Subject: POLITICO Huddle: RYAN HEADS INTO DICIEST STRETCH OF SPEAKERSHIP – Trump plans meeting with Hill leaders – WHITE HOUSE YIELDS TO CONGRESS ON TAX DETAILS – John McCain’s fan club
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2017 05:58:45 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_6950912.xt.local>

08/25/2017 07:57 AM EDT

By Austin Wright ([email-masked] and @abwrig)
 
RYAN FACES PERILOUS FALL - House Speaker Paul Ryan is about to get a taste of the John Boehner treatment. The Wisconsin Republican is heading into fall with a huge slate of issues to tackle, from government funding to the debt ceiling. And he's being tugged in different directions by the White House and the same conservative wing of the House that helped oust his predecessor.
 
Rachael has the story from Racine, Wisconsin: "Consider what's on the immediate horizon for the GOP wunderkind: President Donald Trump is ready to shut down the government over his border wall with Mexico. Breitbart has all but declared a renewed, Steve Bannon-led war on GOP leaders, with Ryan in its cross hairs. And conservative lawmakers are exhorting the speaker to play hardball on raising the debt ceiling - even as the White House demands a no-strings-attached increase to calm nervous creditors."
 
Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.), to Rachael: "Conservatives aren't going to roll over when it comes to the debt ceiling. ... I can tell you: It's going to be a battle." More here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d1474e9e8fcfc69410820aaefae2c1d09d66de746c3bace84e188f9fb9d730bdabc77d7761402a565b7a47f6011dc0ddcbc2
 
MAKING THINGS EVEN HARDER FOR RYAN: TRUMP'S CONSTANT POTSHOTS. The president yesterday continued lashing out at Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, blaming them for creating a "mess" over the debt ceiling. But underneath the bluster, there appears to be an acknowledgement by the White House that it needs to work together with Congress next month to avoid fiscal disaster.
 
Case in point: Even as he slams them on Twitter, Trump is trying to set up a meeting with congressional leaders, Kyle and Seung Min report: "Trump is working to convene a meeting with McConnell and Ryan as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi soon after the August recess ends, according to congressional sources. Avoiding a federal default and a government shutdown will likely be chief among the topics of discussion."
 
Kyle and Seung Min also have the story behind Trump's Tweet yesterday in which he said he wanted Ryan and McConnell to tie the debt ceiling to a popular veterans bill: "Though the notion of tying a debt ceiling increase to the veterans measure was always likely to be doomed, one GOP source said the Senate had been preparing to support it, only to be stymied when House leaders opted to adjourn for the August recess. ... Two House Republican sources also note that leaders in their chamber were worried that some GOP lawmakers would fume at being squeezed into supporting veterans and a debt increase they hated - or voting against those who served the country and sticking to their fiscally
 conservative principals." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d147c40c083881d5faddeee0de3ee5e4ba994cc0e490db607f94d260f293fa96ccd9e02ff21fa1eb1262ed6725073a47b07b
 
TRUMP'S LATEST TWEET - The president once again Tweeted his disdain for the Senate's legislative filibuster this morning. "If Senate Republicans don't get rid of the Filibuster Rule and go to a 51% majority, few bills will be passed," Trump wrote, adding: "8 Dems control the Senate!" His obsession with ending the filibuster has irked congressional leaders, who don't like being told how to run their branch of the government.
 
FINALLY FRIDAY. Welcome to Aug. 25 and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.
 
Programming note: Huddle is off next week. We'll see you after Labor Day.
 
WHITE HOUSE YIELDS TO CONGRESS ON TAX DETAILS, via POLITICO's Ben White: "The White House does not plan to release its own version of a tax reform plan and will instead leave that to the congressional leadership and the major tax-writing committees, a senior administration official said Thursday. The decision to hand off the specifics of tax reform comes after the administration promised earlier this summer to release a full tax plan when Congress returned from its August recess." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d14723c974269c4ced099e8147cef398843aa9b0499dfe430c433941601ea6140e30a652968ee645ac803932282d70ea48c1
 
