CAMP PLAN: GOP BORROWS DEMS’ IDEAS ON TAX REFORM – POLITICO’s Zachary Warmbrodt, Lauren French, Brian Faler and Kelsey Snell dive into the Camp plan: “House Republicans’ top tax writer is set to offer something unthinkable in virtually any other context: a big new tax on the wealthy. A proposal slated to be released this week by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp will include a special surcharge on the wealthy, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. The surtax and a new bank tax that lobbyists are widely expecting both sound like proposals Democrats have repeatedly offered in recent years, drawing scoffs from Republicans.
– “The Camp plan narrows tax brackets and cuts the top individual and corporate rate to 25 percent but includes a special 10 percent surtax on joint income more than $ 450,000, according to the document, confirmed by a Republican aide. The wealthiest individuals now face a top tax rate of about 40 percent, while the top corporate rate is about 35 percent to make the difficult math behind any reform work, and it would have the added political bonus of allowing him to claim that he’s extending an olive branch to Democrats. … The Michigan Republican is expected to release his long-awaited plan Wednesday.
– “Rumors have swirled in recent days on K Street that big banks and insurers will face a special surcharge, likely 3.5 percent basis points on financial firms with more than $ 500 billion in assets. These two ideas are reminiscent of the administration’s proposed ‘Buffett rule’ on millionaires as well as a proposed bank tax proposed by President Barack Obama in recent years.” http://politi.co/1cmnW4C
– BUT SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL promptly declared that there’s no hope for tax reform this election year. AP: http://strib.mn/MtiINp
– Camp outlined and defended his plan in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today: “The tax code changes in my plan are not intended as a means of raising revenue. If loopholes are closed, Americans should get the benefit by way of lower rates. Tax reform needs to be about strengthening the economy and making the code simpler and fairer. That’s what Republican President Ronald Reagan did when he worked with Democrats in Congress in 1986. We need to get to work and repeat that success.” http://on.wsj.com/1ho9kpD
** Republicans and Democrats finally agree! Congress has bipartisan legislation to repeal Medicare’s broken funding formula. But not if Congress gives up before the March 31 deadline. SGR is the problem; H.R. 4015 and S. 2000 are the solution. FixMedicareNow.org
RUNNING TALLY: About 4 million people have signed up for health coverage under the Obamacare exchanges since Oct. 4, up from 3.3 million at the end of January. POLITICO’s Susan Levine: http://politi.co/1pslhis
PRESIDENT OBAMA, visiting St. Paul, Minn., later today, will call for a four-year, $ 302 billion transportation bill to replace the law that expires at the end of September. Our own Kathryn Wolfe writes: “The White House didn’t say whether Obama will offer a full reauthorization proposal — for the first time in his presidency — or simply a “vision.” But he has been clear recently that he wants to use money from overhauling corporate taxes to make up for chronic shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund’s gasoline tax revenues.” http://politi.co/1frujth
HILL REPORTER MATT LASLO has got something brewin’. He emails Huddle: “We’re hoping to change Washington one sip at a time …” http://billsandbrews.com/
CRUZ GOES AFTER GOP ‘PARTY BOSSES’ … AGAIN – POLITICO’s Manu Raju reports: “Ted Cruz is at it again. Cruz said last fall he wouldn’t raise money for a controversial group attacking fellow Republicans. But the Texas senator has since written a fundraising missive for another conservative group that’s backing the primary challengers to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others. This time, the tea party freshman has helped the lower-profile Madison Project, a political action committee working to defeat McConnell and Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Thad Cochran of Mississippi — and prop up other primary challengers in 2014 midterm races. In the mailer, Cruz asks donors to ‘pull out all the stops’ to elect ‘solid, principled, conservative fighters’ who will ‘not answer to the party bosses in Washington, D.C.’” http://politi.co/1psiLsD
– Meet Amanda Carpenter, Ted Cruz’s Twitter torrent. Roll Call’s Humberto Sanchez: http://bit.ly/1fruswX
