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Happy Tuesday morning.

News: Senate Democratic leaders are moving to hold a markup as soon as next week on bipartisan legislation to repeal the Iraq war authorizations.

And late last night, the nomination fight that seemingly will never end suffered yet another setback: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee scrapped a business meeting where it was supposed to vote on Eric Garcetti’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to India. (More on that below.)

Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is at the center of both storylines. On the AUMF repeal, Menendez told us Monday night that he wants to get it done in committee next week but would need sign off from his GOP counterpart, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, to do so.

This would be a rapid advance for the long-stalled legislation, which would scrap the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of force against Iraq, a country the United States now counts as an ally.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently vowed to put the Iraq AUMF repeal on the floor in short order. The timing of that vote could coincide with the 20-year anniversary of the George W. Bush-era invasion of Iraq, which began on March 19, 2003.

The Foreign Relations Committee cleared this bill during the last Congress but only after holding a hearing on it and getting a classified briefing from administration officials. Marking up the measure next week without a hearing or briefing could be problematic for Republicans, most of whom believe repealing the Iraq authorizations would send the wrong signal to U.S. adversaries. This includes Iran, whose proxies are active in Iraq and have targeted American troops stationed there.

Yet the measure, authored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), already has enough GOP support to break a filibuster. It also has majority support in the House.

While Speaker Kevin McCarthy might not bring it up for a vote, he’s promised an open amendment process for legislation. For that reason, supporters see the annual defense policy bill as a logical avenue for a vote on the AUMF repeal as an amendment.

And don’t forget that Reps. Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Chip Roy of Texas are the lead Republicans on the House version. Cole chairs the Rules Committee and is a McCarthy ally. Roy led a bloc of conservatives who delivered the speakership to McCarthy — but only after blocking his ascension for four days while seeking numerous concessions.

Now back to Garcetti: The Foreign Relations Committee was supposed to vote today on the former LA mayor’s nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to India, plus a host of other nominees. But Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has placed holds on Garcetti and all the other noms but one, we’re told. So the panel’s meeting was scrapped for now.

This is just the latest stumbling block for the embattled Garcetti, whose nomination has been stalled for more than 18 months amid an investigation into his handling of a top aide’s alleged sexual misconduct.

“There’s still some open questions about allegations surrounding his office that I’d like to see some further answers and clarity over,” Rubio told us last night.

In addition to Rubio, several GOP senators have already vowed to hold up the nomination, forcing Schumer to file cloture and burn valuable floor time on a position that normally would get confirmed by unanimous consent.

However, the outlook for Garectti seems to have improved since last year. President Joe Biden’s continued support has made it harder for Democrats to oppose the nomination. Garcetti’s parents hired a lobbyist to support the nomination.

“I think there will be a pretty lively debate in the committee and on the floor,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “You may see some Democrats voting no, some Republicans voting yes. We don’t have a ton of crossover votes in the Senate.”

Garcetti is likely to clear the Foreign Relations Committee — as he did by voice vote last time — but it could be close on the floor. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) will be absent for several weeks while he undergoes treatment for clinical depression and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is on the fence over whether to back Garcetti.

“I still have concerns about his nomination for that job,” Kelly told us last night. He declined to say if White House officials or Garcetti have reached out to him.

Menendez, too, is unsure whether Garcetti can win confirmation, which only requires a simple majority.

“Talk to Chuck Schumer. That’s not my job,” Menendez said when asked about the vote count. Menendez added, though, that he hasn’t heard of any Democrats planning to oppose Garcetti.

The New Jersey Democrat also said the Foreign Relations Committee has done proper vetting of Garcetti over the sexual misconduct claims. Aside from Kelly, every Democratic senator we spoke with indicated they’d back Garcetti.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who was the only senator to ask Garcetti about the allegations during his confirmation hearing, told us last night that she’ll support him.

“I don’t have issues with him,” Shaheen said. “I have been satisfied that the independent investigation that was done cleared him.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who has made a point of questioning nominees about whether they’ve faced sexual-harassment allegations, is also backing Garcetti.

“In this case, it’s not him who did it. He also testified that he knew nothing,” Hirono noted of Garcetti. “So at this point, I am prepared to vote for the guy.”

— Andrew Desiderio, John Bresnahan and Max Cohen

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