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01/24/2018 07:53 AM EDT


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

IMMIGRATION TALKS OFF TO SLOW START - Senators are sparring over funding for President Donald Trump's border wall and what qualifies as border security in the newest round of negotiations that kicked off Tuesday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has withdrawn what Republicans say was a $25 billion offer to fund the border wall, "a move that angered top Republicans and potentially undercut negotiations among a slew of senators trying to craft an immigration plan that can pass," Seung Min and Burgess report. Now, Schumer is back to "Cryin' Chuck" in the eyes of the president, who warned late Tuesday "that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA."

"Republicans aligned with Trump are unlikely to go for any bill that does not offer a major boost in border wall funding, given the president's strong feelings about the issue," Burgess and Seung Min write. "But providing border wall money could also push away more liberal Democrats, who prefer to completely restart negotiations rather than start from any existing bill." The clock is ticking. The next funding deadline is Feb. 8, and the president has set March 5 as the date the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ends.

A bipartisan group of senators who helped end a three-day shutdown are now focused on a deal to protect Dreamers from deportation, but it won't be easy. "Powerful forces will be aligned to prevent any immigration measure from even clearing the Senate so as to avoid putting pressure on the House and the White House to act," The New York Times' Carl Hulse notes. Nevertheless, they're optimistic and "hope the process ends with legislation that could attract as many as 70 senators - the kind of bipartisan majority that would be difficult for either the president or the House to ignore." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17f41ccf3cdb94b0eb46d861b7cf95034a58dc4f9c99bbd0ed1d8a9a1ab5cf50ff9ea3cfcce1ba3a1a

HOUSE DEMS STILL UNHAPPY WITH SENATE DEAL - Yes, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed to open debate on immigration legislation next month if no deal is reached by Feb. 8, as long as the government is funded. But if you ask Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), he'll tell you Senate Democratic leaders "employed horrible negotiation tactics in the last week." While Senate Democrats are trying to see the bright side in how Monday's shutdown ended, tensions within the party are still raw.

"The bruised feelings among Democrats' grass-roots allies aren't shared by all groups, but they had hardly healed on Tuesday," Elana and Heather report. "House Democrats also now privately worry that the whole episode has done little more than underscore their irrelevance in the immigration battle." After all, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) hasn't committed to taking up whatever emerges in the Senate. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f170738befcbfae516649f6288700356b7b1f1b5ac7e4be909223f3c24ef8e19dcbdd857fa10a6e5995

Related reads: The White House aims to keep Trump "the hell away" from Schumer, per The Daily Beast: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f174d5e1d613cb4078973d2d2bbdcf51a1b07e0402949f114f421ca559df295077aff7ae6161e0c9192 and "Trump is a moving target as Congress negotiates on immigration," by CNN's Tal Kopan: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17332f0bcbf78edb90e840d6d77fcf1557fc9016c23f7ad17ad6cffa8d2b9e911509157d59edfe30bf

THE FIVE-SIDED DACA DEBATE - The White House and Republicans in Congress maintain that both parties want the same thing: a deal that protects immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Yet both sides appear to be far from a deal in the Senate with no indications that the House would even take up a Senate bill. "But unlike most partisan disputes, which have two sides - Democrat and Republican - the fight over how to codify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has five," Ted Hesson writes. "Complicating matters further, some players straddle two or more of the five rival factions." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f172b3e89109a5df57667b4925eb2a67a241a932bfa362f3222a0b7a6e229c872b10f9253a8db0742f2

IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE JANUARY AGAIN. Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Jan. 24.

TUESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Katie Glueck and Alex Roarty's McClatchy report on strategists' deep skepticism that the shutdown battle will be a factor in the midterm elections was the winner.

SENATE CONFIRMS NEW FED CHAIR - The Senate confirmed Jerome Powell on Tuesday as chairman of the Federal Reserve in an 84-13 vote. "Trump chose Powell over outgoing Chair Janet Yellen, breaking with the precedent for presidents to renominate Fed chairs they inherit and continuing his drive to ditch policies and personnel put in place by former President Barack Obama," Victoria Guida reports. "But Trump's Fed might not be radically different from that of the Obama years." Powell joined the Fed board as an Obama appointee in 2012 and has promised to continue the monetary path set by Yellen. Four Republicans opposed his nomination. Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17c3ef9705565d6bcc95545d73f98fff39c2048d405bf6f08337ab89626bd157cbb94f65c09af3a32f

TRUMP TAPPING TAX LAWYER TO LEAD IRS - Trump plans to nominate tax lawyer Charles "Chuck" Rettig to head the IRS. "If confirmed by the Senate, Rettig would join the agency at one of its most challenging times, as it implements a sweeping new tax law with limited resources and faces a possible restructuring by Congress," Aaron Lorenzo reports. A tax controversy specialist, Rettig has for decades represented clients before the IRS and Justice Department. He would replace John Koskinen as IRS commissioner. David Kautter has served as acting commissioner since Koskinen's five-year term ended in November. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f1762c742b5cda18d4a6fb2a37ec664cad3d7ffc6b1e7997eed06034dcfb1656b0276a786f6f47121d7

DUCK, DUCK, DUCKLING - Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) will make history this spring as the first woman in the chamber to give birth while in office. Duckworth told the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet that "she is expecting her second child, another girl, in late April, a few weeks after she turns 50." Duckworth's daughter, Abigail, was born Nov. 18, 2014, when Duckworth served in the House. A retired lieutenant colonel, Duckworth was severely wounded when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004, losing her legs and shattering her right arm.

