Photograph by Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Lead by Mayor Michael Hancock, Anna and Fran Simon are the first couple to take part in a civil union ceremony at the Webb Building in Denver , on May 1, 2013.

The two Democratic members of a bipartisan Senate immigration group who sit on the Judiciary Committee are refusing to say whether they’d vote to add protections for same-sex couples to the measure.

“I’m not going to get into speculatives,”  Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said today when asked whether he’d vote for an amendment proposed by the panel’s chairman, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy.

Leahy wants to add a provision requiring that foreign nationals married to a same-sex U.S. citizen be treated equally to those married to a citizen of the opposite sex. Republicans in the eight-member Senate group, opposing the measure, say it would cause them to pull their support for the bill.

“Our four Republican colleagues feel very strongly, those in the Gang of Eight, that if this is in the bill, they would not be able to support it,” Schumer said. “Our four Democratic colleagues, including myself, believe that this is not just another issue, but an issue of discrimination. So how we resolve this remains to be seen.”

Schumer said he “would like very much to see” Leahy’s provision added to the bill, “but we have to have a bill that has support.”

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the other Democratic member of the Senate group who sits on the Judiciary panel, similarly would not say earlier this week if he would back the Leahy amendment if it comes to a vote in the committee, which Democrats control by a two-seat margin.

Schumer today said supporters of Leahy’s amendment who don’t want to sink the overall immigration bill face a “conundrum.”

“This one is something I worry about all the time,” he said.   “I’m a good sleeper, but I wake up in the morning thinking of these things.”

Original post is Schumer: Same-Sex Marriage ‘Conundrum’ for Immigration Bill by Political Capital.

Photograph by Sam Hodgson/Bloomberg

A man stands in Tijuana, Mexico, beyond the U.S.-Mexico border fence from San Diego, California, on March 21, 2012.

That messaging thing remains a problem for Republicans talking about immigration.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan immigration bill under debate today, maintains that he was not calling Mexico a “Hell hole.”

“It’s not a Hell hole,” Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, one of the most outspoken critics of the bill, said at the Senate Judiciary Committee. “There are some great things going on in Mexico.”’

“You’re right,” Graham replied. “I wasn’t slandering Mexico. I was just talking about all the places people want to leave for whatever reason.”

It started with Graham saying:

@grahamblog: “The problem is we cant have everybody in the world living in a hell hole coming to America.”

— Kate Hunter (@Kate_HunterDC) May 9, 2013

@grahamblog Clarifies “Hellhole” remark “I wasn’t slandering Mexico. I was just talking about all the places people want to leave.”

— Kate Hunter (@Kate_HunterDC) May 9, 2013

Now that that’s settled, the Judiciary Committee is plowing ahead with amendments.

Original post is Mexico No ‘Hell Hole,’ Graham Adds by Political Capital.

If Democrats are going to oust Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell next year, Ashley Judd won’t be their candidate.

The actress and ardent Kentucky Wildcat fan, who faced questions about whether she actually resided in Kentucky or neighboring Tennessee, announced today on Twitter that she would not challenge McConnell in Kentucky’s 2014 Senate race.

“After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities and energy at this time need to be focused on my family,” Judd tweeted — see the stream below.

Other Democrats who are considering running for the seat include Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes and Ed Marksberry, a 2010 congressional candidate and Air Force veteran.

Tea Party groups in Kentucky also are considering mounting a primary challenge to McConnell, who has served in the Senate since 1985.

Judd”s announcement flowed in a virtual stream of Tweeterness:

After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family.

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) March 27, 2013

Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate.I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months ~

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) March 27, 2013

~ who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader.While that won’t be me at this time, I will continue to work as ~

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) March 27, 2013

as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people &

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) March 27, 2013

their needs, dreams, and great potential.Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) March 27, 2013

Original post is Ashley Judd: ‘Focused on Family’ by Political Capital.

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords met today with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner to press for stricter gun control laws, congressional aides said.

Giffords, an Arizona Democrat who was shot in the head at point-blank range in January of 2011, met with Reid, a Nevada Democrat, in Reid’s office before heading across the Capitol. Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, then met with Boehner in his office, according to Boehner spokesman Michael Steel. Neither Reid nor Boehner supports an assault weapons ban.

