DEMS MULL NEW REGS — Senate Democrats were divided back in 2018 over rolling back some Dodd-Frank banking regulations. Seventeen Democrats ultimately joined Republicans to loosen the rules. But after five years and two bank failures, divisions within the Democratic caucus over banking rules are back. Burgess and Eleanor Muller took the temperature of Senate Dems. Told ya so: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who vehemently opposed the 2018 changes and blames those for the current turbulence, is on an I-told-you-so tour. “I wish I’d been wrong. But I knew I wasn’t,” she said Tuesday. Warren already introduced legislation with Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) that would restore bank regulations that were undone in 2018. No regrets: But plenty of Democrats aren’t second guessing their vote. Asked whether he had regrets, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told reporters: “No. I voted for a bill that was a bipartisan compromise.” Next steps: Republicans have put up a brick wall against new banking regulations, which means Democrats have to decide whether airing their internal divide on the Senate floor is worth it. Some want fresh, tougher limits on banks. Others want a clean repeal of the 2018 resolution. “We’re going to try,” Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told reporters. But he added that “I don’t know how we do a legislative fix.” RELATED READS: Maxine Waters to return political donation from Silicon Valley Bank, from Hailey Fuchs, Jessica Piper and Holly Otterbein; U.S. should temporarily guarantee all bank deposits, senior House Republican says, from Eleanor Mueller EYES ON SAUDI — Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) will introduce legislation today that would request a report on human rights practices in Saudi Arabia related to the conflict in Yemen. Congress has the authority to demand such a report from the State Department under The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Murphy is calling the move an “innovative approach to put the question of Saudi Arabia before the Senate, but a necessary approach,” saying that the country has “abused its relationship with the United States” without proper consequences. It’s a fresh procedural attempt to force Congress to act. The pair can force a floor vote on the resolution, which would only require a simple majority, 10 days after its introduction. Under the measure, the Biden administration would have 30 days to submit the report. If they fail to deliver the information to Congress, security assistance for Saudi Arabia would end. If the report is provided, Congress could move a resolution to condition, adjust or continue security assistance to Saudi Arabia. Read the resolution and the one-pager. BREACH BRIEFING (FOR STAFF) — For the sad Hill staffers who have been notified that their data was swept up in the major breach of DC Health Link, the Committee on House Administration is hosting a briefing this afternoon, per an invite obtained by POLITICO. Presentations are expected from the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, U.S. Capitol Police and House Sergeant at arms. "The investigation is ongoing and it may take weeks to fully understand the impact,” House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) said in a statement after the members only briefing on Tuesday. “The Chief Administrative Office, U.S. Capitol Police, and House Sergeant at Arms are taking action to assist members and staff who have been impacted. … Moving forward, the Committee on House Administration will take action to hold bad actors accountable and avoid this occurring again in the future." FIRST IN HUDDLE: BORDER PRE-BUTTAL — The White House is using a House field hearing happening in Texas on Wednesday morning to hammer Republicans over spending demands released by conservative members last week that the administration has warned would result in a deep slash to border-related funding. (House Democrats announced on Tuesday that they would not participate in the hearing.) Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson for oversight, accused Republicans of “playing partisan games at the border,” arguing that they should instead be asked about the proposal to cut spending, which the White House has warned that if applied to all discretionary non-defense funding could cut into programs aimed at preventing fentanyl trafficking or illegal border crossings. (The document from the House Freedom Caucus is an early look at their requirements for how to get them to vote “yes” on raising the debt ceiling later this year. It doesn’t directly mention cutting border-related funding — though the Department of Homeland Security is typically the most contentious piece of the appropriations process.) “The repeated efforts by House Republicans to threaten or vote against border funding reveal they are more interested in using this issue to lob debunked political attacks than actually working with the President on bipartisan solutions to strengthen our immigration system and border security,” Sams said in a statement. FIRST IN HUDDLE: HOME STATE BILLBOARD — The Congressional Integrity Project, a Democratic outside group, is launching a billboard targeting House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) in Frankfort, Ky. for his recent remarks about Beau Biden, President Joe Biden’s late son. The billboard, which will go up at US 60 and I-64 in Frankfort, will say in all caps: “James Comer: Leave Dead Veterans Alone.” Comer earlier this month in an appearance on former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs’ podcast had suggested a U.S. Attorney could have more rigorously investigated Beau Biden, who died in 2015 of brain cancer, in connection with a campaign finance probe. Congressional Integrity Project Executive Director Kyle Herrig said in a statement: “James Comer has made clear that he will stop at nothing to hurt President Biden and his family but his latest attack against Beau Biden, President Biden’s deceased veteran son, is a new low.”
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