The crisis in Ukraine and elsewhere will put foreign policy at the forefront of the 2016 presidential election, Jerry Seib says on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.
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Local citizens wave flags symbolizing the Soviet victory in WWII and Russian flags gather in support of Eastern Pro-Russian Ukrainians in their fight against Ukrainian government in Simferopol, Crimea on Monday, March 24, 2014. Ukraine’s fledgling government ordered troops to pull back Monday from Crimea, ending days of wavering as Russian forces stormed and seized bases on the peninsula.(AP Photo/Max Vetrov)
Local citizens wave flags symbolizing the Soviet victory in WWII and Russian flags gather in support of Eastern Pro-Russian Ukrainians in their fight against Ukrainian government in Simferopol, Crimea on Monday, March 24, 2014. Ukraine’s fledgling government ordered troops to pull back Monday from Crimea, ending days of wavering as Russian forces stormed and seized bases on the peninsula.(AP Photo/Max Vetrov)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that Republicans may have helped Russia annex Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in a surprisingly sharp attack ahead of a test vote on a bill authorizing more U.S. sanctions on Russia and $ 1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine.
Outlining the Senate’s agenda after a one-week recess, the Nevada Democrat said the first item would be the Ukraine bill that Republicans blocked just before lawmakers went on break. He urged Republicans to consider “how their obstruction affects United States’ national security as well as the people of Ukraine” and said their delay of any congressional action “sent a dangerous message to Russian leaders.”
“Since a few Republicans blocked these important sanctions last work period, Russian lawmakers voted to annex Crimea and Russian forces have taken over Ukrainian military bases,” Reid said. “It’s impossible to know whether events would have unfolded differently if the United States had responded to Russian aggression with a strong, unified voice.”
Reid’s charge comes despite widespread support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress for providing Ukraine with much-needed economic assistance and hitting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government with sanctions.
And GOP Senate aides noted the House has passed different legislation, meaning the Senate bill could not have become law before recess anyhow. They blamed Reid and Democrats for blocking the Senate from taking up the House legislation.
The biggest dispute separating the two chambers appears to be inclusion in the Senate bill of reforms of the International Monetary Fund, which the United States, Europe and others are working with to stabilize Ukraine’s economy. The IMF’s 2010 reforms increase the power of emerging countries in the lending body and shift some $ 63 billion from a crisis fund to a general account it can use for economic stabilization operations around the world.
Although the bill is likely to pass the 60-vote threshold Monday evening to move forward, Reid’s tone suggests a compromise with the GOP-controlled House may prove difficult.
Republicans have long spurned the administration’s attempt to ratify the IMF changes, saying they’d increase the exposure of U.S. taxpayers in foreign bailouts managed by the fund. Making the shift now, opponents such as Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio argue, would also marginally increase Russia’s voting power over the fund’s finances.
The Obama administration and Democrats counter that unless the U.S. approves the new rules, Washington will lose its influence at the IMF and hamper the body’s ability to avert economic meltdowns in places precisely like Ukraine. The U.S. is the only major country that has yet to sign off.
Reid said Republicans blocked the bill to “protect the anonymity of their big-money donors” such as the Koch brothers, two of America’s wealthiest men who’ve strongly supported conservative causes. He was referring to an unsuccessful attempt by some Republicans to include an amendment to the bill halting new IRS regulations on groups claiming tax-exempt status.
“Republicans objected to moving forward with this aid package unless Democrats agreed to allow the Kochs and billionaires like them to continue to anonymously spend millions trying to buy America’s democracy,” Reid said. “It’s hard to believe. But that’s the truth.”
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La crisis de Crimea se ha cobrado este martes sus primeras vÃctimas mortales en dos episodios confusos de difÃcil verificación. Un soldado ucraniano ha muerto y otro ha resultado herido en Simferópol al ser asaltado su cuartel por un grupo de hombres armados. Según el Gobierno ucraniano, los atacantes era miembros de las fuerzas especiales rusas. “Algunos hombres entraron, rompieron las ventanas e hicieron que todo el mundo se tendiera en el suelo”, relataba un testigo. Kiev afirma que sus soldados fueron desarmados y arrestados. Citando fuentes crimeas, la prensa rusa asegura que en las inmediaciones de ese mismo cuartel ha muerto un miembro de las milicias de autodefensa prorrusas al ser disparado por francotiradores que también habrÃan disparado contra el complejo militar.
