OBAMA AGENDA: Vetoed
The president vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline bill yesterday, NBC News reports. And the Washington Post notes that this is likely the first of many vetoes from the president.
Susan Rice called Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States "destructive" to U.S. relations with Israel.
NBC's Frank Thorp writes: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an invitation to meet with Democratic Senators behind closed doors when he comes to the U.S. to address a joint session of Congress next month."
CONGRESS: Will House Republicans follow Mitch McConnell’s lead?
The Washington Post: "The Senate moved closer Tuesday to a deal to avert a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, but the proposal faced an uncertain future in the House, where Republican leaders conspicuously refused to embrace it."
From the AP: "Early reviews from House conservatives were negative ahead of a closed-door caucus meeting set for Wednesday morning, their first since returning from a weeklong congressional recess. Several insisted they could not accept the two-part strategy proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: a vote on legislation to fund the Homeland Security Department, and a separate vote to overturn Obama's recent executive actions sparing millions of immigrants in this country illegally from deportation."
Lawmakers are wrestling with the nitty-gritty details of a possible trade deal, writes the Wall Street Journal. "House and Senate leaders crafting the so-called fast-track bill want to include sweeteners to attract skeptical Democrats, including rules to allow lawmakers greater access to the details of continuing trade negotiations. But supporters fear too many provisions friendly to Democrats could alienate Republicans and the business community, or even put a major Pacific trade deal at risk when it comes up for a final vote."
OFF TO THE RACES: Walker ahead in Iowa, per new poll
A new Quinnipiac poll shows Scott Walker with 25 percent support among likely GOP Iowa caucus participants, with 13 percent for Rand Paul, 11 percent for Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee and 10 percent for Jeb Bush.
BIDEN: NHJournal previews Biden's visit to New Hampshire: "With the rapid fire action of Republican potential presidential candidates stealing much of the political attention in New Hampshire lately, Vice President Joe Biden’s return to the first-primary state will be sure to stoke some interest in what could happen on the Democratic side."
BUSH: Jeb Bush is setting up a big meeting in April with his big donors and his likely campaign team, writes the Wall Street Journal.
National Review reports - and NBC confirms - that Bush is hiring leading reformocon April Ponnuru as a policy aide.
CLINTON: NBC's Andrew Rafferty on her Silicon Valley speech yesterday: "The former secretary of state said she is checking the final items off her list of things that must be in place before she officially announces her campaign, saying she will make a decision "in good time.""
From POLITICO: "In hundreds of documents released to POLITICO under the Freedom of Information Act, not a single case appears where the State Department explicitly rejected a Bill Clinton speech. Instead, the records show State Department lawyers acted on sparse information about business proposals and speech requests and were under the gun to approve the proposals promptly. The ethics agreement did not require that Clinton provide the estimated income from his private arrangements, making it difficult for ethics officials to tell whether his services were properly valued."
CHRISTIE: The New York Times reports that he is hiring a Google executive to serve as spokeswoman for his PAC.
FIORINA: Supporters are starting a new super PAC.
JINDAL: The Times-Picayune editorial board is not happy with Bobby Jindal: "When Bobby Jindal stands in front of the White House and lambasts President Barack Obama's leadership -- as he did Monday and last year when Republican governors met in Washington -- his political handlers must think it makes him look like a statesman. From here, it just looks desperate -- desperate to get some national attention for his anemic presidential bid, desperate to get away from the fiscal mess Louisiana is facing."
PAUL: Mitch McConnell is backing Paul's bid for an early Kentucky caucus, which would allow the senator to run for reelection and for president at the same time.
RUBIO: He talked to NH1's Paul Steinhauser in New Hampshire, weighing in on immigration, the DHS showdown, Jeb Bush and Rudy Giuliani.
And around the country...
CALIFORNIA: Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa won't run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).
ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune on Rahm Emanuel being forced into a mayoral runoff: "In the sometimes quirky and symbolic math of politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel lost the expectations game Tuesday, even though he captured more votes in a re-election bid than any of the four rivals hoping to unseat him. The mayor’s tally was not enough, however, to avoid a humbling April 7 runoff."
NEW YORK: Garner case prosecutor and congressional candidate Daniel Donovan is defending his record. "His reputation elsewhere may have been badly damaged by the Garner case, but not on Staten Island. A natural fit with the comparatively conservative, blue-collar electorate here, with its ample community of civil servants, Mr. Donovan’s law-enforcement background represents a handy turn of the page after Mr. Grimm’s oversize exploits," writes the New York Times.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Wednesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron Hall speaks with legal analyst Lisa Green about the American Sniper trial, Chicago Tribune City Hall reporter Bill Ruthhart about the Mayoral race in Chicago, Executive Director of the Nigerian-American Leadership Council Sam Okey Mbonu about an American missionary taken hostage in Nigeria, Political analyst Robert Zimmerman about DHS funding and 2016 election, and actress Anne Heche and Actor Jason Isaacs about their new series on USA: DIG.
*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Fmr. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Fmr. Rep. Patrick Murphy, MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, USA Today’s Susan Page, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, Luke Russert, Miguel Almaguer, Gabe Guitierrez and Charles Hadlock.