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Leading Off: Our first thoughts this morning.
-- The fracas over an ostensibly bipartisan human trafficking measure on the Senate floor reveals a troubling partisan schism, not just between members, but between staff. Democratic staffers believe their GOP counterparts slipped an extension of the Hyde Amendment into a bill intentionally, and nefariously. Republicans think the Democrats just didn't read the bill.
-- What's not clear is whether Republicans meant to pull a fast one. What is clear is that Democrats screwed up, and now they're blocking a vote on an amendment to strip the abortion provision because they don't have the votes to pass it. The animosity created by the latest fracas extends to the staff level.
-- There aren't that many new lows for Washington to hit, but until now, staffers have largely trusted each other. That trust is unravelling. As one former senior Democratic staffer lamented to us yesterday: "We're the ones who are supposed to stop [the members] from doing stupid s%&*."
A1: Today's top stories.
-- The Department of Homeland Security is investigating allegations that two senior Secret Service agents, including the second-in-command of President Obama's detail, drove a government car into White House security barriers after drinking a late-night party last week. Uniformed officers wanted to arrest the agents and conduct sobriety tests, but a supervisor ordered them to let the agents drive home. New director Joseph Clancy turned the investigation over to DHS. The party was in honor of departing agency spokesman Ed Donovan. (Washington Post)
-- President Obama's request for an authorization for the use of military force is in jeopardy because Democrats think it goes too far and Republicans don't think it goes far enough. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, but divisions between the administration and the two parties in Congress were clear. Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he didn't know of "a single Democrat" who backed the administration's request. (New York Times) Instantly viral: Kerry vs. Marco Rubio.
-- Two police officers were shot near a protest in Ferguson, Mo., overnight, though a department spokesman said later the shots did not come from the protest itself. Both officers are expected to survive. Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson became the city's third top official to resign in the wake of a Justice Department report critical of the city's relationship with its African American citizens. (Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, twice)
-- Iraqi forces made it into the Islamic State's stronghold of Tikrit on Wednesday. Military officials said the offensive will aim to reach the city center on Thursday, though fleeing Islamic State militants left behind scores of IEDs and other booby traps. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the group had been pushed out of 25 percent of the territory it took in the spring and summer. (Washington Post)
-- The State Department's inspector general found employees failing to preserve emails as official records, as required by federal law, and in some cases intentionally declining to archive communications to avoid disclosure. A report issued Wednesday showed employees did not understand the archiving system. They archived only 61,000 emails -- total -- in 2011, out of more than a billion sent. The Associated Press filed suit against the State Department this week, seeking resolutions to years-old Freedom of Information Act requests. (Wall Street Journal)
-- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged a "real danger" he might lose the March 17 election contest, given what he said was a worldwide campaign against him. (Reuters) Haaretz's final pre-election poll shows Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union coalition winning 24 seats in the 120-member Knesset, with Netanyahu's Likud taking 21 seats. Four other parties are poised to win at least 10 seats. (Haaretz)
-- Front Pages: WaPo leads with the threat posed to the U.S. economy by ... the surging dollar? LA Times kicks off with Iraqi forces entering Tikrit (one column at the fold: "Issue of voter trust revisits Clinton"). NYT leads with the Congressional debate over the AUMF. WSJ banner: "Big Banks Struggle to Clear Fed Tests." USA Today also leads with stress tests, which 29 of 31 top lenders passed.
White House 2016: The long, strange road to Pennsylvania Ave.
-- Clinton: The House Oversight Committee will formally subpoena Hillary Clinton over her private email server and seek electronic versions of those emails, chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Wednesday. Chaffetz said he will issue the subpoenas by Friday. (Wall Street Journal) Shot: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on the Clinton emails: "I’m not indulging this bizarre fetish. ... This is totally artificial. You guys have lost your mind on this." Chaser: Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley: "here’s a disconnect between her standing right now and this Democratic chattering class of nervousness." (Washington Post)
-- Bush: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has hired Rob Varsalone and Nate Lamb to take on leadership roles in his New Hampshire campaign. Varsalone was the senior strategist on Sen. Kelly Ayotte's (R) 2010 campaign, and Lamb ran field operations for former Sen. Scott Brown (R) in 2014. Bush heads to New Hampshire for the first time this weekend. (Boston Globe) Bush resigned from the boards of Britton Hill Partners and Jeb Bush & Associates, the last two companies in which he had ownership interests, on Wednesday. (Washington Post)
-- Kasich: Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) will have dinner in New York on March 25 with prominent economists from the Committee to Unleash American Prosperity, including John Catsimatidis, Larry Kudlow and others. The group has already hosted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R). (CNN) The group will also meet with Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
-- Graham: The South Carolina Republican Party published a presidential straw poll that included 25 potential candidates, from the usual suspects to Herman Cain, Sarah Palin and even Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). One candidate it didn't include: Home-state Sen. Lindsey Graham (R), who's actually showing up at candidate forums in Iowa and New Hampshire. D'oh. Graham's name was finally included on Wednesday. (Time)
National Roundup: What's happening outside the Beltway.
-- Florida: Former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) is considering a second run for U.S. Senate in 2016, six years after he lost to Sen. Marco Rubio (R). Crist has been making calls to Democrats and big donors in the last few weeks, and top advisor Kevin Cate said he's "seriously consider[ing]" a run. (CNN) Lots of other Democrats are likely to get in, with or without the People's Governor. Which really should be a wrestler's name, come to think of it.
