Bernie Sanders admitted himself to the hospital with a hernia, meaning his hair is no longer the only thing about him that’s out of place. Steny Hoyer will incorporate text messaging into his whip operation, requiring members to reply with “yes," “leaning yes," “undecided,” “leaning no," "no" or “new phone who dis.” And the EPA issued a ruling that could sharply decrease the nation’s corn consumption, earning plaudits from the Club for Growth but strong condemnation from the Clean Plate Club. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, November 30th, 2015:
MCCARTHY RULES OUT GOV'T SHUTDOWN OVER PLANNED PARENTHOOD - Laura Barron-Lopez: "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday shrugged off the possibility of a government shutdown over funding for Planned Parenthood, saying Republicans are more focused on preventing terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks. 'I think security is becoming the top issue ... especially in the last two weeks,' he said. McCarthy's remarks signaled that Republicans aren't likely to force a rider defunding Planned Parenthood onto the year-end government spending bill, known as the omnibus. Congress needs to pass the bill by Dec. 11 to avoid a shutdown. 'I hear a lot of things on the omni[bus] from a lot of different aspects. I do not hear people shutting the government down over it right now,' McCarthy said. But that doesn't mean there won't be any riders. 'How do you write a bill that’s not a continuing resolution that doesn’t have riders in it?' the majority leader quipped." [HuffPost]
Also this from the majority leader: "House Republicans aim to pass an overhaul in December of one of the key programs through which foreigners enter the U.S., Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Monday...The White House is pressing Congress to change the visa waiver program, which allows the citizens of 38 countries to visit the U.S. without a visa. Most of the people believed to have been involved in the Paris attacks were citizens of either France or Belgium -- both countries on the visa waiver program list. House Republicans said before the Thanksgiving break that a newly created task force will look at a number of responses to the attacks, but that their first priority was still a vote aimed at limiting the number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees who can resettle in the U.S." [HuffPost's Elise Foley]
So much for Obama's third term: "The Obama administration delivered a blow to the corn industry on Monday, easing the amount of ethanol the nation must consume below the levels Congress had set nearly a decade ago -- and potentially laying a political stumbling block for Hillary Clinton in Iowa. The ethanol pullback comes as a slump in gasoline consumption and a domestic energy boom have lessened the fears of dependence on Mideast oil that inspired lawmakers to create the mandate during the George W. Bush administration. But the mandate is still popular in Iowa, home of the nation's first presidential caucus, where corn and ethanol producers have warned that they’ll view any weakening of the program as a cave-in to Big Oil." [Politico's Alex Guillen]
The White House and the speaker's office confirmed today that the president will deliver his final state of the union on January 12th.
BRITAIN TO POLITELY BOMB PLACE - Paul Waugh: "Britain appeared to be heading for war in Syria tonight after David Cameron announced he will go ahead with a Commons vote on military action. In a clear signal that he now felt he had enough Labour MPs on board for a clear majority, the Prime Minister used a televised address to reveal that he would recommend to the Cabinet on Tuesday a debate and vote on RAF airstrikes against ISIL terrorists." [HuffPost UK]
@timkmak: Allahu Quackbar: Internet trolling ISIS by photoshopping them as rubber ducks http://bit.ly/1NEgd9C
DELANEY DOWNER - New federal rules implemented with gusto by Wisconsin Republicans have succeeded in kicking people off food stamps, Molly Beck reports: "Nearly 15,000 people lost access to food stamps in the first three months of a new law that requires some recipients to seek employment, new state data show…. The 2013-15 state budget created a rule for some recipients of the state’s food stamp program known as FoodShare: If you’re an able-bodied adult without children living at home, you must work at least 80 hours a month or look for work to stay in the program. That rule went into effect in April, and between July and September, about 25 percent of the 60,000 recipients eligible to work were dropped from the program when the penalty took effect, according to DHS data." [Madison.com]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
MORE HILLARY EMAILS - Between this and emails "from" Hillary with subjects like "I want you to see this," we're getting pretty tired of HRC emails. Justin Fishel: "After today, the public will have had the opportunity to review well over half of the 52,000 pages of documents Clinton turned over to the State Department last year, part of a court-mandated process to make all of them public. All the email is on pace to be released by the end of January. Officials at the State Department say today's release will mostly cover email from the 2012 and 2013 time frame, but that there will be others that span her entire time in office. The State Department has not been able to release the email in precise chronological order because much of it had to be set aside to be reviewed by other government agencies with interest in the content of those messages. Officials say many of those pages of email that have been held up are expected in today's release." [ABC News]
Hillary tells maiden name to stand down: "After several news organizations, including The New York Times, had inquired about how to refer to the Democratic presidential candidate, the Clinton campaign confirmed on Monday that Mrs. Clinton prefers to be simply, “Hillary Clinton,” aligning herself with the branding of her 2016 presidential campaign and the name she has signed to be placed on the ballots of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and other states. (Mrs. Clinton had also used “Hillary Clinton” in her 2008 presidential campaign, an aide said.)" [NYT's Amy Chozick]
HILLARY URGED OBAMA TO CLOSE GITMO - Very politically convenient, one also wonders if there's a second memo floating around where she urged Obama to create jobs. Ryan Reilly: "Weeks before she stepped down as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton wrote a memo urging President Barack Obama to step up his administration's efforts to close the military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay in his second term. In the confidential January 2013 memo obtained by The Huffington Post, Clinton told Obama she worried that support for closing Guantanamo would further erode unless the administration took action. 'We must signal to our old and emerging allies alike that we remain serious about turning the page of GTMO and the practices of the prior decade,' Clinton wrote in the document, using the military abbreviation for the U.S. naval base." [HuffPost]
Bern baby bern: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is having an elective outpatient procedure Monday at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Sanders, 74, is having a hernia repair procedure. The Democratic presidential hopeful is slated to return to his Senate duties on Tuesday, according to Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs." [HuffPost's Nadya Agrawal]
For more on this we go to senior hernia correspondent Weird Al.
