The sequester: 1 month in, New group pulls Reagan into gun debate, NYT: GOP"s "malicious obstruction," Young apologizes for using slur, Graham pitches immigration in S.C.

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(swong@politico.com or @scottwongDC)

THE SEQUESTER: ONE MONTH IN – In a pair of stories, our own Darren Samuelsohn looks at how the Democratic and Republican arguments are playing in the fight over sequestration.

DEMOCRATS are turning to a “law and order” argument: “The public has largely tuned out the Democrats’ repeated warnings about mid-air plane crashes, troop deaths and mass illness from tainted meat if the sequester cuts stay in place. But Democrats aren’t dropping the threat of disaster, seizing now on the line they think can beat the Republicans: law and order. Prison riots, cocaine flooding the streets, terrorists on board airplanes — even hurricanes and tornadoes left undetected by budget-slashed agencies — have moved front and center as Democrats try to get the public behind blaming the Republicans. …

– “The whole thing leaves Democrats looking a little like they’re rooting for bad news— though they insist that they’re only saying what is likely to happen if the money isn’t replenished. ‘A significant event would certainly alter the mindset,’ said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), of the public attitude toward sequester. So to make their case, many of the warnings have taken on the air of emergency, particularly when it comes to public safety. Politically, it could be just as tough a sell as the tainted meat: There have been no reports of anyone purchasing bad products, so it’s hard to convince voters that that’s an immediate and dangerous threat.” http://politi.co/XgmDBW

REPUBLICANS are taking the political high ground: “To figure out why Republicans are winning the sequester wars, look at two numbers. Federal employees have so far taken no furlough days. And the stock market hit an all-time record earlier this month, with the Dow closing Thursday at 14,578. Amid all that, it’s pretty hard for most of the public to understand what the Democrats were talking about, with all their gloom-and-doom chatter earlier this year. But so far, even the White House admits there’s little chance of reversing all the cuts. There’s been no sudden shock to the system. In fact, the economy seems on the mend, with housing starts higher than before the Great Recession.

– “And if this drip-by-drip rollout continues, GOP activists say they’ll keep the political high ground as the cuts slowly sink into the public consciousness — much in the same way people forget that before Sept. 11, they could make a dash for the airport gate without taking off their shoes. ‘For most Americans, they’re not going to notice much of a difference,’ said former House Republican leadership aide John Feehery.” http://politi.co/XgmIFQ

S&P 500 HITS ALL-TIME HIGH: 1,569.19 http://reut.rs/YMlPps

Washington Post, A1, “For federal workforce, furlough terrain is uneven,” By Lisa Rein: “Every U.S. Park Police officer will be off the job for 14 days — but the national parks they patrol will be staffed. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will shut down for seven days starting in May, after concluding that staggering furloughs for 9,000 employees would create too much paperwork. Customs and Border Protection agents are waiting to hear whether the 14 unpaid days they were told to expect will disappear as they did for meat inspectors and federal prison staff. And the Pentagon announced Thursday that it would cut its planned furlough days from 22 to 14. This is the uncertain and uneven landscape of the furloughs that in less than three weeks will begin to affect more than half of the nation’s 2 million federal employees. The budget ax was supposed to fall across the board but hardly does so, federal workers are learning. And the situation is quickly splitting the workforce into haves and have-nots, inflaming labor-management tensions and straining agency resources as everyone struggles through the details. …

–“[L]ate Thursday, as if to underscore the uncertainty, more than 100,000 Justice Department employees learned that they will have to wait until mid-April to find out whether they will be furloughed. They had been told in February to expect 14 unpaid days. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., noting that workers “may be anxious” about lost pay, said Thursday that he needed time to assess the stopgap budget. The Justice Department last Friday eliminated furloughs for more than 3,500 prison staffers.” http://wapo.st/10YyBiO

POLITICO FOR YOUR EARS: The Scrum podcast. David Chalian, Josh Gerstein and Reid Epstein join host Alexander Trowbridge for a discussion on gay marriage at the Supreme Court, Washington’s less-than-breakneck pace on guns, and Ashley Judd’s pass on the Kentucky Senate race.  On POLITICO: http://politi.co/11T4ThF On iTunes: http://bit.ly/ZEA1xo

Obama: ‘SHAME ON US’ IF WE’VE FORGOTTEN NEWTOWN – Kathleen Hennessey writes for the L.A. Times: “Three months after the Newtown, Conn., shooting, President Obama said Americans and lawmakers should be ashamed if they’ve forgotten the calls for tighter gun laws that followed the elementary school massacre. ‘The entire country was shocked, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different,’ Obama said Thursday at the White House. ‘Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten.’ Obama’s remarks were aimed at reviving the stalled momentum for  new gun-control laws, an effort that has been crowded out by other issues and stalled in Congress. Although the Senate is expected to begin voting on a bill when it returns from a recess the week of April 8, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has not yet struck a deal on key details and lawmakers have said that major provisions backed by the president – bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – will not be included in the package, although it will be proposed as an amendment. … Obama’s remarks, his first extended comments on the subject in more than a month, came on a “day of action” coordinated by gun-control advocates trying to keep the pressure on lawmakers.” http://lat.ms/163itfk

FIRST LOOK: NEW GROUP BRINGS REAGAN INTO GUN DEBATE – United Network of Rational Americans, or “The UNRA” (pronounced UN-R.A.) — a new online advocacy group for gun owners who back the 2nd Amendment as well as universal background checks, is out today with a YouTube video marking the 32^ND anniversary (Saturday) of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. UNRA suggests Reagan would have supported universal background checks, citing an op-ed he wrote in 1991 in favor of the Brady law, which required limited background checks for firearm purchases. Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/l5ZULLbEwMY Read the 1991 NYT op-ed here: http://nyti.ms/YjG0ZF

VOTEVETS.ORG IS SPENDING $ 150,000 on a new TV ad, pressuring lawmakers in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and North Dakota to support background checks. The ad features Iraq War Veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Glenn Kunkel, who fires an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at a mannequin, displaying the power of the weapon.  “I had to pass a background check to join the Marine Corps, before I could carry a weapon similar to this one in Iraq.  Here at home, anyone can purchase this weapon, no questions asked,” Kunkel says.  He then fires off a number of rounds into a water-filled mannequin, which explodes with each hit. “I support the Second Amendment, but we’ve seen what can happen when these fall into the wrong hands,” he continues with images of the Sandy Hook Elementary memorial.  “I needed a background check to carry similar weapons in combat.  We should require the same here at home.” Watch here: http://youtu.be/l5ZULLbEwMY

NYT LEAD EDITORIAL: ‘MALICIOUS OBSTRUCTION IN THE SENATE’ – “Earlier this month, during one of his new across-the-aisle good-will tours, President Obama pleaded with Senate Republicans to ease up on their record number of filibusters of his nominees. He might as well have been talking to one of the statues in the Capitol. Republicans have made it clear that erecting hurdles for Mr. Obama is, if anything, their overriding legislative goal. There is no historical precedent for the number of cabinet-level nominees that Republicans have blocked or delayed in the Obama administration. Chuck Hagel became the first defense secretary nominee ever filibustered. John Brennan, the C.I.A. director, was the subject of an epic filibuster by Senator Rand Paul. … Jacob Lew, the Treasury secretary, was barraged with 444 written questions, mostly from Republicans … Gina McCarthy, the nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, is being blocked by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri until he gets the answers he wants on a local levee project. And Thomas Perez, nominated to be labor secretary, is being held up by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who is angry about the Justice Department’s enforcement of voting rights laws. By comparison, there were four filibusters of cabinet-level positions during George W. Bush’s two terms, and one under President Ronald Reagan. …

– “Last week, Caitlin Halligan, another appeals court nominee, had to withdraw from consideration after Republicans filibustered her for the second time, on the flimsy pretext that she was a legal activist. Republicans clearly don’t want any of Mr. Obama’s judges on the important United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to which she was nominated, and the president needs to be more aggressive about filling the four vacancies on the court. Republicans clearly have no interest in dropping their favorite pastime, but Democrats could put a stop to this malicious behavior by changing the Senate rules and prohibiting, at long last, all filibusters on nominations.” http://nyti.ms/ZGZOFl

A message from POWERJOBS.com: New jobs this week: Manager Communications & Media Relations at National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Executive Director at Leadership Prince William, and Sr. Policy Analyst at Committee for Responsible Federal Budget. Apply for these and see more top jobs from the area’s top employers at POWERJOBS.com today. POWERJOBS: Empowering Today’s Top Talent. **

IT’S GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013. 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.

