TENTATIVE DEAL IN UKRAINE CRISIS – The New York Times with the breaking news this morning from Kiev: “The government of President Viktor F. Yanukovych announced a tentative resolution on Friday to a crisis that has brought days of bloodshed to Ukraine. The agreement, which has yet to be signed, was announced after all-night talks with opposition leaders, Russian representatives and the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France. In a statement later on his website, Mr. Yanukovych said he would call early presidential elections, form a coalition and reduce presidential powers through constitutional reforms. Any deal that does not include the president’s departure, however, is unlikely to get very far with protesters and it was uncertain whether, in the event of a final deal, the protest movement’s political leadership could deliver the support of an angry base comprising many different groups and factions.
–“Opposition representatives did not immediately comment on the tentative agreement or the president’s apparent concessions but leaders of the demonstrators on Independence Square called for their supporters to remain calm and avoid provoking the security forces. Previous settlements and truces have broken down several times, though those previous deals were not reached with the high-level involvement of European Union and Russian mediators, as was the case in the overnight talks Friday. The statement from Mr. Yanukovych’s office said the talks had been ‘very difficult.’ The statement said negotiators had agreed to initial an agreement to ‘settle the crisis,’ without elaborating, and that a settlement would be signed later on Friday.” http://goo.gl/HV1YC6
–The Hill’s Julian Pecquet has the details of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) plan for Ukrainian sanctions, announced Thursday evening: http://goo.gl/54aFqE
OBAMA DROPS CHAINED CPI FROM BUDGET – The Washington Post’s Zachary Goldfarb: “President Obama’s forthcoming budget request will seek tens of billions of dollars in fresh spending for domestic priorities while abandoning a compromise proposal to tame the national debt in part by trimming Social Security benefits. With the 2015 budget request, Obama will call for an end to the era of austerity that has dogged much of his presidency and to his efforts to find common ground with Republicans. Instead, the president will focus on pumping new cash into job training, early-childhood education and other programs aimed at bolstering the middle class, providing Democrats with a policy blueprint heading into the midterm elections.
–“As part of that strategy, Obama will jettison the framework he unveiled last year for a so-called grand bargain that would have raised taxes on the rich and reined in skyrocketing retirement spending. A centerpiece of that framework was a proposal — demanded by GOP leaders — to use a less-generous measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. The idea infuriated Democrats and never gained much traction with rank-and-file Republicans, who also were unwilling to contemplate tax increases of any kind. On Thursday, administration officials said that the grand-bargain framework remains on the table but that it was time to move on.” http://goo.gl/Zgdma8
A roundup of some congressional reactions on Obama’s proposed budget –
–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.): “President Obama’s budget will be a powerful statement of Democratic principles. The policies it contains will provide a blueprint for creating jobs for the middle class, forging an economy where economic opportunity is shared by all – not just the top one percent – and protecting retirement security. In particular, I commend President Obama for his commitment to keeping Social Security strong, and for rejecting Republican calls to cut badly-needed cost of living increases.
–Brendan Buck, spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio): “This reaffirms what has become all too apparent: the president has no interest in doing anything, even modest, to address our looming debt crisis. The one and only idea the president has to offer is even more job-destroying tax hikes, and that non-starter won’t do anything to save the entitlement programs that are critical to so many Americans. With three years left in office, it seems the president is already throwing in the towel.”
–House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.): “House Democrats have stood behind President Obama’s honest efforts in recent years to forge a bipartisan grand bargain with congressional Republicans. In the course of those negotiations, he put chained CPI on the table as a gesture of good faith; yet Republican leaders were unwilling to budge or close a single unfair tax loophole, and decided to walk away from opportunities to find common ground. Democrats applaud the President for eliminating chained CPI from his budget, and we look forward to working across the aisle to adopt a responsible fiscal framework.”
–Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.): “Americans and the Congressional Progressive Caucus have always known that cutting earned benefits for seniors is unacceptable and that chained CPI is a benefit cut for seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. The CPC applauds the president’s decision and looks forward to hearing more about his budget in the coming days.”