DEM WHIP OPERATION ENTERS THE EARLY 2000s - No, we're not talking about Chief Deputy Whip Peter Welch's frosted tips. Scott Wong: "The newest tool deployed by House Democrats’ whip operation: the text message. With lawmakers and their staffers frequently communicating on their iPhones, iPads and Android devices through text message, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has turned to SMS to get a quicker, more accurate vote count on critical bills. It’s the latest development in the evolution of Democrats’ electronic whipping system, launched four years ago as a way for the caucus to tap into modern technology to carry out a century-old tradition. For decades, whipping votes had been a tedious process. Lieutenants on the vote-counting team would track down their assigned members -- usually on the floor -- survey them on how they planned to vote, scribble it down on a paper whip card, then return the card to the whip’s office, where votes would be manually entered into the system." [The Hill]
"How are you falling on the tax extenders bill, Jim?"
*Jim texts back a picture of a pile of feces stamped with a smiley face*
"Great, we have Jim."
EMILY'S LIST COMING TO EDWARDS' AID - Early money is like yeast: it dampens turnout for Chris Van Hollen in Anne Arundel County. Rachel Weiner: "The Democratic pro-choice women’s group Emily’s List is putting $1 million into television and radio ads supporting [Maryland Rep. Donna] Edwards in a primary against Rep. Chris Van Hollen...Emily’s List endorsed Edwards early in the race and has held fundraisers with her, but this ad is the group’s first independent spending in the campaign. The ads will target female African American Democratic primary voters in the Baltimore media market, the group said, airing on broadcast, cable, radio and digital streaming services." [WaPo]
TEAM JEB TRIED TO LAUNCH DESPERATE ANTI-RUBIO WHISPER CAMPAIGN - McKay Coppins: "Eventually, word got back to the senator’s camp that Jeb’s close allies in Florida were working to revive the 'zipper problem' meme in a last-ditch effort to freeze Rubio out of the race; they were circulating the rumors anew among donors and politicos and cautioning them to exercise due diligence before signing on with his campaign. From the scraps of intel Rubio’s team was getting from donors, it was difficult to tell how widespread or organized the whisper campaign might be, but some on Rubio’s staff believed they’d identified at least two of the culprits. The first was Ann Herberger, a Miami-based political fundraiser now on Jeb’s payroll whom Rubio had axed from his Senate campaign for failing to bring in donors. 'Marco fired her and now she’s bitter,' a Rubio strategist told me." [BuzzFeed]
ICYMI: "Donald Trump has canceled a press conference that was supposed to follow a meeting with approximately 100 black pastors on Monday, after finding out the purpose of the meeting was not to earn the religious leaders' endorsement. The Trump campaign initially promoted the event by saying the GOP candidate would earn the support of the pastors at the meeting, and announce it later at a press conference. But over the weekend, many of the pastors who had been invited said they had no plans to endorse the candidate." [HuffPost's Philip Lewis]
CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON DEAD - We'll be listening to this on repeat while crying for the rest of the day. Helena Andrews-Dyer: "After more than three decades and five administrations, “Christmas in Washington,” the celebrity-packed holiday special attended by the first family, won’t be returning for its 34th holiday season...After last year’s show, hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, TNT announced that it would no longer broadcast the Christmas special, ending a 15-year partnership with veteran producer George Stevens Jr. and his son, Michael. The Stevenses, who had just been ousted as the producers of the Kennedy Center Honors gala, said they were in search a new broadcast partner. But a new network sponsor was never found, and according to the Stevens Co., the 2014 broadcast was the last." [WaPo]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a goat befriending a tiger.
SURELY ABORTION POLITICS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ABORTION CLINIC TERRORISM - But is it good for the Cruz? Samantha-Jo Roth: "Cruz rejected suggestions that the [Colorado] shooter was part of the anti-abortion movement, taking issue with the 'vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life.'...When a reporter reminded the Texas senator that the suspect allegedly made a comment about 'baby parts' while being arrested, Cruz countered, 'It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is.'" [HuffPost]
FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE THINK AMERICANS DISLIKE ABORTION - Laura Bassett and Ryan Grim: "The mass shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood has been widely condemned in the United States as a horrific act of domestic terrorism or, at minimum, the depraved action of a mentally ill loner. In other parts of the world, though, it’s likely to be seen as something quite different: another expression of Americans’ widespread, hardline opposition to legal abortion. Of course, Americans, broadly speaking, do not oppose abortion rights. But the false perception of the U.S. stance on abortion abroad is the result of the way the abortion debate is covered by both the U.S. and international media. The coverage almost universally focuses on the actions of abortion opponents, whether it’s the Republican efforts in statehouses, Congress or the courts to ban the procedure; presidential candidates threatening on the debate stage to defund Planned Parenthood; or the occasional violence against abortion providers." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- An image of the pope appearing to rap surfaced and now it's a meme.
- Web app will generate a fake word.
- Floppy disks are still around.
TWITTERAMA
@ElaheIzadi: I bomb papally/Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses can't define how I be droppin' thesehomilies #PopeBars
@CNNyourmom: Your Mom Is Literally Killing Middle America
@SimonMaloy: happy cyber monday, don't forget to cyber your grandma
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e