Subject: POLITICO Huddle, presented by ZERO TO THREE: WH BACKS OFF WALL DEMANDS, FOR NOW – Ryan faces pressure to deliver – TRUMP ON THE HILL TODAY – Senate Dems frustrated with Russia probe
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2017 05:59:54 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_6551934.xt.local>

04/25/2017 07:57 AM EDT

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

With assists from Burgess Everett and Daniel Lippman 

TODAY: President Donald Trump will speak on the Hill during the Holocaust remembrance ceremony. Senate Republican and Democratic leaders hold their weekly press conferences around 2 p.m. The House is back with first votes at 6:30 p.m. 

OVER BEFORE IT STARTED? President Trump said Monday he's open to pushing a fight over border wall funding to September, seemingly removing the biggest obstacle to averting a government shutdown this week. The news is welcome to Republicans, who were facing the dilemma of crossing the president by ignoring his demands or joining with him and inviting a shutdown. Congress is expected to pass a short-term extension later this week to give lawmakers time to wrap up negotiations on a bigger deal. Burgess with the latest: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d08cda99b3f0dfdb8463fc7cdfde598c42204fd6716446172b246edf97c6d1051525159bba0c021343 

RYAN IN THE HOT SEAT - House Speaker Paul Ryan is coming off the two-week recess with major pressure to help deliver Trump a legislative win. Yet Ryan, who is juggling government funding negotiations and pressure from the White House to vote on an Obamacare repeal, is dealing with a novice president unschooled about how Congress actually works and a divided conference that is resisting pressure to compromise on health care. 

Example du jour: The White House didn't give the speaker's office so much as a heads up before it started whispering last week about the potential for a House vote on the Obamacare repeal this week. The move left House leaders scrambling to tamp down expectations and walk back what the White House was saying. 

"You do hear: 'Is Paul Ryan the right person to lead the conference?'" said one senior House Republican. "But we're still in the same place we were a year and a half ago. Who would lead the conference? He's the best person to lead the conference, and there isn't a close second." Rachael and Bres: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d00a257166dd94230321742350b99cd42ad841d27294352f97ce49fec3fcfe71a38e02ebb2734737ac 

COMING ATTRACTIONS - Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and NEC Director Gary Cohn will be on the Hill today meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and chairmen of the tax-writing committees on Trump's tax plan, coming tomorrow. 

You wanna do what? The president's plan will propose cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, a move that already has deficit-minded Republicans up in arms and would likely run afoul of Senate budgetary rules, meaning he'd need Democratic buy-in to see such an idea enacted. The Wall Street Journal's Richard Rubin: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d0a4bd041e6aaf65c5bbc7b0e98cafb9b46a2e1c631af0026ce4313f1d60bf9d1d37b5ee4b99f40fb9 

STARTING YOUR TUESDAY OFF RIGHT. Welcome to April 25 and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. 

MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Rachael, Kyle and Burgess' story about the shutdown fight over the border wall. 

100 DAY READ - Gabriel Debenedetti on how Trump's first 100 days have helped Democrats channel their rage and resuscitate the party while still obscuring the same problems: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d0fc8648a951127534e5da94242977c3e278af44fc8c8f70158c9343485459c1d2036d1b2c08018bf5

MUM GOES THE MODERATE - Conservative hardliners seem to be falling in line behind the latest GOP compromise to repeal Obamacare. But many moderates, whose support is also essential to the bill's passage, are unmoved. "This amendment doesn't do anything to change my position on the health care bill," said Tuesday Group co-chair Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). His comment is telling because fellow Tuesday Group leader Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) is the one working with the Freedom Caucus to broker a deal. Jen Haberkorn, Josh Dawsey and Adam Cancryn with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d0e6e272852df54d002229d9fe90345cbd9520689a7adc72bec7fa064a1587d557fb92eb48c2980455 

HAPPENING TODAY - Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee will be viewing classified documents from the Department of Defense related to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The request came after news last month that Flynn retroactively registered as a foreign agent for lobbying work he did for the Turkish government during the campaign. 

BRIEFING BRIEF - On Friday, some Democrats' eyes rolled when they received new guidance from the White House redirecting Wednesday's North Korea briefing from the Senate to the White House itself. They could not understand why the briefing would move from a room specifically built for such briefings, a SCIF, to a White House auditorium. 

** A message from ZERO TO THREE: It's time to Think Babies. Hey Congress: We're coming to your crib! Babies and parents from every state are coming to Capitol Hill to see you - and to bring national attention to what babies and families need to thrive. Meet the babies May 2 at 12:00pm, Upper Senate Park. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d035f14071061e6ddca1dc09dae1e5fd619fe84e62c0ba65fad006a15970230626934179a4a4df43e6 **

So what happened? An administration official explained that President Donald Trump offered the venue to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a "gesture" but said the decision was left to McConnell. "The president offered to host the meeting and the majority leader agreed," McConnell spokesman David Popp told Huddle. But Democrats don't buy it: They think the venue was changed for better optics for Trump.

