caps, top Senate Democrats said they are willing to pursue a long-term budget agreement without tying the legislation to a solution for Dreamers. House Democrats, however, aren't exactly on board. "The division among Democrats is complicating negotiations, as lawmakers in both parties face intense pressure - and a two-week time crunch - to show progress on government funding, immigration and a raft of other issues that have resulted in the government operating on stopgap spending bills since September," Heather, Sarah Ferris and Burgess report.

"If Democrats are indeed willing to deal on spending caps without a firm commitment on DACA, it would represent a significant shift in the budget talks, which have stalled for months over immigration," they write. Both parties want a long-term budget deal, and few Democrats want another shutdown. But it was Democrats in the Senate, not the House, who voted to end the shutdown Monday after securing a commitment from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to allow for debate on immigration if no deal is reached by Feb. 8 - as long as the government is funded - with no such assurances in the House.

Budget negotiators are making real progress on crafting a two-year spending deal. Though figures are still fluid, sources say negotiators have agreed to raise military spending by at least $70 billion above the caps for fiscal 2018 and $80 billion in fiscal 2019. At issue, though, is non-defense spending. Sources say Republican leaders have proposed boosting domestic agencies' budgets by $45 billion to $50 billion over the caps for the next two years, but Democrats are pushing for at least $60 billion. Negotiators are also considering creative budgetary maneuvers to reach the parity in defense and non-defense spending boosts that Democrats are demanding. Much more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d9d252aeb92c63e467cb0b7048b34f1809bd3219093d62bcbae49f3e995a105118b9fb1f3337af7d3

TRUMP SUPPORTS PATH TO CITIZENSHIP - President Donald Trump won plaudits Wednesday from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) after telling reporters in an impromptu gaggle that he is open to a path to citizenship after 10 to 12 years for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. A path to citizenship was a centerpiece of a bipartisan proposal Graham and Durbin helped craft that was rejected by the White House days earlier.

"Mr. Trump's positions have been difficult to discern, vacillating between his expressions of sympathy for the DACA recipients and his hard-line demands for a crackdown on illegal immigrants," The New York Times reports. Trump also told reporters he would request $25 billion for a border wall and $5 billion for additional border security measures. An optimistic Graham said Trump's leadership will allow the Senate "to solve a difficult problem," and Durbin tweeted that Trump "is headed in the right direction here." Even Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), an immigration hardliner, agreed, though he cautioned that a path to citizenship "must be done responsibly" by securing the border and ending
family-based migration.

Trump said he wants to end the diversity visa lottery system and strike a deal to end so-called chain migration, though he added he would push to allow nuclear families to stay together. The White House said it will release an immigration framework Monday. "Despite the president's pledge to the Dreamers, his administration cracked down earlier Wednesday on so-called sanctuary cities," the Times writes. "The Justice Department asked 23 jurisdictions across the country to furnish documents proving that they had not kept information from federal immigration authorities." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d99a2ac9dda8454d407516d6e1dee9b29785b796082144f1c2266262aabd81f81b8c1f8dc7ab89538

Related: "GOP lawmaker wants to more than double high-skilled worker visas," from Bloomberg's Naomi Nix and Ben Brody: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d1c273f8cf2bc36d439447fd386e2b9dd489a6b2d132e24f03827b1dca8ba86c4f2d1d85da37ce763

HAPPY FRIDAY EVE! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, Jan. 25.

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Philly.com's interview with Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) was the big winner.

WHITE HOUSE BUDGET, INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN COMING SOON - The White House plans to send Congress its budget blueprint on Feb. 12 or later, Sarah reports, citing two administration sources. The date is a week later than the Office of Management and Budget originally planned, but staff attributed the delay to the government shutdown. "The shutdown came at a very critical time and therefore we have to slip to at least the 12th," said John Czwartacki, OMB's communications director. Though Congress is debating fiscal 2018 spending levels, administration officials have been working on their fiscal 2019 budget.

Trump's long-promised infrastructure plan could be released before his budget. Paul Teller, a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, told conservative groups it could be released in the next two weeks. People in the room say Teller told them Trump will provide more details in his State of the Union address on Tuesday and then present a document to lawmakers in two to four weeks. "Lawmakers have been waiting for more than a year for details on Trump's infrastructure proposal, which he has said could lead to $1 trillion in infrastructure investment," Burgess and Bres write. "Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a key transportation lawmaker, [told] POLITICO he was a 'little
frustrated' with the delay."

SENATE CONFIRMS HHS SECRETARY - The Senate confirmed Alex Azar as HHS secretary in a 55-43 vote Wednesday. Six Democrats and Angus King (I-Maine) backed his nomination. "A former pharmaceutical executive and twice-confirmed veteran of George W. Bush's HHS, the 50-year-old nominee earned bipartisan respect in recent weeks for his familiarity with the sprawling agency and a stated desire to reset relations with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle," Adam Cancryn reports. "With Congress reluctant to embrace another politically fractious health agenda in an election year, Azar is poised to become the face of administration efforts largely focused on unraveling Obamacare and remaking the health
system through rulemaking and regulatory action." Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d23d4f8392f7b596a7cd980663fd3696f43b5ff5883e5f22c183e9e0ada89ec9f61766f73d6ff6472

After two tie-breaking votes from Vice President Mike Pence (his eighth overall, per CNN), the chamber also confirmed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as ambassador at-large for international religious freedom. The Kansas City Star with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09ddb5d3b5f8ca1534a626b6a05197ba3058f8f82fa007895f0f1cad194e7bdde60fc8f49d8362b45c0

MENENDEZ LAWYERS TRIED TO STOP RETRIAL - Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-N.J.) lawyers appealed to top Justice Department officials last week, urging them to drop the case or risk defeat. "But DOJ stunned Menendez, his attorneys and the political world when it announced Friday that prosecutors would seek once again to convict Menendez," Bres reports. "The announcement came just a day after Menendez's attorney sent a letter asking Justice to forgo a second trial." DOJ officials reached out to attorneys representing Menendez and Dr. Salomon Melgen seeking their views on a retrial. They asked for their takes in writing yet disregarded their submissions.