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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Crimea as a “sovereign and independent country” Monday, just hours after the strategic Black Sea peninsula declared it had broken away from Ukraine.
The moves triggered the toughest Western sanctions against Russia since the Cold War — with Washington and the European Union retaliating with asset freezes and travel bans and U.S. President Barack Obama vowing to “increase the cost” if the Kremlin does not back down.
Ukraine’s turmoil has become Europe’s most severe security crisis in years and tensions have been high since Russian troops seized control of Crimea, which decided in a Sunday referendum to merge with Russia. Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea’s independence, and Russian troops were massed near the border with Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s acting president raised tensions on the ground by calling for the activation of some 20,000 military reservists and volunteers across the country and for the mobilization of another 20,000 in the recently formed national guard.
In the Crimean capital of Simferopol, ethnic Russians applauded the Sunday referendum that overwhelmingly called for secession and for joining Russia. Masked men in body armor blocked access for most journalists to the parliament session that declared independence, but the city otherwise appeared to go about its business normally.
The U.S., EU and Ukraine’s new government do not recognize the referendum held Sunday in Crimea, which was called hastily as Ukraine’s political crisis deepened with the ouster of pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych following months of protests and sporadic bloodshed. In addition to calling the vote itself illegal, the Obama administration said there were “massive anomalies” in balloting that returned a 97 percent “yes” vote for joining Russia.
Obama warned that Russia could face more financial punishment.
“If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions,” Obama said.
One of the top Russian officials hit by sanctions mocked Obama.
“Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Have you not thought about it?” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted. “I think the decree of the President of the United States was written by some joker.”
Moscow considers the vote legitimate and Putin was to address both houses of parliament Tuesday on the Crimean situation.
In Kiev, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov vowed that Ukraine will not give up Crimea.
“We are ready for negotiations, but we will never resign ourselves to the annexation of our land,” a somber-faced Turchynov said in a televised address to the nation. “We will do everything in order to avoid war and the loss of human lives. We will be doing everything to solve the conflict through diplomatic means. But the military threat to our state is real.”
The Crimean referendum could also encourage rising pro-Russian sentiment in Ukraine’s east and lead to further divisions in this nation of 46 million.
A delegation of Crimean lawmakers was set to travel to Moscow on Monday for negotiations on how to proceed. Russian lawmakers have suggested that formally annexing Crimea is almost certain — with one saying it could happen within days.
“We came back home to Mother Russia. We came back home, Russia is our home,” said Nikolay Drozdenko, a resident in Sevastopol, the key Crimean port where Russia leases a naval base from Ukraine.
The Crimean parliament declared that all Ukrainian state property on the peninsula will be nationalized and become the property of the Crimean Republic. It gave no further details. Lawmakers also asked the United Nations and other nations to recognize it and began work on setting up a central bank with $ 30 million in support from Russia.
The United States announced sanctions against seven Russian officials, including Rogozin, Putin’s close ally Valentina Matvienko who is speaker of the upper house of parliament and Vladislav Surkov, one of Putin’s top ideological aides. The Treasury Department also targeted Yanukovych, Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov and two other top figures.
The EU’s foreign ministers slapped travel bans and asset freezes against 21 officials from Russia and Ukraine following Crimea’s referendum. The ministers did not immediately release the names and nationalities of those targeted by the sanctions.
“We need to show solidarity with Ukraine and therefore Russia leaves us no choice,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in Brussels before the vote. “The ‘Anschluss’ of Crimea cannot rest without a response from the international community.”
He was referring to Nazi Germany’s forceful annexation of Austria.
But markets appeared to signal that the Western sanctions lacked punch — with bourses both in Russia and Europe rising sharply on relief that they won’t hit trade of business ties.
“So far the sanctions seem fairly toothless and much less severe than had been expected last week,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com. “From the market’s perspective, the biggest risk was that the referendum would trigger tough sanctions against Russia that could lead to another Cold War.”
Moscow, meanwhile, called on Ukraine to become a federal state as a way of resolving the polarization between Ukraine’s western regions — which favor closer ties with the 28-nation EU — and its eastern areas, which have long ties to Russia.
