With an assist from Nicholas Wu, Jordain Carney and Josh Gerstein

BORDER SECURITY TOPS HOUSE’S POST-RECESS AGENDA — House Republicans will leave town today riding high on debt limit passage but already have their eyes on a legislative target for after the recess: their double barrel border security package.

After some back-and-forth behind the scenes with a group of Hispanic Republican lawmakers who were previously against the legislation, there now appears to be some consensus in the conference. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters Thursday that House Republicans will tackle border security with a bill in May, the same week that Title 42 — which allowed the government to turn away asylum seekers on public health grounds — is set to expire.

They’re aiming for a May 11 vote on the package, made up of two bills, one each from the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committee. Homeland Security Chair Mark Green of Tennessee said that the separate border security proposals “must move together.” Scalise, for his part, called it the “strongest border security package that Congress has ever taken up.”

Background: The Congressional Hispanic Conference, a group of Latino GOP lawmakers led by Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (Fla.) and Tony Gonzales (Texas), had opposed the measures, arguing they needed provisions to help legal migrants in the United States.

But it appears that just in the last day, Gonzales has signaled he would be supportive of the package — absent 11th hour changes that rewrote the legislation. Some changes made in a hours-long Judiciary markup paved the way.

As of right now, the GOP border bills would increase penalties for individuals who overstay their visas, overhaul the asylum system and restart previously planned border wall construction. A section from Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) would, among other provisions, reinstate a Trump-era policy that required many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings before U.S. immigration judges.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called the Judiciary bill “the engine to actually get the border security,” but said he’s open to a merger with the Homeland bill.

“The framework that I talked to Mark Green about, I was generally in favor, but only if married to the Judiciary bill. We cannot pass Homeland by itself,” Roy said.

He’s been in conversation with Green about his red lines on changes to the Judiciary bill that would result in a border security package being “dead on arrival” in his eyes.

“The Judiciary bill ain’t changing,” Roy said. But he also acknowledged that “there are some debates about how E-Verify will play out.”

The E-Verify program requires businesses to check the citizenship status of their employees. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voted against the Judiciary Committee bill because of the provision and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) could also have changes to propose.

Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Thursday that “Nothing has changed since we passed it a week ago” and that he met with Republican Study Committee members earlier this week.

“Some of the folks who were raising concerns about E-Verify were, I felt, supportive,” Jordan said of that meeting.

GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, April 28, where it’s White House Correspondents’ dinner weekend. Whether you’re going to every last party or getting out of dodge, enjoy the weekend.

MARKEY’S MONTANA THOUGHTS — When Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) first ran for Congress, he leveraged a public punishment doled out by the speaker of the Massachusetts state House, throwing his desk into the hall. “The bosses tell me where to sit. No one tells me where to stand,” said Markey in a 1976 campaign ad.

Forty seven years later, he sees throughlines in the punishment of transgender State Rep. Zooey Zephyr in Montana, who has been barred from attending or speaking during the remainder of her state’s House session. Her punishment was in response to telling colleagues in favor of a ban on gender-affirming health care that they would see “blood on [their] hands,” refusing to apologize and holding up a microphone while protesters chanted supporting her. On Thursday, Zephyr was pictured working from a bench in the hall outside the House chamber at the Montana state house.

“The Speaker of the Montana State Legislature is punishing a powerful voice that they think by putting her in the hall will silence her, when in fact, it’s only going to amplify her voice for justice in the same way that my voice was,” Markey told Huddle. “The irony is that the Montana State Legislature has now given her a platform that is much bigger than they would have ever imagined in the same way that the Tennessee House Representatives gave a powerful national voice to young African American legislators.”

SHARP ELBOWS — Dems desperately want to win back the seat that Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) flipped red in 2023, but there’s already angst about who should be leading the effort.

Former Rep. Mondaire Jones is gearing up to run for his old House seat, but his allies are frustrated that he’ll likely have to run against the sister of Michigan Gov. and Democratic star Gretchen Whitmer, Liz Whitmer Gereghty.

“Democrats are bracing for the showdown — in one of several New York districts they need to claw back their House majority — to get nasty,” Nicholas and Ally Mutnick write.

DEMS ON DEBT — Don’t miss the team’s story that takes a closer look on President Joe Biden’s strategy of refusing to budge from his demand that Congress pass an unconditional increase to the debt ceiling, betting that he still holds the stronger hand in the face of an economic catastrophe.

FIRST IN HUDDLE: DIAPER DEMAND — The ever-growing Dads caucus on Capitol Hill, led by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), sent a letter to the House Administration Committee requesting for additional diaper changing tables in restrooms across the House buildings.

