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TOP-ED — House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES writes in WaPo calling for a “bipartisan governing coalition” in light of former Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY’s deposal and the ongoing Republican infighting over who might take his place.

“In short, the rules of the House should reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing. A small band of extremists should not be capable of obstructing that cooperation. The need to change course is urgent.”

WHAT HAPPENS IN HC-5 STAYS IN HC-5 — As Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE push forward in their bids to take over as speaker, the rest of the conference is mulling a rule change that could save whoever ends up chasing the gavel from the public ridicule that McCarthy faced earlier this year.

“Dozens of House Republicans are quietly pushing a temporary change that would raise the requirements to earn the party’s recommendation for speaker,” Olivia Beavers reports. “Under current rules, the House GOP meets in private to decide on a candidate for speaker by a two-thirds vote. The group wants to instead raise that threshold to 218 of the GOP’s 221 votes.

“The potential speaker would still need to get 218 votes in a public floor vote, but the group’s hope is that raising that required support in the conference meeting means any fighting would happen behind closed doors, avoiding the public spectacle and humiliation of a dragged-out floor vote.”

MAKING THEIR CASE: Meanwhile, Jordan told CNN’s Manu Raju this morning that what sets him apart from Scalise is his ability to unite Republicans in the conference and “tell the country what we’re doing and why it’s important to them.” He continued, throwing in a dash of something like humility: “I like the job I have now. I never wanted to do this job, but someone has to.”

On DONALD TRUMP’s endorsement of his bid: “I appreciate the president’s endorsement. He’s the leader of the party. … But we’re focused also on, the key thing is our colleagues. … We’ve got from the Freedom Caucus to people in the middle, to committee chairs, to JEFF VAN DREW — who was a Democrat four years ago — we’ve got all kinds of across the board support, and we’re just going to keep working.”

— ICYMI: “How Trump was talked into — and out of — a run for speaker,” by Ryan and Rachael

Scalise said this morning his cancer treatment is going “phenomenally well” and that he is healthy enough to take on the job. “If the doctors didn’t sign off, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Scalise told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends”, adding that he has “been through tougher fights.”

Scalise also indicated he had spoken with Trump, but that he still holds a “strong base” of support. “It’s a lot of one on one conversations over the last few days I’ve been having with my colleagues and a lot of introspection about how we get things back on track,” the Louisiana Republican said. He predicted that the race for the position could be resolved by Wednesday next week.

DUMPING ON THE DEBATE: Moderate House Republicans are “growing increasingly alarmed about the state of their party’s speaker race, with some warning it’s becoming ‘a circus’ that will harm their push to hang onto the majority,” Meredith Lee Hill reports. The latest point of contention was a scheduled joint interview/debate that Fox News was planning to host between Jordan and Scalise, which spiked tensions among the key bloc of lawmakers.

“People already thought this seemed like a circus,” said one centrist Republican lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal conference dynamics. “We are proving it is.”

And no more than a few hours after the idea was first reported, it seems to be headed to the scrap heap. Scalise is “no longer participating” in the event, Axios’ Andrew Solender reports, citing a spokesperson. Rep. KEVIN HERN (R-Okla.), who is also mulling a run, also said preemptively he would not participate.

IF YOU AIN’T FIRST — Iowa is falling in line on the presidential nominating calendar and will now be a Super Tuesday state for Democrats, officially ending its first-in-the-nation status and capping off more than a year of internal party deliberations over the order of nominating.

“Iowa’s influential perch within the Democratic Party will come to an end Friday when members of the Democratic National Committee are expected to accept Iowa’s plan to release its presidential preference numbers on March 5,” our colleague Elena Schneider reports from St. Louis.

Good Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line: [email protected].

THE ECONOMY

BUSINESS IS BOOMING — Employers added 336,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department noticed this morning, “an unexpectedly robust gain and the largest monthly rise since January,” AP’s Christopher Rugaber writes.

