DEBT REDUX — It’s groundhog day on Capitol Hill, where every day is debt day.

The Senate Budget committee will hold a hearing later this morning that Democrats have dubbed the “The Default on America Act: Blackmail, Brinkmanship, and Billionaire Backroom Deals,” where senators will discuss the House bill to raise the debt ceiling that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said is “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

After speaking to more than a dozen senators on both sides Wednesday, it’s clear that most are waiting to see what comes of the May 9 meeting between the four top congressional leaders and President Joe Biden. Most Republican senators — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — said they’re removing themselves from the process and leaving negotiations between two people: Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

But what will happen in just a few hours will be a taste of the back-and-forth that will continue to play out in the coming weeks.

Don’t be surprised if Republicans start quoting Biden to bolster their own arguments. One of their favorite refrains this week has been a quote from then-Vice President Joe Biden during the 2011 debt limit fight.

On lawmakers who didn’t want to negotiate on a debt limit increase: “How can you explain the fact that grown men and women are unwilling to budge up till now, and still some of them are still unwilling to budge, by taking an absolute position: ‘My way or no way.’ That’s not governing. That’s no way to govern. You can’t govern that way,” Biden said at the time.

Like a song on repeat, no fewer than eight GOP senators either quoted or mentioned this quote within earshot of your Huddle hosts on Wednesday. Don’t be surprised by a reprise.

When Huddle asked Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) about Republicans calling the hearing political theater, Whitehouse responded: “The political theater is entirely on the Republican side, except that it’s political theater with a hand grenade, which is wildly irresponsible. We want to show what happens if the hand grenade goes off.”

Among the people testifying are Dr. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, Fred Krupp, who is the President at the Environmental Defense Fund, Abigail Ross Hopper, the President and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, Brian Riedl, the Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and Dr. Jason J. Fichtner, PhD, the vice president & chief economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

RELATED READS: Biden wants McConnell at the debt ceiling table, despite (or because of) their history, from Jennifer Haberkorn

GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, May 4, where today is supposed to be nicest weather of the week so far, so make sure you get outside if you can!

PERMITTING IS BACK — Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) are eager to leverage the new debt limit timeline to lock in a deal on energy permitting that they hope could hitch a ride on any deal to extend the nation’s borrowing authority. Capito, the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, announced the renewed effort on the Senate floor Wednesday.

“Without permitting reform, American energy will be continued to be stalled, jeopardizing our security here at home as well as our allies abroad,” she said. “Without permitting reform, communities across America will struggle as they are denied access to the good paying jobs that they need and are capable of doing. Without permitting reform, America will not build at all.”

The pair is expected to introduce its permitting overhaul proposal later this week.

“It’s not like we haven’t been talking about permitting reform for a long time, so I think we know where people are,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told reporters. “It’s all about the incentive to do it, and June 1 creates an incentive to do something quickly and work more than two-and-a-half days a week.”

Manchin, meanwhile… On CNN last night, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said his bill from the last Congress is “the only one that truly has bipartisan support” and that his bill “ought to be a heck of a good starting point to get something across the line with 60 votes.”

SO ABOUT THOSE CRAs — Nine Democrats joined Republicans to vote to rescind the Biden administration’s two-year pause on tariffs for imports of solar equipment from four Southeast Asian countries. They were: Sens. Manchin, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The measure now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk, where it faces a certain veto.

Manchin stood alone on the Democratic side to back protections on the lesser prairie-chicken.

WE GO WAY BACK — Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is backing Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to replace retiring California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, having known and worked with Lee for 51 years starting back in 1972. “The two of us met when we were working on the campaign of Shirley Chisholm,” Clyburn told SiriusXM host Laura Coates.

He stressed that his choice, which does not align with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has endorsed Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in the race to replace Feinstein, is about his relationship with Lee.

“I had been working very closely with Barbara Lee over all these years. And so I know her much, much better than I know any of the others, I don’t think.” Clyburn said. “I don’t have anything against Adam Schiff, I think he is a good guy. I don’t have anything against any other candidates. I’m just for Barbara Lee.”

SANDERS SAYS — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is planning to make an announcement (with no additional details provided) at 11 a.m. on minimum wage. The chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will be joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry, and Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz during the announcement.

SU SUSPENSE — No big decisions or announcements followed Manchin’s meeting Wednesday with Labor secretary nominee Julie Su.

“We just finished up our meeting. It was a good meeting. I have a lot of work to do here to make my final decision,” he told CNN last night.

HUDDLE HOTDISH

While we like to remain neutral about exactly what Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) is tweeting, we do admit her tweets have been spicy lately.

We’re keeping an eye out for wholesome Star Wars content like this from the fans on Capitol Hill today. May the fourth be with you.

QUICK LINKS

Black Caucus presses Senate Dems to blow up tradition on judges, from Burgess Everett and Nicholas Wu

Emails Reveal ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Herschel Walker Money Scandal, from Roger Sollenberger at The Daily Beast

Sen. Sherrod Brown received an extra property tax credit and racked up penalties for late payments, from Henry J. Gomez at NBC News

Republicans allege unspecified Biden ‘scheme,’ fire off new FBI subpoena, from Jordain

Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition, from Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski at ProPublica

TRANSITIONS

Becca Salter is now director of operations at Convergence Media. She previously was director of operations for Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.).

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House is out

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. will vote on the confirmation of LaShonda A. Hunt to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and cloture on the nomination of Colleen Joy Shogan to be Archivist of the United States. At 1:45 p.m. the Senate will vote on cloture for the nomination of Geeta Rao Gupta to be Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues.

AROUND THE HILL

9:30 a.m. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies. (G50 Dirksen)

11 a.m. Sanders will make an announcement on minimum wage. (Senate Swamp)

PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA

WEDNESDAY’S WINNER: Not a single person was able to correctly answer that Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeanne Holm was the first woman promoted to brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force (1971) and the first female major general in any armed forces in 1973.

TODAY’S QUESTION: In 1888, this Kansas town became the first town in the United States known to have an all-woman government, with the mayor and entire council being female.

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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Follow Katherine and Daniella on Twitter: @ktullymcmanus and @DaniellaMicaela

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