My new followers include @gClayatMCT and @DeDufresne.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House and Senate are in recess this week and next week.

AROUND THE HILL – Join POLITICO at 8 a.m. on April 9 as our Chief Economic Correspondent Ben White takes his daily newsletter live for the first-ever Morning Money Breakfast Briefing featuring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). RSVP here: http://bit.ly/Zr2aEJ

GUEST-WORKER DISPUTE COULD DELAY IMMIGRATION BILL – David Nakamura writes on A1 of the Washington Post: “A worsening dispute over a new guest-worker program has emerged as the most serious obstacle to a bipartisan deal on immigration, threatening to delay the unveiling of a Senate bill early next month. The impasse has prompted a bitter round of name-calling between labor and business groups, which accuse each other of imperiling comprehensive immigration reform. The Obama administration has remained on the sidelines as the standoff has worsened, calculating that the president would risk alienating Republican senators crucial to the process. … The guest-worker issue helped derail the last serious attempt at reform in 2007 with assistance from Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois. The current attempt at reform is being led by a bipartisan group of eight senators, who are attempting to fashion model legislation for a broad immigration overhaul.” http://wapo.st/YjCwWQ

YOUNG: ‘I MEANT NO DISRESPECT’ FOR USING TERM ‘WETBACKS’ – Katie Glueck writes for POLITICO: “‘My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,’ [Rep. Don] Young, an Alaska Republican, told a local radio station in a story posted Thursday. ‘It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.’ Young’s comments came as part of a wide-ranging interview in which he slammed regulations and offered his own prescriptions for the economy. The word ‘wetback’ is a slur often used to refer to undocumented immigrants, especially those from Mexico. ‘During a sit-down interview with Ketchikan Public Radio this week, I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California,’ he said later Thursday, according to reports. ‘I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays, and I meant no disrespect.’” http://politi.co/YXu8YP His full interview with KRBD is here: http://bit.ly/XgxKef

CRAIG LOSES MAJOR BATTLE AGAINST FEC – Steven Dennis in Roll Call: “A federal judge has refused to dismiss a suit in which former Sen. Larry E. Craig is accused of improperly using campaign funds in a quest to vacate his guilty plea in a Minnesota airport bathroom sting. The Federal Election Commission contends the Idaho Republican violated federal law by using $ 200,000 in campaign funds for his legal defense. After CQ Roll Call revealed in 2007 that he had been arrested and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, Craig attempted to change his plea. He also ended up retiring from Congress as a result of the scandal. The judge didn’t buy Craig’s contention that his travel to the airport restroom was a part of his official duties because he was en route to his state, and therefore he was entitled to use his campaign account.” http://bit.ly/14sZoXy

BOSTIC HITS SANFORD ON PERSONAL LIFE – Alex Isenstadt reports from Charleston, S.C.: “Underdog South Carolina Republican congressional hopeful Curtis Bostic mounted a last-ditch bid on Thursday night to halt former Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s momentum, calling him politically damaged and saying he would risk losing the seat to a Democrat in the general election. Appearing in a debate at the Porter-Gaud School here ahead of Tuesday’s special runoff election, Bostic launched his most aggressive assault on Sanford’s personal life yet, telling the Republican crowd, ‘A compromised candidate is not what we need.’ ‘Democrats,’ he said, ‘are excited at the possibility of taking this seat back.’

– “Bostic, a former Charleston County councilman who has long been active in the South Carolina evangelical community and the homeschooling movement, had avoided discussing Sanford’s home life until now. The exchange came up about an hour into the nearly 90-minute debate, the first of three faceoffs before Tuesday. Voters, Bostic had said in recent weeks, were already well aware of the events of June 2009, when Sanford lied about and then admitted to having an affair with an Argentine woman — an episode that splintered the former governor’s family life and dashed his presidential ambitions. But with polls showing Bostic heading into the final days as the decided underdog against the better-known and better-funded Sanford, the former councilman turned up the heat. ‘Trust is a central issue,’ he said. ‘In fact, it’s become a central issue in this race.’” http://politi.co/14zTa8F

GRAHAM TRIES TO SELL IMMIGRATION REFORM … IN S.C. – Julie Hirschfeld Davis writes for Bloomberg: “It’s just after lunchtime at the Lexington, South Carolina Chick-Fil-A, and Stephen Lewis is giving U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham a piece of his mind about undocumented immigrants. ‘Why can’t they understand the word ‘illegal?’’ Lewis, a 72-year-old retired Marine, asks Graham on March 26 as the senator swings by his table to shake hands. ‘They’re not undocumented workers, they’re illegal folks in this country, and if you’re illegal doing anything, then you should be punished and made to pay for it.’ It’s a familiar gripe to Graham. A second-term Republican, he has long led the effort in Washington to allow undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., currently estimated to number about 11 million, a chance to become citizens as part of a broad immigration rewrite.

– “Now as Graham, 57, teams with three other Republicans and four Democrats to finalize such a bill, he is working to answer the complaints of South Carolina voters while keeping an eye on any potential Republican primary challenge to his re-election next year. ‘There’s a sea change happening in the Republican Party on this, and I see it here,’ Graham says in an interview as sips Coke Zero while riding from his Columbia office to Mrs. B’s Southern Kitchen to greet voters. ‘If I can sell it in South Carolina, don’t come to me and say it’s hard. This is a conservative state, and the way we’re selling it is to fix it.’ With Congress on a two-week vacation, Graham is traveling his skeptical state as aides to the so-called “Gang of Eight” senators haggle over the specifics in Washington. The Senate group is pushing to unveil its measure the week of April 8.” http://bloom.bg/XnwmFT

–Meanwhile, anti-illegal immigrant group NumbersUSA blasted an “urgent action alert” to its 31,000 South Carolina members asking them to “turn up the temperature on Graham,” Roll Call’s Humberto Sanchez reports. http://bit.ly/XgDtkl

SCHWARTZ PLANS RUN FOR PA. GOVERNOR – POLITICO’s Jonathan Allen has the story: “Rep. Allyson Schwartz has decided to run for governor of Pennsylvania, joining a developing field of Democratic candidates who believe they can beat Gov. Tom Corbett in 2014. Emboldened by a private primary poll commissioned by EMILY’s List, Schwartz has hired Obama campaign veteran Reesa Kossoff as communications director for her political operation and plans to open a state-level campaign account early next month, a source close to the five-term congresswoman said.” http://politi.co/14z0Sjl

JOBS ACT FALLS SHORT OF PROMISES – Dina ElBoghdady writes for WaPo: “When lawmakers unveiled the carefully named Jobs Act a year ago, backers expected it to get caught up in the typical grind of Capitol Hill: vigorous debate followed by a long wait for a vote that might never happen. Instead, the legislation sailed through — perhaps too fast. Even supporters say they expected more time to work out the kinks in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which aimed to help small, private firms raise money and grow so they could hire more workers. Now, nearly a year after its enactment, major portions of the act are in limbo, and other parts have failed to measure up to the grandiose job-creation promises. The act underscores how difficult it can be for Washington to spur job creation, even when there’s strong bipartisan consensus on a plan. President Obama hailed it in a Rose Garden ceremony as ‘exactly the kind of bipartisan action needed’ to help the economy. Republicans claimed it as their own. The measure came together months before last year’s election, making it politically difficult to resist a proposal that promised to yield jobs.” http://wapo.st/XgDftj

BOEHNER MEMO: GOP’S HAD A FEW GOOD MONTHS – Jake Sherman writes for POLITICO: “House Speaker John Boehner congratulated himself, and fellow Republicans, on a few good months in a memo sent to his conference on Thursday. But the speaker didn’t outline a roadmap for what could be a rocky few months ahead. Looking back, Boehner (R-Ohio) complimented Republicans for successfully handling certain potentially explosive issues: passing a budget that balances in 10 years; avoided raising taxes to blunt sharp government spending cuts; and a Senate-passed nonbinding measure to build the Keystone XL pipeline. But the memo didn’t mention anything about upcoming fights that might hike the nation’s debt limit, a topic of slight obsession among most GOP lawmakers. Not a word on immigration reform, overhauling gun laws or same-sex marriage — issues splashed across the front pages of most newspapers across America.” http://politi.co/ZCC6dk

THURSDAY’S TRIVIA – Tom Saleeby was first to correctly answer that the late Rep. Mo Udall of Arizona also played professional basketball and ran for president, only to drop out during the Democratic primary. He played with the Denver Nuggets.