In a statement Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry urged Ukraine’s parliament to call a constitutional assembly that could draft a new constitution to make the country federal, handing more power to its regions. It also said country should adopt a “neutral political and military status,” a demand reflecting Moscow’s concern about the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO and possibly integrating closer politically and economically with the EU.
Russia is also pushing for Russian to become one of Ukraine’s state languages alongside Ukrainian.
In Kiev, Ukraine’s new government dismissed Russia’s proposal Monday as unacceptable, saying it “looks like an ultimatum.”
The new government in Kiev was established after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia last month after three months of protests culminated in deadly clashes.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya visited NATO headquarters in Brussels to request technical equipment to deal with the secession of Crimea and the Russian incursion there.
NATO said in a statement that the alliance was determined to boost its cooperation with Ukraine, including “increased ties with Ukraine’s political and military leadership.”
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John-Thor Dahlburg in Simferopol, Nedra Pickler in Washington, Pan Pylas in London and Mike Corder and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this story.
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Big surprise, eh? No one took this seriously before it took place, and no one will take it seriously after the votes are counted. No one, that is, except for the occupying power in Crimea that forced the referendum in the first place. Russia and its new puppet regional government on the peninsula are reported record turnout and a 93% vote for annexation to its former sovereign, while the US and West denounced the entire exercise as just a pretense for a land grab:
Supporters of Crimea’s attempt to secede from Ukraine and join Russia have flocked to vote in a referendum denounced by Kiev and Western powers.
Polls closed at 18:00 GMT and officials hailed a “record” turnout. Preliminary results were expected within hours.
A vast majority of voters interviewed by journalists backed secession. Many opponents boycotted the vote.
The White House has officially rejected the results and the referendum itself, saying it occurred under duress:
The White House says Sunday’s referendum on secession is contrary to Ukraine’s constitution.
The U.S. says the world won’t recognize the results of a vote held under what it says are “threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention that violates international law.”
A written statement from the White House calls Russia’s actions in Ukraine “dangerous and destabilizing.”
The U.S. is urging other nations to “take concrete steps to impose costs” against Russia.
Secession was expected to be approved overwhelmingly.
John McCain uses a better word than referendum, one which I have used purposefully all along:
“Look, it is a bogus thing. We used to call it plebiscite in the days of Hitler and Stalin. It is a done deal,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
McCain and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine have a running bet on how lopsided the vote will be. McCain thinks the referendum will be approved with 70 percent of the vote. …
“The United States of America, first of all, has to have a fundamental re-assessment of our relationship with Vladimir Putin. No more reset buttons, no more tell Vladimir I’ll be more flexible,” he said.
He’s right, but it’s too late for that now. Putin has already taken his measure of the West. Expect the annexation to happen immediately — and then wait for the inevitable repeat in eastern Ukraine, too.
Ukrainian soldiers man a check point in the village of Strilkove, Ukraine, Sunday, March 16, 2014. Russia raised the stakes Saturday when its forces, backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles, took control of the Ukrainian village of Strilkove and a key natural gas distribution plant nearby— the first Russian military move into Ukraine beyond the Crimean peninsula of 2 million people. The Russian forces later returned the village but kept control of the gas plant. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Ukrainian soldiers man a check point in the village of Strilkove, Ukraine, Sunday, March 16, 2014. Russia raised the stakes Saturday when its forces, backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles, took control of the Ukrainian village of Strilkove and a key natural gas distribution plant nearby— the first Russian military move into Ukraine beyond the Crimean peninsula of 2 million people. The Russian forces later returned the village but kept control of the gas plant. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. rejected the Crimea secession referendum Sunday as illegal and readied retaliatory penalties against Russia, while shifting sights to deterring possible military advances elsewhere in Ukraine that could inflame the crisis.
Even before official results were announced, the White House denounced the vote on Crimea joining Russia, saying it violated Ukraine’s constitution and international law and was held under “threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention.”
It said “no decisions should be made about the future of Ukraine without the Ukrainian government” and noted that Russia had rejected the deployment of international monitors in Crimea to ensure the rights of ethnic Russians there were protected.
“Russia has spurned those calls as well as outreach from the Ukrainian government and instead has escalated its military intervention into Crimea and initiated threatening military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern border,” the White House said.
“Russia’s actions are dangerous and destabilizing,” the White House said.