CLINTON STUMPS FOR GRIMES – New York Times, A16, “Ex-President Ventures Where Some Might Not,” By Jonathan Martin in Louisville, Ky.: “When Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky’s Democratic Senate candidate, welcomed former President Bill Clinton to a fund-raiser here Tuesday, she offered a rendering of recent political history suited for red-state Democrats: Mr. Clinton’s tenure was showered with praise, former President George W. Bush was mildly scorned, and President Obama was implicitly rebuked. ‘We all know what the problem is: it’s a Washington, D.C., that just doesn’t understand Kentucky,’ Ms. Grimes said. Her gibes at the capital’s ‘dysfunction’ were chiefly aimed at her likely opponent, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, but her nostalgia for the 1990s, when Ms. Grimes was in her teens, and her lament about the present was also aimed at linking herself to Mr. Clinton and distancing herself from Mr. Obama.” http://nyti.ms/OC1L5u
DINGELL HAT TRICK: DEBBIE’S IN – Anna Palmer and Scott Wong report for the hometown paper, with an assist from Seung Min Kim: “The Dingell dynasty dates back to the era of FDR and there’s very little that can stop it from rolling on. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) announced Monday he’s leaving the seat he took over from his father nearly six decades ago. And now his wife, Debbie Dingell, on Friday is planning to announce in the 12th District her candidacy for the open seat, according to a source close to Dingell. Debbie Dingell wasted no time putting together a campaign apparatus, holding a conference call Monday night with her husband’s former aides. She also may sever ties with the American Automotive Policy Council, where she has led the manufacturing arm of the Big Three-backed trade group, according to a source familiar with the situation.
– “Debbie Dingell has huge advantages over nearly any challenger: She will be able to tap into the powerful Dingell machine, her husband’s campaign coffers and a vast network of political operatives and donors. And she’s already got the support of powerful Wolverine State figures like retiring Sen. Carl Levin. …Political observers in Michigan and Washington say she’d be the favorite to win the seat that’s been continuously held by John D. Dingell Sr. and John D. Dingell Jr. since 1933, the year Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House.” http://politi.co/1jzIdZu
NANCY PELOSI AND HOUSE DEMOCRATS today will formally launch a discharge petition to raise the minimum wage to $ 10.10 per hour, Seung Min Kim reports: http://politi.co/NwJ9Th
– This morning at the Capitol, two top White House officials – Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and David Simas, deputy senior advisor for communications and strategy, will brief House Democratic members on the importance of raising the minimum wage to $ 10.10 an hour, a Democratic aide emails Huddle.
– But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed a vote on hiking the minimum wage until March or April, citing scheduling conflicts and GOP obstruction, CBS’s Rebecca Kaplan reports: http://cbsn.ws/1hogTNg
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEB. 26, 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 @LisaMarieBoothe and @tellittoal.
TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. will continue work on the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014. Votes are possible but are not currently scheduled
The House is in at 10 a.m. with first votes expected between 2 and 3 p.m. and last votes expected between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. on the Taxpayer Transparency Act and the Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act. The House will also begin consideration of the All Economic Regulations Are Transparent Act.
AROUND THE HILL – House Democrats huddle at 9 a.m. in HVC-215, though no media availability is planned. Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders hold a post-conference media availability at 10 a.m. in HC-8. Sen. Bob Menendez and other Foreign Relations Committee members meet with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague at 10:30 a.m. in S-116. Sen. Barbara Boxer speaks on the health effects of tar sands and Keystone XL Pipeline at 10:30 a.m. in Dirksen 406. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Donna Edwards, and others participate in a discussion hosted by the National Partnership for Women & Families at 11 a.m. in SVC 212-10.
Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick speaks on executive branch authority at 11 a.m. at the House Triangle. Sens. Chuck Schumer, Chris Murphy, Debbie Stabenow, Barbara Boxer and Sheldon Whitehouse discuss benefits of health care reform at 11:30 a.m. in S-120. House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp unveils his tax reform plan at 1:30 p.m. in HVC Studio A. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and others speak on the minimum wage increase at 2 p.m. in HVC-215. On Thursday morning, Sen. Bob Corker speaks at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel.
CORRECTION: Yesterday’s “Around the Hill” section incorrectly identified the congressman hosting a reception for First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones. Rep. Morgan Griffith and the Congressional Friends of Wales Caucus actually hosted.
