Subject: POLITICO Huddle: CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS NEARING DEAL ON SPENDING BILL – Last-minute Flint negotiations help ease impasse – 9/11 VETO OVERRIDE VOTE IN SENATE TODAY –- Dems double down on spending in Indiana Senate race – LAWMAKERS REMEMBER SHIMON PERES
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 06:08:00 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_5881985.xt.local>

09/28/2016 08:06 AM EDT

By Heather Caygle ([email-masked] or @heatherscope) 

WE HAVE A WINNER- It looks like Congress is on track to fund the government through Dec. 9 after last-minute dealmaking by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The House Rules Committee agreed late Tuesday night to tack on an amendment to a water infrastructure bill authorizing $170 million in aid for the Flint water crisis, a move sources say could help break the government funding stalemate before Friday's deadline. 

The House is expected to pass the water bill (formally called the Water Resources Development Act or WRDA) as soon as today, eventually teeing up conference negotiations with the Senate to send a final bill to the president in the lame duck. 

So just what was agreed to last night? "The amendment to the Water Resources Development Act from Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) differs significantly from the Senate-passed aid package for Flint. The House provision would only authorize the spending, whereas the Senate deal would appropriate funding. The Senate deal, which includes an offset, also contains a provision to benefit communities across the country that is not in the House amendment," reports Annie Snider (behind the paywall). 

IS IT ENOUGH TO BREAK THE IMPASSE? The late-night Flint add-on followed a series of three-way discussions between Ryan, McConnell and Pelosi. A Republican source familiar with the discussions called the Flint amendment "an obvious move" and said it wasn't surprising given that Ryan has repeatedly said he thought WRDA was a better place to address the crisis compared to the spending bill. 

But, a House Democratic leadership aide said passage of a short-term spending bill still depends on how many Republicans vote for it. "A large chunk of the [Democratic] caucus will still not support the CR without Flint aid in it. And members have concerns with other elements of the McConnell bill like the SEC rider and the amount and composition of the Zika offsets," the aide told Huddle. 

Our prediction: This will all work out. No one wants to shut down the government and members are anxious to get back to their districts and campaign. "We're not shutting the government down," Pelosi told reporters Tuesday afternoon. 

Tune in: Ryan will be speaking at the Economic Club of Washington at 8:40 a.m. and spending bill talks could come up in the Q&A. Watch: speaker.gov/live

McCAIN TO BACK 9/11 VETO OVERRIDE- Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain will support today's veto override of a bill allowing 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia, a notable break from other defense hawks on the Hill, report Seung Min and Jeremy Herb. "House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas has circulated a letter urging Republicans to sustain Obama's veto, while close friend Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has also voiced concerns and worked behind the scenes on potential tweaks to the bill - but with little success." 

Lame duck legislative fix? The Senate will vote on the veto override around noon today and the House is expected to take up the measure either tomorrow or Friday. But Sen. Bob Corker, a critic of the bill, "predicted that lawmakers may push to pass a legislative fix to the 9/11 bill in the lame-duck session, after observing any potential 'blowback' the United States ends up facing from foreign governments over the next several weeks."

Related: Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, a lead sponsor of the bill, released a short video on the issue Tuesday night: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2b59cdc980a4f50752743191d3cd9a2698d795443a57593336268597c22f2087 

WAIT, IT'S REALLY ONLY WEDNESDAY? Welcome to Sept. 28 You're reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.

TODAY IN CONGRESS-  The House meets at 10 a.m. with first votes around 2 p.m. The Senate gavels in at 9:30 a.m. and will have two hours of debate starting at 10 a.m. on the 9/11 victims bill with a veto override vote happening around 12 p.m. There could also be action on a short-term spending bill today. 

AROUND THE HILL- Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey along with Brady president Dan Gross and Orlando nightclub shooting survivor Angel Colon hold a press conference on gun safety at 10:15 a.m. in S-120. Rep. Walter Jones holds a press conference on the Trans-Pacific Partnership at 12 p.m. in the House triangle. 

OFF THE HILL- House Speaker Paul Ryan will speak at the Economic Club of Washington starting at 8:40 a.m. 

