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With help from Jordain Carney, Nicholas Wu and Marianne LeVine

TWO TRACKS, BUT TO WHERE? — The two-track plan that smoothed House passage of the administration’s tentative deal to avoid a potential railroad industry strike might not survive the Senate.

Alongside the brokered contract, the House also backed a separate measure that would add seven days of paid sick leave for workers. But with just days until a strike is set to begin, Democrats in the Senate are still gauging if all 50 of their members will back either deal and how to bring at least 10 Republicans on board.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is tasked with threading a needle: finding the votes to back the underlying deal to avert a strike while also meeting the demands of members who don’t want to move forward without additional paid leave for rail workers.

Labor lunch: The Biden administration is sending the cabinet to Capitol Hill to try and figure out the road ahead. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh are due at the Senate Democrats’ lunch today. The pair, who have been deeply involved in the rail negotiations for months, can’t provide any shortcuts. Ultimately Schumer will need to find the votes.

Leaders are expected to try to set up votes today on both the base deal reached in September and the version with additional sick leave. Doing so, however, will require cooperation from all 100 senators.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is leaning toward supporting the sick leave proposal, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) hasn’t decided how he will vote.

“Chuck’s got a lot of shit on his table right now. But this is a big one. Hopefully there’s a plan to move forward in a way that makes sense,” Tester said Wednesday. “The rail shutdown, that would be disastrous. But you want to treat people fairly.”

It isn’t clear where Republicans stand, either. There weren’t firm “yea” votes on the GOP side right on Wednesday for the paid leave provision, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) offered the prediction that there won’t be 10 Republicans to break a filibuster even if Democrats unite behind it.

Much more on the railway state-of-play from Burgess, Nicholas and Alex Daugherty: Dems' rail-strike challenge: Save the economy and your ties to unions

MUSICAL CHAIRS — After months of speculation, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) told colleagues that she’s running for the top Democratic spot on the Science, Space and Technology Committee next year, Jordain scooped. Lofgren sent a letter to her colleagues making her case for succeeding retiring Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), saying that she wanted to work in a “largely bipartisan manner to expand research funding and cultivate our country's STEM pipeline.”

Lofgren’s decision opens up Democrats’ top spot on the House Administration Committee, where her successor will be the panel’s ranking member. Incoming Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will pick the party’s top member on the committee, which is responsible for everything from elections to Capitol Police oversight to mouse infestations on the Capitol complex.

One name that had been floated by some as a potential pick is Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the committee. But, asked about the possibility, Raskin indicated earlier this year that he was committed to the Oversight race, and he reiterated that to Jordain after Lofgren’s decision.

GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, December 1, where it is okay to be in denial about the year being almost over.

PARLIAMENTARIAN PROBE — Around a dozen House Freedom Caucus members gathered behind closed doors Wednesday with House Parliamentarian Jason Smith to review the rules and procedures governing the Jan. 3 speaker vote, where a handful of Republicans have pledged to vote against Kevin McCarthy.

Olivia and Jordain reported out who was in the room, along with a state-of-play on the larger discussions of McCarthy’s chances to gather the votes he needs to claim the gavel. Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.) and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) attended, along with the Trump-aligned group’s chair, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Others in the room included Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Ben Cline (R-Va.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.). Rep.-elect Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) also joined, along with some staff.

RULES CH-CH-CHANGES — The Senate Democratic caucus will vote today by secret ballot on a caucus rules change proposal from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), which would prevent Democratic senators from holding both a leadership position and a prime committee gavel. The proposal wouldn't go into effect until 2025 and would affect Sen. Dick Durbin's status as both Judiciary chair and whip. It also would potentially impact Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who are expected to become the No. 3 and No. 4 Democratic leaders next week, respectively. Stabenow chairs the Agriculture Committee, while Klobuchar chairs the Rules Committee.

Earlier this week, the caucus unanimously adopted Schumer's proposal to restructure his leadership team, in light of Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) vacating the No. 3 assistant leader slot. (Murray is slated to become president pro tempore and Appropriations chair next Congress.) Schumer's new structure eliminates the assistant leader position from the hierarchy. It also adds a new junior role to Schumer's broader leadership team, called "deputy conference secretary."