-- Arkansas: Tom Cotton 2020? Don't scoff: Arkansas legislators will consider a measure that would allow the freshman Republican to run simultaneously for re-election and for president when he's up in four years. The measure passed a state Senate committee on Tuesday, and sponsor Sen. Bart Hester (R) said he was thinking of Cotton when he authored the bill. (Associated Press) Cotton would be only 42 in 2020. Heck, he could wait for 2032, when he'd be 54, and still be on the younger end.
-- Maryland: Former Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D) is the second Democrat to jump in the race to replace Rep. Donna Edwards (D) in Prince George's County. Brown, who lost to Gov. Larry Hogan (R) last November, will announce his campaign today. Brown's campaign beat then-Attorney General Doug Gansler (D) and his running mate, Del. Jolene Ivey, Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey's wife, in last year's primary. (Washington Post)
-- Utah: The state legislature has approved a measure to provide nondiscrimination measures for the LGBT community that also provides safeguards for religious liberty. Gov. Gary Herbert (R) said he will sign the bill at a ceremony on Thursday. The bill includes sexual orientation and gender identity in existing housing and employment anti-discrimination laws while exempting religious organizations and their affiliates. The bill passed the state House on Wednesday by a 65-10 margin. (Salt Lake Tribune)
-- Illinois: More trouble for Rep. Aaron Schock (R): His official trip to New York with ten House staffers, which cost taxpayers $10,000, included the political director of his PAC, too. Schock was in New York for events related to the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; he took his staff to a festival in Central Park where Jay-Z, Carrie Underwood and others performed. (Chicago Sun-Times) Drip, drip, drip.
DC Digest: What's on tap today in DC.
-- President Obama meets Secretary of State John Kerry in the Oval Office this morning before leaving this afternoon for Los Angeles. He'll tape an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live when he arrives before participating in a DNC roundtable at a private residence this evening. He's staying in L.A. tonight before his visit to the Phoenix VA tomorrow.
-- Vice President Biden is on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands through Sunday. He's probably having more fun than we are.
-- Speaking of vacation, the House is out until Monday. We kid, we kid, we know district work periods aren't vacation.
-- The Senate meets at 9:30 this morning to continue consideration of Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) human trafficking bill. They'll handle the nominations of two National Transportation Safety Board members before considering amendments to Cornyn's bill.
-- The Amendment to Watch Today: Sen. David Vitter (R) has proposed stripping birthright citizenship from children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants. It's not going to pass, but it puts the GOP and White House candidates like Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a tough spot: Check the box with conservative activists, or make the party look bad with Hispanic voters? More than a few Senate Republicans wish Vitter hadn't offered his amendment.
-- WMATA is seeking permission to borrow $220 million to cover a loan that's due in October, one of several large, short-term loans taken out to make up for slow-moving federal grant money. The Federal Transit Administration has limited Metro's access to that grant money until the agency fixes financial controls. Even if Metro gets the $220 million it's seeking, it will need another $208 million later this year to cover more borrowing. (Washington Post)
B1: Business, politics and the business of politics
-- Hey, Campaign Media People: A new Nielsen report shows more than 40 percent of American households used a streaming service by November 2014, while the amount of live TV the average adult watched fell 15 minutes, to 4 hours and 51 minutes a day. Netflix is present in 36 percent of U.S. households, while 13 percent use Amazon Prime and 6.5 percent use Hulu Plus. (Time)
-- Stock futures are up slightly after the Dow lost 27 points on Wednesday. Asian markets closed higher, and European markets are mixed in early trading.
C1: Take time to digest the long reads
-- A former Syrian military police photographer who documented the Assad regime's torture and murder of thousands of dissidents ignited a turf war between Congress and the State Department last July, as the two sides argued over whether security surrounding his testimony before a House panel was tight enough. The photographer, code named Caesar, stayed at an out of the way hotel in northeast D.C. Staffers used counter-surveillance techniques while driving him to the Capitol. And when he left the Rayburn building that night, he waited until hours after the hearing; a decoy, dressed the same way, exited the building earlier, to throw any Syrian intelligence officials off the scent. (Daily Beast)
-- The state of Alabama has responded to at least one complaint of elder abuse related to the publication of "Go Set a Watchman," Harper Lee's follow-up to "To Kill a Mockingbird." Investigators last month interviewed Lee, 88, at the assisted living facility where she lives. She suffered a stroke back in 2007, and those who know her offer conflicting accounts of her mental health. (New York Times)
-- Today in History: On March 12, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt delivered a radio address on the banking crisis from his study in the White House, the first of his fireside chats. See the New York Times page 1 story here.
Attn HuffPo: What outrages liberals today
-- Texas state Rep. Jonathan Strickland (R) has a sign on his office door identifying himself as a "Former Fetus," just in time for Planned Parenthood's scheduled lobbying day at the state Capitol. Strickland said Texas Right to Life distributed the signs. "Organizations that murder children are not welcome in my office," he wrote in a Facebook post. (Texas Tribune)
Reid Wilson covers state politics and policy for the Washington Post's GovBeat blog. He's a former editor in chief of The Hotline, the premier tip sheet on campaigns and elections, and he's a complete political junkie.
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