The booming numbers “could further stoke expectations that the central bank will keep rates high throughout next year as Fed Chair JEROME POWELL has signaled,” our colleague Victoria Guida notes.

“The September report offers a boost for Biden, who needs the economy to remain healthy as he enters an election year. But the surging labor market is clashing with the Fed’s main goal of winning the battle against high inflation. Wall Street is bracing for rates to stay elevated because that would not only make it more expensive for companies to borrow but also to repay their debt.”

Reminder: “Central bankers have already lifted rates to 5.25 to 5.5 percent, and have suggested that they could make one more rate move in 2023 before holding borrowing costs at a high level in 2024,” per NYT’s Jeanna Smialek.

The context, per the AP: “Last month’s job growth jumped from a 227,000 increase in August, which was revised sharply higher. July’s gain was also healthier than had been initially estimated. The economy has now added an average of 266,000 jobs a month for the past three months. Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8%, not far above a half-century low.”

ALL POLITICS

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Project Rescue America, a super PAC backing Sen. RICK SCOTT’s reelection, will announce today that it brought in almost $3 million for the Florida Republican in the third quarter.

WHAT BROWN CAN DO — Sen. SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio) “raised an eye-popping $5.8 million in the third quarter of this year, leaving the vulnerable Democratic incumbent with a pile of cash heading into a tough reelection campaign,” Burgess Everett writes. “Though many incumbents and candidates are still releasing their numbers, Brown’s haul is the biggest announced so far for this quarter. He will report having $11.2 million on hand, his campaign said.”

WHAT THEY’RE READING IN HARRISBURG — “Josh Shapiro’s star is rising. But trouble may be brewing back at home,” by Holly Otterbein: “As Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO takes his first concrete steps on the national stage, a cloud of a scandal involving one of his former top aides is emerging back home. Last week, MIKE VEREB, a member of Shapiro’s cabinet and a longtime ally to the Pennsylvania Democratic governor, abruptly resigned. A day later, local outlets reported that a former female aide to Vereb alleged that he had sexually harassed and retaliated against her.”

Related read: “Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, a rising political star, crosses partisan school choice divide,” by AP’s Marc Levy

CONGRESS

THE PROS OF THE PRO TEMP — Democrats “have a generally positive view” of Speaker Pro Tempore PATRICK McHENRY “despite disagreements over policy,” WSJ’s Kristina Peterson writes. “He has close ties with Treasury officials in the Biden administration, who view him as reasonable and pragmatic,” a quality that may be critical for the North Carolina Republican during this interim period should he be the one to negotiate on a number of hot topics facing Congress.

To wit … Here’s Sen. BRIAN SCHATZ’s (D-Hawaii) assessment: “He’s a grown-up. … Patrick McHenry, up and down the line on every issue, is deeply conservative, but at least he knows how to legislate.”

Related read: “Is the speaker pro tempore acting up?” by Daniella Diaz in Huddle

THE TRUMP AFFECT — While Trump’s influence swirls around the latest round of House speaker jockeying, ABC’s Jonathan Karl has new details on Trump’s involvement in the last speaker drama when McCarthy won the gavel in a marathon round of voting back in January. Though Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) first voted for Trump as speaker as little more than a castaway vote, garnering him only one vote, the former president then became interested in a formal nomination from Gaetz so that he could receive more support from his allies in the chamber, Karl reports in his forthcoming book, “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party” ($32).

2024 WATCH

ON THE WAY OUT — DYLAN QUATTRUCCI, “the Trump campaign’s deputy state director in New Hampshire who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, resigned from his post on Wednesday,” The Daily Beast’s Jake Lahut reports.

DEADLINE DAY — “Time’s up for Christie allies urging Democrats to switch parties to vote against Trump in primary,” by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser

POLICY CORNER

UP FOR REBATE — “Treasury lays out rules for instant EV rebate,” by James Bikales: “The administration hopes the immediate refund will help dealers sell more electric cars and meet President Joe Biden’s goal of lifting EVs to 50 percent of new car sales by 2030. But the Treasury Department had to structure the program to avoid placing too much burden on car dealers to front the cost of the incentive.”

