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03/04/2019 08:02 AM EDT

By MELANIE ZANONA ([email protected]; @MZanona)


With an assist from Andrew Desiderio and Heather Caygle

RAND TAKES A STAND -- The Senate is poised to reject President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) became the fourth Republican to formally come out against the move, which Trump is pursuing to build a border wall. Paul signaled at an event in Kentucky over the weekend that he will be backing a House-passed resolution to essentially kill Trump's wall emergency, which will soon come up for a vote in the upper chamber.

Paul's support means that there are enough votes for the resolution to pass. And now that the threshold has been crossed, it will likely open the floodgates for other Republicans to follow suit. Trump has vowed to veto the resolution, which would be the first of his presidency. And neither the House nor Senate have the votes to override the veto. But the measure's passage will represent an embarrassing and high-profile rebuke for the president, which is why Republicans have been urging Trump to withdraw the emergency declaration. Burgess with the latest: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f91f0de4576d3ac3165f831d700b7dde01a6c0776e45e6d469103c4803e0401fae3bd1f5e662562d38

DOZENS OF DOCS -- House Democrats are zeroing in on Trump's inner circle. Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) plans to send document requests to more than 60 people, including the DOJ, White House, Donald Trump Jr. and longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg. According to the Wall Street Journal, the committee also plans on requesting documents from Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and former White House chief of staff John Kelly. Nadler's mission: "present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power," he told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f95e1f392c1c31cc31ab7bef4e982020cc9595b98e2d61baf3c3be64a54e9d5e1a694a69106b97c246

Related: "Trump blames Cohen testimony for failed deal with North Korea," by Seung Min Kim of The Washington Post: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f924f35fac1c0f514d968fd3bf9438be86442c10b40266713d9c44041c93c9f1cf2099a88f638af569

SLOW MOTION -- Freshman Democrats are calling on House leadership to revamp a set of procedural rules that Republicans have successfully been using to drive a wedge in their caucus. In a draft letter obtained by Huddle, Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.) and Lori Trahan (Mass.) argued that members deserve more time to review the text of the GOP's "motion to recommit", which have been sprung on Democrats at the last-minute and have sent members scrambling to decide whether to support it.

Lawmakers want to fix - or nix - the MTR process before they consider a sweeping voting rights, campaign finance and ethics reform package this week. "During our first two months, we have personally seen it used to poison debate and undermine legislation, as well as to create fodder for partisan political attacks," the lawmakers wrote. "Whatever our predecessors' original vision for the MTR may have been, in this era it is a weapon to vandalize the legislative process rather than enhance it." Check out the full letter here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f9747f2ec3edfc537933d0a87197062f409fd8b201a0a8b5c82f75643b58e04191e1abe48d3bdbedaf

HAPPY MONDAY! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this March 4. If you need a cure for the Monday blues, check out this SNL sketch that got left on the cutting room floor which parodies Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her viral clash with children over the Green New Deal.

FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: The AP's report on Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) weighing a Senate bid was the big winner.

SQUAD GOALS -- There's the "Gang of Nine" military veterans. Then there's the "Big Six," who serve as liaisons to Democratic leadership. And of course there's the infamous "squad" of progressive women of color, who are taking social media by storm. These are some of the cliques that have begun to form in the House's new freshman class, which is the biggest in a generation. The benefits of these informal alliances, a longtime tradition on Capitol Hill, are two-fold: build new friendships and wield more influence. More from your Huddle host, Sarah and Heather: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f976748e8e7e1d4d48ed7f0372b26eaa6e16ba3246571fb93bca27acbd848f9abc52a64b72a5774564

FAMILY FEUD -- Tensions in the Democratic caucus are once again flaring up over controversial comments made by one of their own: Rep. Ilhan Omar. The Minnesota Democrat, who apologized for now-deleted tweets seen as anti-Semitic last month, suggested that pro-Israel activists and lawmakers hold "allegiance to a foreign country." Her comments prompted strong rebukes from Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (N.Y.) and Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (N.Y.), with Engel calling her comment a "vile anti-Semitic slur." But Omar pushed back, saying "our democracy is built on debate" and she has "not mischaracterized our relationship with Israel." Now the question is what, if anything, will
Democratic leadership do in response? Andrew with the latest: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f944677f12e694ef6f2e11a8a922ac0f1d9004054fd6da72024181d82194a51ed36566e39a32593507

EARMARKS ON THE BACK BURNER -- House Democrats won't be reviving congressional earmarks anytime soon, report Jennifer Scholtes and Sarah. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) tried to work out a deal with Republicans to bring back the practice of directing federal spending to pet projects, but they were unable to reach an agreement in time for this fiscal year. Democrats, however, aren't completely giving up on the idea, though they know it is likely to be a heavy political lift. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c41511a89b973f935b4c6d1451219a84ad4bbec0110b018bf19bf6fe43d53340f8e65e522031782fb9814d4949cfce6

WEEKLY OVERSIGHT WATCH -- Congress isn't done with Michael Cohen just yet. The former Trump attorney and fixer will return to the Hill after three consecutive days of testimony last week before the House Oversight Committee and the House and Senate intelligence panels. We don't know what Cohen told congressional investigators in private - but in public, he implicated the president and a cadre of his closest associates and family members in potential crimes. Here's the balance of the week in oversight...

On Wednesday ... Cohen will return to the House Intelligence Committee. After spending eight hours with Cohen last week, Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): "We had a long day, but it wasn't a long enough day." They've got many more questions for Cohen, whom Schiff said was "fully cooperative" during the first session.

Also on Wednesday... the House Homeland Security Committee will grill DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on border security issues. A lawmaker on that committee tells Huddle to expect questions about the president's national emergency declaration, the Trump administration's family separation policy, and much more. You'll recall that Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) was essentially accusing Nielsen of stonewalling the committee, prompting him to fire off a subpoena threat.

Related: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will get a briefing on Monday evening from top State and Treasury officials about the administration's Magnitsky investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The request for such a briefing was a large part of Chairman Jim Risch's (R-Idaho) efforts to placate - and even mislead - Republican senators on the committee who were livid with the president for ignoring requirements under the Magnitsky Act.

**Join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues at the State Department on March 6-7, 2019, for the 9th annual International Women's Day Forum. As part of the day's programming, Anna Palmer co-author of POLITICO's Playbook, will lead a fireside chat with actress, singer, dancer and activist Keke Palmer, who has dedicated her life to philanthropy and activism for young girls. The full agenda and registration are available HERE.**
TRANSITIONS
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has made two new hires. Megan Reiss, who was a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, will serve as national security adviser. Stephen Newton, who was Sen. John Kennedy's (R-La.) banking committee staffer, has started as a legislative assistant.

Rachel Harris joins Rep. Greg Steube's (R-Fla.) office as communications director. Previously she was an account manager at The Herald Group.

Erica Miles has started as the new director of the House Financial Services subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion. She comes to the committee from the GAO.
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House is out until Tuesday. The Senate meets at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Allison Jones Rushing to be U.S. circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit. At 5:30 p.m., the Senate votes on the motion to invoke cloture.
AROUND THE HILL
Not much.
TRIVIA
FRIDAY'S WINNER -- No one correctly guessed that Sen. Jim Risch used to tape his car's hood to detect tampering after his enemies attempted to plant a bomb in it. The Idaho Republican went after drug traffickers as Ada County prosecutor.

TODAY'S QUESTION -- From yours truly: Who were the first set of brothers to serve in the House of Representatives? First person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: [email protected].

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