GET ON WITH IT, DEMS SAY - Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are publicly expressing their frustrations with what they say are unnecessary efforts by Republicans on the panel to slow down the investigation into Russia. The committee has yet to issue a single subpoena for documents, key witnesses or request crucial records from the Trump campaign despite a push from Democrats to do so, Michael Isikoff reports for Yahoo News. 

Fact du jour: Only seven part-time staffers are working on the Senate Intel's Russia probe. By comparison, the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks had 46 staffers. Reuters Dustin Volz: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9ed8f98ddbf22ee644f13322300c361212a59b08db59eb7fe8aa72c618b43dc69d827b513b5fad45900c880a691dda53 

The pace has Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the panel's top Democrat, "very frustrated" according to CNN. And Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has feuded with Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) about which staffers get to view intelligence related to the probe, told Manu Raju he has "serious concerns." It's time to start following "the money, following the trail of the dead bodies," Wyden said. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9ed8f98ddbf22ee6d94fbcf2533621aa70f9cd7f80f704d9ee133cf335d4e89aa40380d04c64e090a22b7d73af25c673 

PIC DU JOUR - Speaker Ryan and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) showing some bipartisan Badger State love, throwing up the Wisconsin "W" hand sign with a group of Marines in Norway during a congressional trip overseas last week. Check out the photo, via the Speaker's office: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9ed8f98ddbf22ee6e843765311aa7e1c813b47f7f7a271f95bb3b22f35c6303e0c1a7988000b16f7a669909c6d0fbdf2 

ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES - Roscoe Jones starts a new gig this week as legislative director for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Jones previously worked as senior counsel to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and senior Democratic counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. One startling fact: Of the roughly 340 top Senate staffers, only six are African American, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in a release announcing Jones' move. 

Bret Manley, legislative director for Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), starts a new gig May 1 as assistant vice president of government affairs for the Association of American Railroads. AAR's current VP for government affairs, John Wetzel, is retiring after 34 years in the industry. 

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House meets at noon with votes at 6:30 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9ed8f98ddbf22ee6e9f49ffbc4690baf99934a76631e0bf4fe09c29fa419a79815c0e4dd6b02528b4470115c73d56a6f Kansas Rep.-elect Ron Estes is expected to be sworn in tonight. The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and will recess for weekly party lunches from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. 

AROUND THE HILL - President Trump delivers remarks during the Holocaust Memorial Museum's "Day of Remembrance" ceremony in the Capitol at 11 a.m. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) participates in an 11:30 a.m. call on Trump's tax returns and the president's corporate tax plan. RSVP: [email-masked]. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) holds his weekly pen and pad at 1 p.m. in H-144.

The Republican Policy Committee holds a 2 p.m. hearing on challenges facing working Americans in 2360 Rayburn with Larry Kudlow and others. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) will deliver her maiden speech on the Senate floor at 2:30 p.m.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has dinner with the president this evening at the White House. 

OFF MESSAGE PODCAST: Thirty years ago, writing against the backdrop of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe, novelist Margaret Atwood called the women in the "The Handmaid's Tale" who were standing up to the fictional Puritan-inspired totalitarian government "the resistance." 

In the latest episode of Off Message, Isaac Dovere sits down in a two-part interview, one with Margaret Atwood and Elizabeth Moss from the highly anticipated Hulu series, A Handmaid's Tale, and second, with Stephanie Shriock, president of the women's political empowerment group EMILY's List. Find out their take on the position of women in the new and evolving world order. Listen and subscribe iTunes | Panoply | RadioPublic

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Joseph Pratt with MassMutual was the first to guess there are three times since the 25th Amendment was adopted that the vice president has served as acting president: George H.W. Bush stepped in after the assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan and Dick Cheney subbed twice for George W. Bush while he was undergoing medical procedures. 

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Joe has today's two-part question: Four members of the Senate were sworn in before meeting the minimum age requirement of 30 years. Name the youngest ever and the only one who served their entire senatorial career while under the age of 30.

The first person to correctly answer gets a shout out in tomorrow's Huddle. And don't forget, send suggestions for trivia questions my way: [email-masked] 

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. 

** A message from ZERO TO THREE: It's time to Think Babies. The science is clear: Our brains grow faster from birth to age three than at any other point in our lives. Every second, more than 1 million new neural connections form. These connections have a lifelong impact on how babies learn and grow, and are stimulated and strengthened by nurturing relationships, early learning experiences and good nutrition. Giving all babies a strong start in life benefits everyone by increasing graduation rates, enhancing the quality of the workforce, improving health and reducing crime. Meet the babies May 2 at 12:00pm, Upper Senate Park. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bff38979cd3c92d035f14071061e6ddca1dc09dae1e5fd619fe84e62c0ba65fad006a15970230626934179a4a4df43e6 **

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