Huddle also gives a shout out to Sandy Maisel, a professor of government at Maine’s Colby Colllege who also got the right answer – just 12 hours late. We think she had a pretty good excuse: She was “under for back surgery.”

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Tom Saleeby has today’s question: Steve Kornacki replaces Chris Hayes as host of MSNBC’s “Up” this weekend.  In his first political performance as an 11-year-old, what gubernatorial candidate did Kornacki portray in his elementary school’s mock debate? First 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/

** A message from POWERJOBS.com: Looking to make a career move? Start your search at POWERJOBS.com. Featuring positions from the area’s top employers, including US Chamber of Commerce, Northrop Grumman, Hickory Ground Solutions, Virginia Hospital Center, CACI, SAIC Frederick, Landon IP and more. Using POWERJOBS.com is free and easy. Sign in using your Facebook account, upload your resume using your LinkedIn profile, search jobs by industry and set up job-specific email alerts. Get started now at POWERJOBS.com. POWERJOBS: Finally, a career site made for YOU.**

POLITICO – Top 10 – The Huddle

The sequester: 1 month in, New group pulls Reagan into gun debate, NYT: GOP"s "malicious obstruction," Young apologizes for using slur, Graham pitches immigration in S.C.

The sequester: 1 month in, New group pulls Reagan into gun debate, NYT: GOP"s "malicious obstruction," Young apologizes for using slur, Graham pitches immigration in S.C.

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(swong@politico.com or @scottwongDC)

THE SEQUESTER: ONE MONTH IN – In a pair of stories, our own Darren Samuelsohn looks at how the Democratic and Republican arguments are playing in the fight over sequestration.

DEMOCRATS are turning to a “law and order” argument: “The public has largely tuned out the Democrats’ repeated warnings about mid-air plane crashes, troop deaths and mass illness from tainted meat if the sequester cuts stay in place. But Democrats aren’t dropping the threat of disaster, seizing now on the line they think can beat the Republicans: law and order. Prison riots, cocaine flooding the streets, terrorists on board airplanes — even hurricanes and tornadoes left undetected by budget-slashed agencies — have moved front and center as Democrats try to get the public behind blaming the Republicans. …

– “The whole thing leaves Democrats looking a little like they’re rooting for bad news— though they insist that they’re only saying what is likely to happen if the money isn’t replenished. ‘A significant event would certainly alter the mindset,’ said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), of the public attitude toward sequester. So to make their case, many of the warnings have taken on the air of emergency, particularly when it comes to public safety. Politically, it could be just as tough a sell as the tainted meat: There have been no reports of anyone purchasing bad products, so it’s hard to convince voters that that’s an immediate and dangerous threat.” http://politi.co/XgmDBW

REPUBLICANS are taking the political high ground: “To figure out why Republicans are winning the sequester wars, look at two numbers. Federal employees have so far taken no furlough days. And the stock market hit an all-time record earlier this month, with the Dow closing Thursday at 14,578. Amid all that, it’s pretty hard for most of the public to understand what the Democrats were talking about, with all their gloom-and-doom chatter earlier this year. But so far, even the White House admits there’s little chance of reversing all the cuts. There’s been no sudden shock to the system. In fact, the economy seems on the mend, with housing starts higher than before the Great Recession.

– “And if this drip-by-drip rollout continues, GOP activists say they’ll keep the political high ground as the cuts slowly sink into the public consciousness — much in the same way people forget that before Sept. 11, they could make a dash for the airport gate without taking off their shoes. ‘For most Americans, they’re not going to notice much of a difference,’ said former House Republican leadership aide John Feehery.” http://politi.co/XgmIFQ

S&P 500 HITS ALL-TIME HIGH: 1,569.19 http://reut.rs/YMlPps

Washington Post, A1, “For federal workforce, furlough terrain is uneven,” By Lisa Rein: “Every U.S. Park Police officer will be off the job for 14 days — but the national parks they patrol will be staffed. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will shut down for seven days starting in May, after concluding that staggering furloughs for 9,000 employees would create too much paperwork. Customs and Border Protection agents are waiting to hear whether the 14 unpaid days they were told to expect will disappear as they did for meat inspectors and federal prison staff. And the Pentagon announced Thursday that it would cut its planned furlough days from 22 to 14. This is the uncertain and uneven landscape of the furloughs that in less than three weeks will begin to affect more than half of the nation’s 2 million federal employees. The budget ax was supposed to fall across the board but hardly does so, federal workers are learning. And the situation is quickly splitting the workforce into haves and have-nots, inflaming labor-management tensions and straining agency resources as everyone struggles through the details. …

–“[L]ate Thursday, as if to underscore the uncertainty, more than 100,000 Justice Department employees learned that they will have to wait until mid-April to find out whether they will be furloughed. They had been told in February to expect 14 unpaid days. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., noting that workers “may be anxious” about lost pay, said Thursday that he needed time to assess the stopgap budget. The Justice Department last Friday eliminated furloughs for more than 3,500 prison staffers.” http://wapo.st/10YyBiO

POLITICO FOR YOUR EARS: The Scrum podcast. David Chalian, Josh Gerstein and Reid Epstein join host Alexander Trowbridge for a discussion on gay marriage at the Supreme Court, Washington’s less-than-breakneck pace on guns, and Ashley Judd’s pass on the Kentucky Senate race.  On POLITICO: http://politi.co/11T4ThF On iTunes: http://bit.ly/ZEA1xo

Obama: ‘SHAME ON US’ IF WE’VE FORGOTTEN NEWTOWN – Kathleen Hennessey writes for the L.A. Times: “Three months after the Newtown, Conn., shooting, President Obama said Americans and lawmakers should be ashamed if they’ve forgotten the calls for tighter gun laws that followed the elementary school massacre. ‘The entire country was shocked, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different,’ Obama said Thursday at the White House. ‘Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten.’ Obama’s remarks were aimed at reviving the stalled momentum for  new gun-control laws, an effort that has been crowded out by other issues and stalled in Congress. Although the Senate is expected to begin voting on a bill when it returns from a recess the week of April 8, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has not yet struck a deal on key details and lawmakers have said that major provisions backed by the president – bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – will not be included in the package, although it will be proposed as an amendment. … Obama’s remarks, his first extended comments on the subject in more than a month, came on a “day of action” coordinated by gun-control advocates trying to keep the pressure on lawmakers.” http://lat.ms/163itfk

FIRST LOOK: NEW GROUP BRINGS REAGAN INTO GUN DEBATE – United Network of Rational Americans, or “The UNRA” (pronounced UN-R.A.) — a new online advocacy group for gun owners who back the 2nd Amendment as well as universal background checks, is out today with a YouTube video marking the 32^ND anniversary (Saturday) of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. UNRA suggests Reagan would have supported universal background checks, citing an op-ed he wrote in 1991 in favor of the Brady law, which required limited background checks for firearm purchases. Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/l5ZULLbEwMY Read the 1991 NYT op-ed here: http://nyti.ms/YjG0ZF

VOTEVETS.ORG IS SPENDING $ 150,000 on a new TV ad, pressuring lawmakers in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and North Dakota to support background checks. The ad features Iraq War Veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Glenn Kunkel, who fires an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at a mannequin, displaying the power of the weapon.  “I had to pass a background check to join the Marine Corps, before I could carry a weapon similar to this one in Iraq.  Here at home, anyone can purchase this weapon, no questions asked,” Kunkel says.  He then fires off a number of rounds into a water-filled mannequin, which explodes with each hit. “I support the Second Amendment, but we’ve seen what can happen when these fall into the wrong hands,” he continues with images of the Sandy Hook Elementary memorial.  “I needed a background check to carry similar weapons in combat.  We should require the same here at home.” Watch here: http://youtu.be/l5ZULLbEwMY

