By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• THE GAUNTLET WAS THROWN DOWN YESTERDAY when House Speaker John Boehner announced he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress about the threats posed by Iran, without informing the White House. The snub came just hours after Obama reiterated in his State of the Union address that he would veto any new Iran sanctions over concerns they would upset the ongoing, delicate nuclear negotiations with Iran, ABC's MARY BRUCE reports. Now Boehner has invited a foreign leader, with whom the president has a rocky relationship, to publicly make the case against the president's policy. The White House called the snub a "departure from protocol" and made clear they were none too pleased with the move, although they are "reserving judgment" until they talk with the Israelis.

• ON THE HILL: With the annual March for Life event taking place in Washington today, GOP lawmakers traditionally mark the occasion by passing pro-life legislation, ABC's JOHN PARKINSON reports. That tradition was in jeopardy yesterday when a group of GOP women revolted and forced the leadership to change course on its plan to further limit abortions. Instead, the House will take up an alternative pro-life measure to prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars for abortions, teeing up a bitterly partisan debate on the floor today. As for the 20-week abortion bill, one GOP aide conceded that the suggestion that Leadership revisits the ban later this year is lip service. "If it isn't happening now, it's not happening," the source notes.

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: It turns out House Speaker John Boehner has a pen and a phone, too. For as aggressive as President Obama's State of the Union was, Boehner more than matched him the next morning. His decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to invite Congress - a breach of protocol, according to the White House - adds another front to the confrontation between the executive and legislative branches over Iran nuclear talks. The visit will come in the midst of congressional debate, and as Israeli elections heat up, too. Already, few issues fire the president up more than his view that the administration needs negotiating space. And few issues are drawing bipartisan reactions this sharp; Sen. Robert Menendez shot back yesterday that the administration is using "talking points that come straight out of Tehran." As for Boehner, his assertion of Congress' own authority in this instance - empowered, of course, by a Republican majority on the other side of the Capitol - has implications for Cuba policy, the authorization for use of military force against ISIS, and any matter of additional foreign-policy challenges where a president has traditionally expected wide leeway.

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: He may not be at the top of your 2016 watch list, but there's another possible GOP contender launching a political action committee. An aide to former New York Gov. George Pataki confirms to ABC News he is the latest possible 2016er to launch a PAC. Titled the We the People, Not Washington PAC, he will use the funds as other potential presidential candidates do, to travel around the country, testing out a possible presidential bid. This move was first reported in the New York Times and if these presidential flirtations sound familiar, Pataki acknowledges it, telling the Times: "Every four years you have the Olympics, you have the World Cup, and you have George Pataki in New Hampshire talking about running for president." http://nyti.ms/1yMALCu

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACUALURSI

SEN. PORTMAN ON WHY PRESIDENT OBAMA CAN CLAIM CREDIT FOR 'AWESOME' OHIO STATE CHAMPIONSHIP. Credit the Ohio State Buckeyes for a tiny slice of bipartisanship in Washington. President Obama wrapped up a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner last week by pointing out that they agree on the need for a college football playoff - a playoff that this year saw a team from Boehner's home state win the national championship, according to ABC's RICK KLEIN. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said on the ABC/ESPN podcast "Capital Games" that he's more than happy to give the president some credit where it's due. "We don't agree on a lot of things, but we agreed on this one," Portman said. "So I'll give him as much credit as he wants. He certainly has more influence than I do, or others." FULL EPISODE: http://es.pn/15AKsdA

SANTORUM PREPS FOR 2016, MEETS WITH AIDES TO PLAN DETAILS. Rick Santorum met yesterday with advisors to map out a possible new presidential bid aiming to avoid some of the mistakes that doomed his last candidacy, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE reports. A socially conservative former senator who was one of Mitt Romney's biggest rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Santorum is taking more steps toward another run, meeting advisers who would join a possible campaign, planning some of the details and laying out what a bid might look like. The four-plus hour meeting was described to ABC News by an aide who attended as a discussion of "lessons learned" from the 2012 campaign that they could use to improve their operation if he "makes the leap." http://abcn.ws/1yJSlH3

