| | | | |  | | By Katherine Tully-McManus | | | With an assist from Sarah Ferris
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Democrats have unified behind Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) heading into the vote to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | ALL EYES ON OMAR — Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s promise to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of her seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee was on ice because he didn’t have the votes. But with one flipped, he’s forging ahead today with a full House vote. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said last night that she’ll support McCarthy (R-Calif.) in keeping Omar off Foreign Affairs, a 180 degree pivot from her comments last week against the move, saying “Two wrongs do not make a right.” Spartz’ promise: Spartz said she switched positions on the Omar resolution after McCarthy agreed to include language in the resolution that would allow for “due process” and an appeal of the decision to the House Ethics Committee, but in reality the simple “whereas clause” has no teeth. “The whereas clause added merely references an existing process and in no way begins an appeal procedure or guarantees her committee seat will be reconsidered. It’s non-binding and not actionable,” a senior GOP aide told POLITICO on Tuesday. Selling the inoperable language as a path of due process could bring aboard any fence-sitting Republicans who had been wary of the action against Omar, but not publicly vocal about it. In the spotlight: Nicholas sat down with Omar on Tuesday evening to talk about the pitch she’s been making to GOP members and the effort to remove her. As she was working Republicans, Democrats have unified behind their previously polarizing colleague. Even her loudest critics within the Democratic Caucus are moving past her previous comments on Israel and U.S. foreign policy to support her sitting on Foreign Affairs. This week she’s been seen having intense one-on-one conversations with some of Democrats’ strongest supporters of Israel, like Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), and she and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) had an extended conversation on a long walk to the Capitol from their offices. New York Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on Foreign Affairs, told Nicholas that some Republicans had privately indicated to him they wished the whole issue would just “go away” because they didn’t actually want to vote to remove her (but he stopped short of saying who, exactly.) Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.Y.), who is set to lead the Africa subpanel Omar was slated for has been publicly noncommittal on how he’ll vote.
| | A message from Humana: 30 million people choose Medicare Advantage. With Medicare Advantage, members can see better health outcomes at lower costs. That’s one of the reasons why nearly half of the total Medicare population chooses Medicare Advantage. Learn more. | | | GOOD MORNING!Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Feb. 1, where there’s a big meeting down the street. MR. SPEAKER, MR. PRESIDENT — No one is expecting a breakthrough on the debt limit stalemate to emerge from today’s meeting between President Joe Biden and McCarthy at the White House today, but Republicans are ready to celebrate even if there’s the smallest sign that Biden could budge on his promise to not negotiate spending cuts. (If you have a meeting about not negotiating, does that count as negotiating?) House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said Tuesday: “It would be awesome if the president would admit he is going to negotiate. That would be awesome.” But in anticipation, House Republicans are getting their own ducks in a row. They’ll hold a special conference meeting this morning on the debt limit ahead of McCarthy’s trip down Pennsylvania Ave. Senate Republicans are standing back to see what happens. “We're giving the speaker as much space as possible and House Republicans to negotiate what they think is the best deal they can get with the White House,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday. More about what’s on the table and divisions among the GOP on approaches to spending cuts from Sarah, Olivia and Caitlin. SEEKING: REPUBLICAN ROSTERS — Remember when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) went on a dramatic hunt for a “secret” Obamacare bill? Your Huddle host is about to do that for the Senate Republicans’ committee rosters. Despite high hopes from multiple Republican Senators that Wednesday would be the day, the lists were not released. “Every time we think it’s done there’s been a hiccup, but I’m still hopeful that it will wrap up today,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said just after the GOP caucus lunch on Tuesday. When asked about potential downsides to what, from the outside, looks like a more collaborative and democratic process, Thune pointed instead to the truly tough logistics: new ratios, fewer GOP seats on some committees and six freshmen (Democrats have just two.) “When somebody decides to make a decision some place, you have to sort of rejigger the entire entire chart but again, I think this is the final day and that we'll be able to vote to ratify those here soon,” said Thune.
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA’S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | FRESHMAN SPOTLIGHT — Towards the bottom of the Democratic roster for the House Oversight Committee is Florida freshman Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who is bringing some expertise to the table today for the panel’s first major hearing digging into the federal response to the Covid pandemic. He led the state’s Covid response as director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management under Governor Ron DeSantis. ‘Good questions’: “I think the Republicans have good questions. In that it's okay to now go back and say hey, look, we had the first 50-State disaster. How did we spend our money? Where did we make good decisions? Where did you make bad decisions? Where was the waste?” he told Huddle. He described sourcing things during a true emergency as “loosey goosey” and said he wants to dig into potential fraud and waste in federal procurement. He’ll be among the last lawmakers to get their questions in due to his junior status on the panel, but he is taking it in stride: “I love batting cleanup.” And Moskowitz is primed for another major issue that Oversight is expected to take up, the flow of classified documents out of the White House across multiple administrations. “I was an intern in the last six months in the Clinton administration. So I don't remember packing of classified documents, but I do remember packing boxes,” he told Huddle.