NYT LEAD EDITORIAL: ‘MALICIOUS OBSTRUCTION IN THE SENATE’ – “Earlier this month, during one of his new across-the-aisle good-will tours, President Obama pleaded with Senate Republicans to ease up on their record number of filibusters of his nominees. He might as well have been talking to one of the statues in the Capitol. Republicans have made it clear that erecting hurdles for Mr. Obama is, if anything, their overriding legislative goal. There is no historical precedent for the number of cabinet-level nominees that Republicans have blocked or delayed in the Obama administration. Chuck Hagel became the first defense secretary nominee ever filibustered. John Brennan, the C.I.A. director, was the subject of an epic filibuster by Senator Rand Paul. … Jacob Lew, the Treasury secretary, was barraged with 444 written questions, mostly from Republicans … Gina McCarthy, the nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, is being blocked by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri until he gets the answers he wants on a local levee project. And Thomas Perez, nominated to be labor secretary, is being held up by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who is angry about the Justice Department’s enforcement of voting rights laws. By comparison, there were four filibusters of cabinet-level positions during George W. Bush’s two terms, and one under President Ronald Reagan. …

– “Last week, Caitlin Halligan, another appeals court nominee, had to withdraw from consideration after Republicans filibustered her for the second time, on the flimsy pretext that she was a legal activist. Republicans clearly don’t want any of Mr. Obama’s judges on the important United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to which she was nominated, and the president needs to be more aggressive about filling the four vacancies on the court. Republicans clearly have no interest in dropping their favorite pastime, but Democrats could put a stop to this malicious behavior by changing the Senate rules and prohibiting, at long last, all filibusters on nominations.” http://nyti.ms/ZGZOFl

A message from POWERJOBS.com: New jobs this week: Manager Communications & Media Relations at National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Executive Director at Leadership Prince William, and Sr. Policy Analyst at Committee for Responsible Federal Budget. Apply for these and see more top jobs from the area’s top employers at POWERJOBS.com today. POWERJOBS: Empowering Today’s Top Talent. **

IT’S GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013. 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.

My new followers include @gClayatMCT and @DeDufresne.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House and Senate are in recess this week and next week.

AROUND THE HILL – Join POLITICO at 8 a.m. on April 9 as our Chief Economic Correspondent Ben White takes his daily newsletter live for the first-ever Morning Money Breakfast Briefing featuring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). RSVP here: http://bit.ly/Zr2aEJ

GUEST-WORKER DISPUTE COULD DELAY IMMIGRATION BILL – David Nakamura writes on A1 of the Washington Post: “A worsening dispute over a new guest-worker program has emerged as the most serious obstacle to a bipartisan deal on immigration, threatening to delay the unveiling of a Senate bill early next month. The impasse has prompted a bitter round of name-calling between labor and business groups, which accuse each other of imperiling comprehensive immigration reform. The Obama administration has remained on the sidelines as the standoff has worsened, calculating that the president would risk alienating Republican senators crucial to the process. … The guest-worker issue helped derail the last serious attempt at reform in 2007 with assistance from Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois. The current attempt at reform is being led by a bipartisan group of eight senators, who are attempting to fashion model legislation for a broad immigration overhaul.” http://wapo.st/YjCwWQ

YOUNG: ‘I MEANT NO DISRESPECT’ FOR USING TERM ‘WETBACKS’ – Katie Glueck writes for POLITICO: “‘My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,’ [Rep. Don] Young, an Alaska Republican, told a local radio station in a story posted Thursday. ‘It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.’ Young’s comments came as part of a wide-ranging interview in which he slammed regulations and offered his own prescriptions for the economy. The word ‘wetback’ is a slur often used to refer to undocumented immigrants, especially those from Mexico. ‘During a sit-down interview with Ketchikan Public Radio this week, I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California,’ he said later Thursday, according to reports. ‘I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays, and I meant no disrespect.’” http://politi.co/YXu8YP His full interview with KRBD is here: http://bit.ly/XgxKef

CRAIG LOSES MAJOR BATTLE AGAINST FEC – Steven Dennis in Roll Call: “A federal judge has refused to dismiss a suit in which former Sen. Larry E. Craig is accused of improperly using campaign funds in a quest to vacate his guilty plea in a Minnesota airport bathroom sting. The Federal Election Commission contends the Idaho Republican violated federal law by using $ 200,000 in campaign funds for his legal defense. After CQ Roll Call revealed in 2007 that he had been arrested and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, Craig attempted to change his plea. He also ended up retiring from Congress as a result of the scandal. The judge didn’t buy Craig’s contention that his travel to the airport restroom was a part of his official duties because he was en route to his state, and therefore he was entitled to use his campaign account.” http://bit.ly/14sZoXy

BOSTIC HITS SANFORD ON PERSONAL LIFE – Alex Isenstadt reports from Charleston, S.C.: “Underdog South Carolina Republican congressional hopeful Curtis Bostic mounted a last-ditch bid on Thursday night to halt former Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s momentum, calling him politically damaged and saying he would risk losing the seat to a Democrat in the general election. Appearing in a debate at the Porter-Gaud School here ahead of Tuesday’s special runoff election, Bostic launched his most aggressive assault on Sanford’s personal life yet, telling the Republican crowd, ‘A compromised candidate is not what we need.’ ‘Democrats,’ he said, ‘are excited at the possibility of taking this seat back.’

– “Bostic, a former Charleston County councilman who has long been active in the South Carolina evangelical community and the homeschooling movement, had avoided discussing Sanford’s home life until now. The exchange came up about an hour into the nearly 90-minute debate, the first of three faceoffs before Tuesday. Voters, Bostic had said in recent weeks, were already well aware of the events of June 2009, when Sanford lied about and then admitted to having an affair with an Argentine woman — an episode that splintered the former governor’s family life and dashed his presidential ambitions. But with polls showing Bostic heading into the final days as the decided underdog against the better-known and better-funded Sanford, the former councilman turned up the heat. ‘Trust is a central issue,’ he said. ‘In fact, it’s become a central issue in this race.’” http://politi.co/14zTa8F

GRAHAM TRIES TO SELL IMMIGRATION REFORM … IN S.C. – Julie Hirschfeld Davis writes for Bloomberg: “It’s just after lunchtime at the Lexington, South Carolina Chick-Fil-A, and Stephen Lewis is giving U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham a piece of his mind about undocumented immigrants. ‘Why can’t they understand the word ‘illegal?’’ Lewis, a 72-year-old retired Marine, asks Graham on March 26 as the senator swings by his table to shake hands. ‘They’re not undocumented workers, they’re illegal folks in this country, and if you’re illegal doing anything, then you should be punished and made to pay for it.’ It’s a familiar gripe to Graham. A second-term Republican, he has long led the effort in Washington to allow undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., currently estimated to number about 11 million, a chance to become citizens as part of a broad immigration rewrite.

– “Now as Graham, 57, teams with three other Republicans and four Democrats to finalize such a bill, he is working to answer the complaints of South Carolina voters while keeping an eye on any potential Republican primary challenge to his re-election next year. ‘There’s a sea change happening in the Republican Party on this, and I see it here,’ Graham says in an interview as sips Coke Zero while riding from his Columbia office to Mrs. B’s Southern Kitchen to greet voters. ‘If I can sell it in South Carolina, don’t come to me and say it’s hard. This is a conservative state, and the way we’re selling it is to fix it.’ With Congress on a two-week vacation, Graham is traveling his skeptical state as aides to the so-called “Gang of Eight” senators haggle over the specifics in Washington. The Senate group is pushing to unveil its measure the week of April 8.” http://bloom.bg/XnwmFT

–Meanwhile, anti-illegal immigrant group NumbersUSA blasted an “urgent action alert” to its 31,000 South Carolina members asking them to “turn up the temperature on Graham,” Roll Call’s Humberto Sanchez reports. http://bit.ly/XgDtkl