WHITE HOUSE MUM ON DEM IMMIGRATION DISCHARGE PETITION – House Democrats haven’t taken the step yet to try to force a vote on comprehensive immigration reform in their chamber, but the White House is staying quiet on whether the Dems should pull the trigger on a discharge petition, per NBC News’s Luke Russert: “After House GOP leaders all but shelved immigration reform this year, the White House sidestepped questions about whether it backs what’s known as a ‘discharge petition’ to force a vote on a House bill that closely mirrors the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration bill. ‘The president and this administration have committed to taking a step back and giving House Republicans the opportunity to consider a range of proposals … on immigration reform,’ spokesman Josh Earnest said at a daily press briefing. ‘So, we’re going to give House Republicans the opportunity to have some conversations among themselves.’” http://goo.gl/0zvJc5
STEVE KING, STILL NOT APOLOGIZING – The Iowa Republican tells his local newspaper that he doesn’t regret making controversial comments about immigrants – including remarks last summer likening young undocumented immigrants to drug mules – and in fact, says his words have helped change the rhetoric of immigration reform backers like Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Roll Call’s Emma Dumain writes it up: http://goo.gl/DJkBe6
SHADOW CAMPAIGNING FOR GOP LEADERSHIP? – The Washington Examiner’s David Drucker has the palace intrigue behind the jockeying for leadership positions among House Republicans, even as Speaker John Boehner says he has no plans to step down: “[T]here remains considerable speculation that Boehner will retire, and members interested in moving up are quietly exploring their options and laying the foundation for a leadership bid. They include members of Boehner’s team who are eyeing promotions and rank-and-file Republicans looking to win their first elected position in conference leadership. Overt campaigning, considered unseemly and counterproductive at this early stage, could accelerate over the summer. ‘There is definitely a lot of shadow campaigning going on,’ said a Republican lobbyist with relationships on Capitol Hill. ‘They all want to be ready.’
–“The politics of running for a congressional leadership post differ from campaigns for public office. In a leadership election, members are the constituency, and winning is primarily about relationships, favors and fundraising. In other words, members with friends, who have helped boost colleagues’ legislation and campaign coffers, tend to have an edge. That a member might enjoy the support of party activists or influential outside groups usually matters much less. That is one reason why Boehner’s team has been remarkably stable despite the challenges it has faced periodically in rounding up the 218 votes required to pass legislation.” http://goo.gl/wAo7fW
TALK RUSSIA, UKRAINE & THE OLYMPICS with Greg Feifer, POLITICO Magazine contributor of “What Americans Don’t Get About Putin”, in today’s Facebook chat. Read Feifer’s story (http://politi.co/OgNAT7) and ask your questions at www.facebook.com/politico beginning at 9:45 a.m. ET today with live answers from Feifer at 10 a.m. ET.
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GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, FEB. 21, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your-play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections and your sympathies about Yuna Kim not winning the gold medal to skim@politico.com. Your usual Huddle host, Scott Wong (swong@politico.com), returns Monday.
My new followers include @HotlineSteve and @johoeck.
TODAY IN CONGRESS – Nada. Why are you even at work?
AROUND THE HILL – All is quiet. USA-Canada men’s Olympics hockey semifinal starts at noon.
KINGSTON ATTACKS TAXPAYER-FUNDED HEALTH SUBSIDIES, GETS TAXPAYER-FUNDED HEALTH SUBSIDIES – National Journal’s Shane Goldmacher with the scoop: “As Jack Kingston runs for Senate in Georgia, the veteran Republican congressman has needled his GOP primary opponents over the issue of taxpayer-funded health insurance subsidies … [but] Georgia taxpayers are footing as much as 75 percent of the bill for his own health insurance. That’s because Kingston, 58, receives health coverage through a plush package that has allowed him access to a lifetime of subsidized health benefits due to his past service in the Georgia statehouse. Former state legislators pay ‘approximately 25 percent of the cost’ of their health insurance, said Pamela Keene, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Community Health. ‘The rest is paid by the state,’ she said.
–Kingston spokesman Chris Crawford responds: “‘The State of Georgia health care plan is administered [in] Georgia. He has no vote on the rules of the plan and abides by those established by state lawmakers … He chose to stay on the Georgia plan when he first came to Congress because he did not want any part of the Potomac lifestyle.’” http://goo.gl/vqUTHt
LABRADOR FOR SPEAKER? – Buzzfeed’s Kate Nocera profiles the second-term House Republican who everyone seems to have an opinion on: “His allies love him. Labrador’s the smartest guy in the room, they say. Opinionated, principled, trustworthy — a leader. His detractors certainly don’t. Those who bristle at the mention of his name contend he’s misguided at best and self-serving at worst. ‘People aren’t indifferent to him,’ offered one Republican congressman. There’s good reason: Since he was elected to office just three years ago, Labrador’s built up a powerful base among conservatives and has never been shy about speaking his mind. On everything from immigration to the debt ceiling, the conservative wing of the party has tended to look to Labrador as a leader — and he clearly has big ambitions.
