Friday's Starting Lineup
Good Friday morning. Who's ready for Snowpocalypse part II? If you're not, start hoarding quickly.
Here's Friday's Starting Lineup, previewing the newsmakers who will lead the headlines this weekend:
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY: The AL GOPer wants earmarks for his home state, and he's willing to make some noise to do so. Shelby has holds on more than 70 nominations, according to Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid, in an effort to get concessions from the WH and the Pentagon over air tankers, along with other defense-related matters that would bring jobs to AL.
Reid and Senate Dems can file cloture on the nominees, but doing so is a time-consuming process, and with a jobs bill on the way, the Senate has other priorities. A year into his term, many holes remain in Pres. Obama's admin, and it's becoming a frustrating situation; Obama himself brought up the slow confirmation pace at a meeting with Senate Dems earlier this week.
But the GOP has signaled it has no intention of dropping holds on nominees. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), sworn in yesterday, showed up a week before originally scheduled not because he wanted to vote on the jobs bill, but to give GOPers the ability to block SEIU counsel Craig Becker, who Obama has nominated to serve on the NRLB.
BIPARTISANSHIP: In an effort to get the economy moving again, and coming just days after the Dow briefly dipped below 10K for the first time in 3 months, the Senate will take up a jobs package next week in what will become the first effort to build a bipartisan consensus now that Dems lack a filibuster-proof majority.
The bill will contain a mix of tax breaks for companies that hire new workers, extensions of unemployment benefits and new spending to create jobs. The tax break idea comes from a proposal first offered by the unlikely duo of Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT). House Dems are less supportive of the measure, but they will find it hard to resist passing a package that won bipartisan support in the upper chamber.
With new unemployment figures due out later this morning -- expected to show more bad news -- Congress is under extreme pressure from the WH to pass a new jobs bill. Dems will have to make sure their negotiations produce a package that wins bipartisan support, and one that doesn't lead to the inevitable misspending that the $787B stimulus package passed last year.
SEC/STATE HILLARY CLINTON: In her first week hosting State of the Union, CNN's Candy Crowley will sit down for an exclusive interview with the country's top diplomat. Though the nation's focus is on domestic matters at the moment, Clinton has played a key role in the first year of the admin (In "Game Change," John Heilmann and Mark Halperin reveal Obama asked Clinton to serve because he trusted her not to require WH supervision, as his attention would be focused on the economy).
And though it's not entirely within her portfolio, Clinton's role as a member of the admin's national security team means she'll probably be asked about the nation's response to terrorism, the failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb a US-bound airliner and the subsequent law enforcement handling of the matter.
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) yesterday accused the WH of leaking information about the suspect for political purposes, a claim the WH said merited an apology. But GOPers have hammered Dems and the DoJ over Mirandizing terrorist suspects, and even Brown used the issue in his race against AG Martha Coakley (D). National security will always be at the back of voters' minds, and it will be up to Clinton and the rest of the WH team to assuage voter fears.
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