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Never a dull moment for Santos-watchers. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | SO MUCH SANTOS — Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) stepped down from his committee assignments and his campaign’s treasurer has resigned. Never a dull moment in Santos-world. Jesús Rodríguez maps out the uncomfortable political purgatory that Santos is living in for a great piece in POLITICO Magazine. More Santos: Promised green cards, catfishing, threats: How George Santos' ex-boyfriends say they were left feeling trapped, manipulated from Will Steakin at ABC; Santos’s Upbeat Facade Shows Cracks on Apology, Committee Exits from Laura Litvan and Steven T. Dennis at Bloomberg; George Santos reported lots of spending in Florida. Here’s where he says he went, from Aaron Liebowitz at The Miami Herald
| | | | A message from Humana:   | | | UP IN ARMS — House Natural Resources is expected to take up its rules for the 118th Congress today and one provision won’t be included: a prohibition on lawmakers carrying firearms in the hearing room which was added to the panel’s rules in 2021 under Democratic leadership, which rankled Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) is expected to offer an amendment to the rules to insert the ban on firearms in the hearing room, but it is unlikely to get the support needed to be adopted. There are specific Capitol Police regulations that exempts members from a federal law banning firearms on the Capitol grounds. The metal detectors that were erected at entrances to the House chamber in early 2021 were removed on the first day of the new congress. Guns are still prohibited in the House chamber. FLORIDA MAN SAVES FLORIDA MAN — Huddle connected with Rep. Vern Buchanan’s (R-Fla) team in Florida, where Darrell Woodie is a part-time field representative and part time Amazon delivery driver. He was making deliveries on Jan. 19 when he heard the crack of a breaking branch and turned to see Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), falling 20 to 25 feet from a ladder propped against a tree on his property. “When I saw Congressman Steube fall, I wanted to help him immediately,” Woodie told Huddle in a statement. “It’s extremely fortunate that I was there to witness the accident and was able to call 911 and help get the Congressman the care he needed as quickly as possible.” Woodie will be in Washington next week to attend the State of the Union as Steube’s guest, though the congressman is still recovering from serious injuries sustained in the fall.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | We won’t yuck your yum… 10 a.m. is a perfectly okay time to order gelato in Dirksen, according to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) staffer Chris Avila. He was #spotted by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) spokesperson Mike Inacay who tweeted with (judgment? concern? curiosity?). “Green tea gelato is the new iced coffee,” said Avila in his own defense. Then Coons weighed in: “I love a good green tea gelato. Might break my diet for some today… or at 10 am tomorrow morning.” Don’t live in fear that someone will tweet your cafeteria choices, live your truth. Gillibrand in mom mode… Who wraps a scarf around you when you’re cold or tosses a cough drop your way when that tickle hits? On Tuesday it was Kirsten Gilibrand (D-N.Y.). She draped her scarf around Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at a chilly event in New York and offered someone else a cough drop, per NPR’s Scott Detrow. QUICK LINKS House GOP leaps headlong into divisive Mayorkas impeachment debate, from Jordain Musk blows off Dems in first Capitol tour as Twitter CEO, from Rebecca Kern and Nicholas Wu GOP opposes remote committee work for health reasons, while agreeing to ‘work with’ Raskin amid cancer battle, from Ronn Blitzer at Fox News TRANSITIONS Michael Corcoran is now the military legislative assistant for Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Corcoran is in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and previously served as a HillVets Fellow on the For Country Caucus. Darby McQueen-Dever is now a legislative assistant with Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.). She previously was senior legislative assistant for Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). Taylor Zanazzi is now legislative correspondent/press assistant for Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.). He most recently was campaign manager for Mayra Flores, and is a Young Kim and Martha McSally alum. Alex Thiessen will be a legislative correspondent for Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.). He previously was a staff assistant for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). TODAY IN CONGRESS The House convenes at 10 a.m. for morning hour debate and noon for legislative business. The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and will recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for the Democrats’ weekly caucus lunch. Roll call votes are expected but not yet scheduled. AROUND THE HILL 8:15 a.m. Reps. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Resident Commissioner Jenniffer A. González Colón (R-P.R.) and others hold a press conference on the Congressional Hispanic Conference objectives for the 118th Congress. (Studio A) 11 a.m. Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) hold a press conference on reintroduction of the Bipartisan Background Checks Act. (House Triangle or Longworth B208 in case of rain) 2 p.m. Senate Democratic leaders hold a press conference following the closed door Democratic Caucus lunch (Ohio Clock Corridor) 2:30 p.m. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) meets with Ukranian officials. (SVC 200) 3 p.m. A bipartisan group of senators meet with the King of Jordan. (S-219) 3:30 p.m. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) hold a pen and pad session on their legislation to give the president the power to raise the debt ceiling with Congressional oversight. (S-316)
| | | TUESDAY’S WINNER: Alex Keledjian correctly answered that the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico, the island’s non-voting member of Congress, serves a four-year term. TODAY’S QUESTION from Alex: In 1986, this Armenian-American governor of California helped lead an effort to recall fourJustices from the California Supreme Court, including the then-Chief Justice Rose Bird. The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to ktm@politico.com. GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus
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