Giffords and Kelly did not respond to requests for comment leaving Boehner’s office.

President Barack Obama singled out Giffords last night in calling for a vote on an unspecified measure aimed at tightening gun laws.

“If you want to vote no, that’s your choice, but these proposals deserve a vote,” Obama said. “Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote.”

Original post is Giffords Meets With Reid, Boehner on Guns by Political Capital.

Photograph by Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Members of a group of undocumented immigrants wanting to enlist in the U.S. armed forces line up before entering a recruitment center in Washington in this file photo.

That bipartisan group of eight senators proposing a comprehensive approach to immigration legislation is more than a thinking group.

It’s becoming a working group.

Sen. Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat among the four Democrats and four Republicans who this week proposed a “road-map” to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. and other measures aimed at controlling the borders and visa,  said today that he and his colleagues plan twice-weekly meetings to hammer out the details.

Speaking at a Washington breakfast sponsored by Politico, Schumer said the group will meet each Tuesday and Thursday evening, alternating between his office and the suite of Sen. John McCain of Arizona, one of the four Republicans in the group.

They plan to unveil actual legislation in March.

That could lead to consideration on the Senate floor in late Spring, or early Summer, with three or four weeks of work on the floor.

Original post is Immigration’s Gang of Eight by Political Capital.

Photograph by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff" and mentioned possible changes to filibuster rules in the Senate.

The Senate won’t consider a small-scale bill to avoid an expansion of the alternative minimum tax or a cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians if no broader budget deal is reached, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says.

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, today said the Senate won’t address any tax or spending provisions that expire at year’s end unless Republicans agree to let tax rates rise for the top 2 percent of earners, as Democrats are demanding.

“As long as they do something on rates, I am happy to talk to them about anything,” Reid said in an interview. Pressed on whether he would refuse to move a smaller scale bill if Republicans refuse to budge on rates, Reid said, “That’s right.”

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are at an impasse in talks over how to avert more than $600 billion  in spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to start taking effect in January. Obama and congressional Democrats have said they won’t discuss spending cuts unless Republicans agree to higher tax rates for top earners.

The alternative minimum tax, a parallel tax system created to ensure that wealthy individuals couldn’t avoid all taxes, is scheduled to affect about 28 additional million households for tax year 2012, up from about 4 million otherwise.

Without legislation to prevent that, the Internal Revenue Service has said it would delay tax filing scheduled to start in January until at least late March for more than 60 million filers. Action isn’t required, though the consequences of inaction would be quick and severe.

If Congress doesn’t act by Jan. 1, Medicare payments to physicians will drop by 26.5 percent. Lawmakers usually act to prevent the cut or restore it retroactively in what has become known as the “doc fix.”

Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, told reporters that Democratic leaders met today with doctors who were concerned about the cut in reimbursement rates.

“Is he waiting for that to happen?” Durbin said of Boehner.

Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said today in an interview that he was continuing to explore alternatives, noting that Congress is running out of time to address the AMT and physician reimbursement rates.

“Many of us were looking at the possibility of a larger package, and it doesn’t look like that’s coming together,” said Camp, a Michigan Republican who is part of Boehner’s negotiating team. “I think those others, it’s uncertain how they’re going to be addressed.”

Original post is Harry Reid: No Small-Scale AMT Fix by Political Capital.

Independent Senator-elect Angus King from Maine. Photograph by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo

Senator-elect Angus King of Maine says probably will decide which party to caucus with in time to vote in tomorrow’s congressional leadership elections.

“I will probably have some comment for you some time tomorrow,” King, an independent who beat a Republican and a Democrat to replace retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, told reporters today.

King, a former governor who met this morning with Maine’s other Republican senator, Susan Collins, on Capitol Hill, said his decision would not amount to ” building a wall between myself and the other party,”

“Whichever decision I make, I am not declaring opposition or inability to work with or unwillingness to work with members of the other party,” he said.

Members of both parties have said they expect King to caucus with Democrats, who retained their Senate majority in last week’s election and will control 55 seats if King joins their caucus.

