By Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz

With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team

Top Democrats, led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are coalescing around a strategy to oppose the GOP’s impeachment inquiry: cleaving off the Hunter Biden's conduct from his father's. | AP

DEMS PREPARE TO SPLIT HUNTER FROM JOE

As the House barrels closer to an impeachment vote, Democrats are vowing to defend Biden to the end — Joe Biden, that is, and not Hunter.

Top Democrats are coalescing around a strategy to oppose the GOP’s impeachment inquiry: cleaving off the son’s conduct from his father’s. They think they have the facts to back them up, since the probe has yet to find any evidence directly linking Hunter Biden’s business dealings to Joe.

“Our job, or my job, will be to remind the American people of that over and over again – that Hunter Biden is not the administration,” said Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.), the party’s top member on the subpanel tasked with investigating GOP claims of federal government bias.

“You can't impeach Hunter Biden, but he will be prosecuted,” seconded Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the party’s top member on the Oversight Committee.

The zoom-out: Democrats don’t plan to even try to defend Hunter Biden’s conduct during his time serving on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. That arrangement, Republicans say, allowed him to trade on his father’s influence at the time as vice president.

Instead, the president’s party is keen to keep Joe as far away as possible from the drip-drip of damaging information coming out about his son.

“Hunter Biden may have very well done some improper things. He's a disturbed man. Almost every president has had problematic family members,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the party’s top member on the Judiciary Committee.

There’s more: As part of their anti-impeachment messaging, House Democrats also plan to cast Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as the real leader of Republicans – not Speaker Kevin Mccarthy. Recall that former President Donald Trump talked with Greene about impeaching Biden at his New Jersey club recently, as POLITICO first reported.

Greene is a member of the Oversight Committee, so she will play a big role in any impeachment process. Of course, she’s also Democrats’ favorite bogeywoman these days.

But back to the Hunter-Joe split: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries illustrated how it will play out by telling Huddle that “it’s an illegitimate impeachment inquiry. There's not a shred of evidence that President Biden engaged in any wrongdoing.” (Left unsaid: Hunter, who’s still in real legal peril over potential gun-related charges, may be a different story.)

During House Democrats’ closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday morning, Jeffries was optimistic that Biden’s impeachment would provide his party an opportunity to put the GOP on defense.

The New York Democrat told his members that impeachment would provide “another opportunity to illustrate [GOP] extremism,” according to a person in the room who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

— Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz

A message from Citi:

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GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Sept. 13, where we’re so back, baby!

HOUSE SPENDING STATUS: NOT GOOD

The House will not return for its previously scheduled vote series Wednesday night, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership team continues its last-ditch outreach to conservatives.

GOP leaders had hoped to notch a major spending win — passage of their defense spending bill — but instead had to delay the vote for hours. With just one day left to vote this week, many senior Republicans privately believe the bill will be pulled altogether.

But talks could still continue this month, as McCarthy floated a new, defense-focused “minibus” spending measure.

A group of members were seen huddling on the floor Wednesday afternoon, including Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.), a leadership ally. But Roy warned afterward that if leadership wants to break the logjam this week, they have to cut the spending deal long sought by conservatives.

“There is currently not an appetite to just ... blindly move forward with any one piece of the puzzle until we can actually look at the picture of the puzzle,” Roy said.

— Sarah Ferris and Jordain Carney

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SO, HOW DOES THIS SPENDING MESS END?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has teed up a final vote on his chamber’s bipartisan, three-bill spending package – it’s likely to happen early next week. The Senate is also expected to spend a couple of days voting on amendments beforehand.

Given how harmonious things in the Senate are right now as chaos reigns in the House, it’s time to run through some possible endgames before Sept. 30:

1. McCarthy puts a clean stopgap on the floor: If this were to happen, he would need Democrats to help get it over the finish line because conservatives won’t support it. And if McCarthy puts a clean spending patch on the floor, conservatives are already talking about forcing a vote on ousting McCarthy as speaker. The Californian absolutely does not want that.
2. McCarthy puts a stopgap with extra goodies on the floor: House Republicans, including conservatives, could put the bill over the finish line, particularly if those add-ons beef up border security. But Senate Democrats won’t support that. So we’d end up in the same place – no agreement, McCarthy facing a real threat to his gavel. 
3. The Senate ends up going first on a stopgap and the House can’t act on anything: This is the scenario many on both sides of the aisle say they don’t want to happen – but it could happen if a short-term funding plan can’t pass the House.

Would House conservatives accept a Senate-tweaked patch? “Depends on what it looks like,” Roy told us. Passing a “good bill” would force the Senate and President Joe Biden to the negotiating table, the Texas Republican added.