PLENTY OF ISSUES, NO BREAKTHROUGHS – Speaker Boehner and President Obama had their first one-on-one meeting in more than a year, the AP’s Jim Kuhnhenn reports: “Disentangled from showdowns or looming crises, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner held a rare one-on-one Oval Office meeting Tuesday addressing potential areas of common ground that could lay a foundation for more ambitious goals like immigration and trade that remain long shots for action this year. … Yet the one-hour session unfolded in an atmosphere in which both sides could benefit from modest bipartisan accomplishments. In addition to trade and immigration, aides said the speaker and Obama also discussed manufacturing, flood insurance, Obama’s health care law, upcoming spending bills, California drought relief, wildfire suppression and a highway construction bill.” http://bit.ly/1o5yL06
GOP ON ARIZONA GAY BILL: MAKE IT GO AWAY – James Hohmann and Burgess Everett report for POLITICO: “As Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer weighs whether to sign a bill that would allow businesses to deny services to gay customers, top national Republicans just want the issue to go away. Proponents of the legislation — which Brewer has until Saturday to sign or veto and is reportedly leaning against — say the bill is designed to protect religious liberty. But many Washington Republicans see it as a political loser, giving the left another cudgel to attack conservatives as intolerant while motivating liberals and younger voters ahead of the midterm elections. It also threatens to widen the chasm between social conservatives and GOP operatives, who have become increasingly public in their support for gay marriage. … ‘I hope she moves quickly,’ [GOP Arizona Sen. Jeff] Flake said. ‘I just don’t see any reason to wait.’” http://politi.co/N29gS5
GOP’S ANSWER TO ‘WAR ON WOMEN’ CHARGE – The New York Times’ Ashley Parker in Tucson, Ariz.: “In Ms. [Martha] McSally, Republicans believe they have found what they hope is the human solution to their gender gap: A woman warrior to help them combat what Democrats have tried to paint as their ‘war on women.’ Ms. McSally, 47, who is favored in her party primary, is also part of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s ‘Project GROW,’ a recruiting and mentoring program designed to promote women and encourage them to run for elected office. … In an interview, Ms. McSally agreed that Republicans ‘have a bad brand’ when it comes to women, but said her candidacy may help. ‘I think certainly having someone like me that comes in, I’ve been spending my whole life breaking stereotypes, and I think I would do it again,’ she said, though added, ‘Just like my time in the military, I’m not running because I’m a woman.’” http://nyti.ms/1c7xUMG
DEMOCRATS’ IMMIGRATION GAMBIT – Seung Min Kim writes for POLITICO: “Though aides say no decision has been made, House Democratic leaders are strategizing on when to deploy what’s known as a discharge petition, which would have to garner a majority of lawmakers’ signatures to force immigration legislation onto the House floor for a vote. Advocates of the gambit are aiming to increase the pressure on Republicans who have so far resisted moving on reform this year. But the pro-reform coalition is split over the timing of the discharge effort — with some urging lawmakers to take it up immediately and others advising them to hold off.” http://politi.co/NvyAjk
FIRST BLACK CONGRESSWOMAN GETS A STAMP – Eli George reports for WIVB in Buffalo, N.Y.: “The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the first African-American Congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm. The USPS is releasing a limited edition Black Heritage Forever Stamp featuring Chisholm, which was unveiled on Tuesday at Forest Lawn Cemetery. She and her husband are both interred there. Those who were close to the Congresswoman say she was a pioneer. Chisholm even made a run at the Democratic nomination for president in 1972.” http://bit.ly/1c7GcUY
TUESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Shelby Boxenbaum was first to correctly answer that Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) is the most senior woman in the House. She ranks 15th overall.
TODAY’S TRIVIA – Roll Call’s David Hawkings points out that Debbie Dingell could make history by becoming the first person in Congress to succeed their living spouse. http://goo.gl/GFa82U Huddle reader Caitlin Gallagher asks: Who was the most recent member of Congress to be succeeded by his spouse? 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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** After years of saying “wait until next year,” Congress finally has bipartisan legislation to repeal Medicare’s broken funding formula. This is the news seniors have been waiting for. But we’re not over the finish line yet. Congress must act by March 31st to avoid another costly temporary patch. Let’s pass H.R. 4015/S. 2000, scrap the broken SGR formula and fix Medicare once and for all! FixMedicareNow.org
