‘Arrested Development’ Takes Over D.C.

Everyone’s favorite dysfunctional family is coming to Netflix on May 26 (Squee!) and binge TV watchers everywhere are rejoicing at the return of “Arrested Development.”

Also barely able to contain themselves are the political types. Last week, for example, the House Republicans spoofed the show with the YouTube clip “Arrested Economic Development,” which compared the Democrats’ economic policy to the Bluths’.

And today the Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century has released a website comparing vulnerable California Republican Rep. Gary G. Miller with the hilarious but morally bankrupt George and Lucille Bluth. Full story

Reporters Caught Spying on Members’ Softball Practice

Two members of the press turned the tables Thursday morning and spied on the federal government. It took only about 20 minutes before our cover as morning power walkers was blown, but the intelligence gathered will be used in the upcoming Congressional Women’s Softball Game.

Heard on the Hill, with an assist from The New York Times’ Jill Agostino, walked around the Capitol Hill field where female members of Congress practiced at 7 a.m. in preparation for their annual meeting against the Bad News Babes on June 26.

After a couple of laps, eagle-eyed Democratic National Committee staffer and league co-chairwoman Kate Yglesias Houghton spotted us and alerted her boss, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. On the next lap, Wasserman Schultz and the rest of the team launched into various taunts and catcalls.

Since we were caught, we gave up the pretense and got an up-close look at the team’s progression.

The member team responded to the latest reporter intrusion by posting a Perez Hilton-style photo on Twitter and Facebook:

The gist of our intelligence report: While much has been made about new players’ impact (Reps. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., and Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., are downright terrifying), the real story is the marked improvement of veteran players.

None of which is especially welcome news for the reporter side.

Most members seemed amused and ready to show off their new talent. But at least one took to Instagram to protest.

“I think we do need some type of press shield,” Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., commented on the photo.

Disclosure: The author of this post is a co-captain of the Bad News Babes, the press team. 

#WallabyWednesday! for Team @RobPortman

Apparently the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium didn’t get the memo that Congress is already a zoo without its assistance.

The result? Staffers for Buckeye State lawmakers got to hang with wallabies, flamingos and lynx. (Lynxes? Lynxi? HOH is unclear how to pluralize such an animal.) And staffers for Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, appear to have had a particularly good time. Portman’s communications team — new to Instagram — posted photos of their afternoon animal timeout in the Rayburn House Office Building basement. In the process, Jeff Sadosky and Caitlin Dunn are sure to have created the next viral Internet sensation: #WallabyWednesday. Like Seersucker Thursday, but less annoying.

Here is a photo of a lynx, brought by the Columbus Zoo to raise awareness about conservation efforts, on a conference table:

More pictures after the jump.

Full story

Inadvertent C-SPAN Humor: ‘House Fishing Downstream’

Sometimes, C-SPAN can just be inadvertently funny, and we don’t even know why.

Take, for example, something we spotted across our office Tuesday as the House was grinding out legislation under suspension of the rules: “U.S. House | Fishing Downstream From Certain Dams.”

This was funny to us, for some reason.  (Jason Dick/CQ Roll Call)

Congress Learns to Love Hip-Hop

Maybe it’s hip to be square? Or maybe it’s hip to be hop? At any rate, lately Congress seems to have embraced popular culture generally and hip-hop specifically.

Or maybe it’s simply that 30-something members of Congress, cats who came of age in the 1990s, are just being true to their great musical past.

As in most things in the world of hip-hop, there are the true emcees and there are wannabes.

For example, there is Rep. André Carson, D-Ind., who used to be a battle emcee. His communications director, Blake Johnson, was once a music industry intern who embarrassed himself in front of Jay-Z. Full story

KISS or Dead Presidents — Decisions, Decisions

Would you rather decapitate the Founding Fathers …

(Screenshot/Facebook)

Or suck on something fished out of Gene Simmons’ windpipe?