-- POLITICO's Colin Wilhelm notes that this was supposed to be the month Trump spent selling his tax plan. Instead, the president has barely mentioned the subject. "Trump's lack of focus so far also seems to be undercutting the concerted efforts of congressional Republican leaders, business executives and conservative activists to build public support for tax reform before Congress reconvenes," Colin reports. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d147a75e9a2ba860c7fa1eb8b4a6b65e563e407e457ac3db7e2083943aab010c27c3adb629aa6bb187bc115959ecc693f85d
 
JOHN McCAIN'S FAN CLUB - McCain likes to joke that any senator not under investigation or detoxification sees himself as a candidate for president - in other words, not the type who would normally seek out professional mentorship. And yet, for many senators - past and present - that's exactly the word they use to describe their relationship with the 80-year-old McCain, who for years has been working to impart his vision of a more muscular foreign policy on a younger generation of his colleagues. Here's our story on McCain's acolytes, featuring interviews with Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte, Angus King and others: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d147c81498b58bf2dfae4b3ce16f0b9187dc31e4e1b49085c4e92305624b58457504a560c1e5ead10255b25a6fe6625e591f
 
FLAKE AIRS ARGUMENTS FOR BREAKING UP THE NINTH CIRCUIT - POLITICO's Diamond Naga Siu covers Sen. Jeff Flake's field hearing yesterday in Arizona on his plan to break up the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: "Flake was the only senator in attendance at the hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee he chairs on privacy, technology and the law. The five witnesses who testified were divided, 3-2, in favor of breaking up the court. Flake said that the 9th Circuit originally served 4 percent of the population but that the population under its jurisdiction had expanded to serve 20 percent of the nation - and continues to expand." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d1472ec3c580032bcc3976d844aba5698a60acedea5d509a3b9261a6a9ecc5b39996b72ca71e866f03b7a527f0e0254cbaeb
 
ZINKE RECOMMENDS REDUCING THE SIZE OF BEARS EARS - Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is recommending that several national monuments, including Utah's Bears Ears, be reduced in size, report Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears of The Washington Post. "In a report Zinke submitted to the White House, the secretary recommended reducing the size of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, as well as Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, according to multiple individuals briefed on the decision," Eilperin and Fears write. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d1474aa802a843de88fc4caa69f0a5b215f803dfe8842c0c35f7dcd2538666ed78d42faa20a5f6005705a733ffb221a593dd
 
-- Republican Rep. Rob Bishop, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee: "I am encouraged by the recommendations to revise previous designations that were inconsistent with the law and outside the Act's size limitations."
 
-- Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: "Teddy Roosevelt would roll over in his grave if he could see what Donald Trump and Ryan Zinke are trying to do to our national treasures today. Secretary Zinke's secret report to the President is the latest step in a rigged process to try and turn over our public lands to oil and gas companies."
 
COLLINS TO DECIDE ON GUBERNATORIAL RUN IN SEPTEMBER: Republican Sen. Susan Collins told Maine's WCSH-TV she'll decide in September whether to run for governor. "Collins said she still likes being in the Senate, and that her seniority - currently ranked 15th - and committee assignments make her better able to help Maine," reports WCSH's Don Carrigan. "However, she said being Governor would be more 'hands on' and she could help to make positive changes, particularly those to create more jobs." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d147518fedff7c91a5a51014c5abcc0fc909ef416fc90bebc614282d33d0c111a2596c23dfdfbe88954caba7426ed9040fe8
 
-- LePage says Collins would likely lose the primary, via POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "Maine Gov. Paul LePage predicted Thursday that Sen. Susan Collins would probably lose a Republican primary in the state if she decides to run for governor. LePage was asked about the possibility that Collins would try to succeed him during an interview with Maine's WGAN, and he offered his latest round of criticism of his fellow Republican." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=88a53dedbdc4d147b80a5b283e9ac61900ee81b2245b3ce4414a6acd20ad7db630deda9016cb04c91a02afba2974ee715f0a3a6f3097724f
 
TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House and Senate are out. 
 
THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Marshal Shemtob was first with yesterday's correct answer: Lowell Weicker is the last living member of the Senate Watergate Committee.
 
TODAY'S TRIVIA - No trivia today, since Huddle is off next week. We'll be back with questions after Labor Day.
 
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