DEMS BEEFING UP INDIANA SPENDING-Senate Democrats' campaign arm now plans to spend at least $5 million in the Indiana Senate race "as Democrat Evan Bayh's once-dominant lead over Republican Todd Young has narrowed rapidly in the race considered a key part of Democrats' strategy to take the Senate majority," reports Seung Min. 

Double trouble: "The Senate Democrats' campaign arm initially planned to spend $2.5 million supporting Bayh in Indiana as part of their broader strategy to bolster spending in traditionally conservative-leaning states such as North Carolina. But the DSCC has since doubled their ad reservations in Indiana."

Bayh's missing years: What did Evan Bayh do in the five years between the time he left the Senate and announcing his campaign this year? "Bayh never registered as a lobbyist while working in Washington between leaving the Senate in 2011 and trying to come back in 2016. But he did carve out a lucrative niche in public advocacy, speaking and corporate board positions that allowed him to wield influence as a former lawmaker with decades of policy experience," report Maggie Severns and Isaac Arnsdorf, who take a deep dive into Bayh's missing years that's well worth the read (behind the paywall). 

BERNIE'S BACK, BABY- After spending much of the summer trying to finish a book he plans to release this fall, Sen. Bernie Sanders is ready to step up campaigning for Hillary Clinton. CNN's Manu Raju reports: "In recent days, Sanders has privately informed his old rival that he plans a surge of campaign events in key battleground states, including ones the Vermont independent won during the Democratic primary campaign and others with pockets of younger voters turned off by Clinton, according to two sources familiar with the conversations between the two camps.

Road trip: "That means more stops in states like Michigan and New Hampshire, and possible trips to Nevada, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wisconsin."

TRIBUTES ROLL IN FOR SHIMON PERES- Bipartisan tributes rolled in late Tuesday night after the death of Shimon Peres, the revered Israeli statesman, former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Peres, 93, had been in the hospital after having a stroke two weeks ago. "House Speaker Paul Ryan hailed Peres' legacy in seeking to usher in peace in the Middle East, writing in a statement that he 'was a gift to the country he helped establish and lead, and a persistent voice for the cause of peace,'" writes Cristiano Lima. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Peres was "a universally respected leader, a courageous visionary, and a true hero who leaves a towering legacy in service of justice and peace" and President Obama described him as "the essence of Israel itself."

RUBIO REMEMBERS MARLINS PITCHER- Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday offered a touching tribute to Miami Marlins pitcher Jos&eacute; Fern&aacute;ndez, who was killed in a boating accident over the weekend. "Rubio recalled Floridians watching the 24-year-old pitch during his career: "We said to ourselves, 'This is what the American dream looks like.' And boy, is the American dream alive and well," reports Alex Gangitano with Roll Call. 

ARRIVAL LOUNGE-- Jessica Lewis is joining the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Democratic staff director, Sen. Ben Cardin, the panel's ranking member, will announce today. Lewis is currently senior national security adviser for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. 

GOP lobbyist Danny Fernandez is joining the Bockorny Group. Fernandez was most recently VP of congressional affairs for the American Bankers Association. Before that he worked on the Hill in Rep. Greg Walden and then-Sen. Gordon Smith's offices. 

TWEET DU JOUR-- Laura Barron-Lopez (@lbarronlopez) Me: "Sen. What did you think of the debate last night?" Lindsey Graham: "No, no no. I'm not going to talk about it. Go away. Go away. Bye."

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER- Joseph Pratt was the first to answer that Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette (aka Lafayette) was deemed a "natural born U.S. citizen" by Maryland's legislature and was granted citizenship by several other states in the late 1700s before Congress gave him honorary citizenship in 2002. 

TODAY'S TRIVIA- Joseph with today's question: In 1897, several members of the US House of Representatives and the British House of Commons sought to ease diplomatic tensions through a friendly game. What was the game and what was the result? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle. Get at me: [email-masked] 

What will your money look like in 20 years? In this special edition of The Agenda, POLITICO looks at the new wind stirring in finance: the young "fintech" industry disrupting the staid world of banks. As new companies race to make it faster to borrow, spend, and invest money, new questions are being raised about security and consumer protection. Does Washington have any idea how to deal? Read more on the first big fintech lobbying battle, the e-commerce mogul trying to build a new stock market, and the robots that might start managing your money: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2b59cdc980a4f50768e79b6a03d6ba4ff8bf6ac933d0cc877af507c47adabda3

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