House of Cards

It's there for leverage,

so that we can lock down performance standards.

You don't toss around their right

to collective bargaining like a poker chip.

If we don't, they won't budge.

Has Marty Spinella seen this?

Not in the version I showed him.

- So you lied to his face? - No.

I revised the parameters of my promise.

Which is lying.

Which is politics.

The sort you're well-versed in, Bob.

Here's some politics for you.

I allow this to go to the floor,

I get murdered next election.

This is coming from the President.

Last time I checked, I was still a Democrat, Frank,

and you were, too. Are you telling me the President isn't?

Because he's acting a hell of a lot like a Republican.

I thought Bob was on our team.

Just sit him down with the President. Ten minutes.

We won't touch collective bargaining.

Are you interested in my advice on this,

or you just want me to deliver the message?

I'm always interested in your advice, Frank.

Birch is right. You're going to burn a lot of bridges.

The President should at least sit down with him

and let him make his case.

You tell Bob I'm happy to schedule a meeting with the President

once he's set a date to put this bill on the floor.

The President can fuck himself.

This is the platform. It's what he ran on.

I don't give a shit what he ran on. He can't steamroll the House.

And don't forget, you work for me, Frank, not him.

If he wants something on the floor,

he's gonna have to talk to me directly.

I know you take a lot of pride in your manhood, Bob,

and it's impressive,

but as big as it is, Linda can still shut the door on it.

Tell Vasquez the bill is dead.

That's not the first time he's pulled that stunt on me.

Probably should have held my tongue,

but I just couldn't resist the chance to see him shrivel.

Good morning.

Frank.

Mr. President.

Linda.

Let's strike the anti-collective bargaining provision from the bill.

Linda and I have talked it over,

and I think she's right on this.

Tell Bob he can come by tomorrow afternoon.

Sir, respectfully, I do not think

you should give him the satisfaction.

Well, give me a reason.

Makes us appear weak.

This is an opportunity for you to establish your supremacy.

We should seize it.

But without Birch's cooperation,

we're fighting an uphill battle

before we even get the bill to the floor. Frank, we discussed this.

Sir, if you give in now,

Birch will walk all over you for the next four years.

I can get this bill on the House floor as is. I promise you.

All right, Frank. Show me what you can do.

Thank you, Mr. President.

That was her trying to take credit for my idea.

Advice she wouldn't take from me. Unacceptable.

I will not allow her to sell my goods

when she cuts me out of the profits.

I specifically told her no interviews.

She disobeyed me, not just once.

At least eight times in the past month.

She stays, Tom.

She has no respect for my authority, Margaret.

I said she stays.

There are rules. There's a way of doing things.

If I have a reporter who won't listen...

Two freshmen girls are moving into their dorm room together.

One of them's from Georgia, one of them's from Connecticut.

Girl from Connecticut's helping her mother put up curtains.

Girl from Georgia turns to them and says, "Hi. Where y'all from?"

Girl from Connecticut says, "We're from a place

"where we know not to end a sentence with a preposition. "

Girl from Georgia says, "Beg my pardon.

"Where y'all from...

"Cunt?"

You heard that one before?

A version of it. With softer language.

Tom, we don't need people who follow the rules.

We need people with personality.

We want Zoe's face, her energy.

We want to get her on TV as much as possible.

It helps us cut through the noise.

See what I'm saying?

I hear you, Margaret.

Thank you, Tom.

Thank you.

Come in.

Oh, I thought...

I wanted to say hi to Evelyn.

Evelyn?

This was her office.

I don't think she works here anymore.

- Oh. - Gillian Cole.

I came on board a couple weeks ago.

Gillian. WorldWell.

- Yeah. - I've heard great things.

Remy Danton.

You work with Claire?

In a way.

- Hello, Remy. - Claire.

I see you've met Gillian.

Yes, just now.

She's doing fantastic work for us, as you can see.

Red is completed wells, green, potential sites,

yellow, approved sites, and blue are the filtration centers.

Nice. So you liking it here?

Yeah. My staff and I are loving it.

Claire's opened a lot of doors for us.

Sounds like Claire.

Shall we head to my office?

- Gillian, nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

What happened?

Things got complicated.

SanCorp was in a difficult situation.

I would have thought you'd step up when things were difficult,

not hold the donation hostage.

Well, things are less complicated now.

The donation is back on the table.

I had to fire half my staff.

Now you can hire them back.

SanCorp is prepared to double its initial commitment.

$1.5 million, lump sum, this quarter.

- Why? - Public relations. Same as before.

And what do they want from Francis?

Things are square with Frank. We're only talking about the CWI.

But why double it?

Because I said they should.

The more they give, the more you can do.

The more you can do, the better they look.

And that's why they hired Glendon Hill, to make them look good.

And they also hired you to get traction in Congress.

Not in this case.

We want a long-term partnership, Claire.

This is an investment in the future.

We're not attaching strings.

I'll think about it.

They'd really love to move quickly on this.

I said I'll think about it.

Madeleine, you have to email me this shit. I need it in writing.

And with more than an hour's notice.

Yeah, I know that, but you have to understand we have a plan.

We have a way that we do this, and when you...

Okay.

Fine.

Yeah. Yeah. Bye.

Madeleine has decided to have a spur-of-the-moment trip to Orlando

with her latest eHarmony catch.

- No heads-up, no warning. - The kids?

They get out of school at 2:30.

I can do the Shipbuilder's meeting.

- You sure? - Yeah, it's just their public affairs team.

I'll brief you, and then you can call them tomorrow.

- Go get your kids. - Mmm.

Hey.

Remy came by this morning. To the office.

What does he want?

The donation's back on the table.

They've doubled it to $1.5 million.

You said no, right?

I didn't.

He doesn't want anything from you, Francis.

Come on, Claire. You know better than that.

I specifically asked.

Maybe not right now, but look, I invented this guy, all right?

It's a slippery slope.

Think of what I can do with this money.

I can hire back the people I let go.

I can help accelerate the funding

for the projects that Gillian has brought in.

Let's find another way to raise the money.

But it's right there at my feet.

Claire, I have too much on my plate right now.

I can't have SanCorp breathing down my neck again.

I can't have Remy...

Look, it is Remy.

He knows me too well. It's dangerous.

Look at the bigger picture here.

I'm asking.

No. You're not.

Claire.

I'll tell you what I told him.

- Which was? - I'll think about it.

I know there's been some tension,

and I'm probably more to blame than you are.

But I'd like to put that behind us.

Zoe, you're going to be our new White House correspondent.

What about Janine?

I promoted her to Midwest Bureau Chief.

She's okay with that? She wants to give up the White House?