ERNEST MONIZ: THE CABINET SECRETARY YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF HAS INTERNET-FAMOUS HAIR. Have you ever heard of Ernest Moniz? Be honest. Even if you haven't, you need to know at least one thing about the U.S. Secretary of Energy: His hair is now-Internet famous. Users have compared him to Benjamin Franklin, Beethoven, Mr. Bean, and Javier Bardem, ABC's STEPHANIE EBBS and STACY CHEN write. The list - and the memes - go on and on… http://abcn.ws/1yMi3hg

REPUBLICANS TO FEMALE CANDIDATES: STOP SAYING YOU LIKE TO COMPROMISE. Republican women candidates must fight the perception that they are more moderate than male primary opponents simply because they are female, a group of pollsters and GOP leaders said Wednesday morning, according to ABC's ALI WEINBERG. One of the most effective ways women can do this is to downplay attributes typically associated with females, including a penchant for compromise, they said. Unveiling a report sponsored by the group Political Parity, which seeks to increase the number of women in state and federal government, pollster Nicole McClosky of Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican firm that conducted the research, said the perception that women are less conservative harms their chances in Republican primaries. "Their voting records are as conservative as any man, yet there is a lingering perception that perhaps women candidates are more moderate," McClosky said. http://abcn.ws/1L1Uy76

HILLARY CLINTON IMPERSONATES VLADIMIR PUTIN - ACCENT AND ALL. If 2016 doesn't work out for Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state could find a new line of work on the theatrical stage, LIZ KREUTZ writes. During an event in Canada yesterday afternoon, Clinton broke out into an impromptu impersonation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. While trying to explain the difference between how the United States elects politicians and how other countries do (wink, wink - Russia), Clinton put on a Russian accent and performed a mock conversation she imagines Putin had with himself when deciding he wanted to be president. http://abcn.ws/1JhxvSf

DRONE FLIES INTO CAPITOL HILL HEARING. This may be a congressional first - a drone flying overhead in a House committee room. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a hearing Wednesday in the Rayburn House Office Building on the research and development of unmanned aircraft systems, ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ reports. One of the witnesses, Colin Guinn, CRO of 3D Robotics, brought a Parrot Bebop Drone, a $499 device weighing just over one pound, for a demonstration. The red-and-black drone buzzed around the side of the committee room, flying in place for over a minute while Guinn testified. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1E3l5PB

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

MICHELLE OBAMA SHAKES, SHIMMIES AND TWIRLS WITH MINI CATS IN THE HATS. First Lady Michelle Obama found some new exercise partners Wednesday that you may have heard of: Thing 1, Thing 2 and The Cat in The Hat. In an effort to educate kids about the importance of staying active, the first lady welcomed the famous Dr. Seuss characters and mini Cats in the Hat, a.k.a. local school students, to jump, shimmy, and shake with her at the White House. ABC's KATELYN MARMON and MARY BRUCE note, after a spirited reading of Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Things You Can Do That Are Good For You!" Mrs. Obama ran the kids through a series of short, silly exercises. "Let's go. … Show me what you got!" she said, as she took to her feet in the East Room of the White House. http://abcn.ws/1yHU5lT

WHO'S TWEETING?

@TheView: What is @GovMikeHuckabee's view of the political front? Find out today on #TheView. What questions do you have?

@AriFleischer: Given how many times Pres O has gone around Congress, he has little ground to complain that Congress is going around him w Netanyahu speech.

@eramshaw: From Anna Nicole Smith & Richard Pryor to @BenCarson2016 campaign - the wild career of TX attorney Terry Giles http://trib.it/183JQhm #2016

@rollcall: Paid maternity/paternity leave coming for congressional staff? http://roll.cl/15u1Y2k via @Beckgale

@McCormickJohn: Revving Up, Jeb Bush Rolls Through Washington http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-22/revving-up-jeb-bush-rolls-through-washington … via @MichaelCBender