–“Does he want to be speaker someday? ‘I don’t think about it that often,’ Labrador replied in an interview with BuzzFeed. He then elaborated, ‘I think a person who is in his second term in the House of Representatives is not qualified to be speaker of the House.’ That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have big plans for this year. Many in the GOP blame the new breed of staunchly conservative members like Labrador for much of the infighting over the last few years, but to hear Labrador tell it, all he’s trying to do is unify the conference. While the legislative load for the rest of the 113th Congress looks light, Labrador says he and other conservatives will be pushing leadership to come up with ‘a bold agenda, putting things on the floor we are for—that unify the party.’” http://goo.gl/hCDDyM
THE NEW TED CRUZ? – Yahoo News’s Chris Moody profiles Rob Maness, the long-shot Louisiana Senate hopeful who’s got a lot of similarities with the Texas conservative firebrand – right down to the same black ostrich-skin cowboy boots: “Maness embraces Cruz’s hard line on federal spending bills. He believes there’s ‘no need to raise the debt ceiling’ under any circumstances. He opposes the Affordable Care Act and Obama’s 2014 strategy of using executive action to get around a deadlocked Congress, saying, ‘I’m with Sen. Cruz on that. It’s completely lawless.’ Both men went to Harvard — Cruz to Harvard Law and Maness to the Kennedy School of Government. Maness even wears black ostrich-skin cowboy boots, just like Cruz’s. And he decries political ambition. ‘Actually, I don’t want to be a senator,’ he told me when we met for coffee recently near Capitol Hill.”
–“Maness has yet to prove himself as a candidate who can dazzle conservative audiences in the same way Cruz did last year. His opponents cast him as less a Cruz mini-me than a more polished version of tea party-backed Texas Reps. Louie Gohmert or Steve Stockman, who has won Internet fame for outlandish comments made during his primary campaign against Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn.” http://goo.gl/CRM2mn
SPEAKING OF STOCKMAN …. – POLITICO’s Katie Glueck writes about how the House Republican’s primary challenge against Cornyn, the second-ranking GOP-er in the Senate, has fizzled out: “It’s a disappointment for many national political watchers who had pulled out the popcorn for this race. Stockman has a penchant for making inflammatory statements — one of his bumper stickers read: ‘If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted.’ In December, he tweeted a picture of a can of ‘liberal tears,’ calling it the ‘best gun lubricant around.’ While that kind of rhetoric resonates with a corner of the GOP base, establishment Republicans trying to avoid intraparty warfare are relieved to see Stockman’s campaign founder. And as Cornyn sails toward the nomination and back to the Senate, even the most ardent Texas tea party activists are distancing themselves from the firebrand congressman — and wishing he would quit saying he’s one of them. ‘I think it’s horrible,’ said JoAnn Fleming, a prominent Texas tea party leader, of Stockman’s campaign. ‘We didn’t support Congressman Stockman, we haven’t had one conversation with him, he is a no-show at events. I’ve made it clear that Stockman’s unwillingness to be honest … disqualifies him from our organization to even consider him.’” http://goo.gl/rWUkzL
MERCURY NEWS CALLS FOR HONDA-KHANNA DEBATE — The San Jose newspaper acknowledges that Honda has not yet declined a debate against primary challenger Ro Khanna, but it’s still putting the pressure on the House Democrat: “The seven-term Democratic congressman and many of his colleagues are shocked, shocked that a young upstart Democrat is challenging him. It just isn’t done. And it’s not unusual for an incumbent, with that huge built-in advantage, to avoid events that would bring attention to a challenger. But declining to debate is wrong. It shows a fundamental disrespect for the democratic system and ultimately for voters. It was wrong when Sen. Dianne Feinstein stiffed her token Republican opponent in 2012. It’s worse for Honda, who faces a legitimate opponent in Khanna, a former Obama administration trade official whose campaign is getting national attention and raising tons of money. Honda technically has not refused to debate. He just hasn’t accepted any invitations — including (full disclosure here) one from this newspaper and the Santa Clara County League of Women Voters for a forum in Milpitas. His campaign manager said Wednesday no decisions have been made.” http://goo.gl/Om9vXz
‘HOUSE OF CARDS’ TO MARYLAND: WE NEED MORE TAX CREDITS – The Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson: “In his letter to [Maryland Gov. Martin] O’Malley, Charlie Goldstein, a Media Rights Capital senior vice president, wrote that the filming schedule for Season 3 has been pushed back to June to ensure that a big enough increase has been approved. ‘In the meantime I wanted you to be aware that we are required to look at other states in which to film on the off chance that the legislation does not pass, or does not cover the amount of tax credits for which we would qualify,’ the letter says. ‘I am sure you can understand that we would not be responsible financiers and a successful production company if we did not have viable options available.’ The letter does not specify the amount of tax credits the show is seeking. Last year, lawmakers increased the total allocation for film tax credits to $ 25 million, which made the larger credits for the first two seasons of “House of Cards” possible. But lawmakers are divided on whether it is prudent to continue giving away that much tax revenue.” http://goo.gl/Slcfzt
THURSDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Sean Neary of Edelman (and Baucus/Conrad alum) was the first to correctly respond that Jill Docking, the likely Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Kansas, has a husband (Tom) who previously served as lieutenant governor and his father (Robert) and grandfather (George) both served as governors of the state.
TODAY’S TRIVIA – Neary (still reeling from Wednesday night’s Boston College upset over previously undefeated Syracuse) offers today’s trivia question: What current Cabinet secretary received his law degree from Boston College? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at skim@politico.com.
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