U.S. officials reaffirmed that the Obama administration will, along with the European Union, impose penalties on Russia if it annexes the strategic region. They also warned that any Russia moves on east and south Ukraine would be a grave escalation requiring additional responses.
Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to return its troops in Crimea to their bases, pull back forces from the Ukraine border, halt incitement in eastern Ukraine and support the political reforms in Ukraine that would protect ethnic Russians, Russian speakers and others in the former Soviet republic that Russia says it is concerned about.
In a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kerry urged Russia “to support efforts by Ukrainians across the spectrum to address power sharing and decentralization through a constitutional reform process that is broadly inclusive and protects the rights of minorities,” the State Department said.
It was their second call since unsuccessful talks Friday in London.
Kerry expressed “strong concerns” about Russian military activities in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, just north of Crimea where Russian troops appeared Saturday, and about “continuing provocations” in cities in east Ukraine, the department said.
Kerry “made clear that this crisis can only be resolved politically and that as Ukrainians take the necessary political measures going forward, Russia must reciprocate by pulling forces back to base and addressing the tensions and concerns about military engagement,” the department said.
A senior State Department official said Lavrov’s willingness to discuss Ukraine political reforms was positive. But the official stressed that the Russian military escalation was of “greatest concern” and must be reversed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation.
White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said that Russia faces penalties that would hurt its economy and diminish its influence in the world if President Vladimir Putin didn’t back down. Pfeiffer said the administration was committed to supporting the new Ukrainian government in Kiev “in every way possible.”
“President Putin has a choice about what he’s going to do here. Is he going to continue to further isolate himself, further hurt his economy, further diminish Russian influence in the world, or is he going to do the right thing?” Pfeiffer said.
U.S. and European officials have said they plan to announce sanctions against Russia, including visa bans and potential asset freezes, on Monday if Putin does not shift course.
But Putin and other Russians have shown no sign they are willing to back down. They insist they will respect the results of the Crimean referendum in which voters in the largely pro-Moscow peninsula are expected to choose joining Russia by a wide margin.
Members of Congress said they were prepared to enact tough sanctions on various Russian leaders, but $ 1 billion in loan guarantees to help the Ukrainian economy is on hold while Congress is on a break.
“President Putin has started a game of Russian roulette, and I think the United States and the West have to be very clear in their response because he will calculate about how far he can go,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The top Republican on the committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said the U.S. and Europe were entering a “defining moment” in their relationship with Russia.
“Putin will continue to do this. He did it in Georgia a few years ago. He’s moved into Crimea, and he will move into other places unless we show that long-term resolve.”
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, just back from meetings in Ukraine, said Ukrainians he talked to said war could occur if Russia attempts to annex more territory. They indicated that “if Russia really does decide to move beyond Crimea, it’s going to be bloody and the fight may be long,” Murphy said.
Pfeiffer spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Menendez and Corker appeared on “Fox News Sunday.” Murphy was on ABC’s “This Week.”
Crimea returns to Russia It’s a done deal. Nothing can be done about it. An Exit poll shows Crimeans Choose to Join Russia in Vote
A majority of Crimeans chose to join Russia in a disputed referendum, exit polls showed, deepening the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.A total of 93 percent voted today in favor of leaving Ukraine to become part of Russia, the Republican Institute of Social and Political Studies said, citing exit polls from the vote in the Black Sea peninsula. The Ukrainian government, the European Union and the U.S. all consider the referendum illegal. About 1.5 million Crimean voters were eligible to take part, according to the region’s prime minister.
Goodbye Hryvnia, Hello Ruble
Crimea will switch to the Russian ruble and abandon Ukraine’s hryvnia on April 1, RIA Novosti cited Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev as saying today.
McCain Wants Military Aid for Ukraine
The US senate’s head-warmonger, John McCain said Obama is giving “serious consideration” to sending military aid to Ukraine. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, in an ABC interview, said the U.S. should pass “crippling sanctions” on Russia and help Ukraine rebuild its armed forces.
Biden Promote US as World’s Policeman
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to NATO members Poland and Lithuania tomorrow for talks on Ukraine, according to a White House statement. The Pentagon said last week it would send 12 F-16 aircraft to Poland as a sign of U.S. commitment to defend allies in the region; the U.S. previously sent six fighter jets to Lithuania.