Still, Collins said she hoped King would align himself with Republicans.

“But regardless, I am confident that he will not be an automatic vote for either caucus and instead will look at the issues on their merits and will attempt to reach across the aisle regardless of which side of the aisle he’s sitting on,” she said.

Original post is King’s Caucus Call: Tomorrow by Political Capital.

Courtesy Michael Bonfigli/Christian Science Monitor

Senator Charles Schumer, vice chair of the Democratic Conference and chair of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center, speaks at the Monitor Breakfast, on Nov. 8, 2012.

Democrats are having some fun at the expense of Karl Rove this week.

First it was Ohio’s Sen. Sherrod Brown, re-elected this week, taking stock of how little impact the super-PAC engineered by the former Republican White House political strategist  had on races around the country. By the numbers, it was a bad day for Rove.

Now it’s New York’s Sen. Charles Schumer.

Republican political mastermind Rove’s reputation took “a significant hit” with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s election loss,  Schumer told reporters today at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.

Schumer, the chamber’s third-ranking Democrat, predicted that Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit group that Rove helped create, would be less influential in future elections.

“If Cossroads were a business, and Rove was the CEO, he’d be fired for getting a poor return for his investment,” he said.

Schumer said he saw Rove on television about 2 a.m. yesterday talking about how his efforts helped to decrease Obama’s margin of victory in swing states. The billionaire donors backing the super-PACs had something else in mind with their investments, he suggested.

“I’m sure he went to Sheldon Adelson and to Harold Simmons and said, `Put up these millions of dollars, and he’ll win, but we’ll decrease his margin,’” Schumer said. “I don’t think Crossroads is going to end up being as much of a player two years from now as it was right now, and I think his reputation has obviously taken a hit.”

Democrats yesterday also were delighting in watching a video of Rove on Fox News on election night in which Rove insisted that the news channel had prematurely called Ohio for President Barack Obama.

Original post is Whack-a-Karl Rove: The Piling-On by Political Capital.

Photograph by Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images

Speaker of the House of John Boehner during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Asheville, North Carolina.

House Speaker John Boehner isn’t interested in “raising tax rates” as part of a deal to avoid the year-end “fiscal cliff” of expiring tax cuts and spending reductions, the Ohio Republican has told National Journal.

Boehner, in an interview fist published yesterday, predicted that Congress and President Barack Obama would strike some sort of short-term deal in the post-election, lame-duck session that starts next week, rather than a grand deficit-reduction bargain.

“The most likely outcome would be some type of a bridge,” he was quoted as saying.

Unless Congress acts, automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, will begin in January and the George W. Bush tax cuts will expire Dec. 31. Obama and congressional Democrats want to let the tax cuts expire on top earners, while Republicans, including Boehner, advocate extending them for all income levels.

Some congressional Republicans, especially in the Senate, have said they may be willing to consider eliminating certain tax breaks to help pay for the cost of eliminating automatic cuts to defense programs. In the portion of the interview published by National Journal, Boehner did not address the prospect of eliminating tax breaks — rather reiterated his opposition to rate increases.

“I think it’s important that we avoid the fiscal cliff, but that doesn’t mean I’m interested in raising tax rates and killing jobs,” he said.

Original post is Boehner: No Interest in Taxes for Lame-Duck Fiscal Cliff Deal by Political Capital.

Who does Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock remind his Democratic opponent Joe Donnelly of? His two children when they were uncompromising teenagers, according to an ad Donnelly began running yesterday in Evansville, Indiana.

“In my experience, there are two groups of people who think they’re right 100 percent of the time: teenagers and my opponent, Richard Mourdock,” Donnelly says in the ad, in which he appears with his wife and children.

Donnelly goes on to assert that he’s ranked as one of the most independent members of Congress “because no political party is always right” and to claim that Mourdock “thinks he’s right 100 percent of the time.”

“My teeenage kids grew out of that attitude, and it’s time Washington does too,” he says.

Donnelly, not Mourdock, is the one currently serving in Washington. He was elected to the U.S. House in 2006. Mourdock is the state treasurer.

Original post is Donnelly Compares Mourdock to Stubborn Teenagers in Ad by Political Capital.