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01/07/2016 08:01 AM EDT


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

With an assist from Burgess Everett

RYAN TESTING THE AUMF WATERS - POLITICO's Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan breaks the news: "Speaker Paul Ryan is urging top Republican committee chairmen to explore whether there's support in the House to formally authorize a military campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the early stages of what appears to be Capitol Hill's most serious effort to define the effort against the terrorist group. Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, is spearheading the push, but there is serious skepticism within his leadership and in the House Republican Conference that he will be able to rally GOP lawmakers around a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force."

--"Some senior rank-and-file Republicans even wonder why he's bringing the issue back to the forefront, with just a year left in President Barack Obama's term ... House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) will kick off the process in earnest Thursday when he begins a series of meetings with Republicans to gauge support - and potential tripwires - for a measure that would provide explicit congressional authorization for the battle against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, or ISIS."

"From a practical sense, there are two main points of contention: Whether to bar widespread use of U.S. combat troops in Syria and Iraq, and placing limits on the time for American military operations. Many Democrats would like to explicitly prohibit Obama from sending combat forces into battle." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086e98ee7cec151441b0a357b7659d705384ee8ea5f57dda552

--Flashback to Dec. 11 in CQ Roll Call, from Niels Lesniewski: "Mitch McConnell: New War Authorization Not Happening Anytime Soon." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086f49b63dc231c70d0de694a039b3eb1af2a1eccd4cb1a162f

OBAMACARE: THIS TIME, IT'S FOR REAL - Hill Republicans voted to repeal Obamacare - stop us if you've heard this before -- but now, it's actually getting sent to the White House. Not only was the repeal a key messaging exercise, but could lay the groundwork for actually dismantling the law in 2017 if Republicans retain control of Congress and win the White House, as Jennifer Steinhauer explains: "While Democrats dismissed the bill - which would also remove funding for Planned Parenthood - as another ploy in the partisan drama that has played out in the Capitol since the law was enacted in 2010, the vote proved that a Republican congressional majority could deliver a measure that repeals the
health law to a Republican president, even in the face of united opposition from Democrats."

--" 'This is a big deal,' said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington and a former longtime Republican staff member on the Senate Budget Committee ... Even among Republicans, Mr. Hoagland said, 'there is a recognition that you may not do away with a number of the provisions that are popular.' But, he added, 'if you can push away the politics of it, you will find there are a number of provisions that Democrats would agree could be changed,' no matter who is president." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086229018b7d3d6799f7bf8cba5a446d1a9e4a4d122649f3ba5

LABRADOR: PAUL RYAN HONEYMOON 'OVER' - Honestly, this lasted longer than we thought it would. Lauren French for POLITICO: "Rep. Raul Labrador - a leader in the House Freedom Caucus - said on Wednesday that Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has not yet transformed the House in the ways he promised during last fall's speaker elections. But unlike past battles between conservatives and leadership, there are no immediate calls for Ryan to step down or be removed from his post."

--" 'It's too early to judge the speakership of Paul Ryan and I think it is fundamentally unfair to try and judge the speakership of Paul Ryan over the last month or so. But, as I have also said, the honeymoon is over,' said Labrador, an Idaho Republican ... But Labrador added that Ryan has a year to push forward conservative legislation and further reform the House's rules and procedures before conservatives will really judge him." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086d91c7864ae8135f9089f29dbd10cbb7e02da9af5528b2341

HAPPY THURSDAY, Jan. 06, 2016 and you're reading The Huddle, a newsletter that will be free of any birther speculation. As always, I'm at skim@politico.com or on Twitter at @seungminkim.

My new followers include @barrettmarson and @SternEverett.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is in at 10 a.m. with the sole series of votes around 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. On tap are the SCRUB Act and the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act. The Senate is gone fishin'.

AROUND THE HILL - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will hold her weekly news conference at 10:45 a.m. in HVC Studio A. Speaker Paul Ryan will follow with his weekly presser at 11:30 a.m. in HVC Studio A. Ways and Means Committee Democrats will hold a forum on currency manipulation and trade starting at 12:30 p.m. in HVC-215. Ryan will host an enrollment ceremony for the Obamacare repeal bill at 4:30 p.m. in H-207.

