By JONATHAN ALLEN | 05/20/11 7:18 AM EDT
(with assists from Jake "Fast Break" Sherman and Kevin Robillard)
PIPE NIGHTMARES: WHO'S SMOKING WHAT IN DEBT DEBATE? -- Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) are accusing each other of getting high on debt fumes. Nunes (R-Calif.) told Huddle on Wednesday that he thinks there could be some benefit to putting off a debt-ceiling hike until after the Aug. 2 zero hour that administration officials say would trigger an economic catastrophe. "By defaulting on the debt, in the short and long term, it could benefit us to go through a period of crisis that forces politicians to make decisions,” he said in remarks that were published in POLITICO Thursday.
In an interview with ABC's Rick Klein, Carper responded this way: "When I hear people say stuff like that, I wonder what they’re smoking. ... And it’s not something that’s legal -- well, it could be.”
Nunes's office then offered up a "special note" to Carper: "The addicts in the room are not conservatives seeking sensible spending controls. They are your ideological allies who are so addicted to spending other people’s money that they can’t stop even when there is nothing left to spend," his aides wrote in a press release.
THE ROGERS REPORT: HOW DEBT PILED UP -- POLITICO's David Rogers writes that new spending and tax cuts have doubled under President Obama, compared with his predecessor, President George W. Bush. "It’s a crude but fair summary of the two presidents based on new data mapping how the nation moved from surpluses in 2001 to record deficits over the past decade. ... [F]rom 2002 through 2011, CBO estimates that the combined tax cuts enacted by successive Congresses cost $2.8 trillion, even as increased appropriations added $2.95 trillion above projections for discretionary spending," David writes. http://politi.co/inZMdl
COBURN TO NEWT: JUST SHUT UP -- From ABC News: "In an interview on ABC’s "Subway Series" with Jonathan Karl to be released Friday morning , Senator Tom Coburn says Gingrich needs 'keep his mouth shut' about Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan until he has his own plan to deal with skyrocketing entitlement spending." Storyhttp://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/coburn-newt-needs-to-keep-his-mouth-shut.html Video: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/tom-coburn-newt-gingrich-mouth-shut-13642005
BREAKING OVERNIGHT -- “The nation's largest labor federation is weighing whether to pull political support from congressional Democrats who aren't doing enough to back labor unions. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is expected to issue the warning in a speech Friday at the National Press Club,” the Associated Press’ Sam Hananel writes. “In prepared remarks, Trumka says the role of unions is not to build the power of one political party but to improve the lives of working families. The AFL-CIO's executive council is considering a plan that could spend less on congressional races and more on fighting state battles, like those in Wisconsin and Ohio, where lawmakers want to weaken collective bargaining rights.” http://apne.ws/m0pN8D
Sam Stein at Huffington Post has excerpts from Trumka's remarks, including this segment: "We will spend the summer holding elected leaders in Congress as well as the states accountable on one measure: Are they improving or degrading life for working families?
"We are looking hard at how we work in the nation’s political arena. We have listened hard, and what workers want is an independent labor movement that builds the power of working people -- in the workplace and in political life … Our role is not to build the power of a political party or a candidate. It is to improve the lives of working families and strengthen our country.
"It doesn’t matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside -- the outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren’t blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families’ interests, working people will not support them. This is where our focus will be -- now, in 2012 and beyond." http://huff.to/iWc1Id
CIRCA 1967: READING BETWEEN THE LINES WITH OBAMA AND BIBI -- “President Obama, seeking to capture a moment of epochal change in the Arab world, began a new effort on Thursday to break the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, setting out a new starting point for negotiations on the region’s most intractable problem,” Mark Landler and Steven Lee Myers write for the New York Times. “A day before the arrival in Washington of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mr. Obama declared that the prevailing borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — adjusted to some degree to account for Israeli settlements in the West Bank — should be the basis of a deal. While the 1967 borders have long been viewed as the foundation for a peace agreement, Mr. Obama’s formula of land swaps to compensate for disputed territory created a new benchmark for a diplomatic solution. Mr. Obama’s statement represented a subtle, but significant shift, in American policy. And it thrust him back into the region’s most nettlesome dispute at a time when conditions would seem to make reaching a deal especially difficult. The Israeli government immediately protested, saying that for Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders would leave it 'indefensible.' Mr. Netanyahu held an angry phone conversation with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday before the speech, officials said, in which he demanded that the president’s reference to 1967 borders be cut.”http://nyti.ms/mf0NC2