“As brought to our attention by constituents and visitors to the House buildings, not every restroom has access to a diaper changing table—an experience shared by many of us and our staff. This deficiency hinders the ability of working parents from being easily able to manage parental responsibilities,” they wrote in the letter, obtained by Huddle. “Whether it is a staff member, a Member of Congress, or a visitor to our Congressional offices, we must ensure that everyone has access to diaper changing tables in the restroom.”

Your Huddle host remembers talking to then-Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) back in 2018 about this issue, having to make a trek back to his office to find a place where he — or his husband — could change their baby’s diaper because men’s restrooms lacked the necessary facilities.

Women members of Congress did not even have a bathroom for their own use — let alone children — near the chamber until 2011. It opened during a familiar legislative battle: debt ceiling talks.

IN THE FRAY WITH WRAY — At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing Thursday, Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) pressed Wray about what the congressman called “political appointees” from the FBI who now are regulars on cable TV.

“The last 18 months we turn on the TV…those people are out now doing TV appearances – on television. They weren’t arrested by the FBI. I’m not sure they were investigated by the FBI. They were political appointees working for the FBI,” Carter said. “My issue is your reputation is that there are political appointees in the FBI that have been interfering, or at least working towards a political agenda.”

Wray noted that Carter “diplomatically” chose not to offer any names, but the FBI chief quickly sought to correct a key misperception.

“Just to be clear: there are no political appointees at the FBI. Everybody in the FBI is a career civil servant,” Wray noted, with the exception of himself.

The FBI chief also noted that the crew now running the bureau is far different from the one he inherited when he arrived in the job.

“I’ve turned over the entire leadership team,” said Wray, who was appointed to a 10-year term by President Donald Trump in 2017 after Trump fired the previous director, James Comey.

Carter still sounded perturbed about the ex-FBI commentators, but relieved they are no longer at the agency.

“You found people caring about politics more than law enforcement. I hope they found someplace else,” the House member said.

FEELINGS ON FEINSTEIN — Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) gave an illuminating interview on her views of the Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) situation to Isaac Chotiner for The New Yorker.

When asked if she thinks Feinstein is “fully mentally functional,” she said: “I think that she has some challenges, and she is not the only one in the Senate.”

“We have male members that have various challenges, and I’m not hearing anybody suggesting that they retire,” Stabenow said. “I do think she has been treated unfairly.”

The conversation on Feinstein’s future also continues in her home state, where Wylie Aitken, Feinstein’s longtime friend and the chief of the Central District judge selection committee, spoke about her last night at an investiture ceremony for U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter in Orange County, reports California legal affairs reporter Meghann Cuniff. She writes that Aitken said Feinstein worked for 30 years to “increase the quality and value of the judiciary” and called these recent weeks “difficult times for the senator.”

END OF AN ERA — The PCR Covid testing sites in the House and Senate office buildings are set to close at the end of May, according to a notice sent Thursday to lawmakers and staff. Antigen or PCR tests required for travel for official duties will still be available through the Office of the Attending Physician. One of the sites is set to relocate in May, with the current site in the Rayburn Foyer moving to the Rayburn Health Unit, which will offer testing from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the week. Eligible people are also able to get a second bivalent booster from the Rayburn Health Unit.

HUDDLE HOTDISH

Smooth like butter, like a criminal undercover…“If I’m going to go to prison because I don’t put it in the freezer, then I want them to loosen their regulations,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told the Wall Street Journal‘s Kristina Peterson about his butter. This A-Hed got the convo started.

Elevator pitch, er, ditch… Best wishes to the intern who got dumped on a Senate elevator on Thursday. Not everyone can find love in a hopeless place (Rayburn).

Ring that bell… Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is finished with chemotherapy and his cancer is in remission.

QUICK LINKS

‘The Queen of New York:' George Santos basks in rare praise as DC Young Republicans give him a hero’s welcome, from Bryan Metzger at Insider

Tucker who? GOP establishment says meh to TV gadfly’s demise, from Anthony Adragna

Congress Pushes to Police Stock Trading by Federal Officials, from Rebecca Ballhaus, Coulter Jones and James V. Grimaldi at The Wall Street Journal

In N.H. stop, Trump embraces woman convicted in Jan. 6 case, from Isaac Arnsdorf at The Washington Post

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House convenes at 9 a.m. for legislative business.

The Senate is out.

AROUND THE HILL

10:30 a.m. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) holds his weekly news conference. (Studio A)

TRIVIA

THURSDAY’S WINNER: Tim Yehl correctly answered that Los Angeles County is the most populous in the U.S. (Wednesday’s answer, which we neglected to include in Thursday’s Huddle, was that Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.)

TODAY’S QUESTION from Tim: For nearly 20 years, these three men made up their state’s Congressional delegation after initially working a state campaign where one was the candidate, the other the campaign manager and the third the driver.

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]

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