Do US citizens support wasting tax dollars sending Aircraft to Poland? Of course not. Does McCain or the Republicans care about balancing the budget? Of course not?
Did Obama take down Guantanamo Bay, get all US troops out of Afghanistan or Iraq? Of course not.
In case you missed it, please see President Obama is the Biggest Fraud Ever Perpetrated on US Citizens (Fantastic Carey Wedler Video)
Support for war, spying, and for the US to waste money being the world’s policeman is rampant in Congress, deficits be damned. But hey, don’t worry Ukraine and Russia Agree to a 5-Day Truce.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
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A CRITICAL WEEKEND FOR CRIMEA: RUSSIA MASSES TROOPS ON BORDER – In Moscow, Steven Lee Myers and Alison Smale report on A1 of the New York Times: “With a referendum on secession looming in Crimea, Russia massed troops and armored vehicles in at least three regions along Ukraine’s eastern border on Thursday, alarming the interim Ukraine government about a possible invasion and significantly escalating tensions in the crisis between the Kremlin and the West. The announcement of the troop buildup by Russia’s Defense Ministry was met with an unusually sharp rebuke from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who warned that the Russian government must abandon what she called the politics of the 19th and 20th centuries or face diplomatic and economic retaliation from a united Europe.” http://nyti.ms/1lC5b2G
– SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY is meeting today in London with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in an attempt to ease tensions before Sunday’s vote. While testifying on Capitol Hill Thursday, Kerry warned that Russia will face an immediate, “very serious series” of responses from the U.S. and Europe if it annexes Ukraine’s Crimea region. AP: http://bit.ly/1ikGNlZ
– U.S.: NO ARMS FOR UKRAINE … YET – “Ukraine’s interim government has appealed for U.S. military aid, including arms, ammunition and intelligence support, according to senior U.S. officials. But the Obama administration has agreed to send only military rations for now, wary of inflaming tensions with Russia. …” Adam Entous reports on A1 of the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. “wants to show support for Ukraine’s interim leaders without further antagonizing an unpredictable Moscow or inadvertently emboldening the Ukrainian military to take steps that could spark violence. ‘It’s not a forever ‘no,’ it’s a ‘no for now,’’ a senior U.S. official said of Ukraine’s request for lethal military support.” http://on.wsj.com/Nd0kIY
– McCAIN TO GOP: DON’T CALL YOURSELVES ‘REAGAN REPUBLICANS’— Seung Min Kim writes for POLITICO: “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped fellow Republicans on Thursday for objecting to a package of aid and sanctions to respond to the Ukrainian crisis, calling himself ‘embarrassed’ and telling his GOP colleagues: ‘Don’t call yourself Reagan Republicans.’ The Senate has erupted in a dispute over provisions related to the International Monetary Fund in the Ukraine bill, as conservative Republicans protest that it is an unnecessary component of the package that passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a bipartisan vote this week.” http://politi.co/Ob2o5j
– U.S. markets tumbled Thursday over worries about the Ukraine crisis and a slowdown in China. The Dow fell 231.19 points or 1.4 percent. Reuters: http://reut.rs/Ob7r5R
** Presented by RepealSGR.org: Congress has bipartisan/bicameral legislation to repeal the SGR and reform the Medicare physician payment system. This new system will be sustainable, fair and efficient, secure patient access, and encourage quality, affordable care. Republican and Democratic Leadership in Congress need to continue working together to develop bipartisan pay-fors. www.repealsgr.org
SENATORS REACH DEAL TO EXTEND JOBLESS BENEFITS – Burgess Everett writes for the hometown paper: “Senators struck a bipartisan deal on Thursday to revive expired long-term jobless benefits following months of dramatic stops and starts on the issue. After an afternoon of frantic negotiations, five senators from each party announced a deal that should finally deliver 60 votes necessary for the aid package to pass the Senate, barring procedural snags. … The negotiations were led by Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), each hailing from states with high unemployment. …
