With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team

SPY DEBATE GETS A DIAL TONE

Another day, another headache for Speaker Mike Johnson.

This time, it’s deep divisions within his own party that forced him to scrap his plan to bring legislation reauthorizing controversial spy powers to the floor — the second time he’s face-planted on this particular tripwire.

The debate over how to reauthorize Section 702, a surveillance authority meant to target foreigners but that has come under fire for its ability to sweep in Americans’ information, has been a particularly sore point for Johnson’s speakership. It has pitted his conference’s national security hawks against its civil libertarians on a sensitive, must-pass bill.

And while the many corners of the House don’t agree on much, we’ve heard a similar kvetch from basically all of them: Johnson’s strategy on this issue.

“The one universal consensus — left, right, hawk, dove, reformer — is that Johnson has no idea what he is doing,” one congressional aide told us.

Even after we scooped that Johnson wanted to bring a bill to the floor this week, another congressional aide described the bill as being constantly renegotiated, adding: “There’s nobody making a decision. The speaker won’t make a decision.”

The cancellation of this week’s surveillance vote — and the failure Wednesday evening of another leadership-backed rule — added to the growing list of setbacks for Johnson inflicted by his own members. It all has underscored that the speaker, with a three-vote (and shrinking) majority, can’t reliably wield the core power of the speakership — putting your priorities on the floor.

Reminder: Johnson first tried to address Section 702 last year only to have deep divisions within his own ranks scuttle his plans to bring the issue to the floor. His allies argue that, this time around, he’s doing exactly what his detractors asked him to do at the time: Pick a bill, and then let the House fight it out over amendments on the floor.

That hardly stopped his members on both sides of the conference from airing their grievances.

“I’ve been disappointed with the whole process,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), a member of the civil libertarian bloc, told Anthony just after the speaker’s announcement.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), an Intelligence Committee member, added that “I’m frustrated that we’re all of the sudden trying to create a FISA showdown this week” and accused the speaker of making changes to the underlying bill.

The frustrations aren’t just with Johnson. Aides we’ve spoken to over the last week complained about having to constantly renegotiate the bill, even on points they had agreed to as part of a leadership-blessed working group, at times due to disagreements between lawmakers on the same side of the debate.

But Johnson’s decision to defer action — and avoid what could have been another embarrassing floor failure — is exactly what some of his right flank explicitly asked him not to do as an April 19 deadline inches closer.

“It’s no fun watching a team whose best play is the punt,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said.

— Jordain Carney, with an assist from Anthony Adragna

GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Feb. 14, where the Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day combo was a lot to process.

BORDER BATTLE RAGES ON

It’s been exactly one week since the Senate GOP blocked a bipartisan security deal devised by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). And it’s safe to say Democrats are feeling pretty good about the aftermath.

They won a special election in New York Tuesday night, litigated in part on that border agreement. They are starting to run ads centered on the deal against Republicans. And party leaders are saying there is much more to come after former President Donald Trump rejected Lankford’s product.

In an interview this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it a “gift.”

“Trump came out for it in the best way possible for us. Instead of saying this bill is weak and this bill won’t do the job, he basically said: I’m up for election. I don’t want to pass this bill because it gives the Democrats an advantage,” Schumer said.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates harmonized with that message, noting victorious New York Democrat Tom Suozzi’s support for the border deal and knocking the GOP for taking its cues from Trump. And check out this memo from Murphy after Suozzi’s win for a sense of how Democrats believe they can turn around one of their worst vulnerabilities: “Quite simply, we risk losing the 2024 election if we do not seize this opportunity to go on offense on the issue of the border and turn the tables on Republicans on a key fall voting issue.”

OK, deep breath: It’s February, and the fall general election could be about many things other than border security. The House GOP’s campaign arm argued that attacks on Suozzi over the border dinged his image and is a blueprint for Republicans to go after battleground Democrats. They mostly credited his win to a spending advantage.

And Republicans say just talking about the border puts the focus on President Joe Biden, bipartisan border deal or not.

“Biden’s done such a horrible job on the border. That issue is still very much alive,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in an interview this week. “It’s still probably his biggest liability — although he’s got plenty of them.”

— Burgess Everett

AN AI VALENTINE

Hill staff received a valentine of sorts from organizations hoping to drive efficiency on Capitol Hill: a tutorial on how to use AI to jumpstart key tasks like writing Dear Colleague letters, drafting social media posts and creating one-pager summaries. The guide, titled “Fall in Love with AI: Sample prompts for Congressional staffers to break the ice with AI,” was sent to Congressional offices by POPVOX Foundation and Foundation for American Innovation Wednesday morning.

One key note: “Treat any output as if an intern produced it. Always double check the AI’s work.”

The guide holds the hands of staffers who might be interested in incorporating AI into their workflow for the first time, with step-by-step guidance and sample prompts that staff can plug right into ChatGPT4 Plus (which has been approved for limited use by both the House and Senate). It strikes a balance between trying to woo those wary of AI while also emphasizing data protection and what not to do with the cutting-edge tools.

— Katherine Tully-McManus

HUDDLE HOTDISH

Steve Scalise said he’s “feeling great” but went “stir crazy” while he had to be in isolation for cancer treatment over the last six weeks. “I even missed y’all,” he told the assembled press corps.

Longworth Dunkin’ is Dunkin’ hard: They have the Ben Affleck Super Bowl ad running on a loop.

We’ve known this pain. Best wishes to the grand prize winner.

QUICK LINKS

George Santos puts former congressional colleagues in group chat to call them ‘f***ing idiots,’ from Semafor’s Kadia Goba

On Ukraine’s Front Line, Soldiers Are Forced to Tune In to Washington Politics, from from the WSJ’s Alistair MacDonald and Ievgeniia Sivorka

Some House members forgo program to boost their home security, from Roll Call’s Chris Marquette

Lindsey Graham, a longtime foreign policy hawk, bows to Trump on Ukraine, from WaPo’s Liz Goodwin and Leigh Ann Caldwell

Lawmakers accuse VA secretary of ignoring sexual harassment charges, from Military Times’ Leo Shane

House Republican Majority Shrinks Again as Congress Faces Critical Issues, from NYT’s Annie Karni

TOMORROW IN CONGRESS

The House is in session.

The Senate is out.

THURSDAY AROUND THE HILL

10 a.m. House Ways and Means Committee hearing with IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel. (1100 Longworth.)

11 a.m. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) and labor leaders hold a news conference opposing the Fiscal Commission Act. (HVC 215)

3:15 p.m. The Congressional Ukraine Caucus holds a news conference on the second anniversary of the Ukraine War. (House Triangle)

2:30 p.m. House Veterans’ Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee hearing on “Sink or Swim? A Deep Dive into the Current State of VA’s Home Loan Program in a Competitive Market.” (360 Cannon)

TRIVIA

TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Grace Segers correctly answered that former Sen. George Murphy (R-Calif) started the tradition of the candy desk back in 1965 and that Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) currently occupies the desk.

TODAY’S QUESTION, from Grace: In honor of Valentine’s Day: Three current congresswomen represent districts once won or held by their husbands. Who are they?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to [email protected].

GET INSIDE CONGRESS emailed to your phone each evening.

Follow Jordain on X at @jordainc.