SCHWARTZ PLANS RUN FOR PA. GOVERNOR – POLITICO’s Jonathan Allen has the story: “Rep. Allyson Schwartz has decided to run for governor of Pennsylvania, joining a developing field of Democratic candidates who believe they can beat Gov. Tom Corbett in 2014. Emboldened by a private primary poll commissioned by EMILY’s List, Schwartz has hired Obama campaign veteran Reesa Kossoff as communications director for her political operation and plans to open a state-level campaign account early next month, a source close to the five-term congresswoman said.” http://politi.co/14z0Sjl

JOBS ACT FALLS SHORT OF PROMISES – Dina ElBoghdady writes for WaPo: “When lawmakers unveiled the carefully named Jobs Act a year ago, backers expected it to get caught up in the typical grind of Capitol Hill: vigorous debate followed by a long wait for a vote that might never happen. Instead, the legislation sailed through — perhaps too fast. Even supporters say they expected more time to work out the kinks in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which aimed to help small, private firms raise money and grow so they could hire more workers. Now, nearly a year after its enactment, major portions of the act are in limbo, and other parts have failed to measure up to the grandiose job-creation promises. The act underscores how difficult it can be for Washington to spur job creation, even when there’s strong bipartisan consensus on a plan. President Obama hailed it in a Rose Garden ceremony as ‘exactly the kind of bipartisan action needed’ to help the economy. Republicans claimed it as their own. The measure came together months before last year’s election, making it politically difficult to resist a proposal that promised to yield jobs.” http://wapo.st/XgDftj

BOEHNER MEMO: GOP’S HAD A FEW GOOD MONTHS – Jake Sherman writes for POLITICO: “House Speaker John Boehner congratulated himself, and fellow Republicans, on a few good months in a memo sent to his conference on Thursday. But the speaker didn’t outline a roadmap for what could be a rocky few months ahead. Looking back, Boehner (R-Ohio) complimented Republicans for successfully handling certain potentially explosive issues: passing a budget that balances in 10 years; avoided raising taxes to blunt sharp government spending cuts; and a Senate-passed nonbinding measure to build the Keystone XL pipeline. But the memo didn’t mention anything about upcoming fights that might hike the nation’s debt limit, a topic of slight obsession among most GOP lawmakers. Not a word on immigration reform, overhauling gun laws or same-sex marriage — issues splashed across the front pages of most newspapers across America.” http://politi.co/ZCC6dk

THURSDAY’S TRIVIA – Tom Saleeby was first to correctly answer that the late Rep. Mo Udall of Arizona also played professional basketball and ran for president, only to drop out during the Democratic primary. He played with the Denver Nuggets.

Huddle also gives a shout out to Sandy Maisel, a professor of government at Maine’s Colby Colllege who also got the right answer – just 12 hours late. We think she had a pretty good excuse: She was “under for back surgery.”

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Tom Saleeby has today’s question: Steve Kornacki replaces Chris Hayes as host of MSNBC’s “Up” this weekend.  In his first political performance as an 11-year-old, what gubernatorial candidate did Kornacki portray in his elementary school’s mock debate? First 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/

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POLITICO – Top 10 – The Huddle

The sequester: 1 month in, New group pulls Reagan into gun debate, NYT: GOP"s "malicious obstruction," Young apologizes for using slur, Graham pitches immigration in S.C.

Is Obama overplaying his hand?, Washington"s top 10 best excuses for sequester, GOP"s uncoordinated Hagel message, Markey stands by slave-ruling analogy, Kay Hagan app, trivia

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(swong@politico.com or @scottwongDC)

IS OBAMA OVERPLAYING HIS HAND? – POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown and Jake Sherman have the lead story this morning: “President Barack Obama’s greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn’t the Republican leadership in Congress — it’s his confidence in his own ability to force a win. He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn’t open a line of communication with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell until Thursday, a week before the spending ax hits. And when they did finally hear from Obama, the calls were perfunctory, with no request to step up negotiations or invitations to the White House.

– “That’s because Obama’s all-in on an outside strategy, doing just about everything other than holding serious talks with Republicans. In the last two days alone, he’s courted local TV anchors, called in a select group of White House correspondents to talk off-the-record, chatted up black broadcasters, and announced plans to stump next week at Virginia’s Newport News Shipyard. Throughout, he’s talked in tough terms that signal little interest in compromise — or suggestion of backing down. He’s navigating a thin line. Obama is convinced he’s got the upper hand on Republicans. Yet he can go only so long before he risks being perceived as a main actor in Washington’s dysfunction, threatening a core element of his political brand — and the fragile economic recovery he’s struggled to maintain.” http://politi.co/YGLk6f

– Darren Samuelsohn and Scott Wong track down the top 10 excuses folks in Washington are giving for the sequester: “President Barack Obama and members of Congress have dubbed sequestration ‘stupid,’ ‘dumb’ and ‘irresponsible.’ But here’s one thing none of them are calling it: ‘My fault.’” Here are a few examples: 1. House GOP: Hey, we did our job. What’s Obama waiting for? 2. Obama and the Democrats: Yup, Republicans are STILL protecting the rich. 3. Both sides: Don’t look at me. I didn’t vote for it in the first place. http://politi.co/WWikYV

– Samuelsohn also writes that the White House has been holding daily meetings this week with first responders, teachers and nurses to discuss the real-world implications of the sequester. It’s also dispatched Cabinet members across the country to talk about cuts to agencies in a bid to step up pressure on Congress. http://politi.co/YGLzyo

ROTHENBERG: WHY DEMOCRATS’ ECONOMIC MESSAGE STILL TRUMPS GOP’S – “Congressional Republicans figured that after the fiscal cliff, they’d have the advantage talking about the sequester and, down the road, the continued funding of the government. Clearly, they were wrong,” Stu Rothenberg writes for Roll Call. “One of the reasons Republicans are faring so badly these days is that the Democratic narrative, presented most persuasively and effectively by the White House, plays more easily into the national media’s preference for dramatic stories that evoke emotional responses. …  During the past few weeks, Democrats have raised the specter of key personnel from teachers to meat inspectors being thrown out of work if the sequester isn’t delayed, to say nothing of the surge in unemployment nationally and the possibility of a recession. The Republican message? Taxes are too high. We just raised taxes. We won’t compromise. And the party of Lincoln and Reagan wonders why it is losing.” http://bit.ly/YgDrEH

MILITARY CHIEFS AMPLIFY WARNINGS OF CUTS – Ernesto Londoño and Lisa Rein report on A1 of the Washington Post: “After staying largely on the sidelines of the debate over deficit reduction, the U.S. military’s service leaders have begun painting a stark picture of the toll a congressionally mandated budget cut could take on the readiness of the world’s largest armed forces. …  Injecting ominous warnings about national security into policy debates has in the past snapped elected leaders into action, but … Some lawmakers and analysts have dismissed the caution as posturing by a force reluctant to shrink too much in a postwar era. In response, the military’s service chiefs are amplifying the months-long warnings of Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and others and providing what they have described as the specific and serious consequences of the across-the-board cuts.  Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, recently warned that the cuts may curtail training for 80 percent of ground forces, including some in the deployment pipeline, forcing him to extend the deployments of troops already in Afghanistan.” http://wapo.st/X0PUyB

GOP MESSAGING ON HAGEL ALL OVER THE MAP – On the same morning that Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn sent a letter to the president urging him to withdraw Chuck Hagel as his defense secretary nominee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he would join Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) in backing the former Nebraska senator. And while Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) won’t vote to confirm Hagel, she said she still supports giving her fellow Cornhusker an up-or-down vote. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also said this week he won’t hold up Hagel’s nomination any longer. That should be enough support to overcome a new GOP filibuster effort led by Armed Services ranking member, Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe. Take a look at some of the recent headlines this week:

– Roll Call: “Shelby will vote to confirm Hagel,” http://bit.ly/Xpl1Dy

– Washington Post: “Cornyn asks president to withdraw Hagel,” http://wapo.st/13rJXtJ

– Nebraska Watchdog: “Fischer could vote to end debate but won’t vote for Hagel,”http://bit.ly/YguA5Z

– The Hill: “Inhofe lobbies senators to block Hagel again,” http://bit.ly/15AfXQf

– New York Times: “Graham and McCain Say They Will End Bid to Block Hagel Opposition,” http://nyti.ms/YL4XsE

- Jeremy Peters writes the state of play in the NYT today: “[E]ven as Republican senators tried to throw up another obstacle, Senate Democrats said they were pushing ahead with plans to hold a final up-or-down vote on the nomination no later than Wednesday. Should that vote proceed as planned, Mr. Hagel’s confirmation appears assured. Several Republicans have said that they intend to drop their attempts to filibuster the nomination. But given how deeply divided Mr. Hagel’s nomination has left the Senate, the outlook in the immediate term is murky. Many Republicans, like the 15 who wrote to the president on Thursday, signaled that they would not let the issue die quietly. And those who have said that they would ultimately not support a filibuster, like Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Richard Shelby of Alabama, were leaving the door open to further delay.” http://nyti.ms/15AgT72

– WaPo reports that the letter was signed by: Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), David Vitter (R-La.), Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

–McCAIN, who aggressively questioned Hagel during his confirmation hearing, was noticeably missing from the list of signatories.