– “It will be awhile before the package sees a vote. The jobless aid package will be considered in late March after the Senate returns from its St. Patrick’s Day recess — though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said aid to Ukraine will be the first order of business on March 24. And the legislation still must go through a conservative House, where aides to Speaker John Boehner declined to offer an assessment of the Senate deal on Thursday.” http://politi.co/1qC74ju
– Keeping with the spirit of bipartisanship, senators also passed two measures dealing with flood insurance and federally subsidized child care, writes the Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery and Ed O’Keefe: “The Senate voted 72 to 22 Thursday to pass a flood insurance bill that will roll back sharp premium increases to homeowners that were implemented as part of a federal overhaul of the flood insurance program. … Earlier Thursday, senators voted 96 to 2 to reauthorize a child-care development block-grant program and make several changes to improve the quality of federally subsidized child care.” http://wapo.st/1gw9CHW
OBAMA CALLS FOR DEPORTATIONS REVIEW – Seung Min Kim and Reid J. Epstein report for POLITICO: “President Barack Obama finally bowed to pressure from immigration rights activists and signaled on Thursday that he may change his deportation policy. The president changed course after months of claiming there was nothing his White House could do to stem the flow of deportations of undocumented immigrants. Obama announced in a meeting readout that he has requested a review of his administration’s enforcement policies for immigration laws to see if that enforcement can be done ‘more humanely within the confines of the law,’ the White House said Thursday. To immigrant rights activists, however, that is something of a victory. It means Obama is taking steps toward changing the administration’s deportation policies — though the groups won’t be satisfied until the policies are in force.” http://politi.co/1cXSgsl
‘OPEN MIKE’ LAUNCHES WITH MACON PHILLIPS – Check out the debut video of POLITICO’s new weekly series, “Open Mike,” featuring a conversation between Mike Allen and the digital diplomacy lead at the State Department, Macon Phillips. Watch Phillips’ take on how social media and digital strategies are helping shape diplomacy in Ukraine, and hear his thoughts on the popular Deathstar petition: www.politico.com/open-mike/
WHO WANTS PI? – The only two physicists in Congress, Reps. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Rush Holt (D-N.J.) will be celebrating Pi Day today with … pie. “On 3.14, take a break from the irrational Congress and celebrate an irrational number with the only two physicists in Congress,” Foster’s office said in an email. There will be a variety of pies and the event, at noon in Foster’s office in Longworth 1224, is open to the public.
COLIN POWELL’S #tbt pic was pretty sweet. But here’s Rep. Nita Lowey and her husband on their wedding day more than 50 years ago: pic.twitter.com/B4v9chykmK
FLORIDA REPUBLICAN DAVID JOLLY was sworn in Thursday as the newest member of the House. He won a special election Tuesday and fills the vacancy left by the death of Rep. Bill Young.
BOEHNER, PELOSI INVITE POPE TO ADDRESS CONGRESS – Our own Jake Sherman writes: “Speaker John Boehner has invited Pope Francis to address a joint session of Congress. It is an open invitation, the speaker’s office said, and it’s not yet clear when he’ll give the speech on Capitol Hill. … ‘His address as a visiting head of state before a joint meeting of the House and Senate would honor our nation in keeping with the best traditions of our democratic institutions’ [Boehner said in a statement]. ‘It would also offer an excellent opportunity for the American people as well as the nations of the world to hear his message in full.’ Boehner and the previous speaker, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, are Catholics.” http://politi.co/1gwfMYy
GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 14, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.
My new followers include @BenSchorr and @KatiepLong.
TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate is out today. The House is in at 9 a.m. with first and last votes expected between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. on the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act. Both chambers are out on recess all of next week.
AROUND THE HILL – Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra and Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard and Michelle Lujan Grisham speak on the ACA and Latino Americans, at 9 a.m. in HVC 215. Speaker John Boehner hosts President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny at the annual St. Patrick’s Day luncheon at 11:30 in Statuary Hall. A departure ceremony takes place at 1:25 p.m. on the East House Steps.