Fictional Franchise: Who Represents Your Favorite Soap Character in Congress?

For the latest installment of Fictional Franchise, our examination of the franchise rights of fictional characters and the real-life people who represent them in Congress, we tackle soap opera characters.

The rules go like this: We decide where a fictional character lives and then look up who represents them in the House. (See more on the rules here.)

Soaps are near and dear to the heart of this writer, who once starred in a 2004 episode of “The Bold and the Beautiful” as a Spectra Fashions factory worker. Read on to see which soap star helped us with our research…

So, Dylan, Julia and Miss Ellie, let’s roll:

The Walsh Family 
“Beverly Hills 90210″
Beverly Hills, Calif.: Democratic Rep. Henry A. Waxman

It is our assessment that Jim, Cindy, Brandon and Brenda Walsh live in Beverly Hills flats — squarely in Waxman’s district. His representation of the western Los Angeles metropolitan area means that he will surface again in this category and others.

Here is a run-through of some of his constituents:

Full story

Colbert’s ‘Better Know a District’ Returns

Stephen Colbert’s “Better Know a District” segment is back with a vengeance.

Colbert, right, at a taping years back of “Better Know a District” with Democratic Arizona Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

“The Colbert Report” anthology of awkward congressional interviews was on the verge of extinction in recent years. But in the past few weeks, a handful of Democrats have sat down with Colbert for their fair share of abuse. Full story

McHenry Stretches With Beyonce Homage

Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., is obviously a pretty with-it guy.

He’s up with the baddest pop culture trends and down with all the things the cool kids love.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that when his own words fail to communicate just how important abstinence education is, McHenry would turn to the lyrical stylings of Lady Bey to help him get his point across … about a bill to amend the Securities and Exchange Commission. Full story

Jeff ‘Mr. Meta’ Duncan

(Screenshot)

Hear, hear.

How People Find Their Way to HOH

Sometimes words make no sense, especially here at HOH.

It’s in this spirit that we present the nonsensical Internet search terms that have led some folks to our particular brand of crazy:

Here are the top nine bizarro terms/phrases that drove traffic to our little gossip den:

Full story

Softball: ‘Debbie Is Gonna Make Us Practice in the Rain’

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., is not happy with her softball team’s practice rain-out policy.

Wasserman Schultz, second from left, is not happy with her team’s rain-out policy. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Wasserman Schultz captains the Congressional Women’s Softball team, a group of female lawmakers who play against female Washington press corps members every June to raise money for the Young Survival Coalition, a breast cancer charity.

It seems that on Monday evening, the Congressional team’s organizers canceled their Tuesday practice — set for 7 a.m. — in anticipation of rain.

But the rain didn’t come. Full story

Mark Sanford: Baby, He Was Born to Run

Now that the people of South Carolina’s 1st District have spoken, Democrats would need a restraining order to keep returning lawmaker Mark Sanford out of the U.S. Capitol.

(CQ Roll Call archives)

As seen above, the boomerang Republican — who served in the House from 1995-2001 before skipping town to become governor of the Palmetto State — used to be really into running.

Hiking seems to be more his speed these days …

Russian Around

From the looks of things, Secretary of State John Kerry might be a tad early for his meeting at the Kremlin.

(Screenshot)

Full story

Barr: My Newborn Girl Owes $53,000 to the Man

Rep. Andy Barr and his wife, Carol, welcomed their newborn baby girl to the world last week. In a Sunday newsletter, the Kentucky Republican called little Mary Clay “a beautiful gift from God” — and then quickly tied the news to his concerns about the national debt.

“My top priority as your representative in Congress is to reduce our rapidly growing national debt that is choking our economy and which, if left unchecked, will cripple the futures of our children and grandchildren,” the constituent newsletter reads.

Barr heralded his daughter’s birth with a graphic that includes such cutesy statistics as her weight, time of birth and … her share of the national debt.

Full story