Boston Globe, A1 below the fold, “Markey holds firm on his analogy to slave ruling,” By Noah Bierman: “Representative Edward J. Markey refused to back down Thursday from comments he made this week that seemed to compare the US Supreme Court’s ruling on campaign finance law to the high court’s 19th-century Dred Scott decision, a notorious pro-slavery ruling. On Tuesday, at a campaign rally in Pittsfield, the Democrat said that if he is elected to the Senate he will fight for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the 2010 case that allowed unlimited third-party spending in political campaigns. ‘The whole idea that the Koch brothers, Karl Rove can say we’re coming to Massachusetts, that we’re coming to any state in the union, with unlimited amounts of undisclosed money, is a pollution that must be changed,’ Markey said, ­according to a video of the event provided by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. ‘The Constitution must be amended … The Dred Scott decision had to be ­repealed; we have to repeal ­Citizens United.’ …

–“Markey made his comments Tuesday afternoon, hours after he met with a group of African- American ministers in Springfield. Several black ministers contacted Thursday said they found the comments inappropriate and off-the-mark, but added that they would not judge Markey solely on that ­remark.  Markey’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Representative Stephen Lynch, condemned the comment, as did Republicans. In a statement Thursday, Markey repeated his opposition to Citizens United and criticized Republicans for failing to embrace a pact to curb spending from political action committees in the Senate election. He did not disavow his earlier remarks.” http://b.globe.com/WeGmwe

FIRST LOOK: HAGAN LAUNCHES APP – Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) will launch her free mobile app today that will allow North Carolinians to stay connected with her while she works in Washington and around the state. The app allows users to contact her office, watch videos, view photos and receive real-time social media updates of her latest efforts and events. “My new app will allow North Carolinians to stay updated on my work to create jobs, reduce our deficit, advocate for our seniors, students and military service members,” Hagan, who is expected to face a tough reelection fight in 2014, said in a statement. “Constituent service is one of my top priorities, and this new tool will make contacting my office easier than ever.” The Hagan app can be downloaded at the app store for iPhones, iPads and Androids. 

** A message from UnitedHealthcare: At UnitedHealthcare, we’re using our experience and access to vast health care information to make health care simpler and more responsive. Learn more at www.uhc.com

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 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.

My new followers include but are not limited to @djwinyo and @Jo_Maney.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – Both chambers are out today for the Presidents Day recess. The Senate is back at 2 p.m. Monday at which time Sen. Kelly Ayotte read George Washington’s Farewell Address. At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on the nomination of Robert Bacharach to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit.

CHAMBER/AFL-CIO FIND COMON GROUND ON IMMIGRATION – Josh Gerstein writes for POLITICO: “President Barack Obama’s immigration reform drive got a boost Thursday in the form of a joint statement of principles from the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but the two coalitions cautioned that despite months of talks they still haven’t settled on the details or resolved all their differences. … The basic understanding seems to be that companies would do a better job informing American workers about job openings and unions would acknowledge that—despite labor movement rhetoric to the contrary—in some low-skill fields Americans just aren’t willing to do the work. A key point of agreement seems to be the creation of “a professional bureau in a federal executive agency” to assess labor shortages and aid determinations about when foreign workers can be admitted for low-skill jobs.” http://politi.co/12W66ES

KRAUTHAMMER: OBAMA, RUBIO PROPOSALS ‘BAD POLICY’ – Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer takes issue with immigration reform proposals pitched by both President Obama and Sen. Marco Rubio: “[O]n the single most important issue — instant amnesty — there is no real difference between the proposals. Rubio calls it ‘probationary legal status.’ Obama uses the term ‘lawful prospective immigrant.’ But both would instantly legalize the 11 million illegal immigrants living here today. The moment either bill is signed, the 11 million become eligible for legal residence, the right to work and relief from the prospect of deportation.

–“This is bad policy. It repeats the 1986 immigration reform that legalized (the then) 3 million while promising border enforcement — which was never carried out. Which opened the door to today’s 11 million. And to the next 11 million as soon as the ink is dry on this reform. The better policy would be enforcement first, followed by amnesty. Yes, amnesty. But only when we have ensured that these 11 million constitute the last cohort. How to ensure that? With three obvious enforcement measures: (a) a universal E-Verify system by which employers must check the legal status of all their hires; (b) an effective system for tracking those who have overstayed their visas; and (c) closure of the southern border, mainly with the kind of triple fence that has proved so successful near San Diego.” http://wapo.st/YgAB2F

THE PARTISAN DIVIDE DEEPENS – Alex Roarty writes for National Journal: “Much of America prays Dan Boren is wrong. Parents worried about the threat of gun violence certainly hope he is. So do the roughly 11 million people who immigrated to America illegally and the deficit hawks who demand a grand budget bargain. These men and women are depending on Washington, Republicans and Democrats, to come together and reach an agreement on the national agenda: gun violence, immigration, and the budget. But Boren, a retired House member from Oklahoma, doubts they’ll end up satisfied. It’s why he left Capitol Hill last year. … This past year, according to National Journal’s 2012 congressional vote ratings, the centrist Democrat was the most conservative member of his conference …

– “For the third year in a row, no Republican member of the Senate had a more liberal voting record than any Democrat—just as no Democratic senator had a more conservative record than any Republican. What was once a milestone in the ongoing march of political polarization—the absence of ideological crossovers in National Journal’s rankings happened for only the second time ever in 2010—is now nearly as unremarkable in the Senate as naming a post office. The House was barely more heterogeneous. Only 10 Democrats registered a more conservative score than the most liberal Republican; only five Republicans were more liberal than the most conservative House Democrat, Boren. Rep. Chris Gibson of New York was the most liberal Republican.” http://bit.ly/YH7iWO

TWITTER TUSSLE – POLITICO’s Hadas Gold writes: “House Speaker John Boehner’s Press Secretary, Brendan Buck, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney got into a Twitter tussle Thursday afternoon over the looming sequester cuts. The fight started with a series of tweets from Buck during Carney’s daily press briefing, during which Carney touted Obama’s balanced budget approach to avert the sequester and villified Republicans for not acting to avert it in a balanced way. Carney also called out Republican hashtag efforts, such as #Obamaquester, saying it is ‘totally at odds with the facts.’ Buck tweeted: ‘Public Service Announcement: The only group in Washington to pass a plan to replace the sequester is the Republican House majority’ and ‘Dem Senate-passed sequester bills: 0; Republican House-passed sequester bills: 2; Awesome House R hashtags: too many to count’ and ‘Today in White House Fantasyland: Republicans ‘making choice’ to allow sequester – despite being the only ones to pass replacement bill.’ After the briefing, the dustup unfolded.

@PressSec: BTW @Brendan_Buck, USAT/Pew poll says Americans support POTUS’ balanced approach to deficit reduction 76-19% over GOP plan. #GOPOutOfTouch?

@Brendan_Buck: @PressSec If the American people support approach so much, why hasn’t the Dem-run Senate ever passed it?