-- Helene Cooper of the Times has additional behind-the-scenes detail in her story: “By all accounts, [Obama and Netanyahu] do not trust each other. President Obama has told aides and allies that he does not believe that Mr. Netanyahu will ever be willing to make the kind of big concessions that will lead to a peace deal. … the easing of tensions ended this spring when, Israeli and American officials said, Mr. Netanyahu got wind of Mr. Obama’s plans to make a major address on the Middle East, and alerted Republican leaders that he would like to address a joint meeting of Congress. That move was widely interpreted as an attempt to get out in front of Mr. Obama, by presenting an Israeli peace proposal that, while short of what the Palestinians want, would box in the president. House Speaker John A. Boehner issued the invitation, for late May. So White House officials timed Mr. Obama’s speech on Thursday to make sure he went first.” http://nyti.ms/kQGArG
-- Ben Smith analyzes the speech for the hometown paper: “Obama’s detailed address swerved between two poles: A message that, the president said, 'is simple: If you take the risks that reform entails, you will have the full support of the United States.' And a regional reality that is anything but simple: 'There will be times when our short-term interests don’t align perfectly with our long-term vision for the region,' Obama said, in an unusually blunt acknowledgment. The gap between interests and values was most visible in what was not said: Obama, who mentioned Israel 28 times and Egypt 13 times in his 45-minute speech, didn’t mention Saudi Arabia once. On the front lines of today’s turmoil, he said Bahrain’s regime has 'a legitimate interest in the rule of law' but denounced 'mass arrests and brute force.' He added, 'You can’t have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail.' http://politi.co/kYY7t6
EXPLOITING A DIVIDE: ISRAELIS DON'T SEE EYE TO EYE -- "'Barack Hussein Obama adopted Yasser Arafat’s staged plan for Israel’s destruction, and he is trying to force it on our prime minister,' Likud [parliament member] Danny Danon said," according to the Jerusalem Post's Gil Hoffman and Rebecca Anna Stoil. “'All that was new in the speech was that he called for Israel to return to 1967 borders without solving the crisis. Netanyahu has only one option: Tell Obama to forget about it.'” But, they write, "opposition leader Tzipi Livni said Obama’s plan was clearly in Israel’s interests, while the diplomatic stalemate that she believes was brought on by Netanyahu is not. 'On his visit, Netanyahu must display the leadership necessary now to create the conditions necessary to restart negotiations with those who are ready to end the conflict,' Livni said. 'Only a real Israeli initiative with content that can receive American and international support can be an answer to the current dangers and opportunities.'"http://bit.ly/myAr5b
TWEET OF THE DAY: @Lady_Patriot -- "Breaking: Obama has just updated his Facebook Relationship status with Israel to 'frenemies'. #tcot"
PATRIOT PACT: LEADERS SEE FOUR-YEAR EXTENSION -- "Top lawmakers in the House and Senate reached a deal to extend the Patriot Act for four years, a week before key provisions were set to expire. The pieces of the law that allow the federal government to compel businesses to release records, issue roving wiretaps, and monitor so-called “lone wolf” terror suspects were set to run out on May 27. The outline of the deal between Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still needs to pass both chambers in the next seven days to avoid a lapse in the law," Fast Break and John Bresnahan write. "Republicans were unable to muster enough votes to fast-track the bill through the House earlier this year because of objections from lawmakers ranging from libertarian-minded conservatives to liberal Democrats. When a 90-day extension passed earlier this year, Republicans needed Democrats to carry it across the finish line." http://politi.co/m2Wrkp
GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, and welcome to The Huddle, where the weekend can't come soon enough, Bibi Netanyau's wall would have been the top job for a fly yesterday, the Governator won't be making movies anytime soon, and Busta Rhymes is wished a very happy 39th birthday.
TODAY ON THE HILL -- Both chambers are out.
POLITICO 2.0 -- POLITICO's Ryan Mannion announces version 2.0 of the iPad application is noa available. Ryan writes: "iPad version 2.0 is now available in iTunes. This is a huge upgrade from version 1.0 which now includes all of our blogs, section content, videos, article saving, and offline content. We have also added support for push notifications and will capitalize on this in the very near future. I’d appreciate as much promotion that you can give this, specifically in blogs, morning products and on twitter as well. Here is a link to the description.http://bit.ly/loozMB. From an iPad it will open directly in iTunes for easy download.