A federal judge acquitted Menendez and Melgen on seven of the 18 counts they were tried on last year. The judge said he will not preside over the retrial. The case hasn't been reassigned yet, and no trial date is set. "Despite the judge's decision, Menendez faces the prospect of another bribery trial just as he begins his campaign for another Senate term," Matt Friedman and Bres report. "And if convicted, the 64-year-old New Jersey senator could find himself behind bars instead of behind a desk on the Senate floor." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d271783c9194d4488bd56e0d42f6dfeea8d5727c929169ff67ebcbe9cbcf1f7118fb0a7e5f1e2805f

SHUTDOWN VOTE RISKS TESTER'S REELECTION - Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) was on a glide path to winning reelection just a week ago. Former Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) joined Trump's Cabinet; the GOP candidate who won his seat body-slammed a reporter; and state Attorney General Tim Fox declined to run. "Those were Tester's three most formidable potential challengers," Burgess and Kevin Robillard report this morning. But Tester's surprise vote against a short-term spending bill other red-state Democrats supported "has injected new life into Republicans' hopes of giving Tester a fight." Republicans hope to make the race competitive enough to at least divert resources from other states, if not unseat
him. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d214aae956b77470aeeb125b7def287a62b667e3ac6fee2a1b92730a69ba853d296e2b67edbedf755

Related read: "How tough is the GOP's midterm challenge? Just ask Rodney Frelinghuysen," via Janet Hook of The Wall Street Journal: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d626a168c8a3fbc476d25b319ea91cc4f7e48ef3072202afe5517b6920eb0ccc4b2e4abb879121aac

KENNEDY, THE QUOTE MACHINE - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is one of the most quotable people in Washington. The freshman senator "has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill with his wit, humor and penchant for folksy expressions \u2015 a notable feat in a place where jargon and arcane procedure tend to reign supreme," HuffPost's Igor Bobic reports. Kennedy's zingers include: "Our country was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots," and "Politics is in everybody's blood, kind of like herpes." He also commends his colleagues with quips such as "tougher than a $3 steak" and "tough as a boiled owl."

"Kennedy has acquired a bit of a reputation as an easy mark on Capitol Hill \u2015 at least among the press. He loves talking to reporters, and reporters love talking to him because he's notoriously quotable," Bobic adds. "It's a welcome trend in a legislative body that has grown more cautious and guarded in recent years." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09dd2943919f3639bae1f8e0e893266f89c47b885affcaf6e5a99c6624d4f5368b7f51678ee70cbdbb2

DOJ WARNS GOP CHAIRMAN OF RECKLESS MOVE \u2015 DOJ told House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) it would be "extraordinarily reckless" for the GOP "to push to release a committee memo that draws on classified information to portray the origins of the Russia investigations as scandalous," The New York Times reports. The committee has refused to show the memo to the FBI, and Democrats have "drafted their own classified memo based on the same underlying materials to rebut Mr. Nunes," highlighting what the Times calls a "sharply escalating conflict over the Russia investigation." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09dd7b93b8a9113c9ee9a21fec48995523029ef08f0273dd018b7d44c91d7baef8323e854a2e83a3fc0

ABC News obtained a copy of the "secret society" text between FBI officials that GOP lawmakers have suggested was evidence of a federal law enforcement plot against Trump. "[I]t's unclear if the message's reference to a 'secret society' may have been made in jest," Mike Levine reports. The text reads: "Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society." Levine says there's no apparent tie to messages sent before or after that in a series of texts ABC News obtained.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters he wasn't surprised by the "secret society" text "because I had corroborating information." He said he "heard from an individual that ... there was a group of managers within the FBI that were holding meetings off site." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=443b41f67500f09d2aeef0a6f60f3c86f490947db7da78b4cfa186ddb2aa62cb0b3836a319449b2b926908ac40958e96

TWEET DU JOUR: @RepBrendanBoyle (D-Pa.): "I, for one, applaud Sen Johnson for exposing the FBI secret society. I believe it includes the Deep State, the illumanati, Knights of Columbus, New Kids on the Block, and Ted Cruz's father. Well done Senator. Well done."

DEPARTURE LOUNGE - Alana Petersen will run Sen. Tina Smith's (D-Minn.) reelection campaign. Petersen currently serves as Smith's chief state adviser in her Senate office. She was a longtime state director and deputy chief of staff to former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and has been involved in every Minnesota election since 1998.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of R.D. James' nomination to be assistant secretary of the Army. The chamber will hold a confirmation vote on his nomination at 1:45 p.m. The House is out for the remainder of the week.

AROUND THE HILL - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will hold a news conference on post-hurricane Puerto Rico at 11:30 a.m. in the Senate Swamp.

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Joe Bookman was first to correctly guess the five sitting lawmakers who have given birth while serving in Congress: Reps. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).

TODAY'S TRIVIA - From Joe: Two women have succeeded a living husband who was previously a member of Congress. One is serving now. Who are the two women? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: nmccaskill@politico.com.

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