“I know we can't get everything we want. But we’ve got to get some chunk of the bread. … I'd like to get one crumb.”

— Daniella Diaz, with assist from Jennifer Scholtes

FIRST IN HUDDLE: The centrist New Democrat Coalition is planning to call on McCarthy to bring up appropriations bills similar to the Senate’s, according to a letter circulating among the nearly 100-member group’s members obtained by POLITICO. Until then, they want McCarthy to bring up a stopgap funding bill to keep the lights on.

“We urge you to reject the hyperpartisan approach and focus on passing government funding legislation that can actually become law,” wrote Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Ann Kuster (D-N.H.) and Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.).

But but but: McCarthy almost certainly isn’t going to take this government shutdown escape hatch on Democrats’ terms. But he’ll eventually need help from the left to move any funding package to the House floor, given how entrenched conservative hardliners are.

— Nicholas Wu

A message from Citi:

GOP COLLEAGUES ON ROMNEY’S DECISION TO RETIRE

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has decided to call it quits in the Senate after this term — and his colleagues are wishing him the best.

"Knowing Mitt as I do, I'm sure he gave it a lot of careful thought,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. "I think people have a lot of respect for Mitt. I don't always agree with him. But he's a very intelligent man, and I think it's important to test your assumptions against the arguments of others. And Mitt always has good arguments for his position. And I know it was a hard decision."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also saluted Romney’s choice.

“He's been in public service for a long time. He's done a lot of things and been very successful and has a wonderful family that I'm sure that he wants to make sure has more time to spend with,” Rubio said. “That day will come for all of us at some point. Either we choose that date or they choose it for us."

On Romney’s announcement, GOP Rep. Blake Moore, one of four members of Utah’s House delegation, told reporters: “I appreciate it when members of Congress can be candid about our nation's real problems.”

Moore was noncommittal on running for the seat itself: ”I'm not planning to pursue it, and we'll see.”

— Ursula Perano and Daniella Diaz, with an assist from Nicholas Wu

A message from Citi:

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Today, the most popular way to experience the metaverse is via video games played on virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, as time goes on, the metaverse may help us find new and enhanced ways to engage with commerce, art, media, healthcare, and social collaboration.

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Take a more in-depth look at the potential impact in the Citi GPS Report, Metaverse and Money.

“This came out of the blue” … Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) accidentally matched outfits today.

Sen. Mike Lee officially joined the Bald Club on #BaldIsBeautifulDay.

Jordain’s always got the scoop … Check out what she overheard last night after the House Freedom Caucus meeting.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) enlisted the power of Gronk to raise awareness of rare diseases and antimicrobial resistance on the Hill Wednesday. Once a Patriot, always a Patriot.

Yesterday it was Taylor Swift. Today it’s Beyonce.

QUICK LINKS 

‘It’s dead’: House GOP abortion push stymies funding bill, from Meredith Lee Hill and Alice Miranda Ollstein

Conservative mutiny forces delay in House Pentagon spending bill, from Connor O’Brien and Joe Gould

Lauren Boebert ditches the MAGA thing in Colorado, from Olivia Beavers

2023 Time’s 100 Next – Shalanda Young, from Nancy Pelosi for Time

Once-experimental Congressional Hackathon gets new institutional support for fifth iteration, from Madison Alder at FedScoop

GO INSIDE THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DIPLOMATIC PLATFORM WITH UNGA PLAYBOOK: The 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly will jam some of the world's most influential leaders into four city blocks in Manhattan. POLITICO's special edition UNGA Playbook will take you inside this important gathering starting Sept. 17 — revealing newsy nuggets throughout the week and insights into the most pressing issues facing global decision-makers today. Sign up for UNGA Playbook.

TRANSITIONS 

Rory Stanley has joined DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy as chief of staff. He previously was a staffer for Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for nearly nine years.

TOMORROW IN CONGRESS

The House is in session.

The Senate is in session.

THURSDAY AROUND THE HILL

10 a.m. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) will be holding a press conference Congress funding public transit and passenger rail investments in the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations bill. (House Triangle)

11 a.m. Reps. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and John James (R-Mich.) will hold a press conference to discuss support and assistance for Afghanistan. (House Triangle)

TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Rob Placek correctly guessed that Australia is the one G20 nation whose ambassador to the United States formerly served as head of government of that country. Name the country. The ambassador’s name is Kevin Rudd.

TODAY’S QUESTION from Rob: On their first official date in 1989, Barack Obama and his future wife Michelle went to see what movie?

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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