By MICHAEL FALCONE and ARLETTE SAENZ

NOTABLES

• HOMELAND SECURITY SHUTDOWN WATCH: With the clock ticking down before funding for the Department of Homeland Security runs out, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a bill that he hopes will get the Senate "unstuck" from its current predicament. The stand-alone bill would prohibit the use of funding to implement President Obama's immigration executive actions that were implemented in November, and it would have no connection to Homeland Security funding at all. The big question right now is if lawmakers will introduce a clean bill to fund the department and whether House and Senate Republicans will agree to it.

• KEYSTONE VETO WATCH: The Senate will send the Keystone XL pipeline bill to the president today, giving him ten days, excluding Sundays, to act on the measure. That sets up a veto deadline of March 6.

• RAHM WATCH: It's Election Day in Chicago and the day Mayor Rahm Emanuel learns if he can avoid an April runoff. Recent polling showed Emanuel at 45 percent, but the Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff needs to reach 50 percent in order to avoid a run-off. Last week, his politically powerful friend, President Obama, stopped by to help boost his campaign. Will the president's visit (and hug with Rahm) be enough to pull out a victory today?

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: This is the era of manufactured crises, as President Obama is fond of pointing out. It is also, apparently, the era of manufactured crises without exit strategies. Two months in the new year surely felt like plenty of time back when Republicans agreed to set a Department of Homeland Security funding deadline to force a showdown over immigration. But the end of February has come fast, with no change in the political dynamics or vote results or rhetoric. There's been wide commentary on how Republicans knew they were given the keys to Capitol Hill on a provisional basis - that they needed to show they can govern, not just hold a majority. Well, here's such a time.

ABC's TOM SHINE: The New England patriots lost drafts picks for spying on other teams. The New Orleans Saints lost them for putting out hits on opponents' players. Now Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, want NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to take away draft picks "as a penalty for teams that do not appropriately address domestic violence and sexual assault." The lawmakers will send Goodell a letter this morning.

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will deliver his annual budget address in Trenton this afternoon and he will announce a thawing of relations with a one-time bitter enemy, the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union. Christie will say this afternoon that he is joining forces with the group to work together to fix the state's pension system. There's plenty of YouTube videos and instances of Christie and the teachers' unions at odds (to put it lightly), but this is a bipartisan moment that he can refer back to on the 2016 campaign trail. It's these moments he often talks about as a GOP governor in a blue state, but they have been overshadowed recently by other negative headlines over the last year. According to guidance the governor's office released ahead of the speech, Christie and the NJEA have been "working behind the scenes" to "find a sustainable, long-term solution to the pension problem." In an excerpt released Christie will say, "I know we can get this done. We have proven time and again that even when we look like we're not going to make it work and that politics and partisan interests have won, we flip the script." http://bit.ly/1DjBMnf

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI

VA SECRETARY ROBERT MCDONALD APOLOGIZES FOR MISSTATING HE SERVED IN SPECIAL FORCES. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald apologized Monday for mistakenly saying in a videotaped exchange with a homeless man that he had served in the special forces, though his service was entirely with the 82nd Airborne Division. "Secretary McDonald has apologized for the misstatement and noted that he never intended to misrepresent his military service," a White House official told ABC News. "We take him at his word and expect that this will not impact the important work he's doing to promote the health and well-being of our nation's veterans." The exchange with the homeless man was part of a report about an effort to find military veterans among the homeless that aired on CBS News on Jan. 30, according to ABC's CHRIS GOOD. http://abcn.ws/1FmcXab

WHAT OBAMA'S NEW RULE COULD MEAN FOR YOUR RETIREMENT ACCOUNT. President Obama is pushing for tighter regulations on advisers who handle 401(k) and IRA retirement plans. Alleging that middle-class Americans can get ripped off by their financial advisers, the president spoke at AARP's Washington, D.C., headquarters Monday to make the case for a new proposed rule. "Because of bad advice, because of skewed incentives, because of a lack of protection, you could end up in a situation where you lose some of your hard-earned money simply because your adviser isn't required to put your interest first," Obama said. "The truth is, most people don't even realize it's happening." According to ABC's CHRIS GOOD, the new rule would require that advisers who handle retirement funds like 401(k)s and IRAs act in their clients' best interest, adhering to a new "fiduciary" standard that doesn't currently exist. http://abcn.ws/1zbcDq0

GOVERNORS FUME OVER MEETING WITH PRESIDENT. After the President hosted the nation's governors at the White House for a discussion Monday, the Republican Governors Association held a press conference at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to ABC's A.J. FEATHER. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said this was her fifth year going to the White House to speak with the president and she has grown frustrated. "Every time we try and move the ball with him he says, 'no,' and so you look at the fact that we asked him about the Keystone Pipeline. He said it's not gonna happen," Haley said. "We talk about healthcare and he says he's not going to consider what the Supreme Court's going to do because he refuses to think about it."

JINDAL: OBAMA LOVES AMERICA, BUT RUDY'S POINT WAS RIGHT. Obama loves America, but he's disqualified himself as commander in chief, said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential conservative candidate for president. "The president loves America. He loves our country. There's no doubt about that," Jindal told ABC at a press conference with governors Monday after the National Governors Association luncheon with Obama at the White House, when asked about Giuliani's Wall Street Journal op-ed and whether the mayor had lost any credibility in this whole exchange. Jindal had previously defended Rudy Giuliani while saying the mayor should have used different "phraseology," ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports. At the same time, Jindal said Obama has "really disqualified himself to be our commander in chief."

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

FIRST LADY SAYS #GIMMEFIVE AS OBAMAS MARK 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF LET'S MOVE. For the fifth anniversary of her Let's Move campaign to fight childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama is asking Americans to tweet or post to Facebook five ways to stay fit under the hashtag #GimmeFive. To promote that drive, she got some help from her husband, ABC's CHRIS GOOD writes. The president appeared with the first lady in a YouTube video: http://abcn.ws/1w3uuPr

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

TOP 7 POLITICAL MOMENTS FROM THE OSCARS. The year's biggest night for Hollywood was memorable for the great one-liners from Neil Patrick Harris, the gorgeous gowns and moving musical performances. But the 87th Academy Awards on Sunday also hit a more serious note as Oscar winners used their acceptance speeches to highlight political issues that were important to them. ABC's STACY CHEN, STEPHANIE EBBS and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI highlight a few issues that came up. http://abcn.ws/1w33eAL

WHO'S TWEETING?

@scottwongDC: Boehner/McConnell vow to continue Keystone fight after Obama veto http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/233588-gop-leaders-obama-sadly-mistaken-if-he-thinks-keystone-veto-is-the#.VOyDCdCBwZQ.twitter …

@cam_joseph: . @marcorubio in NH: "We have government policies deeply rooted in yesterday and yesterday's ideas don't work anymore"

@markknoller: This afternoon, Pres Obama meets with some rank-and-file police officers to discuss enhancing trust in the communities they serve.

@bpolitics: Eric Cantor says he plans to focus on tech, defense and health-care companies as his firm expands into D.C. http://bloom.bg/17tYEFx

@whignewtons: Congrats to @hughhewitt on moderating first gop debate. Wildly smart choice by @GOP.