DSCC LED NRSC IN JANUARY FUNDRAISING – Joshua Miller and Kyle Trygstad report for Roll Call: The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised just $ 1.5 million in January, according to its most recent fundraising report. That’s significantly less than the $ 4.2 million the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee brought in last month. The DSCC reported it had $ 3 million in the bank at the end of January, while the NRSC reported slightly more — $ 3.3 million — cash on hand at the same time. But while the NRSC reported $ 10 million in debt, the DSCC had much more — $ 15.7 million — in arrears, according to its fundraising report. The NRSC did not hire senior staff until Jan. 30, part of reason behind the committee’s meager fundraising.” http://bit.ly/15Ao7rS

KY. GOV.: JUDD A ‘SERIOUS CANDIDATE’ FOR SENATE – Breanna Edwards reports for POLITICO: “Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear praised actress Ashley Judd as a potential ‘serious candidate’ to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat in 2014. ‘There are a number of people that are still talking about running for the U.S. Senate, and I think she would be a very serious candidate,’ the Democratic governor said at a briefing at the state Capitol, according to CN2 Pure Politics. Beshear added that he’s ‘going to encourage as many as possible to take a look at it and we can come up with the best candidate.’ Judd has been pushed further into the spotlight as a likely pick for Kentucky Democrats, especially since meeting with officials from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee earlier this week.” http://politi.co/WWfAed

THURSDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Kyle Gerron, who works at the American Conservative Union, was first to correctly answer that S. I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.) was the last U.S. senator (other than Ted Cruz) to have been born in Canada. He was born in Vancouver and served in the Senate from 1977 to 1983.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Gerron has today’s question: Name the American political dynasty whose family members served as congressman, senator, governor, vice president, presidential candidate and ambassador. First 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/

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POLITICO – Top 10 – Huddle

Is Obama overplaying his hand?, Washington"s top 10 best excuses for sequester, GOP"s uncoordinated Hagel message, Markey stands by slave-ruling analogy, Kay Hagan app, trivia

Is Obama overplaying his hand?, Washington"s top 10 best excuses for sequester, GOP"s uncoordinated Hagel message, Markey stands by slave-ruling analogy, Kay Hagan app, trivia

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(swong@politico.com or @scottwongDC)

IS OBAMA OVERPLAYING HIS HAND? – POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown and Jake Sherman have the lead story this morning: “President Barack Obama’s greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn’t the Republican leadership in Congress — it’s his confidence in his own ability to force a win. He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn’t open a line of communication with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell until Thursday, a week before the spending ax hits. And when they did finally hear from Obama, the calls were perfunctory, with no request to step up negotiations or invitations to the White House.

– “That’s because Obama’s all-in on an outside strategy, doing just about everything other than holding serious talks with Republicans. In the last two days alone, he’s courted local TV anchors, called in a select group of White House correspondents to talk off-the-record, chatted up black broadcasters, and announced plans to stump next week at Virginia’s Newport News Shipyard. Throughout, he’s talked in tough terms that signal little interest in compromise — or suggestion of backing down. He’s navigating a thin line. Obama is convinced he’s got the upper hand on Republicans. Yet he can go only so long before he risks being perceived as a main actor in Washington’s dysfunction, threatening a core element of his political brand — and the fragile economic recovery he’s struggled to maintain.” http://politi.co/YGLk6f

– Darren Samuelsohn and Scott Wong track down the top 10 excuses folks in Washington are giving for the sequester: “President Barack Obama and members of Congress have dubbed sequestration ‘stupid,’ ‘dumb’ and ‘irresponsible.’ But here’s one thing none of them are calling it: ‘My fault.’” Here are a few examples: 1. House GOP: Hey, we did our job. What’s Obama waiting for? 2. Obama and the Democrats: Yup, Republicans are STILL protecting the rich. 3. Both sides: Don’t look at me. I didn’t vote for it in the first place. http://politi.co/WWikYV

– Samuelsohn also writes that the White House has been holding daily meetings this week with first responders, teachers and nurses to discuss the real-world implications of the sequester. It’s also dispatched Cabinet members across the country to talk about cuts to agencies in a bid to step up pressure on Congress. http://politi.co/YGLzyo

ROTHENBERG: WHY DEMOCRATS’ ECONOMIC MESSAGE STILL TRUMPS GOP’S – “Congressional Republicans figured that after the fiscal cliff, they’d have the advantage talking about the sequester and, down the road, the continued funding of the government. Clearly, they were wrong,” Stu Rothenberg writes for Roll Call. “One of the reasons Republicans are faring so badly these days is that the Democratic narrative, presented most persuasively and effectively by the White House, plays more easily into the national media’s preference for dramatic stories that evoke emotional responses. …  During the past few weeks, Democrats have raised the specter of key personnel from teachers to meat inspectors being thrown out of work if the sequester isn’t delayed, to say nothing of the surge in unemployment nationally and the possibility of a recession. The Republican message? Taxes are too high. We just raised taxes. We won’t compromise. And the party of Lincoln and Reagan wonders why it is losing.” http://bit.ly/YgDrEH

MILITARY CHIEFS AMPLIFY WARNINGS OF CUTS – Ernesto Londoño and Lisa Rein report on A1 of the Washington Post: “After staying largely on the sidelines of the debate over deficit reduction, the U.S. military’s service leaders have begun painting a stark picture of the toll a congressionally mandated budget cut could take on the readiness of the world’s largest armed forces. …  Injecting ominous warnings about national security into policy debates has in the past snapped elected leaders into action, but … Some lawmakers and analysts have dismissed the caution as posturing by a force reluctant to shrink too much in a postwar era. In response, the military’s service chiefs are amplifying the months-long warnings of Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and others and providing what they have described as the specific and serious consequences of the across-the-board cuts.  Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, recently warned that the cuts may curtail training for 80 percent of ground forces, including some in the deployment pipeline, forcing him to extend the deployments of troops already in Afghanistan.” http://wapo.st/X0PUyB

GOP MESSAGING ON HAGEL ALL OVER THE MAP – On the same morning that Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn sent a letter to the president urging him to withdraw Chuck Hagel as his defense secretary nominee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he would join Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) in backing the former Nebraska senator. And while Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) won’t vote to confirm Hagel, she said she still supports giving her fellow Cornhusker an up-or-down vote. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also said this week he won’t hold up Hagel’s nomination any longer. That should be enough support to overcome a new GOP filibuster effort led by Armed Services ranking member, Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe. Take a look at some of the recent headlines this week:

– Roll Call: “Shelby will vote to confirm Hagel,” http://bit.ly/Xpl1Dy

– Washington Post: “Cornyn asks president to withdraw Hagel,” http://wapo.st/13rJXtJ

– Nebraska Watchdog: “Fischer could vote to end debate but won’t vote for Hagel,”http://bit.ly/YguA5Z

– The Hill: “Inhofe lobbies senators to block Hagel again,” http://bit.ly/15AfXQf

– New York Times: “Graham and McCain Say They Will End Bid to Block Hagel Opposition,” http://nyti.ms/YL4XsE

- Jeremy Peters writes the state of play in the NYT today: “[E]ven as Republican senators tried to throw up another obstacle, Senate Democrats said they were pushing ahead with plans to hold a final up-or-down vote on the nomination no later than Wednesday. Should that vote proceed as planned, Mr. Hagel’s confirmation appears assured. Several Republicans have said that they intend to drop their attempts to filibuster the nomination. But given how deeply divided Mr. Hagel’s nomination has left the Senate, the outlook in the immediate term is murky. Many Republicans, like the 15 who wrote to the president on Thursday, signaled that they would not let the issue die quietly. And those who have said that they would ultimately not support a filibuster, like Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Richard Shelby of Alabama, were leaving the door open to further delay.” http://nyti.ms/15AgT72

– WaPo reports that the letter was signed by: Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), David Vitter (R-La.), Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

–McCAIN, who aggressively questioned Hagel during his confirmation hearing, was noticeably missing from the list of signatories.

