The White House wants to expand education access to undocumented immigrants while Republicans would like to remind them that the "I before E except after C" rule does not apply to ICE. Proving that today's Republican Party is the 1927 Yankees of inappropriate references to Hitler, a congressional candidate compared the individual mandate to neo-Nazis. And pressed on whether he will ask his conference not to raise campaign funds off of Benghazi, Speaker Boehner replied, "Our focus is getting the truth for these four families and the American people.” The speaker then began fishing around his pockets for the purple smoke pellets he swore he remembered to bring with him. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, May 8th, 2014:
TIM GEITHNER SEEKS TO BIDET HIS REPUTATION - He's got a book coming out and Andrew Ross Sorkin is on it: "Through it all, Geithner has maintained that saving the banks was the only way to protect the U.S. economic system and, by extension, its taxpayers. 'I would say that there’s lots of messiness and unpleasantness and awkwardness and a lot of unjust collateral beneficiaries of our rescues,' he told the students at Harvard. 'No doubt about it. It would be nice if it were otherwise.'" No doubt about it! [NYT]
HOUSE MOVES TO CREATE BENGHAZI PANEL - The vote to create a select committee on whether there are any monsters under my bed and daddy will you PLEASE check has been postpone until after the weekend. Mike McAuliff: The House of Representatives moved ahead on a largely party-line vote Thursday to launch a select committee to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attacks, arguing that previous hearings and investigations weren't good enough. Republicans contend that the White House has stonewalled previous probes into the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead. They cited recently revealed emails on administration talking points as proof that Congress needs a new committee to dig deeper. 'We are here specifically today because in the last few weeks an outside group, Judicial Watch, through the Freedom of Information Act, obtained information,' said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas). 'They received emails that were not redacted, that were not doctored or altered, and that came to them that did not match up with the information that had been provided to official committees of the United States House of Representatives. The 224-192 vote on a procedural motion sets up passage of the bill Thursday evening. The newly public emails, from three days after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, included talking points that said protests in Libya and elsewhere stemmed from anger over a YouTube video, but this was not accurate in the case of Benghazi. Although the YouTube issue is now well-known, Republicans said that White House reluctance to talk about its talking points demands further action." [HuffPost]
@mikememoli: To Dem charge that select cmte is a "witch hunt," Rep. Pete Sessions says: "That must mean that there's a witch somewhere."
DEMS TO MEET TO DISCUSS BENGHAZI STRATEGY - The Hill: "House Democrats will meet Friday morning to discuss the party's approach to the Republicans' special probe into the deadly 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya. With House Republicans expected to pass legislation Thursday creating a select panel to examine the Obama administration's response to the tragedy, Democratic leaders are facing the question of whether to participate in the process or boycott it. The issue has roughly split rank-and-file members. Some Democrats fear that seating members on the panel will legitimize an investigation they've condemned as a GOP witch hunt designed solely to beat up on the White House. Another camp is warning that a boycott would allow Republicans to shower accusations on the administration without any defense from Obama's Democratic allies. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday suggesting the Democrats would participate, but only if the Republicans alter the committee's blueprint to allow Democrats greater numbers and enhanced powers. The Democrats have been particularly critical that the 12-member panel would feature seven Republicans and five Democrats. Pelosi and her troops are calling for an even split. Boehner said Thursday that's he's been talking with Pelosi on the topic, but gave no indication he's ready to compromise on the numbers." [The Hill]
DEAN HELLER KEEPS HOPE ALIVE - Humberto Sanchez: "Sen. Dean Heller may try to attach a long-stalled unemployment extension to an $85 billion package of corporate tax breaks Senate Democrats plan to bring to the floor next week. 'Yes,' Heller said, when asked about whether he is considering trying to attach the five-month unemployment benefits extension to the tax extenders bill. 'We are taking a look at favorable pieces of legislation out there that we can attach something to,' he continued." [Roll Call]
Don't get too hopeful about this, dear unemployed readers.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - A lot of people emailed in response to the latest story on Congress doing nothing about unemployment insurance. Here's one: "My car has broken down, if unemployment extension went thru I would have the money to get my car fixed, pay back rent, electric. Also have my self esteem back so I could reenter society as a whole person, when you go without for so long you lose your selfworth, depression sets in and even though you know your a great person and will come thru all of this a better person, it's hard when your doing everything to find a job and keep your chin up." [Hang in there!]
