Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) told a reporter "this interview didn't happen," which we guess is the Pennsylvania version of "I'll break you in half like a boy." Presidential campaigns so far have spent twice as much as they had at this point in the 2012 contest, in case you were wondering why 2016 has been twice as good already. And a dozen reporters watched Jeb Bush take an Uber, but somehow Lincoln Chafee's Meerkat of himself in a Lyft failed to draw similar attention. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, July 16th, 2015:
JOHN BOEHNER GLORIOUSLY AMAZED BY IRAN DEAL - But has he looked at the Iran deal... on weed? Mike McAuliff: "'Given everything I've seen so far, this is a bad deal. It paves the way for a nuclear Iran,' Boehner told reporters at his weekly Capitol Hill news conference. The agreement, announced Tuesday, sets the stage for the international community to provide sweeping sanctions relief to the Islamic Republic of Iran if the country dismantles the bulk of its nuclear infrastructure and subjects itself to an intrusive inspection regime that aims to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Boehner suggested that easing sanctions will give Iran free access to other weapons and reward Iranian military leaders who have aided terrorists fighting the U.S. military. 'It blows my mind that the administration would agree to lift the arms and missile bans,' said Boehner." [HuffPost]
Steve Palazzo enjoys Capitol Hill's only good restaurant, the Tune Inn, where FEC data show the Mississippi Republican's campaign spent $120 last quarter. This Bud's for you, Steve!
'THIS INTERVIEW DIDN'T HAPPEN' - Tim Murphy, are you a character in a hardboiled TV show about ruthless Washington Power Players and the courageous journalists trying to get The Truth? Samar Khurshid: "Rep. Tim Murphy, a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus and chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee looking into the [Planned Parenthood] video, said at a Wednesday news conference he’d seen the clip weeks before. Asked afterward why he and others waited until this week to take action, Murphy struggled for an answer before abruptly ending the interview with CQ Roll Call, saying he should not be quoted and remarking, 'This interview didn’t happen.'" At that point I knew I was onto something. I put on my PRESS fedora and grabbed my notepad. [Roll Call]
FROM THE TRUMP ARCHIVES - 'Report: Trump keeps Hitler book at bedside' - the saucy headline of a 1990 United Press International story about a Vanity Fair profile of Trump by Marie Brenner. ''The article said estranged wife Ivana Trump has told her attorney, Michael Kennedy, that 'from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, 'My New Order,' which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed.' When questioned about 'My New Order,' Trump told Brenner it was given to him by Paramount Pictures head Martin Davis 'who gave me a copy of 'Mein Kampf,' and he's a Jew.' Brenner wrote that when Davis was questioned about the book, he said, 'But it was 'My New Order,' Hitler's speeches, not 'Mein Kampf.' I thought he would find it interesting. I am his friend but I'm not Jewish.'' Today's reminder that Donald Trump is different.
2016 CAMPAIGNS WASTING MONEY - Ken Vogel and Tarini Parti: "The crowded field of 2016 presidential candidates spent $48 million through the first half of the year -- nearly twice as much as their counterparts had at this point in the 2012 cycle -- reflecting the new realities of fast, expensive campaign launches. The dramatic spending spike -- detailed in Wednesday’s reports to the Federal Election Commission covering the beginning of April through the end of June -- was underwritten mostly by fewer donors, each giving more money." [Politico]
DANA DOWNER - "In wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage, Republicans are pushing legislation that aims to protect Americans who oppose these unions on religious grounds. But critics say the language is so broad, the bill creates a license to discriminate that would let employers fire women for getting pregnant outside of wedlock. The First Amendment Defense Act prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person -- which is defined to include for-profit corporations -- acting in accordance with a religious belief that favors so-called traditional marriage. This means the feds can't revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status or end a company's federal contract over this issue. The bill specifically protects those who believe that marriage is between 'one man and one woman' or that 'sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.'" [HuffPost's Dana Liebelson]
Journalism downer: "The National Journal is suspending publication at the end of this year, the magazine announced Thursday afternoon. ... Citing the rapid pace of the D.C. news cycle, the announcement says that its readers have 'shifted away from a weekly magazine to the higher-velocity work of the brand’s daily publications.' The magazine has been publishing for 46 years." [Poynter]
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DEATH PANELS TO MULTIPLY IN PALIN'S HOME STATE - Jeffrey Young: "Alaska would become the latest state to sign on to a major expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act through a plan announced by Gov. Bill Walker on Thursday. Walker, an independent elected in 2014 on a platform that included Medicaid expansion, had been courting the Republican-led state legislature on the issue. But after lawmakers failed to advance his proposal in their latest session, he decided to carry out the policy on his own authority, Walker said during a press conference at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium headquarters in Anchorage. Broadening eligibility for the federal-state health care program could give coverage to as many as 42,000 Alaskans, according to the governor's office." HuffPost]
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has a six point checklist to make sure your debt-free college proposal is good.