BLOCKED: GOODWIN LIU -- "Senate Republicans staged the first successful filibuster of a judicial nominee since 2005 on Thursday, dealing a blow to the Obama administration on the long-stalled nomination of Goodwin Liu to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,” Meredith Shiner writes for the hometown paper. “The final vote was 52-43, eight votes shy of the 60 needed to overcome the filibuster. Only one Republican joined Democrats in supporting Liu, and only one Democrat voted no to opening debate on the 40-year-old University of California, Berkeley professor’s nomination.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the Republican, and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was the Democrat. http://politi.co/iSx7QT
BIDEN BUNCH UPDATE: $200 BILLION IN COMMON CUTS -- “A bipartisan group of six Senate and House lawmakers, led by Vice President Joe Biden, has found common ground on at least $200 billion in cuts by focusing on mandatory federal spending, such as agriculture subsidies, outside of politically sensitive entitlement programs like Medicare, according to people close to the negotiations,” Heidi Przybala reports for Bloomberg.http://bloom.bg/lx3ddx
PELOSI PROMISES TO DEFEND MEDICARE -- Nancy Pelosi tells WaPo’s Greg Sargent: “It is a flag we’ve planted that we will protect and defend. We have a plan. It’s called Medicare.” He goes on: Pelosi “called me from Wisconsin, where she’s holding events today defending Medicare in Paul Ryan’s back yard. On the call, Pelosi laid out a message on Medicare she hopes Dems will use for — well, forever. Pelosi recently came under fire from Republicans — and even some liberals — when she recently indicated that Medicare should be “on the table” for deficit reduction. Republicans claimed she now agreed with them; some liberals wondered whether even Pelosi — whose sharp line on Social Security enabled Dems to beat back George W Bush’s privatization scheme — is preparing to cave. Asked to clarify what she meant, and to detail what sort of changes she’d be open to, Pelosi insisted that any claims she could support cuts in the program are wrong. “No benefits cuts,” she said flatly. Pelosi added that Dems have already put on the table the type of reform they should continue advocating for: The Affordable Care Act.” http://wapo.st/lSdSJG
F-35 COSTS -- “Senate Armed Services Committee members questioned top Pentagon officials Thursday on how they plan to rein in spending on the nation’s next-generation fighter, whose life-cycle costs could eventually reach $1 trillion,” the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus writes. “Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition Ashton Carter described current projected costs for the F-35 as “unacceptable” and said the plane would be “unaffordable at that rate.” To remedy the situation, he said, the Pentagon is doing a new “should cost” analysis, “scrutinizing every aspect of the cost of the airplane . . . and seeing how they can be driven [down] over time of the program.” … Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) reopened the issue of General Electric’s alternative engine for the F-35, which Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered halted. Ending the competition between GE and Pratt & Whitney over the engine was supposed to save $2.9 billion, but Portman questioned what would happen if GE spends its own money to continue work over the next two years in the hope that the competition is reopened. Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) asked Carter to supply that information to the panel.” http://wapo.st/jH7Pg1
SUSAN COLLINS has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, outlining her opposition to the Obama administration’s draft executive order on government contractor disclosure: “Here is the message the Obama administration proposes sending to businesses: Whether you are a small, family-owned company or a large corporation, if you want to do business with the federal government, you had better think twice before you contribute to political candidates or causes. … In true Orwellian fashion, the draft order suggests that the only way to keep politics out of the contracting process is to include political information with every contract offer. If the White House gets its way, federal agencies would have to collect information on the campaign contributions and other political expenditures of potential contractors before a contract could be awarded. This far-reaching order would apply not only to contributions made by the contracting company but also to contributions made by its directors, officers and affiliates.These requirements would apply retroactively to contributions made in the two years preceding the submission of an offer. Think about that — political donations made years before a contract is even contemplated would have to be shared with government officials. This would inevitably have a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of individuals to contribute to the political causes and candidates of their choice. The administration’s proposal violates the fundamental principle that federal contracts should be awarded free from political considerations and be based on the best value to taxpayers. Whether a prospective contractor agrees or disagrees with the political views of an administration should be irrelevant to the process. And why would federal contracting officials be required to collect information about political contributions if this information were not going to be used in the selection of the winning bidder?”http://wapo.st/ll0Deu
HIRONO LOOKS TO HOP ACROSS THE CAPITOL -- “Hawaii Rep. Mazie Hirono (D) announced Thursday she is running for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka,” Kyle Trygstad writes for Roll Call. “... Hirono is likely to face a crowded Democratic primary to replace Akaka. Former Rep. Ed Case announced his Senate candidacy last month, and others taking serious looks include Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz. Hanabusa said Thursday that Hirono contacted her ahead of the announcement. “I appreciate that Mazie called me beforehand to tell me the news — and I wish her well,” Hanabusa said in a statement. “I am definitely considering a Senate run, but I am still evaluating all my options. I will make my decision when I feel it’s appropriate.” http://bit.ly/mJlAOg
WAR POWERS RESOLUTION -- On the day Obama’s power to act in Libya under the War Powers Resolution expires, Rep. Justin Amash writes a Detroit News op-ed trying to re-assert congressional authority: http://bit.ly/laahQc
HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW -- The staff of CQ-Roll Call recreates the video:http://youtu.be/XIyITxv1fv0 And a chart purports to show the actual process:http://bit.ly/ksYzI9
KEVIN’S MUST-READ -- Robert and Addy Haddad believe the world will end on Saturday. Their three teenage children do not. http://nyti.ms/iFrBUw
YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA -- Joelle Cannon, who's been working hard on the Gang of Six for months, is the Coburn aide who the Washington Post once identified as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. Her husband, Drew Cannon, was the only one to answer correctly.
TODAY'S TRIVIA -- Name Susan Collins's Democratic opponent in her first winning Senate run. Send answers to jallen@politico.com Prize: Mention in Monday's Huddle.
THE NATS' LINE -- They lost 1-0 to the Mets to take sole possession of last place in the National League East. So, they're three games under .500 as they head into Baltimore tonight for a three-game series.
THE WEATHER -- It's beautiful outside on Capitol Hill this morning, and it looks like it will stay that way. ABC-7's Brian van de Graaff reports there could be a little storminess in the afternoon. High temperature near 80 degrees.
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