NOT AROUND THE HILL -- Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe may have got out over his skis this week while in Havana. The Democratic governor was quoted in the Washington Post (https://goo.gl/CxfDy2) saying he's coming to D.C. today to meet with Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other House and Senate leaders about the trade embargo with Cuba. One problem: The Senate isn't in session and McConnell isn't in Washington, according to an aide.

INTEL OFFICIALS DENY NSA SNOOPING - Deirdre Walsh with the scoop for CNN: "Top U.S. intelligence officials told the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday that the National Security Agency did not spy on any members of Congress during last year's contentious Iran nuclear debate."

--"The testimony came in response to concerns raised by the panel about a Wall Street Journal report last month that said the U.S., while surveilling U.S. allies, also snooped on some members of Congress, according to members of the House Intelligence Committee who attended a classified briefing on the matter. 'They were not listening to or monitoring representatives or members of Congress,' Utah Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, who serves on the panel, told CNN." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d70862ab072411fb3657ea1a43f6050417806338e07ff22fe0095

WALDEN SYMPATHIZES WITH OREGON PROTESTERS - Mike DeBonis for WaPo: "Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, represents the vast district where the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is and said he has known the now-jailed ranchers whose case brought the protesters to Oregon for the better part of two decades. On Tuesday night, Walden spent 20 minutes on the House floor - his voice cracking at times - saying that the protests should prompt a new look at federal land policies and their enforcement."

--" 'This is a government that has gone too far for too long,' Walden said. 'Now I'm not condoning this takeover in any way, I want to make that clear. I don't think it's appropriate. There's a right to protest. I think they've gone too far. But I understand and hear their anger.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086053824407a4db88b0c28d534317593c896fa7247a0ba3175

BYRNE'S EMOTIONAL GUN TESTIMONY - The Washington Post's Amber Phillips writes up Rep. Bradley Byrne's remarkable interview on C-Span about his family's experience with gun violence: "'This is not an abstract issue for me,' he said. 'My grandfather was shot and killed by a mentally ill person. And it devastated my family. It devastated my mother and grandmother and my two uncles. So when we talk about people who have been shot by mentally ill people, I understand it. I understand what it does do the victims.' The former state senator and one-time Alabama gubernatorial candidate, who won a special election to Congress in 2013, went on to say that, even though his family was brought to its
knees by gun violence, he doesn't think Obama's curbing access to guns is the answer." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086cf745510365360a8a17c323189ebddaaad05c7eee3f719a4

--More on guns: Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who chairs the Senate panel overseeing DOJ money, has asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch to testify Jan. 28. CQ Roll Call: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d70869b431fb7fd26d8c2e4d7152adcd7f02f29e7c9c38730dfa4

DEMS RIP BENGHAZI PANEL AS PETRAEUS TESTIFIES - Rachael Bade with the latest twists and turns of the controversial committee: "Democrats said Wednesday marks the 609th day the Benghazi committee has been working since it started its investigation in the spring of 2014, 'surpassing the length of time the 9/11 Commission took to investigate the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.' ... Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) in a gaggle with reporters Wednesday afternoon said there's nothing he can do about the timing because they're still waiting on several outstanding document requests from State Department, the CIA and the White House that are key to the investigation."

--"Behind the scenes, GOP sources say the panel is working toward a conclusion this spring and slow responses from the administration have bogged down the process. The committee asked for documents from Clinton's top aides, the White House, and intelligence and defense agencies, but only started receiving some of them in the past few months." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086dc0f68d3cdd3f53936e4f5cc91d45cebe2ae94cecb1457ba

LIBERALS WANT TO OUST DWS - The Huffington Post's Samantha Lachman: "The progressive activist organization CREDO Mobile launched a petition Wednesday evening calling on the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), to resign from her post ... Earlier on Wednesday, the DNC chair suggested in a New York Times Magazine interview that there is 'a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided.' The comment ...immediately angered reproductive rights activists." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c19f4877f9d7086cbe7f542f04376970cc700adb49dfd888ad88ecc4a64b20a

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - We gave it to Patrick Boland, because he quickly answered "some hotel" for the question of where the chairman of Standard Oil was held by Congress during the Teapot Dome scandal. Matthew Shapanka was the first to correctly chime in that it was the Willard Hotel. And yes, the first name of the chairman's name was incorrect - it was Robert, not David.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Patrick has today's question: Harrison Ford, a.k.a. Han Solo, has testified on the Hill has testified two times in front of both House and Senate panels. What was he testifying about? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail skim@politico.com.

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