Manchin's debt ceiling pitch

A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news

Jan 19, 2023 View in browser   By Katherine Tully-McManus Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.speaks on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos from Jan. 16 until Jan. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) | AP WELCOME TO EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES — X marks the spot. Out, damned spot. The White House has said it will not negotiate on the debt ceiling, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Wednesday he is seeking bipartisan cooperation on it: "We have to work together. It's bipartisan, it's always been bipartisan as far as the debt ceiling," Manchin told Fox Business. "I think what we have to do is realize that we have a problem. We have a debt problem." Today is the day that the Treasury Department has warned that the U.S. will hit its $31.4 trillion debt limit, forcing the Treasury to embark on "extraordinary measures" to avoid a potentially catastrophic default on the nation's debt. That is expected to hold the country over until at least early June. But the new so-called "X date" will be a brutal pressure point on Congress, where months of brinksmanship are expected. Do you smell a supercommittee? Manchin said Wednesday that he had spoken "briefly" with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) about a bill that he and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) introduced last congress to create a "rescue committee" for endangered government trust funds, including Medicare, Social Security and even the highway trust funds. Mitt and Manchin's big pitch:  The top four leaders in Congress would appoint members to the rescue committees and give them 180 days to cook up solutions for solvency, which would get a fast-track for floor action (no amendments, but still the 60 vote threshold in the Senate.) "We're not getting rid of anything. And you can't scare the bejesus out of people saying we're gonna get rid of Social Security, we're going to privatize. That's not going to happen," he told Fox Business. "But we should be able to solidify it so the people who have worked and earned it know they're gonna get it." The proposal is giving your Huddle host flashbacks to the 2011 debt reduction super committee, which ended up abandoning its work and conceding failure. How are student debt, interest rate hikes and inflation factoring into all this? Zachary Warmbrodt and Victoria Guida dig into those puzzle pieces. RELATED: McHenry Is the Republican to Watch in the US Debt-Limit Showdown, from Laura Davison, Erik Wasson and Billy House at Bloomberg; 4 ways around a debt ceiling crisis — and why they might not work, from Danielle Kurtzleben at NPR GET WELL SOON — Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) sustained "several injuries" in an accident on his property late Wednesday afternoon, his office said in a statement on Twitter. "We will provide additional updates when possible," his office added. "Please pray for the Congressman and his family." Small world: Peter Schorsch from FloridaPolitics.com reports that Steube was found by a staffer to his Congressional neighbor, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), who represents the adjacent district. The aide was working part time doing deliveries and encountered Steube after the fall. "Horrible to hear about @RepGregSteube's accident earlier today," Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said on Twitter. "Sandy and I are keeping him and his family in our thoughts and prayers and wishing him a very speedy recovery."   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, Jan. 19, where we're waiting on Senate committee rosters. TALE OF TWO KINGS — Former Reps. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Steve King (R-Iowa) both firebrands who drew criticism from colleagues, are diverging dramatically on how the House should handle Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). Peter King, a Republican who represented parts of Long Island, called on Santos to resign in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday, calling him "dead man walking" who "will be unable to get anything done for his constituents." He also called for GOP leaders in the House to help show him the door: "Republican congressional leaders must make it clear they also want [Santos] gone and quickly call for a full and complete investigation by the Ethics Committee, which has the authority to recommend expulsion," he wrote. Steve King, who was removed from committee assignments following racist remarks, took aim instead at McCarthy: "I see you found the spine to DEFEND the will of the voters in defense of [Santos] from charges of lying. I seem to recall the time you DEFIED the will of the voters and led the lynch mob against me for telling the truth," he tweeted last week. Four years ago as House minority leader, McCarthy said the GOP conference simply could not "tolerate" King's racism any longer and removed him from good standing. Speaking of Santos… Immigration documents refute Santos' claim that his mother was inside one of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. The Washington Post has more. THERE'S A NEW MITCH IN TOWN — It is former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is expected to jump into the Senate race soon. The Republican is heading to Washington for meetings with former campaign advisors – and multiple GOP senators, including Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Daniels' entry will kick off what is anticipated to be a bruising primary battle against Rep. Jim Banks, highlighting (once again) the divisions within the Republican party between Trump acolytes and old school Republicans. Adam Wren and Burgess have more on what one GOP strategist says will be a "bloodbath." OVERSIGHT ROSTER SPLIT SCREEN — House Republicans are sending some of their most incendiary conservatives into battle against the Biden administration, giving official credence to their claims with seats on the House Oversight. Firebrand Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) will join the panel, along with House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.). "I think it's full of quality members, who are passionate about rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government," Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told POLITICO. Democrats in Congress are heated about the GOP roster, but at the White House staff are cheering the selections. Biden allies hope that public confidence in the legitimacy of the Oversight probes will be undermined by some of the newest members' involvement. But that could be wishful thinking as the Biden administration prepares for GOP probes into handling of classified information, the president's family and the disastrous exit from Afghanistan and many more. "The English language runs out of adjectives to describe the debasement, cynical debasement of the whole process these appointments represent," Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a senior Oversight panel member, said in an interview. More from Christopher Cadalago, Jordain, Nicholas and Jonathan Lemire. RELATED READ: Right-Wing Trump Allies Win Seats on Oversight, Reflecting G.O.P. Priorities, by Annie Karni at The New York Times BOY MEETS WORLD MEETS CONGRESS — Just another former Senate intern filing to run for Congress. Actor Ben Savage has filed paperwork to make a bid to run for Congress in California's 30th District, the seat currently held by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Savage became famous playing Cory Matthews on hit sitcom Boy Meets World. California Target Bot's Rob Pyers first flagged the filing. It isn't official, but Schiff is expected to jump into the race for Senate. Savage, a Democrat, lost a race for Los Angeles City Council last year. He interned for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in 2003. ON THE MARQUEE — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) will headline the Feb. 8 Washington Press Club Foundation dinner. Will Warnock let loose with some jokes now that he has a full six year senate term? We'll see. Also at the head table will be Connie Chung, who the foundation will honor with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The foundation promotes the advancement of women and minorities in newsrooms and was founded by women denied access to male-only journalism organizations.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don't miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     HUDDLE HOTDISH Twinsies… There's no denying the resemblance between Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and German Chancellor Olaf Sholz. The pair reunited in Davos to discuss Ukraine. "It's always great to speak with the one person who's just as handsome as I am," Coons joked on Twitter. Actors wear costumes… "Throughout history, the greatest grifters have understood that dressing the part is half the game. And so it has been with George Santos," writes NYT's Vanessa Friedman. Another analysis of Congressional dressing. QUICK LINKS  Senator Raphael Warnock Just Bought a $1.1 Million Capitol Hill Home, from Mimi Montgomery at Washingtonian Why the high forgiveness rate of PPP loans is troubling to many people, from Sacha Pfeiffer at NPR South Carolina's James Clyburn says he is convinced Biden will seek second term, from Robert Costa, Sarah Ewall-Wice and Grace Kazarian at CBS Biden-McConnell: Personally mismatched, professionally bound, from Seung Min Kim at The Associated Press TRANSITIONS  Gary Andres is joining the House Budget GOP as staff director. He previously held the same role on the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees. Marina Pearce is joining House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' (D-N.Y.) team as deputy finance director. She previously was finance director for Rep. Josh Gottheimer's (D-N.J.) campaign. Anna Brightwell is now digital director for Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). She most recently was digital director for Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) and is a House Agriculture Committee alum. Mike Hamilton is now a senior director on the federal government affairs team at the American Chemistry Council. He previously served as chief of staff for former Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.). TODAY IN CONGRESS The House and Senate are out. AROUND THE HILL Painfully quiet. TRIVIA WEDNESDAY'S WINNER: Andrew Ott correctly answered that former president Theodore Roosevelt advocated the U.S. entering WWI as a result of the Armenian Genocide, writing "We should go to war because not to do so is really to show bad faith towards our allies, and to help Germany, because the Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and failure to act against Turkey is to condone it." TODAY'S QUESTION: At the end of 2014, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) moved out of a Congressional group house owned by which former member of Congress? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to ktm@politico.com. GET HUDDLEemailed to your phone each morning. Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus   Follow us

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