Abigail doesn't know what her mother does as a senator, but "every time she sees a picture of the U.S. Capitol, even if it's on a dollar bill, she says 'Mommy's office.'" Duckworth tells her "it's not quite Mommy's office" but adds, "in a way you're right." Juggling motherhood while working in Congress, she said, has been tough, but "it's made me more committed to doing this job." Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17ddef85c193f0a9448607a73b08e19833f101a77323081ab92572be8dddf77cc9c30d9f4b1e95626f

'THIS PLACE SUCKS' - Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has told colleagues the Senate "sucks," but he wants to stick around anyway. The conservative Democrat has told fellow senators he intends to seek reelection, indicating he will file his paperwork ahead of West Virginia's Saturday deadline. "A former governor who has remained popular even as his state has drifted from its Democratic roots, Mr. Manchin is most likely the only West Virginia Democrat who could retain the seat," The New York Times' Jonathan Martin reports. "And with the filing deadline days away, it would have been highly unlikely that the party could have put up a competitive candidate." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f1717b57bdf507c8f943bd454f35902734fdb2e4ac40b437d2225a477867b3b264127f48fc6b1e8641a

MEEHAN GOES ON THE RECORD - Rep. Patrick Meehan acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that he had "affection" for a decades-younger aide he saw as his "soul mate" and reacted "selfishly" to her having a boyfriend. He also denied sexually harassing the aforementioned aide, vowed to pay back the taxpayer money he used to fund a settlement - if the Ethics Committee finds he harassed her - and said he plans to run for reelection. He attributed any workplace hostility he may have exhibited to stressful votes to repeal Obamacare last year. In hindsight, he told Philly.com, he should have viewed their relationship "from the perspective of a subordinate and a superior." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17b9fd30f6f88e272000a6fb8d01b99a408a2d62b893e0ded1926fa1d12f726578e4ae09f669ec0b17

Related: "House sexual harassment bill promises transparency but cuts out ethics watchdog," from CNN: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17f6a53717170d94f12428d610206a94a8ad638ce5ea2b9ed76510ed3323ee35344f054d041e73eaab

GOP INTENSIFIES LAW ENFORCEMENT PROBES - Congressional Republicans have escalated their investigations into the Justice Department and FBI's handling of inquiries into Trump's ties to Russia as signs indicate special counsel Robert Mueller is pursuing an obstruction of justice case against Trump. "Tuesday brought several dramatic developments in the Russia saga," Kyle reports, citing revelations that Mueller's team has interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey. "But even as Mueller showed apparent momentum, Republicans made new charges of political bias and even potential criminal misconduct in the nation's top law enforcement agencies." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17d8fd992427cfcdd6749d74e8c28e71d78f2e0e2c881716c0458c13060262c4becc2d13409f248e5c

Also Tuesday: The Washington Post reported that Trump had asked the acting FBI director how he voted in 2016 and that Mueller intends to question the president in the coming weeks about his decisions to oust Comey and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

BIDEN ACCUSES MCCONNELL OF MUZZLING OBAMA ADMIN ON RUSSIA - Former Vice President Joe Biden blamed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for stopping the Obama administration from speaking out about Russia's election meddling by refusing to sign on to a bipartisan statement of condemnation. "Biden said he and former President Barack Obama worried that without a united front of bipartisanship, speaking out before the election would undermine the legitimacy of the election and American institutions in a way that would play into the Russians' larger ambitions," Edward-Isaac Dovere writes. "McConnell's office disputed this account, pointing to a letter signed by all four congressional
leaders in September 2016." That letter, however, didn't specifically address Russia. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17f1c029674f655976b4c4b87e07253585685a6c25791abcbf180abbe051c9f1c09bcef6edde4f8ae1

SHALALA MULLS CAMPAIGN - Donna Shalala, a former HHS secretary and Clinton Foundation president, is weighing a congressional bid for a Miami-based seat. "The prospect of Shalala's heavyweight candidacy - she would be a likely frontrunner - has buzzed in Miami political circles for weeks, and panicked backers of several of the eight other Democrats in the race," Marc Caputo reports. "If she gets in, some Democrats might drop out of Florida's 27th Congressional District - or shift to other local congressional races where they might take on potentially vulnerable Republican incumbents." Retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) currently holds the seat. Much more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f171054c54fe39007b34276c3199d87ed594979eb2f9007cdab475414c02f00992c1a0d2c89212a3afe

NO MOORE? NO MORE - The Alabama House passed a bill Tuesday that would eliminate special elections to fill U.S. Senate vacancies, a move that follows Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore's loss to Democrat Doug Jones in last month's special election. "The Republican-backed bill passed 67-31 on a party line vote after about two hours of debate," Mike Cason reports for AL.com. "It moves to the Senate." Rep. Steve Clouse, the chairman of the state budget committee, introduced the bill in August. He framed it as a cost-cutting measure that has nothing to do with Jones' victory. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa0dbae6acd47f17ac9961ee92f6ce743dc32e72b1966926e8a773b71dea4fe14154d0def90681cb9e3456c5e2d58527

MOVING ON - Elizabeth Peace is doing public affairs at the Pentagon in an Army unit called the Army Field Band. She previously served as communications director for Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas).

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of HHS secretary nominee Alex Azar. The chamber will hold a confirmation vote on his nomination at 2:15 p.m., followed by a procedural vote on Sam Brownback's nomination and a confirmation vote on R.D. James as assistant secretary of the Army. The House is out for the remainder of the week.

AROUND THE HILL - Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will host a forum on government waste and accountability at 2:30 p.m. in 485 Russell.

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Courtney Liss was first to correctly guess that Joan Mondale was the last second lady of the United States with brunette hair whose husband wasn't a one-time GOP congressman from Indiana.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Ten women have given birth while serving in Congress. Five are sitting lawmakers. Who are they? 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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