CONGRESS SPLIT ON CUTTING OFF EGYPT AID – Stephen Ohlemacher writes for the Associated Press: “Members of Congress are divided on whether the United States should cut military aid to Egypt, which highlights the difficult choices the Obama administration faces as violence intensifies on the streets of a pivotal Middle East ally. Democratic leaders generally have supported the president’s approach. But Sunday, Representative Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, said he would end aid to Egypt. Ellison is the first Muslim elected to Congress; he is cochairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. ‘I would cut off aid but engage in intense diplomacy in Egypt and in the region to try to say, look, we will restore aid when you stop the bloodshed in the street and set up a path toward democracy,’ he told ABC’s ‘This Week.’ …
– “Among Republicans, there were calls to end military aid to Egypt. Others were hesitant. Representative Pete King, Republican of New York, said curtailing aid could reduce US influence with Egypt’s interim government, which controls access to the Suez Canal. ‘We certainly shouldn’t cut off all aid,’ said King, who chairs a House panel on counterterrorism and intelligence. King said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ that there are no good choices in Egypt. Ousted President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was democratically elected. But, King said, the group has not demonstrated a commitment to democracy. … The split among members of the same party illustrates the uncertainty facing President Obama as he tries to navigate volatile developments in Egypt, where crackdowns in recent days left nearly 900 people dead and thousands injured.” http://b.globe.com/18EsthO
PRYOR, ARKANSAS’ LONE DEMOCRAT, FIGHTS ON – Our own Manu Raju files this report from Rogers, Ark.: “Sen. Mark Pryor might be the most vulnerable Democrat running for re-election in 2014, but he doesn’t think the ‘D’ by his name stands for ‘death knell.’ Now that’s being bullish. Since Pryor skated to reelection to his second term in 2008, he’s watched the political landscape here rapidly slide to the right: His Democratic colleague, Blanche Lincoln, was trounced in the 2010 midterms; Republicans in 2012 took over the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction; and he’s now, suddenly, the lone Democrat in Arkansas’ increasingly conservative congressional delegation. The Democratic giants who once ruled the state – Bill Clinton, Dale Bumpers and his father, David Pryor – seem like relics. And antipathy toward President Barack Obama – and Obamacare – is running extraordinarily high. All the while, Pryor shrugs it off: ‘The Democratic Party, it’s not dead like some people think it is.’
– “Democrats are nervous about his chances as a resurgent Arkansas Republican Party unites behind a conservative upstart, freshman Rep. Tom Cotton, throwing the race into a dead heat. It’s a reality that not only threatens Pryor’s family political dynasty, the fragile Democratic Senate majority, but also shows the larger challenge faced by moderate Democratic candidates in the South. In a wide-ranging series of interviews traveling through Northw0est Arkansas, a GOP stronghold in this conservative state, Pryor argued that his path to victory rests on making the case that he’s not a party-line Obama loyalist, but the kind of conservative Democrat that has long thrived in Arkansas, even as the breed disappeared across the South. But that Arkansas tradition changed when Obama entered office in 2009. Critics here cite the president failing to visit the state since taking office; his defeat of the former Arkansas first lady, Hillary Clinton, in the bitter 2008 primary; and the president’s liberal social and domestic policy leanings, which have even prompted a spate of local Democratic officeholders to switch to the GOP.” http://politi.co/17DmaKh
FACING EXTINCTION, CALIF. GOP PUSHES IMMIGRATION REFORM – POLITICO’s Jake Sherman reports from Modesto, Calif.: “Republicans in Washington are taking a piecemeal approach to immigration reform — a strategy that could give the party’s most polarizing figures a months-long platform to pop off about illegal immigrants. California Republicans have a much different line: Shut up and get it done. The divide boils down to simple math for California Republicans, who know they can’t win elections here for long without the support of Hispanic voters. Eleven of the 15 districts held by Republicans are a quarter or more Hispanic — and some of them are prime targets for Democrats who need 17 seats to take back the House in 2014. But Republican leaders in Washington also face a much different picture nationwide: More than 100 House GOP districts have close to no Hispanic voters. So, while some Republicans in Washington might argue there’s no need to tackle immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, California Republicans believe they must —or face extinction.” http://politi.co/17Dmc4W
NYT: “McCain Takes His Work Home to Arizona, Promoting an Immigration Bill,” By Fernanda Santos: http://nyti.ms/16WdMp8
GOP GETS THEIR MESSAGE OUT – EN ESPAÑOL – Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe reports: “Wadi Gaitan, a 24-year-old House Republican staffer who serves as a Spanish-speaking spokesman, TV booker and occasional tutor, was stumped. He was trying to teach a Republican lawmaker how to say ‘sequester’ in Spanish, but the literal translation was proving to be problematic. ‘That one was tricky at first; I couldn’t figure it out, because in Spanish, ‘secuestrar’ literally means to kidnap someone,’ Gaitan said. ‘I said, let’s not use the literal translation, because we don’t want to say that we’re kidnapping people, or that President Obama is kidnapping people.’ Probably a good call. Now Republicans say ‘recortes automáticos’ — literally, automatic cuts.