IT’S SPENDING SEASON— Top GOP Senate Appropriator Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, said Wednesday that he pitched a counteroffer on topline funding levels for the year-end omnibus spending bill to Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Caitlin Emma reports. Leahy lamented Tuesday that he was still waiting to hear back from the GOP after making a recent offer. Shelby said the deal could total around $1.7 trillion.

The traditional tension between funding levels for defense and nondefense programs is on the menu again this year, with the current stopgap set to run out on Dec. 16.

“Democrats have already gotten way above parity,” Shelby said Wednesday, referring to domestic spending through a pair of large, party-line bills that addressed climate, tax, health care and Covid aid. “They don’t want to count that, but we do.”

IN ARRAY ON NDAA?— There’s a compromise emerging on the National Defense Authorization Act, which would back President Joe Biden’s request for a $45 billion increase to the Pentagon’s budget. (Don’t make us remind you that it’s an authorizing bill, so it doesn’t actually fund the Pentagon.)

The deal, which is not yet finalized, would set the budget topline at $847 billion for national defense and could be cranked up as high as $858 billion to include programs outside of the two Armed Services Committees’ jurisdiction, report Connor O’Brien and Lee Hudson. The goal is for the House to vote on NDAA next week, followed by Senate action.

HELLO, CRYPTO— Senate Agriculture holds a hearing today on the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX. If you’re wondering why the matter is under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Agriculture panels, that is fair. The answer is that crypto is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam set to testify.

Related:Lawmakers who benefited from FTX cash set to probe its collapse, from Tory Newmyer at The Washington Post

THE KIDS TABLE NO MORE — For the last two years, Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his two deputies Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) have called themselves the “kids table” in private, a nod to their status in line behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

“The race was over before anyone else knew what was happening,” a senior House Democrat said. But the kids table is now taking power. Don’t miss Sarah and Nicholas’ dive into how the Dems’ new “big three” made their ascension seem almost inevitable, even when it was far from so. They trace support for Jeffries within the caucus back to its origin points, with nudges to run against Pelosi in 2020 and a group of ten who huddled years ago to plot his ascension.

More Dem elections: The New Democrat Coalition is holding its elections at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, according to a person familiar with the situation. Reps. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) are vying to chair the pro-business group. Just like the Democratic Caucus as a whole, there’s also a competitive race to be one of its four vice chairs. The candidates: Reps. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Sharice Davids (D-Kans.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) Rep.-elect Nikki Budzinkski from (D-Ill.) is running unopposed to be the group’s freshman leadership representative.

PAGING HUGH HALPERN — Jan. 6 Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) had plenty to say on Wednesday, but something that caught your Huddle Host’s eye was the timing of the select committee’s highly anticipated public report. Thompson said the timing of the report will depend on how long the Government Publishing Office says it will take to produce a physical copy of the report (even though much of the material will be exclusively digital).

Drew bids adieu … Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s fiery spokesperson, recently switched from Diet Coke to double espressos. He’s also leaving after 16 years with Pelosi. But he is mum on what comes next. Megan Mineiro has the story for CQ Roll Call.

QUICK LINKS 

Cherokee Nation waits to see if Congress will make good on a 200-year-old promise, from Renee Klahr

A borough takes charge: Brooklyn is in the House and Senate, from Paul Kane at The Washington Post

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House meets at noon for legislative business.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and will resume consideration of the nomination of Jerry Blackwell to be a District Judge for Minnesota. The Senate will take two votes at 11:30 a.m. and additional votes are expected later in the day.

AROUND THE HILL

10:45 a.m. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) holds her weekly press conference. (Studio A)

12:30 p.m. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) holds a press conference on gender equality. (Senate Swamp)

3:30 p.m. Pelosi will hold a photo opportunity with Macron ahead of a bipartisan, bicameral meeting.

WEDNESDAY’S WINNER:Jeffrey Last came the closest to answering who are the siblings who have served together in Congress since 2000. He nailed Tim and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Carl and Sander Levin of Michigan and Ken and John Salazar of Colorado. There have also been Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida and Loretta and Linda Sanchez of California.

TODAY’S QUESTION: Which sitting member of Congress served as the first official “freshman liaison” to the leadership of the House GOP Conference back in the 103rd Congress?

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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