Boston Globe, A1 below the fold, “Markey holds firm on his analogy to slave ruling,” By Noah Bierman: “Representative Edward J. Markey refused to back down Thursday from comments he made this week that seemed to compare the US Supreme Court’s ruling on campaign finance law to the high court’s 19th-century Dred Scott decision, a notorious pro-slavery ruling. On Tuesday, at a campaign rally in Pittsfield, the Democrat said that if he is elected to the Senate he will fight for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the 2010 case that allowed unlimited third-party spending in political campaigns. ‘The whole idea that the Koch brothers, Karl Rove can say we’re coming to Massachusetts, that we’re coming to any state in the union, with unlimited amounts of undisclosed money, is a pollution that must be changed,’ Markey said, ­according to a video of the event provided by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. ‘The Constitution must be amended … The Dred Scott decision had to be ­repealed; we have to repeal ­Citizens United.’ …

–“Markey made his comments Tuesday afternoon, hours after he met with a group of African- American ministers in Springfield. Several black ministers contacted Thursday said they found the comments inappropriate and off-the-mark, but added that they would not judge Markey solely on that ­remark.  Markey’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Representative Stephen Lynch, condemned the comment, as did Republicans. In a statement Thursday, Markey repeated his opposition to Citizens United and criticized Republicans for failing to embrace a pact to curb spending from political action committees in the Senate election. He did not disavow his earlier remarks.” http://b.globe.com/WeGmwe

FIRST LOOK: HAGAN LAUNCHES APP – Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) will launch her free mobile app today that will allow North Carolinians to stay connected with her while she works in Washington and around the state. The app allows users to contact her office, watch videos, view photos and receive real-time social media updates of her latest efforts and events. “My new app will allow North Carolinians to stay updated on my work to create jobs, reduce our deficit, advocate for our seniors, students and military service members,” Hagan, who is expected to face a tough reelection fight in 2014, said in a statement. “Constituent service is one of my top priorities, and this new tool will make contacting my office easier than ever.” The Hagan app can be downloaded at the app store for iPhones, iPads and Androids. 

** A message from UnitedHealthcare: At UnitedHealthcare, we’re using our experience and access to vast health care information to make health care simpler and more responsive. Learn more at www.uhc.com

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 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.

My new followers include but are not limited to @djwinyo and @Jo_Maney.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – Both chambers are out today for the Presidents Day recess. The Senate is back at 2 p.m. Monday at which time Sen. Kelly Ayotte read George Washington’s Farewell Address. At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on the nomination of Robert Bacharach to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit.

CHAMBER/AFL-CIO FIND COMON GROUND ON IMMIGRATION – Josh Gerstein writes for POLITICO: “President Barack Obama’s immigration reform drive got a boost Thursday in the form of a joint statement of principles from the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but the two coalitions cautioned that despite months of talks they still haven’t settled on the details or resolved all their differences. … The basic understanding seems to be that companies would do a better job informing American workers about job openings and unions would acknowledge that—despite labor movement rhetoric to the contrary—in some low-skill fields Americans just aren’t willing to do the work. A key point of agreement seems to be the creation of “a professional bureau in a federal executive agency” to assess labor shortages and aid determinations about when foreign workers can be admitted for low-skill jobs.” http://politi.co/12W66ES

KRAUTHAMMER: OBAMA, RUBIO PROPOSALS ‘BAD POLICY’ – Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer takes issue with immigration reform proposals pitched by both President Obama and Sen. Marco Rubio: “[O]n the single most important issue — instant amnesty — there is no real difference between the proposals. Rubio calls it ‘probationary legal status.’ Obama uses the term ‘lawful prospective immigrant.’ But both would instantly legalize the 11 million illegal immigrants living here today. The moment either bill is signed, the 11 million become eligible for legal residence, the right to work and relief from the prospect of deportation.

–“This is bad policy. It repeats the 1986 immigration reform that legalized (the then) 3 million while promising border enforcement — which was never carried out. Which opened the door to today’s 11 million. And to the next 11 million as soon as the ink is dry on this reform. The better policy would be enforcement first, followed by amnesty. Yes, amnesty. But only when we have ensured that these 11 million constitute the last cohort. How to ensure that? With three obvious enforcement measures: (a) a universal E-Verify system by which employers must check the legal status of all their hires; (b) an effective system for tracking those who have overstayed their visas; and (c) closure of the southern border, mainly with the kind of triple fence that has proved so successful near San Diego.” http://wapo.st/YgAB2F

THE PARTISAN DIVIDE DEEPENS – Alex Roarty writes for National Journal: “Much of America prays Dan Boren is wrong. Parents worried about the threat of gun violence certainly hope he is. So do the roughly 11 million people who immigrated to America illegally and the deficit hawks who demand a grand budget bargain. These men and women are depending on Washington, Republicans and Democrats, to come together and reach an agreement on the national agenda: gun violence, immigration, and the budget. But Boren, a retired House member from Oklahoma, doubts they’ll end up satisfied. It’s why he left Capitol Hill last year. … This past year, according to National Journal’s 2012 congressional vote ratings, the centrist Democrat was the most conservative member of his conference …

– “For the third year in a row, no Republican member of the Senate had a more liberal voting record than any Democrat—just as no Democratic senator had a more conservative record than any Republican. What was once a milestone in the ongoing march of political polarization—the absence of ideological crossovers in National Journal’s rankings happened for only the second time ever in 2010—is now nearly as unremarkable in the Senate as naming a post office. The House was barely more heterogeneous. Only 10 Democrats registered a more conservative score than the most liberal Republican; only five Republicans were more liberal than the most conservative House Democrat, Boren. Rep. Chris Gibson of New York was the most liberal Republican.” http://bit.ly/YH7iWO

TWITTER TUSSLE – POLITICO’s Hadas Gold writes: “House Speaker John Boehner’s Press Secretary, Brendan Buck, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney got into a Twitter tussle Thursday afternoon over the looming sequester cuts. The fight started with a series of tweets from Buck during Carney’s daily press briefing, during which Carney touted Obama’s balanced budget approach to avert the sequester and villified Republicans for not acting to avert it in a balanced way. Carney also called out Republican hashtag efforts, such as #Obamaquester, saying it is ‘totally at odds with the facts.’ Buck tweeted: ‘Public Service Announcement: The only group in Washington to pass a plan to replace the sequester is the Republican House majority’ and ‘Dem Senate-passed sequester bills: 0; Republican House-passed sequester bills: 2; Awesome House R hashtags: too many to count’ and ‘Today in White House Fantasyland: Republicans ‘making choice’ to allow sequester – despite being the only ones to pass replacement bill.’ After the briefing, the dustup unfolded.

@PressSec: BTW @Brendan_Buck, USAT/Pew poll says Americans support POTUS’ balanced approach to deficit reduction 76-19% over GOP plan. #GOPOutOfTouch?

@Brendan_Buck: @PressSec If the American people support approach so much, why hasn’t the Dem-run Senate ever passed it?

DSCC LED NRSC IN JANUARY FUNDRAISING – Joshua Miller and Kyle Trygstad report for Roll Call: The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised just $ 1.5 million in January, according to its most recent fundraising report. That’s significantly less than the $ 4.2 million the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee brought in last month. The DSCC reported it had $ 3 million in the bank at the end of January, while the NRSC reported slightly more — $ 3.3 million — cash on hand at the same time. But while the NRSC reported $ 10 million in debt, the DSCC had much more — $ 15.7 million — in arrears, according to its fundraising report. The NRSC did not hire senior staff until Jan. 30, part of reason behind the committee’s meager fundraising.” http://bit.ly/15Ao7rS

KY. GOV.: JUDD A ‘SERIOUS CANDIDATE’ FOR SENATE – Breanna Edwards reports for POLITICO: “Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear praised actress Ashley Judd as a potential ‘serious candidate’ to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat in 2014. ‘There are a number of people that are still talking about running for the U.S. Senate, and I think she would be a very serious candidate,’ the Democratic governor said at a briefing at the state Capitol, according to CN2 Pure Politics. Beshear added that he’s ‘going to encourage as many as possible to take a look at it and we can come up with the best candidate.’ Judd has been pushed further into the spotlight as a likely pick for Kentucky Democrats, especially since meeting with officials from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee earlier this week.” http://politi.co/WWfAed

THURSDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Kyle Gerron, who works at the American Conservative Union, was first to correctly answer that S. I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.) was the last U.S. senator (other than Ted Cruz) to have been born in Canada. He was born in Vancouver and served in the Senate from 1977 to 1983.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Gerron has today’s question: Name the American political dynasty whose family members served as congressman, senator, governor, vice president, presidential candidate and ambassador. First 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/

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POLITICO – Top 10 – Huddle

Is Obama overplaying his hand?, Washington"s top 10 best excuses for sequester, GOP"s uncoordinated Hagel message, Markey stands by slave-ruling analogy, Kay Hagan app, trivia