– “The proper way to say sequester — and debt ceiling, border security and other key phrases — has become a pressing concern for many Republicans, who worry that they are increasingly unable to make their case on the issues to the nation’s fast-growing Latino bloc simply because they are unable to speak their language. It’s such a critical concern that House Republican leaders at the beginning of the year ordered an overhaul of their messaging operation, urging members to appear in liberal news outlets and, as often as possible, on Spanish television.” http://wapo.st/14ORL8N
HOW THE SEQUESTER IS HITTING U.S. WORKERS – Michael D. Shear and Ron Nixon write obn A1 of the New York Times: “Geological visits to monitor volcanoes in Alaska have been scaled back. The defense secretary is traveling to Afghanistan two times a year instead of the usual four. For the first time in nearly three decades, NASA pulled out of the National Space Symposium, in Colorado Springs, even though representatives from France, Germany and China all made the trip. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in March in Afghanistan, which he now visits less often because of deep spending cuts. Five months after gridlock in Washington triggered the deep spending cuts known as sequestration, much of the United States government is grounded. Most government travel budgets have been cut this year by 30 percent, the result of an administration directive forcing managers to make difficult policy decisions about whom to send, where to send them and for how long. The result, agency officials say, is a government that cannot conduct essential business and is embarrassing itself abroad.
– “‘We talk about being a leader in space exploration,’ said Elliot H. Pulham, the chief executive of the Space Foundation, which sponsored the NASA-free symposium in Colorado. ‘But it’s hard to be a leader if you don’t show up.’ Not necessarily, say budget hawks like Senator Tom Coburn, Republican from Oklahoma. ‘Hopefully what you will have is more sound judgment at these agencies about what is critical travel and what isn’t,’ Mr. Coburn said. ‘There is no question that federal employees should have some travel and go to some conferences, but most of it has nothing to do with their jobs. It’s a perk.’” http://nyti.ms/14tLCQ8
ARIZONA’S ODD COUPLE: KIRKPATRICK AND GOSAR – Alex Isenstadt reports for the hometown paper: “They’re the oddest couple in Congress: One is a favorite of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin who swept into office on the tea party wave of 2010, the other a supporter of Obamacare and the $ 787 billion economic stimulus package. But what makes the budding relationship between GOP Rep. Paul Gosar and Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick so surprising – and to some on Capitol Hill, downright confusing — is that just three years ago they were bitter rivals in a slash-and-burn election. Back then, Gosar called Kirkpatrick an Obama loyalist. She called him a right-wing extremist. He blasted her after video emerged of her fleeing a constituent event. She hammered him after Palin made a website with crosshairs on her district.
– “Today, you’re a lot more likely to see the Arizona lawmakers introducing bills together than calling each other names. After losing to Gosar in the last midterm and then winning election to a nearby House seat last year, Kirkpatrick has teamed up with her onetime rival on more than a half-dozen bills. On Tuesday, they’re even co-hosting a town hall meeting in Superior, Ariz. to discuss a proposed copper mine that the lawmakers are trying to get Congress to authorize. The alliance, however, isn’t sitting well with some Republicans, who worry that Gosar is giving Kirkpatrick an opportunity to campaign as a bipartisan figure cutting through Washington’s partisanship and dysfunction to get things done for her district. She badly needs Republicans and independents to win reelection in her sprawling northeastern Arizona district, which Mitt Romney carried.” http://politi.co/17XBqk2
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GOOD MONDAY MORNING, August 19, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.
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TODAY IN CONGRESS – Both the House and Senate have adjourned for the summer recess.
SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY
– REP. PETE KING (R-N.Y.) suggested Sen. Rand Paul was lying about NSA surveillance, POLITICO’s Kevin Robillard reports: “In the latest round between Sen. Rand Paul and Republican hawks, Rep. Peter King is accusing the Kentucky Republican of providing a “grab bag of misinformation and distortion” about the NSA’s surveillance programs. ‘I totally disagree with what Sen. Rand Paul says,’ King said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’ ‘That was just a grab bag of misinformation and distortion.’” http://politi.co/16WafHo
– PAUL IS BLAMING GOV. CHRIS CRISTIE FOR THEIR SPAT: “Sen. Rand Paul says that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie started their recent spat by arguing that libertarians had no place in the GOP. ‘The party’s big enough for both of us,” the Kentucky Republican said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’ ‘The party’s big enough for lots of different Republicans. This all started with him saying, ‘We don’t have enough room for libertarian Republicans.’ The thing is, that’ show we grow our party.’” http://politi.co/19BVD5V
– SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) said Egypt is on its way to becoming a “failed state, POLITICO’s Jonathan Topaz writes: “Appearing on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ Graham said the Egyptian military generals were not interested in pursuing democratic reform, but rather were trying to ‘grab power.’ The South Carolina Republican, who recently visited Egypt with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in an attempt to negotiate an agreement between military leaders and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, urged the Obama administration to stop sending aid to Egypt. While acknowledging the removal of Morsi from office had “a lot of support” from the public, Graham said it was a “coup” and that the U.S. must send a message by withdrawing financial assistance. Both Graham and McCain urged President Barack Obama last week to stop sending aid to Egypt.” http://politi.co/19C2Ena
MANCHIN STILL PLAYING DEFENSE ON GUNS – National Journal’s Chris Frates files this report from Beckley, W.Va.: “Manchin’s push earlier this year to expand background checks on gun sales was widely known, thanks in part to the National Rifle Association. In June, the NRA spent $ 100,000 airing an ad slamming Manchin for working with President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on their ‘gun-control agenda.’ Manchin, a lifelong NRA member, punched back, with his own $ 100,000 ad buy defending his position. And last month, the NRA countered by sending letters critical of Manchin to 200,000 West Virginians. So it’s no surprise that Manchin took a few minutes to defend his failed attempt to expand background checks. ‘Let me ask you this point-blank,’ Manchin said to the crowd. ‘Do you think it’s unreasonable if you went to a gun show or online that there’d be a background check? That’s all we’re talking about.’ Everywhere he goes, Manchin paints his proposal as a simple fix to close loopholes that allow some some gun-show and Internet buyers to avoid background checks. It’s an attempt to better keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. It’s not a government gun grab. In fact, he argues, his plan would strengthen gun rights. Still, Manchin knew, in a culture as steeped in guns as the Mountain State, he was going to pay a price for pushing any increased gun control.” http://bit.ly/14rBIyB
TOM REED LATE ON TAXES 38 TIMES – Jerry Zremski reports for the Buffalo News: “Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican who represents the Southern Tier and serves on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, was late paying his property taxes 38 times between 2005 and this year – including at least 18 times since he joined Congress in late 2010. Tax records from Steuben and Chemung counties, where Reed owns or has owned several properties in addition to his family home, show that Reed has paid $ 3,486.51 in interest and penalties because he has repeatedly been late on his property taxes by a month or two. Told about the late payments, Reed said he was unaware of the scope of them. Noting that he has been involved in many investment properties, sometimes on his own and sometimes with partners, he said he has probably made at least 500 property tax payments since 2005. That being the case, Reed downplayed the importance of the 38 late payments. ‘Obviously we are meeting our obligations,’ Reed said. ‘All the taxes have been paid in full, and we’ll continue to make good on all our obligations. Since there’s so many different entities here, we obviously try to work hard to do it on time, but we can’t guarantee that just like with everything else, something may not happen in the future.’” http://bit.ly/14NwqfY
PETITION DRIVE TO RECALL MAYOR FILNER KICKS OFF – CNN’s Dana Ford reports: “Armed with clipboards and pens, volunteers hit the streets of San Diego over the weekend to collect signatures they hope will lead to the recall of embattled Mayor Bob Filner. They must get more than 101,000 signatures by September 26 ‘We’re going to be everywhere. We’re going to be at sporting events. We’re going to be at street fairs, arts shows — you name it, we will be out there,’ Dave McCulloch, a recall organizer, told CNN affiliate KFMB on Sunday. So far, 16 women have come forward to say that Filner acted inappropriately, with accusations ranging from one woman’s claim that the mayor gave her ‘tush a pat,’ to another woman’s assertion that he ‘put in me what I guess now is the famous headlock.’ Filner’s office has not responded to multiple CNN requests for comment on the allegations. Last month, he acknowledged that he “failed to fully respect the women who work for me and with me” and that he was “embarrassed” by his actions. But he also said he will be vindicated by “a full presentation of the facts” and he will not resign. As part of the recall effort, protesters — including attorney Gloria Allred and some of the women accusing Filner — rallied at City Hall on Sunday, Day 1 of the official recall effort.” http://bit.ly/14VrT29
SCOTT BROWN TALKS 2016 – Hillary Chabot writes for the Boston Herald: “Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown told the Herald he is looking at a possible 2016 presidential bid today as he hit a well-worn stomping ground for Oval Office hopefuls – the Iowa State Fair. “I want to get an indication of whether there’s even an interest, in Massachusetts and throughout the country, if there’s room for a bi-partisan problem solver,” said Brown, who has been meeting with top Republicans nationally and last week hosted a Fenway event for Republican National Committee members. Brown indicated he isn’t close to deciding whether he will run. ‘It’s 2013, I think it’s premature, but I am curious. There’s a lot of good name recognition in the Dakotas and here – that’s pretty good.’” http://bit.ly/1cRQhEJ
FRIDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Tom Flanagin and Robert Edmonson both correctly answered just seconds apart that Lyndon B. Johnson was the only president to have been sworn in by a woman. He was sworn in by Sarah T. Hughes, a federal judge, on Air Force One after the assassination of President Kennedy.
TODAY’S TRIVIA – Paul Doucette reading us from Houston, Texas, has today’s question: Most folks know that Harry Truman became president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. But not many people know what the vice president was doing when he was summoned back to the White House that day. Where was Vice President Truman going when he was summoned back to the White House and which famous Texas politician was he going to visit?
The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.
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Santa’s helpers lend a hand
After giving his annual message, Santa sets off with Rudolph
By Cassius Methyl