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

IMMIGRATION FILES — “As Winter Looms, Venezuelan Migrant Surge Overwhelms Chicago,” by NYT’s Ernesto Londoño and Julie Bosman: “Police stations have become tent encampments. More than 800 migrants are sleeping at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. City officials are scrambling.”

PLAYBOOKERS

TRANSITION — Michael Stroud is now a partner in Ice Miller’s public affairs group. He most recently was VP for government affairs and general counsel at the International Liquid Terminals Association.

OUT AND ABOUT — Democracy for the Arab World Now honored the life of its late founder Jamal Khashoggi with a dinner to give out the inaugural DAWN Integrity Awards on Wednesday night at the National Press Club. Ayman Mohyeldin and Solafa Magdy received awards; Walid Ben Selim and Nadia Pessoa performed; and Tawakkol Karman, Lawrence Wright and Kai Bird delivered keynote speeches. Also SPOTTED: Leila Fadel, Sarah Leah Whitson, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Marquardt, Bill McCarren, Jason Rezaian, Ishaan Tharoor, David Hoffman, Josh Rogin, Kathy Baird, Elahe Izadi, Michelle Jaconi, Natali Freeling, Hannah Allam, Edward Wong, Richard Stevenson, Elizabeth Kennedy, Eric Lipton, Mark Mazzetti, Laura Rozen, Barbara Slavin, Matt Duss, Paul O’Brien, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Khalil Jahshan and Nihad Awad.

— Noah Gray’s last day at CNN is today after 15 years, as he departs to lead comms for D.C. Fire and EMS. SPOTTED at a sendoff at Old Ebbitt Grill, hosted by Kristen Holmes and Sam Feist: Wolf Blitzer, Manu Raju, Boris Sanchez, Paula Reid, Evan Perez, Cassie Spodak and Matt Mowers, Betsy Klein and Jeff Solnet, Sara Murray, Pete Muntean, Rebekah Metzler, Peter Morris, Emilie Simons, Davis Conger, Silas Woods, Allyson Bayless, Susana Castillo, Tomás Talamante and Vito Maggiolo.

— WaPo hosted Michael Lewis in its penthouse for a conversation last night with David Shipley about Lewis’ new book, “Going Infinite.” SPOTTED: Patty Stonesifer, Michael Kinsley, Sally Buzbee, Sally Quinn, Tina Brown, Kara Swisher, Kathy Baird, Steve Gibson, Molly Ball, Hanna Rosin, Juleanna Glover, Olivia Petersen and Jennifer Lee.

— McGuireWoods Consulting hosted an event last night in D.C. to support Virginia state Sen. Jennifer Boysko and Run Everywhere Virginia, featuring Paul Begala and James Carville talking politics. SPOTTED: state Sens. Jeremy McPike and Barbara Favola, state Del. Rip Sullivan, Paul Reagan, Mark Bowles and G.K. Butterfield.

— SPOTTED at the 22nd Spirit of Mount Vernon dinner at George Washington’s estate overlooking the Potomac River: retired Gen. John Kelly, Mike Sommers, Kevin Burke, Steve Caldeira, Mike Skahill, Shannon and Don McGahn, Michelle Korsmo, Jay Timmons, Chris Swonger, Francis Creighton, Jeff Shockey, Jessica Carter, Lorraine Caron, Tanzanian Ambassador Elsie Kanza, Mike Dubke, Dan Scandling, Mike Johnson, Michael Dykes, Shannon Meade, Sean Spicer, Matt Haller, David Chavern, Frank Wolf, Barbara Comstock, Tim Hutchinson and G.K. Butterfield.

— The Entertainment Software Association and Xbox hosted a reception last night to celebrate hit titles and talk about player trust and safety. SPOTTED: Stan Pierre-Louis, Jen Scully and Fred Humphries.

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producer Bethany Irvine.