DAVE DOWNER - A new batch of Amazon warehouse workers sued the online retailer in federal court last week, claiming the company's workplace policies don't leave them with reasonable time to eat their lunches. [HuffPost's Dave Jamieson]
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BOEHNER WON'T WAVE MEMBERS OFF BENGHAZI FUNDRAISING - Sabrina Siddiqui: "House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) declined to weigh in Thursday on whether Republicans should fundraise off an investigation into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi. During his weekly press conference, Boehner was asked three times about fundraising emails sent by the National Republican Congressional Committee that sought to capitalize on this week's announcement of a select committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks. 'Our focus is on getting the answers to those families who lost their loved ones. Period,' Boehner said. Boehner was pressed again on why the NRCC, the committee charged with helping to elect Republicans to the House, is using the issue as a fundraising opportunity.'Our focus is getting the truth for these four families and the American people,' Boehner said, only to repeat the line moments later when another reporter raised the same question. Yet Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican lawmaker from South Carolina who will lead the investigation, urged his colleagues on Wednesday not to fundraise off of Benghazi...House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) offered an indirect response on Wednesday similar to Boehner's when asked if he agreed with Gowdy that the NRCC should stop fundraising off Benghazi. The NRCC has thus far refused to back down from fundraising campaigns related to Benghazi. Andrea Bozek, the group's communications director, said the Obama administration had been dishonest with the American people about the attacks, which occurred on an American diplomatic mission." [HuffPost]
Why would "Patriots for Economic Freedom" care about Benghazi? Sam Stein: "Conservatives don't appear to be heeding the advice of Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who has called on them to stop fundraising off the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, while he leads a select committee tasked with investigating the matter. One day after Gowdy said he thought the subject of Benghazi "transcends politics" and asked the National Republican Congressional Committee to avoid using it in fundraising appeals, a Tea Party group is doing just that. And it's using the name and image of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to help bring in the cash. 'Ted Cruz Refuses To Surrender! He Has Introduced Legislation To Investigate Benghazi!' reads the fundraising solicitation from the group, Patriots for Economic Freedom. The email goes on to ask for contributions, ranging from $25 to $1,000, to support Cruz 'in his efforts to create a Senate select committee to investigate Benghazi.'" [HuffPost]
KAUFMAN CREAMS DOJ - Our favorite substitute senator, Ted Kaufman, occupied the pages of Dealbook today and unloaded on the Justice Department for its cowardice in the face of Wall Street, with an essay that felt like it was about to use the word "bankster" at any moment. Kaufman, a former Biden chief of staff, was a tough bank critic while a senator, and his own former chief, Jeff Connaughton, has written an insider account about Wall Street corruption. On the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Biden once chaired, however, there's been very little similar outrage. [NYT]
ADMINISTRATION MOVING TO KEEP UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS - An apple a day will hopefully keep Homeland Security away. Elise Foley and Ryan Reilly: "The Obama administration moved Thursday to make sure that K-12 schools across the country are not complicating access to public education for students who are undocumented or whose parents are in the country illegally. The Supreme Court ruled in 1982's Plyler v. Doe that it was unconstitutional to exclude students from a free public education based on immigration status. Despite that ruling, certain state and local policies and laws have effectively discouraged some students from attending school, even though they have that right. The departments of Justice and Education issued guidance back in 2011, but both have continued to receive reports that enrollment processes in some school districts have made it more difficult for undocumented parents to enroll their children. The updated guidance issued Thursday emphasizes that public schools must be flexible about the types of documentation they require from parents. According to the guidelines, school administrators may not require a parent to show a state-issued driver's license or provide a child's Social Security number. The new guidelines do allow school districts to ask for proof that a student lives within the boundaries of a school district, and suggest that schools accept copies of phone or water bills, lease agreements or affidavits for that purpose. School officials are banned from discouraging a child to enroll in school because he or she does not have a birth certificate or was born outside the U.S." [HuffPost]
GOP CANDIDATES KEEP TRYING TO ONE-UP EACH OTHER'S NAZI ANALOGIES - Samantha Lachman: "A Republican running for Congress equated the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employers cover contraceptives as a preventive benefit with forcing people to serve hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. Monte Shaw, the executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, is considered a frontrunner in the Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) in the state's 3rd District. Shaw made his comments at a primary debate held Monday. RH Reality Check published an audio recording of the debate Thursday. Shaw made the comparison in response to a question about whether “in health care and other areas of American life … it’s OK for the federal government to make religious institutions accommodate employee views that conflict with the institution’s views.'...The debate was sponsored by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative nonprofit. Local Democrats immediately decried Shaw's remarks, calling him 'disconnected from reality.'" [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here is a pizza-eating hamster.
FAN BOATS? CHECK. GATORS WRESTLING? CHECK. MOST LOUISIANA CAMPAIGN AD EVER? CHECK. - Samantha Lachman: "A tea party-backed Senate candidate wants to take his alligator wrestling skills from the Louisiana swamps to the swamps of Washington, D.C. In his first ads of the Louisiana Senate race, retired Air Force colonel Rob Maness says he'd "stand up to the career politicians -- and the alligators." The candidate is one of three Republicans hoping to unseat the vulnerable Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) this year. Maness spent $50,000 on the radio and television ads, which went up on the air Thursday. In the television ad, Maness rides an airboat and wraps tape around an alligator's snout as he pledges to repeal the Affordable Care Act, fight wasteful spending and protect gun rights. 'Here in Louisiana you learn to be tough'" Maness says. 'One moment of weakness and the alligators could eat you alive.'...Cassidy, Maness and state Rep. Paul Hollis (R) will all be on the same ballot as Landrieu November 4. If no candidate reaches 50 percent of the vote the race will continue to a December runoff." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- Cat takes on a subwoofer. [http://bit.ly/1o7Dnar]
- HuffPost Live hosted a reunion of the "Hey Dude" cast. [http://huff.lv/1sgk9Pq]
- How to properly saber a bottle of champagne. [http://bit.ly/1jCTeuD]
- If "Frozen" were a horror film. [http://bit.ly/1j5mMfu]
- Two bulldogs show a black bear who the boss of their bird feeder is. [http://bit.ly/1mH8w0J]
- The "Game of Thrones" theme song played on household items. Try not to think about how much economic activity was lost during the creation of this video.... because it's awesome. [http://huff.to/1ivSORS]
- A compilation of 32 pole dancing fails. These people are definitely not paying their way through college. [http://huff.to/1l2PWAt]
TWITTERAMA
@mollyesque: "Mommy, what was life like before the Republican Civil War?" "No one remembers that anymore, sweetheart."
@dciever: DC twitter doing its periodic snob herpes-sore eruption again
@daudig: My new '90s-themed nail salon on Capitol Hill is named Manicure Lewinsky
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