CONGRESS, HIGHWAYS BOTH BROKEN - Laura Barron-Lopez and Jason Cherkis: "In 15 days, the federal fund that pays for the nation’s highways, roads and bridges will run out of money. Lawmakers need to find $100 billion if they want to meet infrastructure needs for another six years, but Congress will likely delay, again, by passing a short-term fix. ... Every time Washington fails to find money to pay for a long-term fix for the nation’s ailing highways, roads and bridges, states have to dig a little deeper, and the situation becomes more dire. One in nine bridges in the country are 'structurally deficient,' meaning faulty or weak, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. Nearly half of the major highways are so congested that they cost the country roughly $101 billion in wasted time and fuel per year." [HuffPost]
BOEHNER AGREES WITH VAN JONES - CJ Ciaramella and Evan McMorris-Santoro: "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday he supports a bipartisan bill currently making its way through the House that would, among other things, lower mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders. The move surprised many long-time reform advocates and provides a sudden path forward for the legislation. Responding to a question at a press conference, Boehner said he’d 'absolutely' like to see the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Bobby Scott, make it to the House floor for a vote. ... Van Jones, a co-founder of the bipartisan criminal justice advocacy group #Cut50, said he wasn’t aware of anyone in the movement getting a heads up about Boehner’s support for the bill. 'John Boehner just said he’s going to support criminal justice reform with a vote in the House, which was unthinkable, unthinkable, six months ago. That is unbelievable,' Jones said in a phone interview with BuzzFeed News.” [Buzzfeed]
IS OUR LAWMAKERS LEARNING? - Libby Nelson: "The Senate voted 81-17 Thursday to replace No Child Left Behind, the landmark federal education law that's now long overdue for an overhaul. The Senate's bill, the Every Child Achieves Act, would keep the signature feature of No Child Left Behind -- standardized testing. But states would have more leeway to set goals for their schools and decide what to do if schools don't meet them, rolling back the federal government's role in education policy. ... Civil rights groups, who urged senators to vote against the bill, say it doesn't do enough to make sure all students, particularly disadvantaged students, are learning. ... On the other side, the law is almost certainly too liberal for House Republicans, who barely passed a more conservative version early in July. The Senate bill stands a good chance of passing, but it's much less clear if anything like it could actually become law."
[Vox]
CANDIDATES ARE JUST LIKE US - Ashley Parker: "When Jeb Bush summoned a car from Uber on Thursday morning, using the ride-hailing app to take him to Thumbtack, a consumer-service technology company, more than a dozen reporters packed around as he exited the vehicle. This was, after all, no ordinary Uber ride. The car that Mr. Bush hailed was a symbolic gambit on his part to highlight the on-demand economy -- where app-driven services like Airbnb and TaskRabbit loom large, and which Republicans are increasingly pointing to as an example of the unfettered market leading to economic prosperity without the intrusive hand of government regulation. ... [The driver] said Mr. Bush had a good Uber rating -- drivers rate the users, and users rate the drivers after each ride -- and that the two had discussed 'the city, the traffic.'" [NYT]
Playbook had the EXCLUSIVE on Jeb's plan to hail an Uber earlier this week.
@meredithshiner: Wait, is this a Brian Fallon bobblehead on Brian Fallon's desk? @brianefallon can you confirm? http://politi.co/1TFrLIV
PARTIERS TO PAUSE BEER PONG GAME AND WATCH BERNIE - Nick Corasaniti: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is coming soon to a house party near you, albeit digitally. On July 29, the Sanders campaign will host coordinated house parties and organizing rallies around the world. And while Mr. Sanders would love to be at all of them, he is bound to his Senate duties in Washington. So he’ll beam himself in via a livestream link. ... But Mr. Sanders’s inspiration came from 300 upstarts in Birmingham, Ala., who held their own Sanders rally without any help, motivation or coordination with the campaign. 'We wish we could take credit for them,' Mr. Sanders said, but his campaign didn’t even know about the event until 'we read about it in the paper.'" NYT]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Watch Angela Merkel absolutely crush this little girl's dreams.
COMFORT FOOD by @jacobrkerr
- Watch out for those Asian carp.
- The world’s nicest drone.
- What would happen if you had a coin-sized black hole.
TWITTERAMA
@MEPFuller: Members of Congress, ranked by height at which they wear their pants:
1. Charles B. Rangel
2. Jerrold L. Nadler
3. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
@KeithOlbermann: "19 Kids And Counting" cancelled. To be replaced by new series on #GOP Presidential hopefuls called "19 Kids And Counting."
@ditzkoff: Remember that TRUE DETECTIVE isn't eligible in any of the comedy categories until next year. #Emmys
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