SCOTT BROWN BEGINS SEEKING STAFF FOR SENATE RUN – Steve Peoples writes for the AP: “Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown has begun seeking campaign staff while aggressively courting New Hampshire’s political elite, marking what local Republicans consider serious steps toward launching a Senate campaign against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. The stakes are high for the GOP’s national push for the Senate majority this fall as well as for Brown’s own political ambitions. The longtime Massachusetts resident, having recently relocated to his seacoast New Hampshire vacation home, is expected to launch an exploratory committee to enter the race as soon as Friday, according to several New Hampshire Republican officials who spoke directly to Brown about his plans. The move officially allows him to begin raising money and hiring staff. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly disclose his plans before an official announcement.” http://huff.to/1gnHsme
THE ANTI- HARRY REID – “Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is nearly impossible not to like,” Jon Ralston writes in POLITICO Magazine. “He has a sunny disposition and seems ever eager to work with Democrats, who have nary a bad word to say about him. He’s highly popular in Nevada, with approval numbers in the mid-60s, and he stays on message as well as anyone in politics. He is, in a phrase, the anti-Harry Reid. Which is why the prospect of Sandoval facing off against the occasionally dyspeptic, sharply partisan and manifestly unpopular Senate majority leader in the 2016 U.S. Senate race has some Republicans writing Reid’s political eulogy. ‘It would be a wipeout,’ said one Nevada insider. ‘He is 100 percent the perfect candidate against Harry Reid.’
– “Reid knows this, of course. No one plays the political chessboard like the majority leader; following his moves sometimes feels like watching a real life House of Cards, without the murders. He saw the Sandoval threat coming nearly a decade ago. Back then, Reid managed to sideline the up-and-coming Sandoval with a federal judgeship … But … Sandoval left the bench in 2009 and defeated Reid’s son, Rory, in a race for governor. Now it may be Reid the Elder’s turn as Sandoval could defeat two members of the same family for the two highest offices in the state. There’s just one question: Does Sandoval even want to run for the U.S. Senate?” http://politi.co/1npfFqI
A FIGHT OVER ISSA AND IPADS – Matt Fuller, Emma Dumain and Steve Dennis report for Roll Call: “Republicans once again blocked a Democratic resolution demanding a House floor apology from Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa for silencing Rep. Elijah E. Cummings last week during an IRS hearing. The nearly party line vote to table the privileged resolution came after a theatrical display of protest on the floor, with Democrats refusing to give up on the issue. As [Rep. Dan] Kildee and his Democratic colleagues offered the resolution, they defiantly held pictures of Issa making the throat-cutting motion, displaying the image on iPads, iPhones and paper. A floor procedure kerfuffle, in which a new House precedent may have been established, ensued.
– “Presiding officer Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, insisted that that ‘House will not proceed’ as long as Democrats continued to hold up their iPads displaying the image. ‘Regular order would be putting the iPads down,’ Simpson said.” http://bit.ly/1kQIfiS
POT LOBBY’S PITCH: IT’S GOOD BUSINESSES – Holly Yeager reports for the Washington Post: “The delegation from the National Cannabis Industry Association made a point of dressing well for its day on Capitol Hill, sporting mostly dark suits, lots of ties and plenty of the group’s signature lapel pins, which feature a sun rising over vibrant fields of marijuana. Marijuana advocates have come to lobby Washington before, often to argue for more lenient treatment under federal law. But on Thursday, buoyed by a flurry of state decisions that have expanded the legal use of marijuana, the cannabis crowd came less as social activists than as entrepreneurs, asking Congress to remove some of the obstacles that stand in the way of their fledgling businesses.” http://wapo.st/1iHCv6x
– How many members of Congress use pot? Jared Polis has a guess. Elahe Izadi in National Journal: http://bit.ly/1dWhFAC
THURSDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Paul Hays was first to correctly answer that Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, a former North Carolina congressman, was raised in Mississippi but nicknamed after a town in Alabama where he was born.
TODAY’S TRIVIA – Brad Grantz has today’s question: This former Pennsylvania Democratic congressman had a grandson who went onto fame as a baseball announcer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Name the congressman and his grandson. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.
GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/
** Presented by RepealSGR.org: Bipartisan/bicameral legislation to repeal the failed Medicare cost control formula called the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), and reform the Medicare physician payment system, has been introduced. The bill would create a system that is sustainable, fair and efficient, secure patient access and encourage quality, affordable care. SGR threatens patient access with drastic Medicare provider cuts. Physicians face constant instability, demonstrated by the 23.7 percent cut to physician payments scheduled for April 1. Congress has spent over $ 154 billion – more than the cost of the legislation – on 16 short term patches in the last decade. These patches are the equivalent of paying the minimum on a credit card – it delays the inevitable, increases the total bill and is bad for the budget. Republican and Democratic Leadership need to continue working together to develop bipartisan pay-fors so the House and Senate can pass S.2000/H.R. 4015, by March 31. www.repealsgr.org
